MY NEW LION HEAD HAT AND ALL THE GREAT PEOPLE FROM THE STARTING GATE!

MY VIEW FROM THE STAGE
Thanksgiving is here and for me, it is all about the three Fs and an M. Football, food, family and the Macy’s parade.
This Thanksgiving, my beloved Packers are actually playing on the actual holiday, so I will have to get up early to catch some of the parade before the football game starts.
Of course the other part of Thanksgiving is the being thankful part. I have been working on having an attitude of gratitude, but real life can run you down sometimes. It is easy to see what is missing instead of what is there.
I got to thinking a lot about that this past Sunday, during of all the things, the Packer game.
If you don’t follow football, the Packers have lost their star quarterback , Aaron Rodgers, to an injury. Then the backup got hurt. In came a new young quarterback, Scott Tolzien, a guy who got his first Packer jersey at age 4 and went to his first Packer home game at age 10.
Packer home games happen in Green Bay, Wisconsin at a place with a hallowed football history called Lambeau field. There are many traditions, but one of the most treasured ones, is the Lambeau Leap. Any time a player scores a touchdown, they make a running jump into the stands, for a moment with the fans. I am fairly certain Scott Tolzien dreamed of doing The Leap many times when he was on a cold practice field in the Midwest.
This past Sunday, the Packers got off to a rough start, but then it happened. Scott Tolzien, running for his life with no one to throw the ball to, ran into the end zone and got his first professional career running touchdown. What came next? Of course! The Lambeau Leap! Something only a small group of kids who play football will ever grow up to experience.
Now if this was a Hollywood movie, he would go on to win the game and be the hero of all cheese heads across the nation. But like I said, sometimes real life can run you down.
He didn’t play well the rest of the game and got pulled in the third quarter. Another backup quarterback came in and managed to tie the game. One headline read, “Packers replace ineffective Scott Tolzien.”
From living your dream to being ineffective, all in the space of one afternoon. Did I mention that attitude of gratitude thing can be a little difficult?
Which brings me back to what I am going to be thankful for this holiday. I am going to be thankful for the Lambeau Leaps of every day. Those moments, no
matter how brief, that are perfect. No matter what else happens around them.
Wishing you and yours a holiday of your very own Lambeau Leaps.
Thanksgiving is here and for me, it is all about the three Fs and an M. Football, food, family and the Macy’s parade.
This Thanksgiving, my beloved Packers are actually playing on the actual holiday, so I will have to get up early to catch some of the parade before the football game starts.
Of course the other part of Thanksgiving is the being thankful part. I have been working on having an attitude of gratitude, but real life can run you down sometimes. It is easy to see what is missing instead of what is there.
I got to thinking a lot about that this past Sunday, during of all the things, the Packer game.
If you don’t follow football, the Packers have lost their star quarterback , Aaron Rodgers, to an injury. Then the backup got hurt. In came a new young quarterback, Scott Tolzien, a guy who got his first Packer jersey at age 4 and went to his first Packer home game at age 10.
Packer home games happen in Green Bay, Wisconsin at a place with a hallowed football history called Lambeau field. There are many traditions, but one of the most treasured ones, is the Lambeau Leap. Any time a player scores a touchdown, they make a running jump into the stands, for a moment with the fans. I am fairly certain Scott Tolzien dreamed of doing The Leap many times when he was on a cold practice field in the Midwest.
This past Sunday, the Packers got off to a rough start, but then it happened. Scott Tolzien, running for his life with no one to throw the ball to, ran into the end zone and got his first professional career running touchdown. What came next? Of course! The Lambeau Leap! Something only a small group of kids who play football will ever grow up to experience.
Now if this was a Hollywood movie, he would go on to win the game and be the hero of all cheese heads across the nation. But like I said, sometimes real life can run you down.
He didn’t play well the rest of the game and got pulled in the third quarter. Another backup quarterback came in and managed to tie the game. One headline read, “Packers replace ineffective Scott Tolzien.”
From living your dream to being ineffective, all in the space of one afternoon. Did I mention that attitude of gratitude thing can be a little difficult?
Which brings me back to what I am going to be thankful for this holiday. I am going to be thankful for the Lambeau Leaps of every day. Those moments, no
matter how brief, that are perfect. No matter what else happens around them.
Wishing you and yours a holiday of your very own Lambeau Leaps.

MY VIEW FROM THE STAGE
After a fun weekend with L.A. Lyon at The Starting Gate, I sat down Sunday night to catch the American Music Awards. I have huge respect for anyone who gets to that level in the music industry and I have been a fan of music since I got my first pop record at age four. I know everyone has their favorites, but here are a few things that stood out for me.
Lady Gaga and R Kelly- REALLY? Didn't doing little mini plays of your song go out with the eighties? Remember the video for "Love Is A Battlefield"? I know Pat Benatar wishes we didn't!
Miley Cyrus- despite her many shenanigans, she's got a body that won't quit and SHE CAN SING! It made me want to download "Wrecking Ball" because I couldn't get it out of my head!
Macklemore and Ryan Lewis- I love to see these guys do well because they did it without a record company and they always try to bring a positive message to everything they do. Including promoting not wasting your money on expensive clothes and treating everyone equal. Two not so bad things to practice in your life every day.
Imagine Dragons- not overly fond of their music, but they gave one of the most entertaining performances of the night. A lot of energy and they really looked like they wanted to be there. And for me, that is what doing music should be all about!
After a fun weekend with L.A. Lyon at The Starting Gate, I sat down Sunday night to catch the American Music Awards. I have huge respect for anyone who gets to that level in the music industry and I have been a fan of music since I got my first pop record at age four. I know everyone has their favorites, but here are a few things that stood out for me.
Lady Gaga and R Kelly- REALLY? Didn't doing little mini plays of your song go out with the eighties? Remember the video for "Love Is A Battlefield"? I know Pat Benatar wishes we didn't!
Miley Cyrus- despite her many shenanigans, she's got a body that won't quit and SHE CAN SING! It made me want to download "Wrecking Ball" because I couldn't get it out of my head!
Macklemore and Ryan Lewis- I love to see these guys do well because they did it without a record company and they always try to bring a positive message to everything they do. Including promoting not wasting your money on expensive clothes and treating everyone equal. Two not so bad things to practice in your life every day.
