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Home About Events Photos Booking Store Silly News Contact Links
Mailing List Most of our notifications are by email,
although we do occasionally send something through postal mail. If you
signed up for our emailing list and haven't received anything on your
computer from us, and actually still WANT to hear from us when we have a gig
or new CD for sale, please send us your email address using the form
below. Not pointing any fingers, but we have a hard time deciphering
what some of those handwritten letters are on our sign-up sheet, and you know
how darn picky those computers are if it's not exactly right. Don't
worry. This list won't go anywhere but in our glittery Sister Swing
Email Shoebox. Thanks! This news page is devoted to items of questionable interest. Always timely, seldom important, but sure to fill in those gaps of Sister Swing trivia. We'll try to keep this page as informative as common decency will allow. We realize most people don't have time or interest for the following min-news-tia, but for that one lone person late at night, desperate for any kind of entertainment, we respectfully offer up our: Silly Sister Swing News Here are the basics: We are not real sisters. It is bald-faced lie we
tell from the stage, but there is some evidence we may have come from the
same set of first cousins. We met in bars and through mutual
ex-boyfriends. Our clothes are the real deal vintage, and on especially
hot and sweaty sets, we can "sense" the spirits of all the departed
souls who had many great times in those dresses. We try to carry on the
tradition and do our part.
Honoring Our Talented Fans! Over the years, we've amassed quite a collection of art pieces rendered by talented artists sitting out in the audience. Rather than wonder if our show was not quite gripping enough to hold everyone's attention that day, we prefer to just marvel at the level of talent and creativity that exists everywhere. We of course can't dance or draw, but these folks sure can: Stephanie from This was given to us by
Stephanie, a little 4 year old sweetie we met in 4 Three Rivers singing Hey Daddy with our good friend Jim Fusaro Why are you so small, Jim?
Stay tuned for more artwork coming soon We got such a deal on a three-for-one group lip
job. You would not believe the money we saved....
Our very own Pimp Daddy, Ron Jones, feeling proud in his zebra fur hat.
During some down time while recording our latest CD, Riff Raff and Ruffles, Bonnie and Paula were bragging about how limber they were and were demonstrating by hoisting their legs over their heads, or at least somewhat near their heads. Lenny, the bass man, decided he was pretty limber too. You be the judge....
The Amazing! Sleeping! Piano player!
Bonnie showing off: "Lookie! I can play with one hand and dance too!"
Oh yeah? Well, we can sing and dance and ride a horse all at the same time. Okay, so maybe we were lying about the riding the horse part. Okay, so maybe we were lying about the dancing part too. Well. We can sing.
The comic relief
moment definitely goes to Paula when we went to
If you've been following this page, you know a certain member of the Sister trio is genetically incapable of dressing herself. Either that or forces in the universe converge to give her costume problems at just about every festival. Eureka was no different. Our special dressing room provided for us, which looks an awful lot like a bathroom stall, was filled with the Sisters. Changing clothes, snapping on corsets, trading jewelry and hats. It's controlled chaos before every show. The unnamed Sister, moving very quickly, put on her corset and asked for assistance to snap it up. It was unbelievably hard, but we're strong women, and determined, so finally it was all closed up. Besides some severe pain, it worked alright. We did the show, all is well, back in the bathroom to change clothes. She looked down and there were two little cups resting down there by her hips. Of course she then had to parade the spectacle around the bathroom for the amusement of the Sisters and the possible horror of the bathroom fans who weren't quite prepared to see all that from a star. Lesson learned: Corsets are a lot more comfortable when worn right side up. The very next night she showed up on stage with her top inside out, but that seemed to pale in comparison to the corset incident. Jubilee Costume Snafu It was very hot that day, high 90s easily. Notice how I'm wearing a coat on that hot day? Every Jubilee must have its costume snafu. This year, I had asked Paula to take in the bodice of my dress just a little bit because she obviously had a vision of someone more grand than I, when she made it. That must have irritated her because when we rushed over to the studio to change clothes between sets, when I finally managed to zip up my dress (no easy task, believe me. I think Valerie had to stick her knee in my back to do it), it was so tight, I looked like a tube of toothpaste with my head and shoulders squirting out over the top. So, yes, my dress is completely unzipped during this set, and people were wondering about that black jacket.
