Dana Jo Forseth

Bar Stars Karaoke Contest, March 28, 2013

When I run into people these days in random places like the grocery store, I am asked some form of one of two questions:

1)  You’re still here?

2)  Are you still singing?

Here’s the scoop on my current continuing location.  First, I was trying to sell my house last summer.  That wasn’t happening, and I got impatient.  I decided to pull it from the market in December, and to rent it out at whatever point I am able to leave.

Since then, I’ve been applying for jobs in Cheyenne and Fort Collins when they present themselves, during the busiest time of year at my existing job in Great Falls.  Our major deadline for the year is on Monday, which, this year, happens to fall right *after* Easter.  That has nothing in particular to do with anything, it just manages to be somewhat inconvenient.

I have a few leads, and now that it’s a better time for my employer to be suddenly without me (well, there’s never a good time for that, but they’ve known for at least a year), I feel less bad about dashing out of the state.  I’m hoping to be out of here, for real, by the end of May.

The first three months of the year, especially March, can get a little overwhelming and emotional. Between unexpected emergencies at work and the dreariness of winter, Jordan being far away and a stagnating living situation, it’s been kind of a tough one.  Where I usually tend to be proactive and driven (ha), this spring has been a little more about survival than living.  It’s silly, because we all know how freakin’ good I’ve got it.  Still, I haven’t been my usual self, and while April tends to bring that back out of me in any given year, I’m looking more forward to it this year than I have in a long time.

But, you didn’t come here to read about all that.  You’re wondering what is going on with the Metallica fedora picture.  (You can’t even see the leopard print skinny jeans…)

So, to answer the second question…yes, I’m still singing.  Mostly karaoke.

I know, I know, there are a few (very talented) music school snobs in town who will tell you karaoke isn’t for real musicians.  I would say, it’s as real as you make it.  My voice is probably at its best when I sing karaoke 2-3 nights a week and practice new songs for it the rest of the time.   I don’t think it matters too much where you sing–if you love it, DO it!  At every opportunity.

I also sing every now and then with The Electric City Mafia, up at Rumors (which everyone still calls the Skyline).  They’ve been very kind to me and are always happy to let me up on stage any time I show up.  Fun guys, and a great band with a huge repertoire.  With a band is really *THE* way to perform–they work their butts off and it shows.  I work my elbows off, when I have time, and I’m not sick, or making excuses.  (That shows, too.)

So anyway, right now I’m putting my performance energy into a contest they’re having at the Beacon.  The last night of finals is coming up on Thursday, April 4.  I haven’t chosen my songs yet, but I’m hoping to by the end of the day.

This last week was rock week.  Each contestant (there are a whopping seven of us) had to sing a rock or pop song, and any other song of their choice.  I sang “Whiskey in the Jar” (the Metallica version) and “Dream On,” by Aerosmith.  Crowd-pleasers, both.  I have to say, I really get a charge out of it when people I don’t know come up to me and tell me how much they enjoyed my performance. That’s why I love contests.  If you show up at a regular karaoke night in a fedora with a mic stand, at best no one would care, and at worst, you’d get laughed out of the bar….and/or accosted by a drunk comedian who wants to make your solo a duet.

I know I’ve blogged about these contests before.  For me, they’re a chance to perform, and to hang out with my friends, at least the ones who like to sing.  I’m psyched because my BFF Erin has been doing the contest, too, and she has a real knack for song choice.

So, if you happen to be looking for something fun to do next Thursday–please, come out.  Crowd response is an important factor in this contest–it usually is.  I assume I’ll come up with something awesome that will make strangers give a damn, but Erin and I would still love to see you and have your support.  I’d hate to recycle something I’ve used earlier, but I’m a little nervous at how late in the game it is.  I’m fighting a sore throat and early cold symptoms, so in an effort not to be completely worthless vocally on Thursday, I have to keep quiet in my face for a day or two.  NOT easy.  It means I need to know my limitations in the song choice department without doing too much vocal testing.  So, no “Climb Ev’ry Mountain” for me.  (Sorry, SOM fans….)

In the meantime, writing has been back-burnered, since I had to take down my sweet writing setup for showing the house.  I still have a piano in the basement, but I don’t spend nearly the time hanging out down there as I would expect to, given that it’s the best room in the house for hanging out in.  Something about proximity to the kitchen.

And now,it’s time for breakfast.  I had bacon for dinner on Thursday night, and made a ton of extra. When I came home after midnight, I saw the leftovers, wrinkled my nose in disdain for Lent, and left them in the fridge.  Now it’s Saturday.  And I’m a-gonna bacon it up.