Imagine Dragons- not overly fond of their music, but they gave one of the most entertaining performances of the night. A lot of energy and they really looked like they wanted to be there. And for me, that is what doing music should be all about!

MY VIEW FROM THE STAGE
It has been 15 years since I took over running my band L.A. Lyon. During those years it has been frustrating, stressful and just plain hard. It has also been one of the main sources of pride and joy in my life (song title anyone?). It has also given me super powers and turned me into a super hero. To show you what I mean, let me go back a couple
of years.
“So, what makes you the person you are?”
Halfway through this particular job interview, I had already decided not only did I not see myself working for this
company; I didn’t even like the person interviewing me. The fact that this VP was smugly thinking this was the most creative interview question ever (I had heard it in three of my previous interviews and have even used it myself) annoyed me even further.
If you read articles on how to ace an interview, the answer to that question, is never listed as, “I put on short skirts, shake my groove thing and stay out until all hours of the morning in the clubs. This experience has made me realize that I am a superhero with super powers.”
I did not give this answer. I gave something rehearsed that I had gotten off a website.
This is the major dilemma of being a superhero with a secret life. The experiences that define you can’t be included in a resume.
Smash cut to the weekend before the interview.
“You are going to kill me.” Rene, L.A. Lyon’s guitar player and I are on the stage at The Starting Gate in Los Alamitos on a packed weekend night. We are ten minutes from start time and approximately 100 hundred people are waiting to dance.
“Why is that?” I ask calmly, although I feel a tiny ball of sweat rolling down my back.
“NOTHING is working.” I notice more than a little sweat around his brow.
“Define nothing.” I am still trying to be calm.
“No sound is coming out of my amp. It’s dead.”
We are a four piece dance band with a bass, guitar, drummer and me singing lead, along with some computer tracks. We are about to start to a packed house
and we are one fourth short of our instrumentation.
“What have you tried?” I ask, although I already know the answer.
“Everything,” he answers, as expected. “I am so sorry.”
I know sorry is not going to cut it. Not with the crowd, not with the management.
“We are going to have to go without it and fix it on the break,” I say confidently, even though I have no idea whether we can
pull that off. “Let me work the song list around. Put the guitar on, pretend to play and keep smiling. Let’s rock this thing.”
45 minutes later, at the completion of a first set where the dance floor had been filled from first song to last, Don, my significant other, approaches the stage. He has seen us at least one hundred times.“Everything sounds great, except the guitar could be a little louder in the mix.”
“Thanks,” I say, as Rene’s wife Lisa rolls in a second amp, having driven down in her pajamas. “I’ll make the adjustment.”
The night has once again been saved by one of the least known of the super heroes. The Girl In The Band.
When I was growing up in Wisconsin, I loved music. I thought the coolest thing in the world had to be being the girl in the band. I mean, you got to sing in front of adoring fans and you got to hang with a bunch of cool musicians.
When I was seventeen and could finally drive, I started calling every ad I could find for female vocalists. My first band audition was a train wreck. I was so nervous, my voice cracked at least six times. Unable to differentiate between fortitude and blind stupidity, I continued to audition. I eventually got in a rock band that was loud, short on any business sense and desperate for a singer. I got over my nerves and actually did pretty well. My favorite part of a gig was walking across the club during a break and hearing someone say, “Hey, aren’t you the girl in the band? You sound great!”
After a few years and more than a few bands, I decided to head to Los Angeles. I wanted to run my own band in one of the biggest music cities in the world. Stardom seemed just around the corner.
Success in the music industry was not to be. I fell into a customer service job and got promoted quickly to middle management. On the weekends, I sang in a cover band. It was pretty hard managing both, but when the guitar player who was helping me run things quit, it looked really dismal. I was faced with shutting it down or figuring out how I was going to run the whole thing myself.
Both prospects seemed dismal. Although some aspects of running a band I done for years, the technical stuff was totally out of my league. I had no idea how to set up and run an entire sound system. The computer sequences that we used for the keyboard and horn parts were totally foreign to me. Even the simple act of physically moving heavy sound equipment seemed absolutely impossible. The other guys in the band were quitting and I would basically be starting from
scratch for musicians.
One person saw no problem with this situation. Don, my significant other.
“You make a list of what you need to do and check things off as you go along,” he said as if I was going to the grocery store. “This is the one thing you always
dreamed of! You’ll do great!”
I wasn’t in the mood to hear his half baked philosophies on the powers of positive thinking. I felt heart broken that I was about to loose the one thing in my life I loved doing more than anything else.
But everybody knows, super heroes don’t give up.
I made the suggested list and started checking off the items.
I traded my sports car for a pickup truck. I read manuals and books on doing sound and creating sequences. I bought a hand truck with a cable operated lift that allowed me, by myself, to get an 80 pound subwoofer in the club and on the stage.
It was all fine, but the truth of the matter was without the right players, I couldn’t have a band. I mean, what is Batman without Robin? Who would want to play with me? I had only a couple of low paying gigs on the horizon. Making it more difficult, I needed people who could sing and play, since I couldn’t afford to pay
any more than three other musicians.
I started with finding a new guitar player. A couple were adequate players, but none of them could play and sing. I was down to my last group of auditions when in came a dark haired unassuming guy who had never been in a cover band before. Rene was a guitar teacher, looking for something that might bring in some
additional income. We started playing and I knew thirty seconds in, that he could more that handle the guitar part of the job. But could he sing? My heart was pounding and I was as nervous as if I was the one auditioning. We got to the first chorus and I almost held my breath. Then I heard it. A clean and perfect harmony over my part, as good as anyone I had ever been in a band with and as good as the original recording.
“That was good,” I remember saying when we finished the song, but I wanted to say, “You saved my dream!”
Rene has super powers too. Besides dream saving and harmonies, he has the ability to transfer any vague musical idea I have in my head to an on the stage
reality.
