I Love Harem Pants

I love when a a new "line" is introduced or reintroduced into the fashion arena. I don't mean a new fashion line. What I mean is that we've been living with skinny jeans for a long time now and suddenly...we have HAREM PANTS! I know that many will hate them, steer away from them but I had an instinct that they would suit me. Actually, it's more what style mogels are calling draped pants...  tight on the calves and lower thighs and the draping comes right at the upper thighs to disguise them. LOVE IT!! In this video, a comp of Walk on By and a song that I'm dedicating to Barry Thompson my A #1 fan and friend from Detroit called You Hit the Spot...waz up Barry? 

I'm wearing the most comfy pair that I found at Fat. I wore them with some cheap, but great, gladiator high heel sandals, a dark grey/green Tee with sequined bunnies on it from FCUK and a really old designer black suit jacket that I never wear and now I'm so happy I already had it! I was so inspired by this look that I went on line and found another pair in a brown color from ShopBop (free International  shipping) and found a a black pair of Robert Robert gladiator heels down from $240 to $40!!!!!  Honestly, I have a shopping guardian angel. I really do.
I hope you enjoy the clip. I left all of Jon Wade and Petey in You Hit The Spot because it's so lovely.

Ebay International

Last week, my drummer decided to actually have a look at this blog and decided he really liked it. Go figure. Still, at gigs he has never gone near the microphone, though in real life, he's hysterical. So you can imagine my surprise when he suddenly popped behind the mic and made a very loud announcement.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I think you will all agree that Connie looks spectacular tonight. Her outfit  is brought to you by Ebay International".  I nearly fell over. I went bright red and I couldn't stop laughing. I was just upset the tape wasn't running. The whole audience was laughing as I felt myself go red. It takes a lot to make me blush but he exposed my secret! So, I left in my admonishment of him as I berated him. I mean come on. It's a gorgeous fully sequined Scanlan & Theodore that, yes I did get on Australian Ebay. I wore it with a purple shrug, tights and heels but you can't see the color in the tape which is a shame because it was a great contrast.

End of an Era

I love my vintage collection of beaded and sequined dresses. I feel bad when they hang in the closet, neglected. It was one of the reasons I started an all girl big band. Seeing those girls looking great in the 70's beaded butterfly tops AND playing really well was always a  treat.

But, that's not the end of the era. The end of era is my piano player, Jonathan Wade moving to another state and Friday the 1st of Oct. will be his last gig with me.  He helped me come to grips with jazz  over the last five years and we always had fun! He's definitely is one of a kind.  I will miss him!                                                                                                                  

More Friends Again

 I've been really sick with the flue and then a very bad migraine to follow up. I've had 3 gigs while being so sick so I'm only going to post video with the view of just  continuing my documentation of the fashion. You have realized by now, I'm sure that half the fun of gigging is the dressing up bit. I was very naughty and ordered two!!! pairs of Jefferey Campbell boots because I fell in love. Do not even consider trying walk in them. Oh no. Just stand and then loll around with you feet out in front so everyone can see how utterly cool these boots are. The first ones with the yellow socks is what inspired the search. They are DSquared an cost over $600 US and that's on sale so Jefferey Campbell was the next best thing! (I had to go out and buy socks!)

Yes????? Anyway enough of that, In this video I wore the brown boots with an old Sportsgirl silk dress that I saw someone wearing on a TV show! I teamed it with brown knee socks and a belt I got in an op shop the exact color. The since it's still freezing, a Brown cropped jacket I picked up in the Sates a couple of years ago. AND...here's another of my new friends. Val Tims is from Russia. I always think of Russia as being cold and snowing this looks like a lovely spring day. Thanks Val!

OK, here's the latest vid but it's a bit hard to get the full effect of the boots.

More Friends

This is Barry Thompson my number 1 biggest fan and all around great guy. Such a big fan is Barry that I gave him my whole album for free. Mind you, it's a well kept secret that most artist would gladly give you there CD for free because they're so happy you like them. It's only their business managers that won't let them! And...how else will they make their next album if you don't buy there first one????
All  can say is, that if this is Barry's wife...way to go Barry!
There is nothing prettier than a smile and these two prove that.

Newest Friend

I have asked all the lovely people who click the iLike or the Fan buttons on all my music sites to send me pictures because I love to look!  I think it's only fair since there are pictures and videos of me all over the place. A few have responded, I know we're all busy. Here is my newest friend, Barbara,"I am from Sydney, I have been living in  Sydney for 6 years now, I am actually from Poland.  I have friends in Melbourne and go to visit once a year". Melbourne is where I'm living too which really is a great city. We have beaches and great restaurants and live music all over the place.

 

I think that's lovely!

cheers,

Connie

Getting Serious

Most people don't realize that most jazz outfits do not rehearse! They think it's a well kept secret but I can tell you if you listen closely, it shows!!! I will be shot for saying that.
I don't like to play by the rules, I like to do my own songs and pop songs which most jazz guys wouldn't know.  A good example,  I guess I should bite the bullet and show you... Ok, I will show you how a lack of rehearsal ruined my segue idea. In the video you will notice how between Whisper Not and Blue Skies, they ignored the fact I was setting up a different tempo.





It's frustrating when, through lack of rehearsal a good idea fails. Rehearsal isn't for learning songs, a good jazz musician will know the song or have a high level reading skill. Rehearsal is to blend artistic ideas and temperaments. Just so the same Standards that all jazz bands do can be done with fresh ideas.  For next week, I've put 3, three song segues into the show! The boys are going to have to really pay attention.
Of course, keeping good jazz musos on their toes is essential!! Here's a clip of a great tune called An Occasional Man. Oh and I'm wearing a cute little Cue dress with Italian cloth lavender boots.