Drums, Dancing and Traci Dinwiddie
I was lucky enough to be able to attend the Salute to Supernatural 2011 Los Angeles convention this past weekend. I'm sure you have already seen many photos and read many fine reports of the panels and goings-on. So here's one more if you're not too bored.
On Saturday Traci Dinwiddie and Richard Speight, Jr. were scheduled to do a joint panel. Richard has become one of my favorite guests, in part because of his enthusiasm for karaoke parties and fan interaction, as well as his willingness to step in whenever a scheduled guest needs to cancel, as was the case when the actress who played Sheriff Jody Mills backed out. Since I had almost no interest in seeing her anyway (I mean, seriously? I'm sure she's a lovely person... but why her and not, say, director Guy Norman Bee, or somebody more... I was going to say interesting, but let's just stick with more closely associated with the Show), I considered it a fair trade.
Before their panel was about to begin, people were noticing that there were four chairs on stage. We quickly did the math; four chairs, two scheduled guests, WTH? That question was soon answered when three men with drums and percussion instruments came out and set up. They began to play and soon Traci came onstage with her drum. THAT was a cool twist. When you think about it, we seldom get to see unscheduled mini-performances at these cons. I'm not saying never -- Fred Lehne and Richard Speight have done a few impromptu songs with their guitars, that sort of thing. But it's always a real treat to get such a thing, a little glimpse of who the celebrities are when they're not busy answering questions and being, well, celebrities.
Traci introduced her friends to us. From left: Solo, Paul, Malik (her mentor) and of course Traci. Traci had belonged to a drumming circle in North Carolina and missed it terribly when she moved to LA, and when she found Malik and his store she felt at home again. I believe she said that Malik had made the drum she was playing. People with better memories and knowledge than mine can tell you the name of Malik's business, and the types of percussion instruments they were all playing. I was too busy enjoying the performance to take notes, or even many photos. But I'm sure there are videos out already so that you can see how good they were. At one point Traci rose from her drumming and began to dance for us (and for herself as well).
This woman is truly amazing. She is sensual and sinuous and elegantly in touch with her own body and its abilities. She told us that she has been working for a year towards being offered the part of Wonder Woman in the soon-to-be-cast WW movie. As far as I'm concerned, she IS a Wonder Woman. And I am SO taking up drumming if it will give me arms that are half as toned as hers.
BTW, if you want to support Traci in her bid for the part, go to IMDB or Google and look for links (readers, feel free to leave links in your comments) to the movie, the casting director, whoever. Follow her on twitter (@GrooveGoddess) to find more ways to help.
Once the urge to move had been satisfied, she sat back down with her drum to finish the song. Look how truly happy and focused and PRESENT she is. That's it, I'm taking up drumming...
Anyway, the performance ended, the other drummers left the stage, Traci handed off her drum as well, and then Richard's slightly pouty voice came from backstage complaining that nobody was going to be drumming HIM onstage. But enter he did, and the two of them continued with their Q&A... with Richard and Traci both roaming through the audience with their microphones to take fan questions.
But this is a post about drums and dance and Traci, so I will leave the Q&A report for others.
Sunday the scheduled drum performance was at 5pm. It was a welcome break to the tedium of standing in autograph lines and photo-op queues, and gave me something to look forward to instead of feeling sorry for myself for not being at Jensen and Jason's first-ever jam session, also at 5pm. When Traci came out, she was enrobed in a Wonder Woman snuggie which I believe had been given her by a fan:
After a couple of numbers, Traci invited people to come onstage to move to the rhythm of the drums with her. Since I had been pretty much dancing in my seat anyway -- how anybody else in the fairly small audience could sit still with all that RHYTHM happening is beyond me -- I went up there, as did another 6 or 7 people. Traci then introduced a woman from the audience; I believe she said it was her movement coach, but I was not taking notes or I would give you her name, since she deserved also to be recognized. The woman gracefully joined Traci in leading us in some interesting "pose-and-respond" type exercises. One person, as the urge took them, would strike some type of pose in response to the drums in the background, and the others would respond by moving around her/him and trying to take a complementary position. It was an interesting exercise, and not one that I had ever expected to do for my first effort onstage, with a celebrity, in front of a couple hundred people. Or more, if anybody was recording it. This is Malik and Paul during their quiet accompaniment:
Solo and Malik listening to Traci:
The exercise ended and we were thanked and allowed to leave the stage. Then the drummers began another number, even more boisterous and joyful than the others, for their final set. Can you see how happy Malik is to be playing? Come on, you want to take up drums with me now, don't you?
