Vegas

Hello friends and family.

We've been pretty busy lately.  We're working hard on getting our second CD done and doing some really fun and exciting gigs.  Recently, we did a little gig in Las Vegas.  You know.  Nothing special.  Just opening for some comedian in a little theater in some hotel down there.  I mean its hardly worth mentioning really.  Except that it was opening for JAY LENO in the TERRY FATOR THEATER at the MIRAGE!!!  (Yes. 3 exclamation marks is/was completely necessary).  We had so much fun and we're really looking forward to going back, but we'll get back to that in just a little bit.

Unlike a typical GFT performance that is anywhere from 45 minutes to about 1.5 hours long, this particular performance was only 20 minutes long.  We tried to give the audience a nice high energy show that was as funny, entertaining, and musical as we could muster; so we spent weeks practicing the set and getting the right collection of tunes in the perfect order so we could change it as soon as we got there.  We felt like a touching rendition of "And So It Goes" might not set the right tone for a comedy act.  Of course we didn't think about that until after the first show.  We don't blame the couple in the front row for falling asleep.  It was 10:00 at night after all.  And the group sitting over on the right hand side having side conversations and laughing, I hope you know that you missed out on something beautiful that night... 7 singers baring their souls.  In all honesty, this was such a fun experience for us.  We got to visit Vegas and we got to perform in one of the coolest venues we've ever played in front of a couple real Vegas audiences.  I never thought I would ever be playing Vegas, but there we were opening for Jay Flippin' Leno (I'm not sure if that's his legal middle name or not so don't quote me on it).

Jeff and I worked up the first ever Groove for Thought Vlog of Awesomeness... ness... ness... ness (that sounded more epic in my head than it looks typed out), so I'll let him tell you about the rest of the trip.

Like Jeff mentioned (kinda stealing my thunder a little bit there), we'll be back in Vegas on September 23rd and 24th.  You can get all the information you need here. You might also want to check out our website to see if we're going to play a venue near you.  As always, we'd love to hear from you on our Facebook page or on twitter.

The Journey of a Future Educator

What a year 2011 is turning out to be. Coming off our appearance on the Sing Off, Groove For Thought continues to keep this train rolling with no end in sight. We have performed around the Pacific Northwest, shared the stage with On The Rocks (our Sing Off friends), and are currently working hard in the studio on our sophomore CD. In May we are heading down to Las Vegas to open for Jay Leno at the Mirage Hotel and Casino (actually the rest of GFT is unaware that I am opening for Leno with my own standup routine. It will be our little secret.)

We also recently found out we were nominated for an A Cappella Community Award from CASA for "Favorite Jazz Group." CASA members, please vote for us before May 15th; we would appreciate your support. Enough about GFT. If I may, I am going to be selfish and talk about myself for a bit. I know you won’t mind, right?

You may or may not know that I am currently in school to pursue a degree in Music Education. Come this fall, I will be attending Central Washington University to obtain my Music Education degree, which I am very excited about. However, it has not always been easy.

Lets go back in time to the summer of 2009 ( cue the Wayne’s World teleportation sound effect) to where my academic journey begins.

At the time I had a warehouse job, making some good money, yet all the while never feeling fulfilled. After GFT spent two weeks in Europe working with some of the top vocal groups over there, it finally dawned on me what I wanted to do with my life. I was tired of working odd jobs and wanted to return to school to fill the void in my life that had been plaguing me for over a decade. When I say odd jobs, I mean it; from a delivery driver for a party supply store to working with nuclear pharmaceuticals, which wasn’t a bad gig aside from the daily dose of RADIATION. It was time for me to return to school.

After talking with my wife Autumn, who could not have been happier for me, I decided to enroll again at Tacoma Community College to obtain my Associate of Arts and Sciences degree. I started during the Winter quarter and immediately felt out of place. What was I thinking? Here I am in my mid-30s going back to school. I would be in classes with students who are half my age. I certainly did not want to be lumped into the “non-traditional student” category. On my first day back, I saw a woman who was old enough to be my grandmother. As I watched her push her walker with a book bag on her back, I knew I was going to be just fine.

