She Still Has Slightly Purple Hair

So Rich and I were wandering aimlessly around the French Quarter late this afternoon when we heard a trio of Brits talking/walking behind us. A girl and two guys. They were butchering the pronunciations of the streets, and the girl was lamenting her bad sense of direction. Rich was endearingly smirking at their accents. I took pity on them, being known for both a bad sense of direction myself as well as a compulsive tendency to try to help any people I can. I turned around and said "Decatur Street is that way" to the girl behind me. She laughed, put her hand on my shoulder warmly and said in her smoky voice, "oh thank you so much! ha - I wasn't even saying it right. Cheers, thanks again, cheers!" I turned back around and as we walked away, it hit me why she looked so familiar: it was Joss Stone! She was -- somewhat surprisingly to me -- really down-to-earth and lovely. And also, like just about every celebrity I've ever met/seen, incredibly normal in real life. I mean, yes, there's the slightly purple dark hair (i think the dirty blonde looks better on her) and multiple? nose rings, and she was wearing pants with huge hearts all over them ... but she had acne "just like US", and her hair was frizzing along with mine in the NO humidity, etc. etc. Hahaha - we should have told her that one of her songs was featured on our wedding save-the-date CD...

I kind of felt badly that I was criticizing her songwriting on this blog just days ago... I do love her voice though.

In a more "local" sighting, we walked by guitarist Ian Neville (Art Neville's son; Aaron Neville's nephew) who was standing outside of Port Of Call - he still looks about five years younger than he is (I think he's like 25 now?) Hopefully he'll pop on stage at some point tonight at the Howlin' Wolf.

Voices that Give Me Hope and Faith and Strength: Lauren Pritchard

Does anyone want to check out Lauren Pritchard's performance on May 22 at Ars Nova with me? (where my friend Jillian works!! )

Lauren Pritchard is only 18 years old. She has an intoxicating voice that is currently being featured in the musical Spring Awakening, in Duncan Sheik's incredible score for that show. Yeah, that Duncan Sheik. He of "Barely Breathing" a little over 10 years ago, who I barely took notice of back then. I *loved* Spring Awakening -- no, not because of the probably unnecessary teen nudity, but because of Duncan Sheik's songwriting - and because of the way voices like Lauren Pritchard's delivered those poignant songs (and hers was probably the stand-out among several excellent voices, despite her part in the show being relatively small). Duncan Sheik's songs and Lauren Pritchard & others' voices gave Spring Awakening a depth, complexity and organic trueness that is rare in the musical form. It helped A LOT that in this musical, the characters don't talk to each other via song -- the songs instead emerge from inner dialogues, reflecting what's going on in their own heads. Seems like such a small thing, but few (if any?) other musicals use songs in this way. And it's so much more natural...
Beyond transforming the musical genre, while I haven't read Frank Wedekind's original play, I also imagine that this music may have also completely transformed what was very possibly quite average material, in terms of content. Well, perhaps it was the addition of the outstanding score, plus Bill T. Jones' choreography (more interesting movement than typical "Broadway" dance numbers), and very innovative direction by Michael Mayer.

Anyway, Lauren Pritchard wanted to be a singer-songwriter before she wanted to be a Broadway star. And she just might be able to use her exposure from Spring Awakening as a launching pad for broader success in music, beyond musical theater. I hope she succeeds. It's hard not to compare her to Joss Stone -- another big, soulful/smoky, astoundingly young, white, female voice. The thing that continually disappoints me about Joss Stone is her songwriting -- it's her voice, not her writing, that is her strength. The problem is that a great song depends as much (if not more) on the writing as it does on the voice or the musicianship. I fear Lauren Pritchard may run into the same trouble, but I have more hope for the future in her case. Though not as good as the Sheik-provided stuff in Spring Awakening, the songs on her myspace page show potential. I haven't listened to them enough to want to lay down judgment, but check them out.

Also, YouTube of her singing Spring Awakening stuff:
1. "Don't Do Sadness/Blue Wind" duet with John Gallagher, Jr. - she comes in a little after the 2 min. mark
2. Singing "Left Behind" at a concert-type performance - w/ Duncan Sheik on guitar