Show went great!

Me and the girls

Me and Rycko, this fantastic french soul singer who's singing background with us, after the show but before the after-party.

Despite all the stuff, including NO soundcheck today really to speak of, the show went great. My artist pulled it out! His crowd loves him, knows all the songs, and he really got back into it again. We almost need a 2nd encore set.

I am currently the slightest bit tipsy in my room. I opted out of going to a pub with some of the other folks when I returned to my room and found that the heating guy did a great job and my room was actually HOT! It's been cold for the last week. And the shower water is cold too, so he fixed that as well, I guess. I wasn't here when he did it. I kind of shooed him off, telling him that I needed to be performing over there (pointing out of the window directly to Bercy Stadium about 30 yards away) in 15 minutes, and he needed to leave so I could dress.

So I guess he came back and got it done. Yippee! We also finally got our per diem (the natives were a little restless for a bit) and a theoretical paycheck, although the wire has yet to go through. Did I already mention that the French get paid once a month. You can't even be an irresponsible alcoholic type here because you can't live from week to week. You'd have to preplan your irresponsible behavior to last you until about week 3 1/2!

There were supposedly 20,000 people there tonight. The place was packed. And the strangest thing is that it's less nerve-wracking to me to perform for more peope than less. It was sort of more comforting than rehearsals. And that's usually why I perform better for a crowd than I would for an audition or a small group of people. When you're performing for a crowd, 1)it's so anonymous - you see everyone and no one all at once and 2) when people come to see you, you're already starting with an A and working your way down. They want you to be good. They are rooting for you and not against. And it's easy to feel that energy. Some people think that the audience is your enemy, but unless you're at the Apollo Theatre, the audience is your best friend.

I got my first individual fan tonight. You know, that one person who decides that instead of staring at the main artist all night, they like you for some reason. So this guy waved at me, and I thought, "me?" And then I waved back and he did it again and then leaned to his female friend to tell her that I'd acknowledged his presence. How funny.

I wonder what the reviews will look like tomorrow in the paper. I'd sworn not to read them, but I know I will.

I got carded at the metro today for the first time. You take a ticket, but apparently they have metro folks who check you tickets randomly. Never seen one before today. And when she called me out, I walked straight past her until I heard her repeat mademoiselle. And then I told her that I'm American and keep getting targeted by beggars, so now on principle I just walk past people I don't know and pretend to not speak french. She laughed and told me, "right on," basically, in french.

They do indeed have a lot of beggars at the big metro stands. Much more attractive then ours most of the time, although there is a whole class of maimed and semi-maimed as well. I'm really comfortable with my couple of pet metro lines. I like the 14, 6, 7 and 1. And today I went alone to Galeries Lafayette,sort of the french Macy's, in search of pantyhose and other stuff. And I have no words to tell you how powerful it feels to be able to handle yourself in another country, alone. I got actual assistance in the store, some great and some snotty and even knew how to recover from the idiotic snotball who kept steering me towards this one brand of hose as if that's all there was of this particular style. Once she handed me her brand and said that there was nothing smaller, I looked at the package, learned the new vocab word for fishnets (didn't wear them, but some of the others wanted us to wear them) and promptly asked somebody else in this massive lingerie department. Found another pair that were correct and on my way out, saunted past the first chick, handed her the other pair back and told her that I indeed found something better and smaller. I'm learning to outsnot the snots.

Okay, I'm pooped. More tomorrow maybe.