I tried college right after High School but was not mentally prepared. After all, I just graduated and my brain was done with school. This time around was going to be different. I had more experience in life than these “traditional” students and used that to my advantage. I had a plan and knew what to do to make sure I was the best student I could be.

Now back to the present. I am in my final quarter at Tacoma Community College and I will have my degree in a few weeks. As I mentioned earlier, I am off to CWU this fall to keep my own train rolling. It has been a lot of work juggling school, GFT, as well as being a father

and husband, but I would not want it any other way.

James,
GFT

A New Arrangement... and Jay Leno!

Okay, so before I begin, this is my very first blog, so be kind... :)

So, I’ve been working on this new chart (for those who didn't know, I'm kind of GFT's resident music writer). I started it a long time ago, but hadn’t had a chance to get back to it until recently. Of course, now, I want it done right away so we can do it at some of our upcoming jazz gigs. I had asked Nick (our piano player) to write out a beastly “sax soli” type section in the middle and when he sent it to me, my first thought was “wow”, that’s dang cool. My second thought was, “oh my, that’s pretty hard to sing”. Of course my very next thought was.... “awesome”. :)

In going through this tune, I’ve been trying something a bit new for us. I started with this chart called Harold’s House of Jazz. It has your typical vocalise type lyrics, written by David Lahm. As a side note, this tune is actually based upon another old jazz standard, called “Cherokee” and apparently, there is quite a lineage to this tune. Typically this tune is done at a rather hard bop tempo in 4, so, naturally, my goal was to do it in 3.

Anyways, back to my goal upfront for this tune. To try and find a way to create a big band vibe while at the same time using lyrics instead of scat type syllables like I did in La Fiesta. Not really a new concept, but I have been trying to find ways for us to “layer” the music in a similar fashion as to how a big band arrangement would be, using all the different sections in the band. Being that we are only 7 singers, I had to pair that concept down a bit, but overall, I think the vibe is workin’.

When I neared the end of the chart, I found myself stuck. Didn’t quite know where to go with it and had only a hazy idea floating around in my head. So, as usual, I sat down at the keyboard and my computer and tore into it. As it evolved I found it was pretty swingin’, pretty happy and had a bit of a contemporary big band flavor to it, at least in certain ways. The next challenge was to interweave lyrics and scat syllable stuff on different lines. Not necessarily a call and response, but more of an alternating thing that hopefully makes sense to the listener. I will have to get back to you as to whether or not this actually comes together because I’m in the middle of it right now and need to get it to my fellow GFTer’s so we can run it down on Tuesday [our typical rehearsal night].

Okay, so, jury is still out as to the lyric writing on the end of the chart. Sometimes it is hard to tell until we actually record it. Stay tuned.... :)

Oh yes! Some other very exciting news. Groove For Thought will be opening for Jay Leno in Vegas May 13th and 14th! Also, we just found out that our Christmas track "We Three Kings/O Come O Come Emmanuel" won a CARA award for best Holiday Song! Exciting stuff, right?

Keep in touch with us on facebook or twitter and we'll see you at a gig soon. And thanks for reading all of this, hope it wasn't too long and boring!

-Kelly
GFT

A Much Needed Update

Hello Friends,

Lots to catch up on.

It was great to see such amazing fans at our recent show in Boise, ID. We hadn't performed there in several years and it was awesome to be welcomed back. Often when GFT performs at high school and college jazz festivals, we will spend time working with school groups. We had a great time getting to meet and work with all of the fabulous choirs at Boise State University.

