Those of you who are on Facebook may have seen the Ms. Kat’s Music & Movement post on Wednesday:

I am working on a recording today. Nothing makes you rethink your career decisions like meowing into a microphone while locked into your master bathroom — unless maybe it’s meowing your song 17 times because the first 16 weren’t good enough.

…I think I’ll take a break.

Isn’t music glamorous?

I thought some of you might be entertained by the behind-the-scenes of various musical endeavors.  It’s certainly a reality I never imagined.  But it’s passion-driven, so it NEVER feels like work.

To create this picture:

I had to pull a 64 lb. amplifier, guitar, and stuffed gear bag across an acre of IBM parking lot and campus each week — in my kids’ little red Radio Flyer wagon — to rehearse in a conference room.

To create this picture:

I had to pull my decidedly “non-luxury” mini-minivan into valet parking for unloading at the Domain, and haul said equipment across an acre of cobblestone… and then give an assist to get that 700-pound Hammond B3 and Leslie cabinet up there, too. This gig was three hours long, and it was literally 102 degrees that day. I chose black so it wouldn’t be obvious that I was drenched by the end of the show.

To create this picture:

Took months of preparation and coordination with an ensemble of nearly 100 Austin musicians.  This particular venue (recognize it?) is replete with grackles who enjoy singing along with the music, and “bombing” the band as they fly from tree to tree in their quest for unguarded french fries.  The conductor’s hat took a direct hit at this concert.  The good news?  It was not on his head at the time, but had been set on a table.  The bad news?  It was upside down.

To create this picture:

My gear and I took a drive w-a-y out to Pflugerville.  At 9pm.  On a Wednesday night. We had a good little crowd, and thankfully it was Spring Break, so after a 2am bedtime, I didn’t have to teach the preschoolers first thing the next morning!

By comparison, home recordings are easy!

So why the master bathroom, you ask?  Well, don’t YOU like the way your voice sounds in the shower?  😉

Kidding aside, it’s the room in my home that’s the most isolated from environmental noise.  I have a two-locked-door zone of defense between myself and my clunky/bonky/yelly children in the living area, and a walk-in closet buffering noise coming through the wall in the great room.

And as silly as I may have felt, here is the end result!  Ms. Kat’s Hello Song!

Play it for your wee ones, and let them teach you how to prepare for the Kitty-Cat Grand Prix!

Meow, meow!