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.

Show's tomorrow (or tonight if we're being technical)

Got done with rehearsal at 1:20 am and the show is in something like 17 hours. It's interesting, I'll tell you that. We've been changing things on a daily basis and it's hard to rid your mind of version 1.2.4 and remember what version 2.0 is without any mental plaque and residue. Everytime I get my land legs the ground shifts and it changes. Some of it might be our fault. Sometimes we make the changes look too effortless so they keep throwing stuff at us. If we looked really ragged doing it, they'd leave it alone.

So it's a challenge to say the least. But whatever it is, it's happening tomorrow. And more than 13,000 people are coming to see us. We get 2 free tickets per show except for opening night and Saturdays in Paris. But on the rest of the tour we can invite anybody, so I imagine it's going to be quite easy to make friends out in public. I guess our rule about not talking about who we're singing with is out of the bag once we do the show, our bios are in the program and he introduces us on stage.

The other day in rehearsal when he was doing fake intros, he said about me (in french -this is an approximation) "and introducing, the only french girl of the bunch...." What a freakin' compliment. I forgot about until the french tour manager referred to me as La Francaise later on again.

My french is getting killer. I can cuss you out like a french sailor! Got my first rude french waiter today so he got an authentic french tip (close to nothing - tipping isn't obligatory here like it is in the states, so it's not much.)

Gotta go to sleep. I'm guaranteed to NOT get 8 hours of sleep tonight because we got some crazy early call time (decided by a man, who didn't really think about the fact that we've got to go find pantyhose and shoes for the show - they fired the wardrobe person halfway through so now the onus is on us) so I'm waking up early to get to Galeries Lafayette or Le Printemps to find what I can. PS - they don't use earmuffs here in France! My ears have been freezing, especially since my hair is so big, the rabbit aviator hat I bought won't fit on my head!

Wish me luck, wish me well.! On that note, here's a quick subtlety lesson for my francophone readers out there. What Americans do with inflection, they do with words:

• Bon Chance = Good luck

• Bon Courage = Be strong (as in good luck because I know darn well that you're going to need it!)

If you're wondering which of the 2 to wish me, please put a checkmark next to choice #2!

A bientôt!

PS - Did I mention that the French only get paid once a month? It's like welfare! Very strange for all of us - we got paid today, but it's in Euros and the check stub is in french and we're all trying to figure it all out.

PSS - My mom ALWAYS complains about how my pictures never seem to have me in them (I'm BEHIND the camera) so I have made a point of learning how to take pictures of myself (I even bought a monopod.) I apologize in advance for all the photos.

Exhibit #1
Artsy photo of me walking up stairs at Eiffel Tour

or this one of me in our dressing room at Bercy Stadium

Uh huh....

Pics

Eureka Je L'ai Trouvé!

I found my french exchange student, Florence. More than a decade later! The internet helped a lot. I'd had 9 out of 10 of her phone digits, but 1 was missing. When I looked online at the white pages, she wasn't listed, but I noticed the obvious digit missing. I called her parents house and it turns out she lives in Paris now, so we're hooking up for dinner on one of my future days off. Yippee!

PARIS

In line to go up the Eiffel Tower (finally made it to the top - only got to level 2 last time)

In front of L'Arc de Triomphe

Notre Dame Cathedral at night

I love you guys. I'm still super busy and crazed, but I've just gotten SO MUCH support and love from everybody back home that it's just overwhelming. My friend's Nancy and Charis are the latest in the inspirational pepsquad speeches, and Mark keeps sending me the best e-greeting cards. I went to France for a month in high school without blinking and now I'm an adult and it's a lot more intimidating to be away from home for so long. Months even! I was probably just so happy to be away from high school and home for the first time. But as an adult when your home is of your design and choosing, your family is of your intentional doing and your life is your own creation, it's a bigger deal to step away from that, even for a short period of time. But it's so much easier when there's support.

And this is of my own doing and choosing as well. I've eaten SO well in the last couple of days now that we're in a city that doesn't sleep. My french is growing exponentially. There's an article in this month's Paris Match about our artist. This is a big deal here. I really wonder what happens next week after people start recognizing the 4, very distinct black background singers from the show. Do we get fans and autograph requests? I have no idea how this is going to go down, but it'll make for good stories.

We are so close to the venue that we can walk there every night. The view from my window is Bercy Stadium. Well, I gotta run. It's stopped raining so I've got to get some stuff done before it starts again. I'll write later.

Love y'all!