Game Night: the album

I've sort of mentioned it in passing before, but when I was in high school and college I was in a band. It was called One Strange Thing and featured an eclectic mix of styles that included Led Zeppelin, Pearl Jam, Dave Matthews and The Grateful Dead. Okay, so not that eclectic. But our singer - me - was also a jazz flute player. So people thought we were nifty. Sadly, we only played four solid shows before the guitarist's and my desire to be successful clashed with my bassist's and drummer's desire to smoke lots of pot.

One of the most surreal things in the world is to be standing up on stage singing a song you wrote the lyrics to and look down at the audience members who are singing along with you. I always wanted to ask them if they realized the words came out of my brain, not from anybody who knew what they were doing.

Especially since the chorus to our most popular tune was "I'm not a whore. So what are you here for? I'm not a whore." It was called "The Whore Song".

What can I say? I'm a lyrical genius.

That's how I felt yesterday. I don't mean I felt like a whore - I mean the surreal thing. The realization that other people like your work enough to invest the time to learn the lyrics. People who aren't lifelong friends like Lead Actor who may be clouded in their judgement and willing to snort vitamin D up their nose on camera to please you because they've always thought you were the bee's knees. At least, that's what I keep telling myself.

That last paragraph made no sense.

What I mean to say is, I have a DP.

A talented, knowledgeable someone is interested in taking a chance on an inexperienced little girl and donating their services based on a script. That I wrote. With Partner.

I kind of want to say, you do know I have no money, right? And you do know I wrote this right? Me? I'm not a real screenwriter. I make my living explaining what an allegory is to 25 teenagers who are far more concerned over whether or not there will be chicken available for lunch today.

But I am a real screenwriter. Partner and I wrote something that we'll produce and people will act in and other people will see and hopefully enjoy. And really, that's all it takes to be a produced writer. Hell, people don't even have to enjoy it.

You don't have to wait for Hollywood to find you. Put yourself up on that stage and start singing and the people will come to you.