A start to my busy season

Life has been pretty busy, in both good and bad ways, since I last posted.

Fire season continues to wreak havoc on the landscape here. Thankfully, our home has been spared from any imminent wildfire threat. Unfortunately, the Line Fire has begun to advance once again toward my childhood summer camp. Camp de Benneville Pines is incredible special to me. All I can do is keep watching the updated maps on the Watch Duty app. The fire is climbing up steep mountain terrain, which makes it near impossible to fight. I can only hope for the best.

On the lighter side of things, both photography and music have kept me busy over the last several weeks. I took part in a reunion concert for the high school theatre department in my hometown of Claremont. This was originally a small reunion concert for the class of ’74, but turned into a full-blown fundraiser for the current students of the theatre department at Claremont High School. This was also a memorial for Dr. Don Freuchte, who was a huge figure in creating the theatre department and had just recently passed.

I was really lucky back in high school. I had always had an interest in the arts, but I was all over the place as a kid. I had was too much excess energy, a need to fit in even though I was the quintessential outsider, and I was just an overall weird kid. It was in the theatre department where I found not only my voice, but I found a place to channel all that energy. And thanks to my teacher, Krista Carson-Elhai (Dr. Fruechte’s successor), I was given many chances to succeed. You couldn’t get me out of that building.

I’m dead center, dressed in a gold sailor suit, for the 42nd Street ballet. June, 1999.

It was a great time meeting and connecting to older CHS Theatre Alumni. I got to reunite with two of “co-stars” from way back when, Craig and Amanda. We three lead the cast of 42nd Street, a giant production with massive scenery, costumes, and we painstakingly learned the original Broadway tap choreography. It was a fun experience reliving that, and truly refreshing to slip back into a chemistry with my fellow performers as if no time had ever passed since we were last onstage together. The one downside is that these one-off concerts like this are over so soon.

Me, Carolina Garcia, Jefferey Deards, Amanda Coclough, Craig Coclough. My fellow theatre alumni, all grown up!

The very next weekend, I was able to perform once again with The Singers of Soul, a gospel, pop, and soul choir I’ve been a part of since 2019. Being able to sing with them is an incredible treat for me. Back in 2019, my friend Carolina (shown above) was creating a solo cabaret and had asked me to sing a duet with her. I was thrilled to say yes, and then she asked me to join a group number to close the show featuring a choir which ended up being The Singers of Soul. In that moment I was nothing short of blown away but the talent in one group, and I’ve been lucky to sing with them several times since.

In between singing, I’ve been jumping straight into my busy season as an event photographer, staring off with a marathon of clients including NBSO LA, and Segerstrom Center for the Arts. I have more in the pipeline. At the moment, I’m hoping the current heatwave in LA calms down along with these wildfires.