Last Friday was quite a day. It began for me at 6:00 am as my high school jazz choir traveled to Bellevue to perform at the Music Educators Northwest Division Conference. They hit the stage at 8:00 and were done by 9:15. A good time was had by all. Then I spent the rest of the day fighting off a cold just long enough to make it through our gig at Benaroya Hall in Seattle that evening. Peter and Brennan spent the entire day running sound for the All-Northwest jazz choir (of which five of my students were members, thank you very much). In spite of over half us being sick, the gig at Benaroya was a blast. Inviting our friend Randy Taylor to join us for his rendition of James Brown's "I Feel Good" was a real highlight for us. Thanks to all who showed up from far and near (especially those who came back a second time and brought friends or family with them). We appreciate those of you who made a serious trek (some from as far as California) to catch a GFT show. Know that we're working on bringing our show to you, wherever you are. If there is a venue or a festival in your area that you think would be a good fit for GFT, let us know.

Thanks also to Misha Berson at the Seattle Times for this awesome review of our first Benaroya Hall performance.

What's coming up for us? We'll be in Scottsdale, Arizona on March 18th performing at Pinnacle Presbyterian Church. Click here for more info. I'll be honest, now is the time of year  when a couple of days in Arizona is sounding pretty nice. It's snowing everywhere around Seattle as I write this.

And then something else we're really excited about. We will be performing two concerts with the University Of Oregon's On The Rocks in what we hope is the first of many collaborations with the friends we made on The Sing Off. Catch us at the Aladdin Theater in Portland, Oregon on April 2nd (tickets available here) and at Town Hall in Seattle on April 29th (tickets available this Friday, February 25th).

Other than that, we're hitting the studio working on some new tunes and moving forward with our next CD. Thanks to everyone who has chimed in on Facebook and Twitter. Keep it up, we love hearing from you!

Best,
Jeff
GFT

Road to Benaroya

Hello all!

Now, I’m a little nervous... this is my first blog. So please don’t judge any typos or anything of the sort.

I’m going to tell you just how dedicated I am to all of you, especially to those of you who came to our Benaroya gig on January 14th!!! I’m going to tell you the tale of what it did to me just to get to that gig, and to our New Day Northwest feature the day before. Ready? You’re in for a long ride of laughing at me and my misfortunes. Okay? Here we go.

Just some background info to start: Right now I live in Ellensburg, where I am attending Central Washington University. Ellensburg is a tiny, teensy weensy college town which is over the mountains, and really cold and windy. Very pleasant.

Like all those in GFT who went to CWU before me (My dad, Jeff, Steph, and Brennan), I have to commute to GFT every Tuesday, a two-hour drive. It’s not so bad if the weather is fine.... turn up some music, crank the heat, and make sure you have a coffee before you go, makes a nice two hours! However, the week of our gig, the weather was not feeling too friendly...

Tuesday Night, GFT Rehearsal.... (Dun dun dun, Law & Order sound)

Rehearsal ends, I look outside. Snowing. Awesome. That means driving over the mountains will be immensely stressful, with almost no visibility, giant trucks going 80 mph instead of the suggested 35, and skidding on ice for the whole two-hour drive. So, I fill up my gas tank, grab a giant Red Bull, and start making my way. I’ve been driving for about twenty minutes, pretty edgy, when I see the lights of an ambulance and police cars up ahead. Slowly, I pass by a car that seemingly spun out and crashed into a ditch. Awww. That sucks!

So, I keep driving, hoping I don’t end up like that, but pretty confident that it’s one of those “That will never happen to me” things. Then I pass another ditched car.... and another, and another, until I’ve passed about seven cars in a row that are chillin’ in the ditch. I promptly take the next exit and drive back to Renton (my parent’s house) to spend the night. I decided to attempt this perilous drive the next morning instead.

Wednesday Morning....

Get up, pack my things, set out at 8:45. It’s not too bad.... just really snowy. But I’d take snowy over icy any day, it’s much easier to drive in. I’m about half-way to school when I see one of those big stupid trucks barreling up behind me, probably going about 70 mph? In a 35 MPH ZONE!!!! Ugh. So I don’t know if he doesn’t see me, or what. Maybe he was just messing with me. But he decided not to get over until the last possible second, right about when I thought I was going to die by truck. So I swerve to the right slightly, trying to avoid sudden death. Of course, that was the wrong move.... my right tire got caught in some deeper snow, I spun out, crashed into a huge snow drift, and slammed my face into the steering wheel. Of course, I wouldn’t have hit my face had I been sitting in my normal position, but my seat was much higher and closer to the steering wheel so that I could see out of the non-snowy part of my windshield.

