Boz Fest turned out to be completely incredible, so much so that I can't even really begin to describe everything I felt and experienced. Just one night on stage with so many consummate musicians was fantastic, even if I do now have a reputation for being a bit of a diva - heh. It was an amazing experience that I was able to share with those other Boz nuts, who appreciate my mom's music in a way very few people do, so it was just a very special time that I won't soon forget; the energy at each show and gathering was so magical and completely permeated the room! I'm looking forward to doing it again next year and I hope it will become an even bigger event! - it really needs more attention and recognition!
I felt extremely complimented when a musician friend of my mom, Vernell, complimented my voice and when David McCain said to my mom, "Holley, you got the chops, but she's really got it!" Those kinds of things really make me miss Kenneth Raphael and wish I had known Bobby better, but he died of complications from AIDS before I had grown up enough to get to know him well; I know they would have been thrilled for me and also thrilled with my "diva" moment - that is a story my mom has enjoyed telling again and again, although I didn't think anything of it at the time!
I guess I can't ever escape the fact that the New Orleans music community, and the broader one that has grown out of it, is really a part of my family. I'm most at home with those people and their successes mean nearly as much to me as they do for the individuals who are living for them.
Of all the wonderful vocalists who came, I was totally blown away by a woman from Washington DC who can sing notes even lower than my mom! Not only is she another female baritone, but she's just an incredible singer with beautiful tone, pitch, phrasing - all that.
I liked the dark haired girl from The Stolen Sweets and the whistling of one of the other girls, but I did not at all care for the style in which the other two girls sang - it was very nasal, which does allow for good vocal blending, but which is a style I just despise and a mark of poor singing ability in my view. However, The Sweets are a good group that I think will get better with age, especially when they get a little braver with their vocal range and abandon that nasal singing style.
I felt extremely complimented when a musician friend of my mom, Vernell, complimented my voice and when David McCain said to my mom, "Holley, you got the chops, but she's really got it!" Those kinds of things really make me miss Kenneth Raphael and wish I had known Bobby better, but he died of complications from AIDS before I had grown up enough to get to know him well; I know they would have been thrilled for me and also thrilled with my "diva" moment - that is a story my mom has enjoyed telling again and again, although I didn't think anything of it at the time!
I guess I can't ever escape the fact that the New Orleans music community, and the broader one that has grown out of it, is really a part of my family. I'm most at home with those people and their successes mean nearly as much to me as they do for the individuals who are living for them.
Of all the wonderful vocalists who came, I was totally blown away by a woman from Washington DC who can sing notes even lower than my mom! Not only is she another female baritone, but she's just an incredible singer with beautiful tone, pitch, phrasing - all that.
I liked the dark haired girl from The Stolen Sweets and the whistling of one of the other girls, but I did not at all care for the style in which the other two girls sang - it was very nasal, which does allow for good vocal blending, but which is a style I just despise and a mark of poor singing ability in my view. However, The Sweets are a good group that I think will get better with age, especially when they get a little braver with their vocal range and abandon that nasal singing style.