A few low rent gigs later, the rest of the band started to come together. I had worked with Eric several years before in another band and miraculously, he had become available. He is a natural entertainer, a great singer, and a funky bass player. He had been in a popular R and B band in the 80s that had a number one record and then got dropped by their record company. Eric also possesses super powers. Bad feelings and bitterness bounce off him, unable to permeate his being. He always says, “Who knows what would have happened if our record company hadn’t dropped us? I could be dead from a drug overdose instead of still doing what I love, playing music and spreading the word of God!”
Eric’s positive, outgoing personality and “wing it”attitude are in sharp contrast to Rene, who hates surprises, likes everything to be done correctly and can sometimes be quiet and thoughtful. Despite three very distinct personalities, we compliment each other beautifully. Drummers have come and gone, mostly returning to their homeland of Japan, but they have all been professional, talented and easy to work with. Tsugumi, our latest addition, also has a super power. His smile and enthusiasm for music and dancing makes everyone around him smile too!
Over the years, my super powers have continued to grow. Having previously thought of myself as a non-technical type, I am now “ an expert in managing people and
technology” (a quote from my resume). After a full day of dealing with Corporate America, I can eat dinner in my car in 210 traffic and make it to the gig in time to haul in and ser up all the equipment. No sleep for 24 hours? That's called Friday to this super hero.
There are still some days when I think, “I can’t do this. I can’t keep this life going one more day.” Even super heroes have their doubts. But then I remember.
I am The Girl In The Band.
I know I am not alone, being a super hero. Single parents, small business owners, soldiers, great teachers, people fighting serious illness, so many people we encounter every day, are living the secret life of a super hero. We don’t have a specific Super Hero Day. Maybe we should. Or maybe every day, we should celebrate the super hero in our lives and in ourselves.
It has been 15 years since I took over running my band L.A. Lyon. During those years it has been frustrating, stressful and just plain hard. It has also been one of the main sources of pride and joy in my life (song title anyone?). It has also given me super powers and turned me into a super hero. To show you what I mean, let me go back a couple
of years.
“So, what makes you the person you are?”
Halfway through this particular job interview, I had already decided not only did I not see myself working for this
company; I didn’t even like the person interviewing me. The fact that this VP was smugly thinking this was the most creative interview question ever (I had heard it in three of my previous interviews and have even used it myself) annoyed me even further.
If you read articles on how to ace an interview, the answer to that question, is never listed as, “I put on short skirts, shake my groove thing and stay out until all hours of the morning in the clubs. This experience has made me realize that I am a superhero with super powers.”
I did not give this answer. I gave something rehearsed that I had gotten off a website.
This is the major dilemma of being a superhero with a secret life. The experiences that define you can’t be included in a resume.
Smash cut to the weekend before the interview.
“You are going to kill me.” Rene, L.A. Lyon’s guitar player and I are on the stage at The Starting Gate in Los Alamitos on a packed weekend night. We are ten minutes from start time and approximately 100 hundred people are waiting to dance.
“Why is that?” I ask calmly, although I feel a tiny ball of sweat rolling down my back.
“NOTHING is working.” I notice more than a little sweat around his brow.
“Define nothing.” I am still trying to be calm.
“No sound is coming out of my amp. It’s dead.”
We are a four piece dance band with a bass, guitar, drummer and me singing lead, along with some computer tracks. We are about to start to a packed house
and we are one fourth short of our instrumentation.
“What have you tried?” I ask, although I already know the answer.
“Everything,” he answers, as expected. “I am so sorry.”
I know sorry is not going to cut it. Not with the crowd, not with the management.
“We are going to have to go without it and fix it on the break,” I say confidently, even though I have no idea whether we can
pull that off. “Let me work the song list around. Put the guitar on, pretend to play and keep smiling. Let’s rock this thing.”
45 minutes later, at the completion of a first set where the dance floor had been filled from first song to last, Don, my significant other, approaches the stage. He has seen us at least one hundred times.“Everything sounds great, except the guitar could be a little louder in the mix.”
“Thanks,” I say, as Rene’s wife Lisa rolls in a second amp, having driven down in her pajamas. “I’ll make the adjustment.”
The night has once again been saved by one of the least known of the super heroes. The Girl In The Band.
When I was growing up in Wisconsin, I loved music. I thought the coolest thing in the world had to be being the girl in the band. I mean, you got to sing in front of adoring fans and you got to hang with a bunch of cool musicians.
When I was seventeen and could finally drive, I started calling every ad I could find for female vocalists. My first band audition was a train wreck. I was so nervous, my voice cracked at least six times. Unable to differentiate between fortitude and blind stupidity, I continued to audition. I eventually got in a rock band that was loud, short on any business sense and desperate for a singer. I got over my nerves and actually did pretty well. My favorite part of a gig was walking across the club during a break and hearing someone say, “Hey, aren’t you the girl in the band? You sound great!”
After a few years and more than a few bands, I decided to head to Los Angeles. I wanted to run my own band in one of the biggest music cities in the world. Stardom seemed just around the corner.
Success in the music industry was not to be. I fell into a customer service job and got promoted quickly to middle management. On the weekends, I sang in a cover band. It was pretty hard managing both, but when the guitar player who was helping me run things quit, it looked really dismal. I was faced with shutting it down or figuring out how I was going to run the whole thing myself.
Both prospects seemed dismal. Although some aspects of running a band I done for years, the technical stuff was totally out of my league. I had no idea how to set up and run an entire sound system. The computer sequences that we used for the keyboard and horn parts were totally foreign to me. Even the simple act of physically moving heavy sound equipment seemed absolutely impossible. The other guys in the band were quitting and I would basically be starting from
scratch for musicians.
One person saw no problem with this situation. Don, my significant other.
“You make a list of what you need to do and check things off as you go along,” he said as if I was going to the grocery store. “This is the one thing you always
dreamed of! You’ll do great!”
I wasn’t in the mood to hear his half baked philosophies on the powers of positive thinking. I felt heart broken that I was about to loose the one thing in my life I loved doing more than anything else.
But everybody knows, super heroes don’t give up.
I made the suggested list and started checking off the items.
I traded my sports car for a pickup truck. I read manuals and books on doing sound and creating sequences. I bought a hand truck with a cable operated lift that allowed me, by myself, to get an 80 pound subwoofer in the club and on the stage.
