Ruth Allen's Sunrise Around the World

 If you didn't know, I've been going with some friends of mine to sing/entertain at an assisted living center every Wednesday afternoon for several years. We weren't able to go there during the original COVID-19 lockdowns. When they had to go back into lockdown from Omicron, we decided to start live streaming our singalong so they could still have some entertainment. Here's the one we did last week:

We'll be live streaming again this week, so if you are reading this before Jan 26, 2022, please drop by YouTube to watch on Wednesday at 3:30 pm Pacific. If you are reading this after Jan 26, 2022, you should be able to find the archive of the live stream on my YouTube channel.

Ruth Allen Sings English Music Hall Songs (Mostly)

 

Ruth Allen was born on January 20, 1929.

On October 26, 2021, I asked her to sing some songs for me. She’s 92.

Here’s what she sang:

WITH MY LITTLE WIGGER-WAGGER IN MY HAND (1909)

Fred Earle, Frank Carter & Gilbert Wells

 WHEN FATHER PAPERED THE PARLOUR (1910)

R.P. Weston and Fred J. Barnes

 FIVE EYES (1922)

Poem by Walter de la Mare published in 1913

 DON’T DILLY DALLY ON THE WAY (1919)

Fred W. Leigh and Charles Collins

 JUST A WEE DEOCH & DORIS (1911)

Harry Lauder

 WAITING AT THE CHURCH (1906)

Fred W. Leigh and Henry E. Pether

 AT THE DEVIL’S BALL (1913)

Irving Berlin

 HE’D HAVE TO GET UNDER - GET OUT AND GET UNDER (TO FIX UP HIS AUTOMOBILE) (1913)

Maurice Abrahams, Grant Clarke and Edgar Leslie

 HE NEVER RETOUCHES ME

Ruth Allen

The Sparks Brothers Documentary

 Or is it just an excuse to share the latest song I've posted on YouTube?

Johnny Delusional Cover

I basically had no idea who Sparks were until I got to work way down the post-production stream on The Sparks Brothers documentary. It is really good. It is a love letter to the Mael brothers and you'd have to be pretty stubborn to not come away with Sparks as your "new" favorite band, at least for a little bit.

I have been a fan of Franz Ferdinand for a long time, but for some reason I decided to not buy the Sparks collaboration album, F.F.S. But I've bought it now and I love the song Johnny Delusional in particular. So much, that I decided to do a cover version. I've also been doing tap lessons on YouTube, so I did a tap to accompany myself on the song with., 

Anyway, go see The Sparks Brothers, which comes out in theaters on June 18, 2021. In the future from when I'm writing this you will probably be able to find it streaming somewhere. Then buy some of their music to support them. Don't just watch their videos on YouTube, but put some actual money into their pockets.

I’ve Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts! Song

 Finally got around to recording another song.  Not my finest piano play, but a silly song I thoroughly enjoy! Thanks to Katherine for indulging me.

First Song of 2021 — Moon River

 After a “break” during the holidays, when I had too much stuff to do and couldn’t learn a new piano song, here’s our first duet of the year!

Hazy Shade of Winter

 Katherine posted an autumnal picture to Facebook with lyrics from this song, so I decided we had to do it next.

Happy Together

 Yes, we are celebrating this weekend. 

Daydream Believer

Acapella app exploring continues. With my friend Katherine. 

You're Never Too Old - Ruth Allen at the Canyon Theater Guild

A few weeks ago, depending on how soon after publication you are reading this, I was able to help out with a one-night only production at the Canyon Theater Guild in Newhall, California.

I've been lucky enough to become friends with Ruth Allen and her family over the past few years, and in celebration of her 90th birthday she starred in a production of her original songs. She wrote, or co-wrote with her brother, Alan Berry, all but two of the songs in this show.

My friend and I made the banners for her piano, so now we're ready to go into the banner-making business.

The whole show is now available to view on YouTube.

June Song! Last Day of June

I forgot to post my song from April, but you can find it on my youtube channel (www.youtube.com/CamilleSharon), maybe after you watch my song for this month.

Most years, on the last day of June, I will post the Finn Brothers' song "Last Day of June" to some of my social media pages. This year I decided to go ahead and record it myself and post that instead. I'm a little early, but I was ready to record it after not getting around to recording a song in May. So... Here it is!

Weekend in New England - March song

I was busy dying Easter eggs yesterday, so didn't get to record this until today. My sub-goal by the end of the year is to record a song without having to do a bunch of takes and still having mistakes! It is so hard to get through the song without messing up, and to mess up and just keep going. Also to get my glasses to stay in place while I sing! They slip so far down my nose, I just don't know what to do about it.

The Rainbow Connection

Last year, you may recall, I challenged myself to do one painting each month. I managed to get through the year with varying degrees of artistic success. This year, my personal challenge is to record one song a month and post it. I've accomplished my January goal and here it is:

When I was 6 or 7, I was in The Sound of Music at the Fiesta Dinner Playhouse in San Antonio, Texas. I was Gretl. After the shows, Captain Von Trapp, Maria and I would go the theater bar and I remember singing The Rainbow Connection with them.

The Muppet Movie is one of the most influential movies in my life. I know it sounds silly, but at a very young age the idea of moving to Hollywood to make millions of people happy really resonated with me and has influenced my life choices.

Be happy. Sing. I hope you enjoy it.

You Grew On Me (cover song)

I know you've been wondering how the piano is going. Well, here's the latest thing I learned! It's another Tim Minchin song called,  "You Grew On Me."

You Grew On Me

You Grew On Me

Linked twice because I don't think I'm getting the video to embed like it should.

My Excuse - Original Song

I wrote another song. In my head, I sound just like Steven Tyler singing this...

My Excuse - YouTube

I don't know how to make the video embed here...


Here's my piano, while I think about this...

There we go.
I made those curtains in the background. Yay, me!

Song for Oskar