Taking Steps Against Breast Cancer ~ Fundraiser with The Gals

Well it is that time again!  For the annual Taking Steps Against Breast Cancer gala at the Stone Willow Outdoor Venue!   Steph (a bunch of) The Gals will be playing again!  It has been a fun time of meeting up again for regular practices!  The winter the Gals did several of their own gigs as my schedule as usual became overloaded.  During that time a few went off to different avenues and venues and a new one joined and another returned!   Regardless we all know that at anytime we can all come and go and join in and out and grow and change as a group.  The awesome part is the “group“ as we feel like “the Gals” is by far our actual name, found many songs that they practiced over the winter and have their own segment of material and it sounds awesome!   Some of our standards are also back on the table and sounding stronger than ever!  The group has moved up in the vocal department with everyone feeling so much more confident and use to PA’s and microphones and working in a group!  The harmonies are beautiful and song choices are fun!  So the evening of June 2nd will unfold with social time and visiting in the White Tent, which Is always beautifully decorated, the project is always amazingly put together by Marlene Foreman with a fantastic buffet dinner by WildStone‘s Rhonda Klein, complete with  door prizes and silent auction!    I was asked again this year to bring together the entertainment which is how the group of Gals was formed.  I pooled together former or current adult students of Deep Waters Music and created a fun group for the evening.  The cool part is it just kept going!  We were asked to do more venues and as I said the group changed and shifted and is back to exactly where we started!  With Lori Burlingham (ECE worker, crazed guitar enthusiast/ singer and mom of three great kids, also a few of which are guitar enthusiasts and one great little singer!! ),  Kim Anderka (veterinarian by day, amazing guitar player/singer by stolen free moments between work and children) Julie Pellizzari (ECE worker, percussion/Cajon player who we lovingly drag out after work away from her hubby and two awesome daughters)  Lisa Turunen our youngest member, all the way from Australia (who loves her job with Rhonda at the Wildstone Bar and Grill, and is our ukulele player with just the sweetest voice and personality, who also plays the harmonica!!)  and Tasmin Sterkenburg, our newest member (we think she works somewhere very important with numbers and figures and is our newest Ukulele player, with great vocals and new fun songs that we just “Lava”)   and you may think… that’s it??? But no we have some other awesome young singers coming out to join us for the earlier part of the evening.  Some of my little students will perform.  My good ole 9 year old side kick Ella Manzer will join me earlier on stage (as music is from 6:30 til 9:30) Ella and I perform together fairly frequently and just had a show at South Perth Fun Fair and played this same venue last year (and we always have fun!)   DCVI student Delaney Schoelier will bring her powerhouse vocals and talent to the stage and Emee Fink a St Mike’s student, who is also another powerhouse singer (and who also works for Rhonda at the Wildstone) will join us!!  So many amazing women of all ages to join me and share their gift of music for such a great cause!  And we can’t wait to see who joins in the jam sessions in the next year??   I think we have a few on deck (Christa, Teresa and Katherine???) and maybe a token guy… John???  Or maybe it is someone we have not met… yet??  So you know the drill, if you are looking for a great night out with some fun music, do not hesitate!  It is summer time!!  And our only other event that we know of (besides maybe a random street jam) will be at the Museum on my Museum worthy Birthday!!   Maybe they will keep me??  So here we go, with one of my several music projects,  with these gals who we love to give each other a hard time, we laugh, we talk (A LOT), we sometimes even have a moment when our mountain climbing years challenge us, we all bring our own little quirks, strengths and fun, (they have also amazingly learned how to keep me on task…) and is definitely is a project that lies very close to my heart!