I call my professors for my 12:00 class and my 1:00 class to let them know that I’ll either be late, miss class, or die of cold and be absent for the rest of the quarter. Of course, my first teacher is never in his office, never answers his phone, and doesn’t have a voice mail (he so fondly informed his students). But my choir director, bless him, let me off with a “That’s okay if you’re late, but you’ll have to read the Russian piece in front of class tomorrow”. Seemed like a fair punishment to me, so I was happy with my current situation.

After hanging up the phone, I struggled to dig out the snow from behind and in front of my tires with my hands, to no avail. Then some giant alien-looking contraption pulls up behind me. A snow plow!!!! Yay!!!! He helped me dig, and towed me out of the deep snow drift. I thanked him and went on my way. A little worse for wear, with a huge fatty lip and a blood blister on top of it, but happy that I was on my way again.

I made it to school (the drive had taken me almost four hours), on time for my 12:00 Chamber Choir class. Right when I walk in the door, my blood blister explodes all over my face, making me look like I had been in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Naturally, everyone cares and is making a huge fuss about it, to my growing embarrassment. All I wanted was to stop the bleeding and go to choir. So I unsuccessfully tuck my fat lip under my lower one, trying to be inconspicuous. Of course, I stand in the very front row, smack in front of Dr. Weidenaar (my director). So he stops warm up, asks me if I’m okay, and insists that I sit out, the sweet guy that he is. Unfortunately for me, that’s not what I wanted at all.... but, he’s in charge. So I spent the rest of the hour sitting in front of the whole choir, trying to hide my fat lip but still sing.... you can guess how that went.

As soon as that class and Vocal Jazz after it was over, I had to head back over the pass to spend the night at my parent’s house before our New Day Northwest debut. I left at roughly 3:00. And what now? My truck wouldn’t switch out of four wheel drive low, leaving me to go about 25 mph on the freeway, chugging along. I call my dad and let him know what’s going on. Then I search on my GPS for a truck repair shop, hoping they can just get it un-stuck and make it work! I select the closest one, about 17 miles away.

Wednesday Night...

What seems like an hour later: I pull into a clearing in a forest, just off the road. It’s dark,  and it seems like there’s no one here among these sheds and giant trucks. I’m hesitant by my car, wanting to see someone but not wanting to be the dumb chick in a horror film and go looking in the darkness for them. I figure someone will see my headlights and come out.

Sure enough, a sketchy, bearded man in overalls and a truckers cap appears out of the darkness. Not the kind of person a lone girl wants to run into when she’s having car trouble at night. I mean, this guy is freaky. No offense to him. Maybe if he shaved the beard he would look a little more normal. ANYWAYS. He asks me what I’m doing there, and I tell him about my car trouble. He says he only works on big trucks, and I say okay, thanks for your help. Heck, I didn’t care if he could fix it, I just wanted to get out of there. He stands there looking at me without saying anything, so I go back to my car to leave.

Dead. Nothing. No turning over, no lights, no nothing. I’m freaking out a little bit, since the guy is still just standing there looking through my windshield, so I pulled out my phone to call someone.

Dead. Phone is dead because I had spent the night at my parent’s without a phone charger. Awesome.

From all the evidence, I should be dead and stuffed somewhere by now, but it turned out the creepy truck guy was actually nice, and he jumped my car and I went on my way.

Driving home again, my lights shut off. My radio is turning on and off. My car starts rattling and shaking. The battery is literally dying while I am driving on the freeway. Oh wait, not dying - dead. My car is dead. But I’m still rolling, and there’s a downhill exit! I take it, coast down the hill, and partially into a gas station. Awesome. So I charge my phone in the gas station, call my mom, tell her what happened. She calls triple A, and I’m to wait for a tow truck, and ride home with the driver. My mom says I can sleep in the car, the driver won’t talk, she knows I’m exhausted. Etc. So about an hour and a half later, I’m rescued!!!.... by the most conversational stranger I have ever met. But you know what? That random chatty stranger made my day. We talked about tons of things, some that I didn’t care about at all, but I still had a good time.