It was all fine, but the truth of the matter was without the right players, I couldn’t have a band. I mean, what is Batman without Robin? Who would want to play with me? I had only a couple of low paying gigs on the horizon. Making it more difficult, I needed people who could sing and play, since I couldn’t afford to pay
any more than three other musicians.
I started with finding a new guitar player. A couple were adequate players, but none of them could play and sing. I was down to my last group of auditions when in came a dark haired unassuming guy who had never been in a cover band before. Rene was a guitar teacher, looking for something that might bring in some
additional income. We started playing and I knew thirty seconds in, that he could more that handle the guitar part of the job. But could he sing? My heart was pounding and I was as nervous as if I was the one auditioning. We got to the first chorus and I almost held my breath. Then I heard it. A clean and perfect harmony over my part, as good as anyone I had ever been in a band with and as good as the original recording.
“That was good,” I remember saying when we finished the song, but I wanted to say, “You saved my dream!”
Rene has super powers too. Besides dream saving and harmonies, he has the ability to transfer any vague musical idea I have in my head to an on the stage
reality.
A few low rent gigs later, the rest of the band started to come together. I had worked with Eric several years before in another band and miraculously, he had become available. He is a natural entertainer, a great singer, and a funky bass player. He had been in a popular R and B band in the 80s that had a number one record and then got dropped by their record company. Eric also possesses super powers. Bad feelings and bitterness bounce off him, unable to permeate his being. He always says, “Who knows what would have happened if our record company hadn’t dropped us? I could be dead from a drug overdose instead of still doing what I love, playing music and spreading the word of God!”
Eric’s positive, outgoing personality and “wing it”attitude are in sharp contrast to Rene, who hates surprises, likes everything to be done correctly and can sometimes be quiet and thoughtful. Despite three very distinct personalities, we compliment each other beautifully. Drummers have come and gone, mostly returning to their homeland of Japan, but they have all been professional, talented and easy to work with. Tsugumi, our latest addition, also has a super power. His smile and enthusiasm for music and dancing makes everyone around him smile too!
Over the years, my super powers have continued to grow. Having previously thought of myself as a non-technical type, I am now “ an expert in managing people and
technology” (a quote from my resume). After a full day of dealing with Corporate America, I can eat dinner in my car in 210 traffic and make it to the gig in time to haul in and ser up all the equipment. No sleep for 24 hours? That's called Friday to this super hero.
There are still some days when I think, “I can’t do this. I can’t keep this life going one more day.” Even super heroes have their doubts. But then I remember.
I am The Girl In The Band.
I know I am not alone, being a super hero. Single parents, small business owners, soldiers, great teachers, people fighting serious illness, so many people we encounter every day, are living the secret life of a super hero. We don’t have a specific Super Hero Day. Maybe we should. Or maybe every day, we should celebrate the super hero in our lives and in ourselves.

MY VIEW FROM THE STAGE
Last Friday, L.A. Lyon performed at Tumbleweed's in Huntington Beach. We always have a fun people there that love to dance. We even had a group come in with Halloween costumes, even though Halloween had been the night before! I guess they just wanted to keep the party going!
Saturday I took advantage of the extra hour, slept in a little and after a day of chores and errands, sat down to watch the Breeders Cup Classic horse race from beautiful Santa Anita racetrack in Arcadia. I have lived in the Pasadena area almost since the day I moved to California from Wisconsin. Since I grew up going to the track with my father and love horse racing, I have been to Santa Anita many times, including a few Breeders Cups. If you don't know anything about horse racing, the Breeders Cup Classic is one of the biggest races there is, just behind the three Triple Crown races.
Even if you don't like the idea of betting on horses running around a track, the stories of the horses and the people who ride and train them rival any Hollywood movie. In fact, one of the jockeys riding in the Breeders Cup, Gary Stevens, has been in the movies, including a role in "Seabiscuit" and the HBO show "Luck".
What makes Gary Stevens' story so special right now, is he was retired from horse racing for seven years. He returned earlier this year and even though he has won many big races, he had never won the Breeders Cup Classic. Did I mention he is 50 years old?
He was riding a horse named Mucho Macho Man. The horse's trainer is Kathy Ritvo, a woman, who just a few years back, became a heart transplant recipient. Did I also mention that a woman trainer has never won the Breeders Cup?
So a 50 year old jockey who never thought he would ever win a Breeders Cup and a woman who at one point, thought she might not be on this earth, team up to try to do the impossible and yes, you guessed it, they win the race, literally by a nose. Had it been a movie, I would have been the first one saying, "How corny! Way impossible!"
What really struck me was Gary Stevens' comment after the race. He said he never thought he would win a Breeders Cup Classic, let alone at the age of 50, in the year 2013. How many times have you thought, "I will never..." or "I am too old to...."?
2014 is just around the corner. When it comes time to making those resolutions or just setting some goals for next year, try thinking of Gary Stevens and Kathy Ritvo. Maybe you have a movie coming up in your life too!
Last Friday, L.A. Lyon performed at Tumbleweed's in Huntington Beach. We always have a fun people there that love to dance. We even had a group come in with Halloween costumes, even though Halloween had been the night before! I guess they just wanted to keep the party going!
Saturday I took advantage of the extra hour, slept in a little and after a day of chores and errands, sat down to watch the Breeders Cup Classic horse race from beautiful Santa Anita racetrack in Arcadia. I have lived in the Pasadena area almost since the day I moved to California from Wisconsin. Since I grew up going to the track with my father and love horse racing, I have been to Santa Anita many times, including a few Breeders Cups. If you don't know anything about horse racing, the Breeders Cup Classic is one of the biggest races there is, just behind the three Triple Crown races.
Even if you don't like the idea of betting on horses running around a track, the stories of the horses and the people who ride and train them rival any Hollywood movie. In fact, one of the jockeys riding in the Breeders Cup, Gary Stevens, has been in the movies, including a role in "Seabiscuit" and the HBO show "Luck".
What makes Gary Stevens' story so special right now, is he was retired from horse racing for seven years. He returned earlier this year and even though he has won many big races, he had never won the Breeders Cup Classic. Did I mention he is 50 years old?
He was riding a horse named Mucho Macho Man. The horse's trainer is Kathy Ritvo, a woman, who just a few years back, became a heart transplant recipient. Did I also mention that a woman trainer has never won the Breeders Cup?