Her Royal Duchess of KeysWe’re proud and pleased as newborn parents to announce the full-time addition of piano player/music arranger extraordinaire, Bonnie Otto to our happy little Sister family. She’s been teasing us for a couple years now, but finally Sister Swing can claim her as our own. You know Bonnie from her run with the incredible music party, Wooden Nickel Jass Band. Well she’s a Sister now and there’s high heeled dancing in the streets. Good Goddess! Local artist, Jami Goodess, has put her magic pen to paper and created our new logo, which you will see on shirts, and anything else we can think to stick it on. Have we mentioned how much we love it? She’s going to be really really famous, you watch. Get your shirts early before that and then you can brag about how inexpensive they were. The shirts will be available at all our shows, and on our Store Page. She sells an entire line herself at www.poppygirls.com While we’re on the subject of upcoming product lines… Fa-La-La-La-La Temperatures are cresting 100 degrees and we’re in the Pudding Stone Recording studio again singing Christmas songs for our new CD "Stocking Stuffers". Val has the air conditioner cranked up to sub-arctic levels to help us get in the mood. Bonnie has some very cool original arrangements, as well as kicking Johnny Mercer standards, stride dittys, sentimental ballads with a little bit of classical thrown in. The usual mish-mash of styles we’re becoming used to doing. I almost said “that we’re famous for”, but that’s assuming an awful lot, isn’t it? We think it’s going to be great. Look for THAT to be ready December 7. We’ll let everyone on our mailing list know. Winter/Spring 2002 Okay, so we obviously can’t keep up with
this thing every month. Watching this
news page progress is like watching a mind degrade. April we had the
pleasure of working the Redwoods Jazz Festival in Eureka, CA. It
was loads of fun and had the distinction of being our very first festival we
ventured out to from Sacramento. We hope they ask us out on a second
date. Mid-April, Sister Swing takes on New Orleans. Not business, just a pleasure trip, but you know if someone leaves a microphone unattended for a minute, we’ll jump on it. If anything noteworthy happens besides each of us gaining 10 pounds, we’ll talk about it here. In December, the female pulchritude element of the band flew to Oklahoma City for a private party in Paula's old stomping grounds. In attendance were The three Seesters, Bonnie Otto on piano and Kristy Reed, our reed player. Not to give out any dark secrets or anything, but even though Bonnie and Kristy are as female as any sister, when it comes to bellying up to the bar, they are all male. What authority at the bar, what control, what a lot of money to spend on booze.... You might have also
seen Bonnie and us singing for our supper out at the Sacramento Metro airport
in December. Yes, that 17 second spot on the news was us. Fall 2001 September: Working hard to get our big band act together. Gathering charts, learning new songs, putting the finishing touches on our promo video. Val is moving into the role of Music Agent Extrordinaire and she is doing a fine job snagging those gigs for Sister Swing. October: The highlight of this month was our day at the Story Winery. Every fall, many of the wineries in the foothills around Plymouth throw a big party with free wine tastings, music, food, and perfect California weather. The band's high point of the day was picking out all their free bottles of wine. Summer 2001 Where did the summer go? Napping our life away..... Spring 2001 March: Recorded the rhythm and horn tracks for "Going Nowhere Fast" this month. Here are some studio secrets: Otis Mourning, reed man, doesn’t say much in the studio. He keeps to himself. And he never, ever, I mean ever, makes a mistake. We love him. Kurt Pearsall makes us smile. Watching him is like watching a stand-up comedian who only speaks in trumpet notes and facial expressions. But he plays tremendously and we were just kidding about him not being able to speak. Brad Hammett is the soundman savvy contribution, having his very own studio, thank you very much, and is just a great guy to have around because he is so very good to us. He also played those quick little notes on Beer Barrel Polka just like a champ, something not easy to do on a trombone. Now for the rhythm section: Bonnie Otto is really the nicest person you’ll ever meet. And she lays down those piano tracks like it’s nothing at all. But it’s something to listen to. We’ve got to give our bass man, Tom Lopes, the credit for being the musical barometer. He always came up with the solutions to the tricky musical problems. And if something could be played better, by anyone, he’d speak up. He was relegated to the "hot" room, so maybe he just was a little cranky. But it was nice to have his input. Jack Stanfill was beat-man-on-the-spot with his trusty metronome, and that was great. He also added those little extra rhythm personalities to the songs that we like so much. We just met Doug Pauly through Otis for this recording, and he too is one of those comedic guys that have you rolling all night long. His rhythm gave us a groove and he was a wonderful addition to the usual cohorts. Look for him to join us at some Jubilee shows. And then Steve Stizzo breezed in and offered a wonderful accordion polka track. April: Recorded the vocal tracks and now the pressure was on the girls. It’s always amazing to me what you do on stage thinking it is music, and maybe even something approaching art. But as soon as you get into the studio in front of that big, unforgiving microphone, you realize that what you should be doing with your life is something more like preparing tax returns. (This may just be my own private angst) And then somehow, magically, after you’ve finished the song, after you’ve pulled a few organs out of your body, you sit back and listen to the tracks and…well...gosh it’s not too bad. And then by the second listen, you’re actually having some fun gettin’ down with your bad self. We did meet 3 women who call themselves The Cowcakes. They assured us that with their help, we could take this CD to the next level, so we invited them to sing with us a little bit. They were quite unruly