I get home, 8:00 PM. FIVE HOURS TRYING TO GET HOME!!!! AHHHHH!!!! But at least I’m alive.

Thursday Morning....

New Day Northwest with a fat lip. And also an accompanying bruise that makes me look like I have a mustache. The audience was probably thinking, “Wow, they really do make people look different on TV... that chick is a dude!!!” In answer to the now wondering question in your head, no, I am not a dude. Nor do I have facial hair. It was a bruise. Okay? A bruise. And yes, they do make you look better on TV.

I decided to skip school for the rest of the week and stay put.

Friday Night....

A kick-a** gig for the best dang audience I’ve ever seen!!! That night made my week bearable, even if I had to go through hell to get there.

I love you guys!!!! All who came to the gig, awesome. So glad to see you all there. Anyone who missed their chance, you better hurry up and buy some tickets for February 18th! Don’t miss out!

I’ll write when another series of unfortunate events occurs...

-Amanda

Getting Ready for January 14th

Hello Friends and Family,

If you haven't heard already, we were able to completely sell out Benaroya Hall for our upcoming January 14th performance. Not trying to toot our own horns or anything (toot toot), but we try to keep you all informed--and maybe toot our own horn a little bit. If you are anything like my own personal friends and family and assumed that you would be able to just waltz in and buy your ticket at the door (looking at you Mom and Dad) and now you're starting to freak out because you live in Seattle and this was the perfect opportunity to see us and you're going to miss it, relax. We've added another performance on February 18th for people just like you. (Yes, I know that that was a run-on sentence, but we're exciting professional reality TV stars baby. Who cares about sentence structure? Not this guy.)

We've been working our collective tails off trying to put together a show that proves to you all how much we've appreciated all the support. It's been a lot of hard work, but it's always totally worth it when we get the chance to perform for you all. We've got a lot of surprises in store, and I, personally, think it's going to be a lot of fun. We're looking forward to seeing you all, and I mean all. If you still haven't gotten your tickets for the February 18th performance (Mom), don't make the same mistake twice. Order your tickets here today. Do it now or don't come complaining to me that you "didn't get a ticket." You were warned.

So our last bit of news for today is pretty exciting for us: we are officially part of the Single Source family. We have an agent (of the booking and not the secret variety)!  Why should you care, you ask? This means we have access to contacts, venues and festivals that we've never had before. So all of you that send us tweets like "I wish you were coming to [insert your city's name here]," you may now actually see us at a venue near you. I know. It's exciting. Calm down please. Is the screaming and crying really that necessary?

We've been blessed to be able to hear from so many of you this past month. I don't think any of us were expecting such an overwhelmingly positive response, and it has really warmed our hearts. Thank you all for making us feel appreciated and loved.

Peter
GFT

The Sing-Off: Episode 3

Well, it was a fun ride. We all knew that our trip on the Sing-Off roller coaster had to come to an end; and if we leave the stage having a blast to one of the happiest songs of all time, then so be it!

The Sing-Off was one of the most challenging experiences Groove for Thought has ever faced. We sang our hearts out, took flying leaps out of our comfort zones--and even without that $100,000 recording contract, we made some new fans along the way. Thank you, all you groovers, who have supported us during this process. We've grown musically as well as personally, and we can't wait to show you all the new Groove.

And hey; just because our time is up, that doesn't mean it's all over! Keep showing your support to those guys and girls who are left; because singing is singing, and every single musician on that show is pretty great at it. Tune in on Wednesday at 8 PST / 7 ET, and don't forget about the live finale on Monday, December 20th!

Now that we're back to our usual (slightly improved) selves, we'd love to catch up. Drop in and see us on January 14th at Seattle's Benaroya Hall (tickets are on sale now). We can't wait to see you there!

-Stephanie
GfT