"if at first you don't succeed, try, try again." 

i don't know who came up with that one, but apparently somewhere deep inside my subconscious, it's my credo. once i latch onto something that i want, i usually don't let go until it's mine. take the Jazzmobile Vocal Competition, for example. i auditioned for this in 2006 and i made the cut, but i choked in the 2nd round. my friend daralyn reminded me that when the smoke cleared and we were standing around outside talking about what had just transpired, i said -- to everyone and no one in particular -- "i know what i did wrong." i took some time to assess, bounced back this year and -- surprise! -- i won. jazz news summed up the final round of competition beautifully but you can read my take on it here.

why did i do it? well -- if it's something that i can do -- why not?  i'm versatile. why should i limit myself with someone else's idea of who i am or what kind of music they think i should be making?  it's a big world out there.

next up: i'm a finalist in the billboard magazine/discmaker's independent music world series. i was a finalist in 2003, so let's see if the 3rd time is a charm...