So a 50 year old jockey who never thought he would ever win a Breeders Cup and a woman who at one point, thought she might not be on this earth, team up to try to do the impossible and yes, you guessed it, they win the race, literally by a nose. Had it been a movie, I would have been the first one saying, "How corny! Way impossible!"
What really struck me was Gary Stevens' comment after the race. He said he never thought he would win a Breeders Cup Classic, let alone at the age of 50, in the year 2013. How many times have you thought, "I will never..." or "I am too old to...."?
2014 is just around the corner. When it comes time to making those resolutions or just setting some goals for next year, try thinking of Gary Stevens and Kathy Ritvo. Maybe you have a movie coming up in your life too!

MY VIEW FROM THE STAGE
The Halloween celebrations began this weekend. L.A. Lyon performed at Route 66 Roadhouse and Tavern and as usual in Duarte, we had a great time. Still, I have a confession to make. I am not particularly fond of Halloween. I know what you are thinking. How could anyone not like trick or treat? Candy and carmel apples? Pumpkins carved with funny faces? All great, I admit. The problem is I have ZERO Halloween creativity! While other people are downloading recipes for Jack-0-Lantern brownie bites and decorating their yards with paper mache skeletons, my contribution is orange nail polish. Looking out from the stage over the years, I have seen some of the most creative costumes you could ever think of. (A shout out to Jameson last year in his Lady Gaga costume). While on stage, I am usually in something I either bought or put together a couple of nights before. Carve a pumpkin? I would probably end up in the emergency room with half a finger missing! I am the Scrooge of Halloween. Which might be why last night, I had a visit from the Ghost of Halloween past. He had a great costume as an old Pizza Hut restaurant table. He took me through my Halloween life, where every Trick Or Treat, my mother took me down to the local store and had me pick from those boxed costumes with the masks that got fogged up when you breathed on them and the highly flammable plastic tie on gowns. Through my adulthood club days ,when I was once painted half my face black and half my face white ,going as a zebra. Of course, getting sweaty on the dance floor, by mid-evening it was all one gray mess! What did I learn from my visit through Halloween pasts? That as a participant, this isn't my holiday! I am doomed from birth to be Halloween challenged!
But as in all visits from past ghosts, there was a lesson I had missed. Sometimes, you don't need to have a view from the stage. It can be just as fulfilling to have a view from the audience.
So to all you highly creative Halloween fanatics, this is dedicated to you! Let me go find my seat.
The Halloween celebrations began this weekend. L.A. Lyon performed at Route 66 Roadhouse and Tavern and as usual in Duarte, we had a great time. Still, I have a confession to make. I am not particularly fond of Halloween. I know what you are thinking. How could anyone not like trick or treat? Candy and carmel apples? Pumpkins carved with funny faces? All great, I admit. The problem is I have ZERO Halloween creativity! While other people are downloading recipes for Jack-0-Lantern brownie bites and decorating their yards with paper mache skeletons, my contribution is orange nail polish. Looking out from the stage over the years, I have seen some of the most creative costumes you could ever think of. (A shout out to Jameson last year in his Lady Gaga costume). While on stage, I am usually in something I either bought or put together a couple of nights before. Carve a pumpkin? I would probably end up in the emergency room with half a finger missing! I am the Scrooge of Halloween. Which might be why last night, I had a visit from the Ghost of Halloween past. He had a great costume as an old Pizza Hut restaurant table. He took me through my Halloween life, where every Trick Or Treat, my mother took me down to the local store and had me pick from those boxed costumes with the masks that got fogged up when you breathed on them and the highly flammable plastic tie on gowns. Through my adulthood club days ,when I was once painted half my face black and half my face white ,going as a zebra. Of course, getting sweaty on the dance floor, by mid-evening it was all one gray mess! What did I learn from my visit through Halloween pasts? That as a participant, this isn't my holiday! I am doomed from birth to be Halloween challenged!
But as in all visits from past ghosts, there was a lesson I had missed. Sometimes, you don't need to have a view from the stage. It can be just as fulfilling to have a view from the audience.
So to all you highly creative Halloween fanatics, this is dedicated to you! Let me go find my seat.

MY VIEW FROM THE STAGE
This past weekend, my band L.A. Lyon played at The Starting Gate in Los Alamitos. It was a fun weekend and we really enjoyed making music for all the great regulars that came out! Saturday night while we were doing the song "Get Lucky" by Daft Punk, I started thinking about what had happened to me Saturday afternoon.
I was doing my typical Saturday errands. I had just loaded up my truck with groceries from Wal Mart and I turned the key to head less than a mile back to my house. NOTHING. Except a clicking sound and a CHECK BATTERY light. I tried it several times, sure I had maybe not put the key in correctly (yes, denial is a wonderful thing), but it soon became pretty clear the battery had gone to the big Auto Parts in the sky. It was a warm afternoon and I was a little freaked out. I didn't want the groceries to go bad, I had to get to The Starting Gate in a few hours and I needed my truck to carry all the equipment home. I quickly pulled out my AAA card and hoped for the best.
And the best it was! The guy with the tow truck showed up within 15 minutes and confirmed there was an issue with the battery. He also had one to replace it in his truck and for under $100.00, it was in and I was back home, groceries still cold, within ten minutes!
Which brings me back to the song, "Get Lucky." It was easy for my first reaction to the battery dilemma to be "How unlucky for me". but in reality, that wasn't the case. What if it had happened Friday night when I left work and was on my way to The Starting Gate? I would have been late and we might have kept everyone who came to see us waiting. What if it had happened Friday night after we finished? I would have been sitting in a lonely parking lot waiting for a tow truck at 300 a.m. What if had been something else, something like a starter or an alternator that would have been two to three times more expensive in a tight budget month?
"Get Lucky?" As I sang the song Saturday night, I realized I already had!
This past weekend, my band L.A. Lyon played at The Starting Gate in Los Alamitos. It was a fun weekend and we really enjoyed making music for all the great regulars that came out! Saturday night while we were doing the song "Get Lucky" by Daft Punk, I started thinking about what had happened to me Saturday afternoon.
