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Member since? 

Summer 2019

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How did you hear about/find us? 

Ran into trombone player Jeremy Carlson at a funeral (I'd been his secretary when he was a lawyer). He
told me he'd been playing with Crestwood and I should check it out!

 

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What is your musical background/history? 

My dad played harmonica and was impressively self-taught on piano. Mother played trombone and sang
in the church choir. I joined the adult choir at age 12. That same year, I started taking clarinet lessons,
and received my first guitar at 13. My brother Chris grew up playing piano, and we often played or sang
together, even as adults.

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I marched in the band at Tuscaloosa Central High School, and then got my B.S. in Music Education at the University of Alabama, marching in the Million Dollar Band each year. I was briefly the band director at an under-funded rural Alabama high school. Later, I directed the children's choir at South Highlands Presbyterian Church in Birmingham.

 

As an adult, I've continued to participate in various church and community bands and choirs. Still love to sing play folk tunes on guitar, but rarely in front of an audience. Jamming cover tunes with a few other guitar players is my idea of a great time!

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What is your favorite “Band Song” to play? 

Yes, it's the holiday music... Christmas Festival and Sleigh Ride, and also jazzy stuff.

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What do you do when you are not playing music? (work/hobbies/for fun???)

Work full time as a legal secretary. I dabble in calligraphy, enjoy coloring, spending time with our 2 dogs, camping/trail walking, meditating/self-hypnosis, and might eventually enjoy learning to build stained glass windows.

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What type of animal/breed of dog/cat/bird/fish/other etc…. best reflects your personality and why? 

Much of the time, I feel like an octopus, trying to handle lots of stuff all at once without dropping anything. I also admire elephants, and have a collection of them at my office.

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What is your superpower? 

Uh, I can eat with chopsticks (does that count?). Feed me sushi!

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Tell us something fun! You know, like "That one time at band camp..." Or elsewhere. (funny anecdote/story/amazing coincidence/hidden talent/celebrity encounter, etc...)? 

Fun? Memorable at least . . . There was that time when the Alabama Million Dollar Band played halftime at Legion Field during a rain and hail storm, under a county-wide tornado warning. The opposing team's band played first, and though it was probably dangerous, we followed with our show too. The opening verse of our prepared show was SUNG standing at attention (how innovative), but the hail and rain beating on the drums completely drowned out our voices ... it seemed as if we were just standing there in the downpour, doing nothing. We marched the rest of the show ankle-deep in rain. We had a special commemorative t-shirt printed up: “Through hail and high water!”

 

An odd quirk: If I chance to walk past a running diesel vehicle, it brings back years of carnival rides at the fair and band bus trips. It's not something you'd want to huff, but diesel always smells like adventure to me.

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