Traci invited fans to come on stage, individually, to dance. Naturally, there was a bit of a pause, as each person pondered the wisdom of cavorting to the beat in front of the audience, and weighed the probability of the action being archived on youtube vs. the desire to dance. And then, I couldn't help myself, and the stage was empty, and I was up front anyway and hadn't been able to sit still through the entire performance... God help me I just jumped up there and danced for a few minutes as though no one was watching. Then I stepped off... and another woman, in a yellow top, jumped up and danced wonderfully, moving her feet and hips in a way that told me she was no stranger to the ballroom dance floor. When she finished, another took her place... but as I recall there were only we three brave/foolhardy individuals willing to get up in front of the room, despite the drums and Traci's exhortations to dance. Many others were happily dancing in front of their seats, of course -- as I said, how anybody could sit still is beyond my understanding.
After the performance, after Traci and Malik and Paul and Solo had left, I found myself wondering what had happened. That was, shall we say, outside of my general comfort zone. But my Word of the Year for 2011 (in lieu of a New Year's Resolution) is CHANGE. I mean, nothing changes if nothing changes, right? So I am endeavoring to change the way I look at and react to and interact with the world. So... I jumped onstage. Was happy to do it, really. I mean, I'd promised to get onstage with some friends for the Friday night karaoke party, and (although our group was thankfully never called) that prospect absolutely terrified me. I have never done karaoke in my life, never mind in front of celebrities and Chuck knows how many fans with recording devices, and that was therefore truly scary. Dancing? Not so much. I'm grateful that I haven't yet seen any videos or photos documenting my lapse of sense, but I'm at peace with the possibility. Singing in public is frightening. Dancing, I can do, for me, and damn if anybody thinks I look like a dork. It was worth the sore muscles and stiff knees for the next two days. So, go me!
On Saturday Traci Dinwiddie and Richard Speight, Jr. were scheduled to do a joint panel. Richard has become one of my favorite guests, in part because of his enthusiasm for karaoke parties and fan interaction, as well as his willingness to step in whenever a scheduled guest needs to cancel, as was the case when the actress who played Sheriff Jody Mills backed out. Since I had almost no interest in seeing her anyway (I mean, seriously? I'm sure she's a lovely person... but why her and not, say, director Guy Norman Bee, or somebody more... I was going to say interesting, but let's just stick with more closely associated with the Show), I considered it a fair trade.
Before their panel was about to begin, people were noticing that there were four chairs on stage. We quickly did the math; four chairs, two scheduled guests, WTH? That question was soon answered when three men with drums and percussion instruments came out and set up. They began to play and soon Traci came onstage with her drum. THAT was a cool twist. When you think about it, we seldom get to see unscheduled mini-performances at these cons. I'm not saying never -- Fred Lehne and Richard Speight have done a few impromptu songs with their guitars, that sort of thing. But it's always a real treat to get such a thing, a little glimpse of who the celebrities are when they're not busy answering questions and being, well, celebrities.
Traci introduced her friends to us. From left: Solo, Paul, Malik (her mentor) and of course Traci. Traci had belonged to a drumming circle in North Carolina and missed it terribly when she moved to LA, and when she found Malik and his store she felt at home again. I believe she said that Malik had made the drum she was playing. People with better memories and knowledge than mine can tell you the name of Malik's business, and the types of percussion instruments they were all playing. I was too busy enjoying the performance to take notes, or even many photos. But I'm sure there are videos out already so that you can see how good they were. At one point Traci rose from her drumming and began to dance for us (and for herself as well).
This woman is truly amazing. She is sensual and sinuous and elegantly in touch with her own body and its abilities. She told us that she has been working for a year towards being offered the part of Wonder Woman in the soon-to-be-cast WW movie. As far as I'm concerned, she IS a Wonder Woman. And I am SO taking up drumming if it will give me arms that are half as toned as hers.