I was doing my typical Saturday errands. I had just loaded up my truck with groceries from Wal Mart and I turned the key to head less than a mile back to my house. NOTHING. Except a clicking sound and a CHECK BATTERY light. I tried it several times, sure I had maybe not put the key in correctly (yes, denial is a wonderful thing), but it soon became pretty clear the battery had gone to the big Auto Parts in the sky. It was a warm afternoon and I was a little freaked out. I didn't want the groceries to go bad, I had to get to The Starting Gate in a few hours and I needed my truck to carry all the equipment home. I quickly pulled out my AAA card and hoped for the best.
And the best it was! The guy with the tow truck showed up within 15 minutes and confirmed there was an issue with the battery. He also had one to replace it in his truck and for under $100.00, it was in and I was back home, groceries still cold, within ten minutes!
Which brings me back to the song, "Get Lucky." It was easy for my first reaction to the battery dilemma to be "How unlucky for me". but in reality, that wasn't the case. What if it had happened Friday night when I left work and was on my way to The Starting Gate? I would have been late and we might have kept everyone who came to see us waiting. What if it had happened Friday night after we finished? I would have been sitting in a lonely parking lot waiting for a tow truck at 300 a.m. What if had been something else, something like a starter or an alternator that would have been two to three times more expensive in a tight budget month?
"Get Lucky?" As I sang the song Saturday night, I realized I already had!

MY SUNDAY ODE
- If you had a secret camera posted in my living room on any given Sunday (let's overlook the creepy factor of that last statement!), you would wonder why someone would put themselves through watching football from the morning to the evening. Currently in two "pick the winners" pools, Don, my significant other, and I have a vested interest in almost every single game. With the Direct TV NFL package, changing from game to game, we go from shouts of jubilation to name calling and swearing that would put any rapper to shame. (I confess, mostly me on the name calling and swearing!) Yet, after another tough week of work, money management stress and a weekend with chores and two gigs with my band L.A. Lyon (thanks Blarney Stone and Original Mike's and everyone who came out!) there is no other way I would pick to de-stress than to get stressed about the NFL. From the Packers nail biting victory to watching Don do his "I love Tom Brady" moonwalk dance while holding an ice cream sundae in one hand, there is no other way I would rather spend a Sunday during football season. For those hours, my issues are on hold and sitting in my Green Bay sweat pants surrounded by pizza boxes, my only worry is screaming, "Look out Aaron!" to make sure number 12 doesn't get sacked. Watching a good romantic tear jerker, playing Auto Theft 5 or just sitting on your deck with a glass of wine, find your Sunday Ode and live it. You deserve it!

MY VIEW FROM THE STAGE
A few weeks back,Eric, my long time bass player, had connected with Mark Lipp, one of our old band mates. Mark had not only introduced me to Eric, one of my musical partners, but also Don, my long time personal partner. Turns out Mark has just written a book, “An Addict Within” about his experience with a drug addicted child. Check out the book at smashwords right now and October 31st at Amazon, ITunes and Barnes and Noble.
Mark and his lovely wife Yhali, came down for a reunion this past Saturday when L.A. Lyon was at Tumbleweeds in Huntington Beach. Even though it had been over 15 years since we had seen Mark, his sense of humor was still the same and we spent part of the evening caching up and laughing at Mark’s great perspective on some of the trials and tribulations of his life.
It got me thinking about the very first time I met Eric, over 20 years ago.
I was the lead singer in Mark’s band and we had just lost another bass player. After several auditions, we had decided to have Eric join. Between the time he had first come down and the first rehearsal, issues had developed with our percussionist. He had disappeared for over four weeks, with no contact, missing several gigs.
Pulling into the parking lot for Eric ‘s first rehearsal, I saw the percussionist’s truck. He had shown up at the rehearsal, uninvited, and now expected to assume his role in the band, including playing and being paid for the upcoming weekend gigs.
I was furious! No phone calls, no word, nothing? Mark informed me that our band mate had been having some personal issues and that he didn’t feel he could fire him since they had been friends.
“I can fire him,” I said bravely. This was long before my management career had begun and I had never fired anyone. Yet, the thought of someone leaving us high and dry and then showing up, expecting a full cut of our merger earnings made me crazy enough to think I could pull it off.
“Go for it, “ Mark said.
Eric knew nothing of the back story and had just spent the last 20 minutes laughing and talking with this guy, thinking he had just come into the happiest band on earth. All of the sudden, the girl in the band was telling the percussionist he was fired. A very heated argument erupted, including some bad name calling. At the end, the percussionist left in a very dramatic fashion and the keyboard player looked me in the eye and said,” You are really cold blooded.” Time to rehearse!
I asked Eric years later, what his thoughts were.
“Well, I was thinking two things,” he said honestly. "One, never be late for a rehearsal because you will be fired. Two, I don't I will be working with this B for very long!”
Smash cut to 2013. Eric and I have been working together in L.A. Lyon for over ten years. Even when things are going horribly wrong with our equipment or the crowd just isn’t feeling us, he makes me laugh. His faith and optimism constantly reminds me to stay positive and find the good in life.
Think about it. How many times have you met someone and thought nothing would come of it, not realizing you had just met a life long friend or even a life partner?
Life is full of surprises. Cherish every one of them!
A few weeks back,Eric, my long time bass player, had connected with Mark Lipp, one of our old band mates. Mark had not only introduced me to Eric, one of my musical partners, but also Don, my long time personal partner. Turns out Mark has just written a book, “An Addict Within” about his experience with a drug addicted child. Check out the book at smashwords right now and October 31st at Amazon, ITunes and Barnes and Noble.
Mark and his lovely wife Yhali, came down for a reunion this past Saturday when L.A. Lyon was at Tumbleweeds in Huntington Beach. Even though it had been over 15 years since we had seen Mark, his sense of humor was still the same and we spent part of the evening caching up and laughing at Mark’s great perspective on some of the trials and tribulations of his life.
It got me thinking about the very first time I met Eric, over 20 years ago.
I was the lead singer in Mark’s band and we had just lost another bass player. After several auditions, we had decided to have Eric join. Between the time he had first come down and the first rehearsal, issues had developed with our percussionist. He had disappeared for over four weeks, with no contact, missing several gigs.