in the studio, and any wrong notes you hear can be attributed directly to them, not us. May, Jubilee Report: I don't know. Perhaps others don't reach nearly so far, or aim quite as high as we. At least that's what we like to tell ourselves. But could we just get through one gig without stumbling to a stop and having our loose ends flapping in the breeze? Could the elephants and the clowns and the jugglers and the giraffes all arrive at the same place at the same time and the circus just be? Our new CD is called "Going Nowhere Fast" and that's what we were in the parade on Friday. Picture us waving, smiling, blowing bubbles, sitting in a 1940s convertible in the middle of the parade. Waving, smiling, rolling along, waving, smiling. Picture that convertible getting a little too hot and then picture it dying in the middle of the street. See the parade as it marches in place behind us whilst we sit in our dead car. Alas, it was no more, but we did get out of the way eventually and hitched a ride on a fire truck and finished out the parade in some sort of style. Tromped around in the heat afterwards to try to find a nameless trumpet player to return his cases which he trustingly gave to us to carry for him in the parade. Finally found him at the musician's watering hole in Old Sacramento and made a friend for life. Saturday: Paula is quite the woman, and especially so that weekend. Not only did she have the 8 shows to do with Sister Swing, but also she had a son's graduation to attend, his graduation party to throw, and 3 peach dresses to finish sewing. Come Saturday morning, Valerie gets happily into her dress, and then says to Paula: "Um, Paula, there are a lot of pins still in this dress." Well, look! I guess there were! About 20 of them holding up the hem. A person can't be expected to remember every little detail, could she, Paula? But no time to waste, Val stepped sprightly and lightly onto the stage and boldly did the show with her puffy, pinned up hem. *Sigh* Again, others just must not strive so high, must not attempt costume changes every 2 hours and therefore can get through a festival all sewn together. We repeated a song or two, but NEVER repeated an outfit. Anyhow, we had the most fun time at the Jubilee and can't wait until next year to do it all again. Thank you everyone for your kind words and sincere appreciation. We remembered you all. Winter 2001 December Sister Swing lead a rousing round of Christmas carols at the Sacramento Traditional Jazz Society monthly meeting in December. Here is Paula's narrative on the event as told to Leigh (who couldn't attend): "The "sing-a-long" was PRETTY FUNNY! We thought THEY would sing along -- THEY thought WE would entertain them with Christmas carols melodically delivered on angels wings -- INSTEAD they got us telling them they HAD to sing along, Val and I are trying to read the words to the silly Christmas carols, singing bridges that only one of us had ever crossed, reading the words while sharing 1 pair of reading glasses!!!! Wished you were there to spread the fun and frivolity." January held the STJS Rent
Party where Sister Swing was one of the featured bands. There was just
one little bobble. One trumpet player who
shall remain nameless ( February: Sister Swing begins recording their 2nd CD! Wahoo!
Fall 2000 Okay, so what's the deal with the new redhead? We don't like change and want our musical groups to stay the same. It's okay. It's still the same ol' Leigh. But she was left alone one Friday with no date and nothing to do but experiment with hair chemicals. She had every intention of staying the compliant auburn-brunette required to be a member of Sister Swing, but then an accident happened. A multi-colored kaleidoscope of shifting hair colors, dark and light. Oops and Oh My. After 3 weeks and many trips to the professionals, she has given up and happily embraced life as a copper blonde. Not orange, we say "copper blond" Enough said about Leigh's hair. September was a fun month. We did the Auburn Black and White Ball in our new gowns, designed and assembled by Paula. She makes all of our matching clothing, usually without a pattern and always in between our cheeseburgers and diets. Her job is not easy. The night went off without a hitch...well, except for the fact that Leigh and Val were awfully proud of their black corsets and insisted on inadvertently showing them off at various times during the show. Don't worry, the video we shot has been edited for family viewing. Leigh's wig (does this girl have a hair fetish?) also was drifting south for the winter, but being the true professionals that we are, no one gave a clue. We all had too much fun that night. October, we sent out a large pile of promotional material in the wild hope of breaking into the jazz festival circuit. Keep your fingers crossed. They all need us and want us, they just don't realize it yet. November we had a great time sitting in with the Beez Kneez at Round Table in Old Sacramento. These guys do straight-up traditional jazz and host an incredibly fun evening. Please check them out on every 2nd and 4th Tuesday in Old Sacramento. And eat pizza. And drink beer. Top Of The Mark Report We really aren't a bunch of addle-brained chick singers, but here's what happened: We have 3 matching silver dresses that we were so excited to wear that night. We sashayed into the Mark Hopkins Hotel in San Francisco, into the specially prepared dressing room they had waiting for us (the women's bathroom) and lo and behold, count 'em 1, 2......2.......yikes!!!, only 2 silver dresses!!! A large problem being that there are 3 of us, the show starts in an hour and the other dress was 2 hours away! So we desperately tried to think of what we were going to do on a Sunday night with all the stores closed. Luckily, the trumpet player has a wife who had a dress not far from the hotel. So we ran like bunnies down the street and one of us wiggled into her clothes and voila! Paula and her back-up Pips! No one knew we didn't intend to be 2 silver dresses and one black/silver dress. Thank you Winney. Lawdy lawdy. Val just got a new hair cut. Next time you see her, tell her how much you LOVE her new bangs. That's it for now! See you soon. |
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