GBGC Original: Yadda Yadda Yadda Yadda (Tell Me Something I Don't Know)

Those of you who read my other blog will know that I've recently accepted the fact that I'm not perfect. This imperfection comes complete with a healthy dose of impatience. I've been waiting for quite some time for quite a few dreams to come true. And quite honestly, I'm getting quite sick of disappointment. 

Quite.

The nice thing about this little phase I'm going through is the realization that I am absolutely unwilling to change to appease others. Take it or leave it, I'm practically perfect in every way. But my guitar, proverbial and otherwise, is out of tune, and that's the way it will stay. Personally, however, I will try to work on the patience bit. Que será, será...

GBGC #64: Verdi Cries (a shout out to fellow singers everywhere)

As much as I love the dulcet tones of the bad guitar and all of the songs I play on it, one genre has sorely been missing in my videos. Opera. Yes, that's right, I am a professional opera singer and no, I'm not ever going to sing an opera aria on the GBGC. But if you listen closely, you will hear a few well-supported tones in this rendition of one of my favorite 10,000 Maniac tunes.  This is a little tribute to my colleagues past and present who are singing their hearts out somewhere in the opera world, and to the man who contributed so much to it: Giuseppe Verdi.

(you can sign up to follow this blog on Blogger, on Facebook, or subscribe to grahamophone on YouTube -- or to follow my operatic videos, check out sopranograham)

GBGC #63: Happy Xmas (War is Over) - Tribute to John Lennon

John Lennon once sang, "Nobody told me there'd be days like these." I'll bet no one told him that on his way home one chilly December night he'd be shot dead, that's for sure. Despite terror warnings here in good ol' Germany, people are still flocking en masse to the Christmas Markets - a perfect target for any evil-doers. Why not? No sense living in fear of the threats that are known to us, when some random crazy dude could show up on your doorstep and blow your head off. So yeah, I'm pretty pissed off that Mark Chapman took John Lennon away from us 30 years ago today. What irks me even more is that he did it on my friend Steve's birthday. Rude.

GBGC Halloween Quickie - I'm Going Home (Rocky Horror Picture Show)

Elvis didn't recognize me at first

Today is Halloween. Last night in Frankfurt there was a huge party, mostly attended by the ex-pat community. Ze Germans do Halloween all wrong anyway (forgive them, they know not what they do). Most believe that you are supposed to dress up like something "gruselig" (creepy, scary, gross, blood-curdling), but in fact, we all know you can be whoever you want on Halloween. Several Germans at the party last night chose to just be themselves. Where's the fun in that?

Some of my costumes in the past have included a milk-maid (whatever, I was a weird kid), a cat (oh, how original), a geisha, Paloma Picasso (I was going for Natasha from Rocky and Bullwinkle, but that's how it turned out...), Agent 99 from "Get Smart", a victim of domestic violence at a cocktail party, and Pris from "Blade Runner."

This year I was inspired by a recent visit home to Tucson, where I was reminded of the Dia de los Muertos - a huge tradition in the Mexican culture, which is of course prominent in southern Arizona. So I did my best to look like a skeleton, wore my new "All Souls Procession" T-Shirt, and went on my merry way.

I was delighted to discover that nobody could recognize me. Even a good friend walked right past me without suspecting it was me. Her boyfriend and I both had the number 13 on our shirts, and I pointed that out to him without speaking -- he later confessed that he thought I was just some random woman trying to flirt with him. Sorry to disappoint him, I eventually confessed my true identity - but only to a select few.

This is a good way to go through life, I think -- not to show your true self until you've tested the waters for just a bit.

GBGC Quickie - Love Will Tear Us Apart Again (Joy Division)

This has always been one of my favorite songs. I can nowhere near begin to emulate its greatness - the intro of the original just gets my heart pounding like nobody's business. Well, this version is probably not going to have that same effect on you - unless you're into out-of-tune guitars and hot rollers.

But speaking of fetishists... "routine bites hard". Even the most die-hard of stalkers give up the chase after a while. It seems this phenomenon has effected Grahamophone's Bad Guitar Channel. After gaining so many new subscribers on YouTube this week, and even a new blog follower who is a perfect stranger to me, someone who I thought to be my biggest fan cancelled his subscription. Well, if as in this case I can gain 14 subscribers for every one I lose, I'm in pretty good shape. You win some, you lose some, but I am not tearing myself apart over this one.

"Yet there's still this appeal that we've kept through our lives."

So - here I am with my hair up in curlers in preparation for a benefit concert in the Naxos Halle in Frankfurt. The Bad Guitar stayed at home....

GBGC #60: Big Yellow Zombie Mash-up

The grand prize winner (from last month's first and probably last GBGC quiz), Konstantinos Kostis, was nice enough to give me 6 songs to choose from for his request, but in a fit of indecision, I decided to roll them all up into one. Here's what happened. I hope you like it!! Get your headphones ready ...

(and introducing the new GBGC jingle!)

GBGC #59: As Yet Unbridled (a GBGC Original, and LIVE to boot!)

For those of you who could unfortunately not come to my 40th birthday party, show and jam session, here's a bit of the entertainment. For the first time on the GBGC, I am playing a regular sized guitar, albeit not loudly enough. That doesn't matter, though, since the emphasis was on the words. For the 55 people that were there that night (some of whom even got up on stage to play, too!), thanks for being such a wonderful audience and good company. Let's do this again sometime! (Oh, and special thanks to Norman for filming!!)