Pulling into the parking lot for Eric ‘s first rehearsal, I saw the percussionist’s truck. He had shown up at the rehearsal, uninvited, and now expected to assume his role in the band, including playing and being paid for the upcoming weekend gigs.
I was furious! No phone calls, no word, nothing? Mark informed me that our band mate had been having some personal issues and that he didn’t feel he could fire him since they had been friends.
“I can fire him,” I said bravely. This was long before my management career had begun and I had never fired anyone. Yet, the thought of someone leaving us high and dry and then showing up, expecting a full cut of our merger earnings made me crazy enough to think I could pull it off.
“Go for it, “ Mark said.
Eric knew nothing of the back story and had just spent the last 20 minutes laughing and talking with this guy, thinking he had just come into the happiest band on earth. All of the sudden, the girl in the band was telling the percussionist he was fired. A very heated argument erupted, including some bad name calling. At the end, the percussionist left in a very dramatic fashion and the keyboard player looked me in the eye and said,” You are really cold blooded.” Time to rehearse!
I asked Eric years later, what his thoughts were.
“Well, I was thinking two things,” he said honestly. "One, never be late for a rehearsal because you will be fired. Two, I don't I will be working with this B for very long!”
Smash cut to 2013. Eric and I have been working together in L.A. Lyon for over ten years. Even when things are going horribly wrong with our equipment or the crowd just isn’t feeling us, he makes me laugh. His faith and optimism constantly reminds me to stay positive and find the good in life.
Think about it. How many times have you met someone and thought nothing would come of it, not realizing you had just met a life long friend or even a life partner?
Life is full of surprises. Cherish every one of them!
MY VIEW FROM THE STAGE

This weekend, my band L.A. Lyon performed at The Blarney Stone in Fountain Valley, California. The photo at the left is the tiny area we set up in. One of our wonderful followers made a comment about it saying, "Boy you guys play a lot of different places, don't you? What is your favorite?"
It got me thinking about all the years of playing music and all the different situations you find yourself in. I have done weddings, bar mitzahs, birthday parties, baby showers and retirement parties. Although I have never been on the cover of a magazine, it is wonderful to know I am in numerous photographs and videos of people's life changing events and that I contributed to making their special day more fun and entertaining!
I have performed at music festivals, church festivals, a historic ocean liner, a navy base and even at a strip club between dancers! The clubs and casinos we perform at regularly range from holding 40 people to 400 people. Some of the stages we could bring a group of dancers with us and some, like The Blarney Stone, we have to line up in a row to be able to fit.
So which place is my favorite? That's easy. The place where my view from the stage is a group of people, all ages and races, dancing and having a great time together. The place where someone walks up to me and says, "I had a really lousy week at work, but tonight was a party and it made me forget all about it!"
Which place is that? Every place, every weekend!
It got me thinking about all the years of playing music and all the different situations you find yourself in. I have done weddings, bar mitzahs, birthday parties, baby showers and retirement parties. Although I have never been on the cover of a magazine, it is wonderful to know I am in numerous photographs and videos of people's life changing events and that I contributed to making their special day more fun and entertaining!
I have performed at music festivals, church festivals, a historic ocean liner, a navy base and even at a strip club between dancers! The clubs and casinos we perform at regularly range from holding 40 people to 400 people. Some of the stages we could bring a group of dancers with us and some, like The Blarney Stone, we have to line up in a row to be able to fit.
So which place is my favorite? That's easy. The place where my view from the stage is a group of people, all ages and races, dancing and having a great time together. The place where someone walks up to me and says, "I had a really lousy week at work, but tonight was a party and it made me forget all about it!"
Which place is that? Every place, every weekend!
MY VIEW FROM THE STARTING GATE STAGE THIS WEEKEND
Another fun weekend at The Starting Gate in Los Alamitos with my band L.A. Lyon! Check out a few pics I took from the stage!
Cathy and Sally, two of the great "Ladies of The Gate"!
Getting down on the dance floor!
On break, Tsugumi showing his Cabo Wabo skills, while Tessie tries to help Eric find the steps. Looks like "Dancing With The Stars" may not be in Eric's future!
A fun night of music and dancing with the great group at The Starting Gate!
BEHIND THE SCENES

The picture on the left, is the fun part of the night, making music with my band L.A. Lyon. There is another part of the evening that only those people who get to the club early ever get to see! How does a night of great music in a club start? Check out the link below to see a new video from aspiring filmmaker Joanna Lehrmann on another part of what it is really like to be The Girl In The Band!
To view the video, copy the entire text below, paste into your browser and hit enter!
https://www.dropbox.com/s/5j8nvfcytdoenv2/La%20Lyon%202%20%281st%20Cut%29-1.mp4
AN INSIDE LOOK AT CHOOSING A BAND FOR YOUR EVENT

Don and I went to a wedding this weekend. It was a beautiful venue in San Juan Capistrano (see above). The wine and food were great, the photo booth was fun (check out the pictures on the left), the bride was beautiful and we danced and enjoyed the company of wonderful friends. The only thing missing was a live band. Don’t get me wrong, the DJ did a great job, but for me there is nothing like a great live band!
That being said, there are a lot of things to consider when booking a live band for a wedding, holiday party or birthday celebration. My band L.A. Lyon has done a ton of successful events, but over the years, we have had some near disasters. Here are a few of our worst wedding experiences and how you can make sure they don’t happen to you!
Back Up Equipment:
One question I would ask any band you plan on using for a special event is what about backup equipment? We were doing a gig one night on the Queen Mary in Long Beach, California, when suddenly, our power amp/mixing board shut down. We were thirty minutes from finishing the night, but suddenly, we had no PA, meaning, no microphones, no keyboard sounds, nothing that was running
through the speakers, including recorded music. Imagine this happens at your wedding and are getting ready for the first dance. Pandora on your smart phone anyone? On this particular night, I had the guys play an instrumental, shut the system down, brought it back up and it worked for exactly another 25 minutes, allowing us to finish the night. The next day I went out and bought another mixing board and to this day, I never go to a show without the spare. One question you should ask any band you are interested in hiring is, what is your back up plan if something fails? If they say nothing ever fails, pass. They are either lying or they
aren’t very experienced and you don’t want either one.