BTW, if you want to support Traci in her bid for the part, go to IMDB or Google and look for links (readers, feel free to leave links in your comments) to the movie, the casting director, whoever. Follow her on twitter (@GrooveGoddess) to find more ways to help.
Once the urge to move had been satisfied, she sat back down with her drum to finish the song. Look how truly happy and focused and PRESENT she is. That's it, I'm taking up drumming...
Anyway, the performance ended, the other drummers left the stage, Traci handed off her drum as well, and then Richard's slightly pouty voice came from backstage complaining that nobody was going to be drumming HIM onstage. But enter he did, and the two of them continued with their Q&A... with Richard and Traci both roaming through the audience with their microphones to take fan questions.
But this is a post about drums and dance and Traci, so I will leave the Q&A report for others.
Sunday the scheduled drum performance was at 5pm. It was a welcome break to the tedium of standing in autograph lines and photo-op queues, and gave me something to look forward to instead of feeling sorry for myself for not being at Jensen and Jason's first-ever jam session, also at 5pm. When Traci came out, she was enrobed in a Wonder Woman snuggie which I believe had been given her by a fan:
After a couple of numbers, Traci invited people to come onstage to move to the rhythm of the drums with her. Since I had been pretty much dancing in my seat anyway -- how anybody else in the fairly small audience could sit still with all that RHYTHM happening is beyond me -- I went up there, as did another 6 or 7 people. Traci then introduced a woman from the audience; I believe she said it was her movement coach, but I was not taking notes or I would give you her name, since she deserved also to be recognized. The woman gracefully joined Traci in leading us in some interesting "pose-and-respond" type exercises. One person, as the urge took them, would strike some type of pose in response to the drums in the background, and the others would respond by moving around her/him and trying to take a complementary position. It was an interesting exercise, and not one that I had ever expected to do for my first effort onstage, with a celebrity, in front of a couple hundred people. Or more, if anybody was recording it. This is Malik and Paul during their quiet accompaniment:
Solo and Malik listening to Traci:
The exercise ended and we were thanked and allowed to leave the stage. Then the drummers began another number, even more boisterous and joyful than the others, for their final set. Can you see how happy Malik is to be playing? Come on, you want to take up drums with me now, don't you?
Traci invited fans to come on stage, individually, to dance. Naturally, there was a bit of a pause, as each person pondered the wisdom of cavorting to the beat in front of the audience, and weighed the probability of the action being archived on youtube vs. the desire to dance. And then, I couldn't help myself, and the stage was empty, and I was up front anyway and hadn't been able to sit still through the entire performance... God help me I just jumped up there and danced for a few minutes as though no one was watching. Then I stepped off... and another woman, in a yellow top, jumped up and danced wonderfully, moving her feet and hips in a way that told me she was no stranger to the ballroom dance floor. When she finished, another took her place... but as I recall there were only we three brave/foolhardy individuals willing to get up in front of the room, despite the drums and Traci's exhortations to dance. Many others were happily dancing in front of their seats, of course -- as I said, how anybody could sit still is beyond my understanding.
After the performance, after Traci and Malik and Paul and Solo had left, I found myself wondering what had happened. That was, shall we say, outside of my general comfort zone. But my Word of the Year for 2011 (in lieu of a New Year's Resolution) is CHANGE. I mean, nothing changes if nothing changes, right? So I am endeavoring to change the way I look at and react to and interact with the world. So... I jumped onstage. Was happy to do it, really. I mean, I'd promised to get onstage with some friends for the Friday night karaoke party, and (although our group was thankfully never called) that prospect absolutely terrified me. I have never done karaoke in my life, never mind in front of celebrities and Chuck knows how many fans with recording devices, and that was therefore truly scary. Dancing? Not so much. I'm grateful that I haven't yet seen any videos or photos documenting my lapse of sense, but I'm at peace with the possibility. Singing in public is frightening. Dancing, I can do, for me, and damn if anybody thinks I look like a dork. It was worth the sore muscles and stiff knees for the next two days. So, go me!