Happy Easter, everyone!  May you make some wonderful spring memories with your family this weekend to start out the summer of 2013.  <3

Don’t you just love summer?

I know, I’ve been starting posts lately talking about the weather. But for the first time in a long time (it seems) we are dealing with a real, honest-to-goodness SUMMER, something that is occasionally tough to come by in Montana.

And what a summer it’s turning into! Where I live, in Great Falls, we are surrounded by dozens of smaller rural communities, many of which have their own town festival of sorts on a different weekend from June through August. So many in fact that it’s hard to get to them all. And when you do, running into people you know is inevitable. The feeling of “home” follows you here, wherever you go.

I loved this about growing up in Montana. While Great Falls was a planet of its own in my youth, those of us from small towns, amid our rivalries and our own real-life Dawson’s Creek dramas, we stuck together. We were at every graduation in a 50-mile radius for all four years we were in high school, and at least the three years after. We went to each other’s proms, and we carpooled to the night shows at the fair. And while many of us have scattered across the country and even the world, there are very few people I would be surprised to run into at any one of these events, even all these (mumbles an undiscernable number) years later.

A couple of weekends ago, I was able to make it to a street dance in Fort Benton as well as an end-of-rodeo celebration in Augusta. A band called The Alleged played on the street outside the Grand Union Hotel, and a break-dancing circle broke out when they started in to “Billie Jean.” I ran into an old karaoke buddy (from my adult years) who always brings his dog out with him to “pick up chicks.” Some friends and I had a few drinks and sang karaoke into the wee hours of the morning, and then it was back to another week at work. This is what I love about summer in Montana–there’s always a good time to be had, anywhere you go, and wherever you end up, you know everybody.

This summer, I have some serious work to do. I’m getting ready to put my house on the market, and packing up for a big move. But we’ll talk about that later. In the meantime, I hope that whatever any of us may have going on, we can find the time to have some beers on a patio, barbecue some burgers, and sing a couple of songs at an open mic. Summer is fleeting, good times are bountiful, and this is why we work so hard for the rest of the year.

Hugs and High Fives,
-Dana Jo

It’s been a busy few weeks at work. It’s year-end at my job, which means a lot of extra financial reporting, schedule-building, and extreme journal entry-ing. I love what I do, but I have to admit, this time of year is stressful. At the end of the day, I pretty much go catatonic for a good hour just trying to sort my mind back out and get back into functioning-as-human mode. I know that every job has these times of the year, this is just ours…but that doesn’t make it any more fun.

So, today, I was fighting the “what-I-was-all-geared-up-to-work-on-isn’t-what-my-boss-wants-me-to-work-on” blues, and I remembered. This is the day they are putting me on the radio.

The program ended just a few minutes ago, on KGPR, 89.9 FM. It was a 30-minute show where they did a short interview and played a few songs from the Driven EP. I’ve never done a radio interview before, so it was a little different knowing people were going to hear my vocal inflections and my stammerings that Jake Sorich is always so kind to edit out when he puts my words in print for the Great Falls Tribune. I think I was mostly coherent, although I apologize for any unnecessary dead air. That Rick Tryon is like Barbara Walters–asking the tough questions like, “Is it your plan to make music your career?” I was careful to avoid saying “I wish! Can I start tomorrow?!” While I might like that type of work, I have to favor the steady paycheck of my day job. So it goes.

I have to admit, February is one of my least-favorite months of the year. Christmas is over (and so is my birthday), winter is hanging on, and it’s a long wait until we have time to take vacation days and feel some sunshine on anything other than our faces. This has been a mild winter, but working for the gas company, that sends to make everyone MORE tense–given that our profits come with the cold. For me, the release party is over and I have to return, if only for a little while, to reality and the things I must accomplish in order to get paid by “the man.” But I’m happy to have the split energy and skills to do both with my life, if only to varying degrees at different times of the year. The way I see it, I have to keep my spreadsheet skills sharp if I want my verses to flow coherently into every chorus I write.

And at the end of the day, I’ll bet none of the other accountants at my company heard their art on the radio this afternoon.

If you haven’t seen it yet, I’d just like to direct your attention to the top of your screen–to the button that says “Lyrics.”  I just posted the words to a newer song I’ve been performing live, called “One of the Good Ones.”

I will be posting song lyrics here and there as I can get to them. In the meantime, feel free to read the ones I’ve already posted, which include a few from the Driven EP. Thanks for reading!