Chatty Relatives:
We did a wedding where the bride’s mother wanted to say a few words at the reception. Not too unusual, but after one too many glasses of Cab, she started sharing with everyone her displeasure with her daughter’s choice of a husband. I was trying to decide whether to fake a medical emergency or a power failure when her daughter finally grabbed the microphone out of her hand and said, “Thank you mother, that’s enough!” If you think you might be heading to some uncomfortable moments with your relatives, work out with your band leader a hand signal to cut the microphone. It can save you a lot of embarrassment and possible unwanted You Tube hits.
Setting The Band Next to The Chicken Kiev:
If you expect the band to be able to set up five minutes after the buffet table is moved, you are going to be sorely disappointed.
Bands have a lot of cords that need to be connected, and hauling in a drum set can take some time. Don’t think that you can serve dinner, move a couple of tables and have the band up and running in five minutes. IT WILL NOT HAPPEN! Plan to have the band area cleared at least three hours before you want the music to start.
Check Any Music You Give The Band:
We were given a cd at one wedding to play for the happy couple’s first dance. We popped it in the player about one hour before the reception and it didn’t play. It was an odd Irish song, something that we wouldn’t have been able to pull up online. The bride and groom could not have been cooler and offered to dance to something we knew. Fortunately, the best man managed to figure out that he had saved it wrong, as a data file and we were able to get it to play from a computer. When we got to the first dance, I was shocked to see the couple do a routine to the song that would have put anyone on “Dancing With The Stars” to shame! Had we not gotten that cd to play, all their hard work would have been put to waste. Yet , rather than going Bridezilla on us, they kept their heads and allowed us to work on getting the issue solved. Which brings me to the most important way to not have a disaster
at your event…..
Your BBF (Band Best Friend):
You should never hire a band that you don’t feel comfortable communicating with. Make sure your expectations are clear. If something does get off track, give them the opportunity to make it right. Treat your band like the professionals they are and they will work that much harder to make sure your event is exactly as you imagined it!
That being said, there are a lot of things to consider when booking a live band for a wedding, holiday party or birthday celebration. My band L.A. Lyon has done a ton of successful events, but over the years, we have had some near disasters. Here are a few of our worst wedding experiences and how you can make sure they don’t happen to you!
Back Up Equipment:
One question I would ask any band you plan on using for a special event is what about backup equipment? We were doing a gig one night on the Queen Mary in Long Beach, California, when suddenly, our power amp/mixing board shut down. We were thirty minutes from finishing the night, but suddenly, we had no PA, meaning, no microphones, no keyboard sounds, nothing that was running
through the speakers, including recorded music. Imagine this happens at your wedding and are getting ready for the first dance. Pandora on your smart phone anyone? On this particular night, I had the guys play an instrumental, shut the system down, brought it back up and it worked for exactly another 25 minutes, allowing us to finish the night. The next day I went out and bought another mixing board and to this day, I never go to a show without the spare. One question you should ask any band you are interested in hiring is, what is your back up plan if something fails? If they say nothing ever fails, pass. They are either lying or they
aren’t very experienced and you don’t want either one.
Chatty Relatives:
We did a wedding where the bride’s mother wanted to say a few words at the reception. Not too unusual, but after one too many glasses of Cab, she started sharing with everyone her displeasure with her daughter’s choice of a husband. I was trying to decide whether to fake a medical emergency or a power failure when her daughter finally grabbed the microphone out of her hand and said, “Thank you mother, that’s enough!” If you think you might be heading to some uncomfortable moments with your relatives, work out with your band leader a hand signal to cut the microphone. It can save you a lot of embarrassment and possible unwanted You Tube hits.
Setting The Band Next to The Chicken Kiev:
If you expect the band to be able to set up five minutes after the buffet table is moved, you are going to be sorely disappointed.
Bands have a lot of cords that need to be connected, and hauling in a drum set can take some time. Don’t think that you can serve dinner, move a couple of tables and have the band up and running in five minutes. IT WILL NOT HAPPEN! Plan to have the band area cleared at least three hours before you want the music to start.
Check Any Music You Give The Band:
We were given a cd at one wedding to play for the happy couple’s first dance. We popped it in the player about one hour before the reception and it didn’t play. It was an odd Irish song, something that we wouldn’t have been able to pull up online. The bride and groom could not have been cooler and offered to dance to something we knew. Fortunately, the best man managed to figure out that he had saved it wrong, as a data file and we were able to get it to play from a computer. When we got to the first dance, I was shocked to see the couple do a routine to the song that would have put anyone on “Dancing With The Stars” to shame! Had we not gotten that cd to play, all their hard work would have been put to waste. Yet , rather than going Bridezilla on us, they kept their heads and allowed us to work on getting the issue solved. Which brings me to the most important way to not have a disaster
at your event…..
Your BBF (Band Best Friend):
You should never hire a band that you don’t feel comfortable communicating with. Make sure your expectations are clear. If something does get off track, give them the opportunity to make it right. Treat your band like the professionals they are and they will work that much harder to make sure your event is exactly as you imagined it!
My view from the stage.
Five thoughts from the stage this weekend...................
1. I love that pair of shoes and that pair of shoes and that pair and, oh sh#%, are we on the second verse or the third verse?
2. Eric almost looks like he is about to take off when he waves his arms around to "Starships".
3. I hope Rene doesn't bump me off the stage when he runs into me during the Cumbia medley.
4. Tsugumi's singing back behind the drums is better than some lead singers I have heard. Maybe we really should get him a microphone.
5. I hope no one is looking up my skirt when I stand on the wall and lead the sing along to "Funky Music"!
1. I love that pair of shoes and that pair of shoes and that pair and, oh sh#%, are we on the second verse or the third verse?
2. Eric almost looks like he is about to take off when he waves his arms around to "Starships".
3. I hope Rene doesn't bump me off the stage when he runs into me during the Cumbia medley.
4. Tsugumi's singing back behind the drums is better than some lead singers I have heard. Maybe we really should get him a microphone.
5. I hope no one is looking up my skirt when I stand on the wall and lead the sing along to "Funky Music"!