Cindy Grayson: Blog

I'm sitting in my living room watching " The Postman". Christmas at The Heart of Texas Gift Gallery where I've worked two days a week for over 2 years is going great. I get to meet people from all over the world who stop in for the wonderful variety of cool stuff my boss and friend Gerry Ann Larabee fills the shop with and to see our new shop mascot, Gracie - the 10 month old golden retriever ( 10 months today!).
My job at the Manhattan Fine Dining Restaurant in Lufkin is also going very well. I've even got to do a couple of private parties lately and my delivery has gotten so much better, I even got a $200 tip last weekend. I need to get on the ball and make some more copies of my CD's and some more cards. I'm almost out and my music requests are picking up.
I've also been volunteering at my Dad's Nursing Home the last month or so and the theory that music can reach where the human touch can't is so true. Faces light up and they go thru the day with smiles when they use to just sit. [...]

It's been pretty busy taking care of my MOm and Dad but I've still got my once a week job at The Manhattan ( check FaceBook) on friday evenings but I've also started playing on Tuesdays at 10:00 am at The Oak Manor nursing home in Nacogdoches. I had to buy another portable amplifier so the old folks could. I don't have a problem - persay - with the entertainment they have but a constant briage of religious songs that are so slow they could be funeral dirges must get old after awhile so I play songs from 1930's till now and they seem to love it. A couple of the old ladies there must have been Woodstock followers in the 60's. They're starting to speak up as to what they want. It'll be interesting to see what they request next Tuesday.

I appreciate all of you who stop by and I want you to know that things are going well here for me. Music wise, I am still loving my weekly gig at The Manhattan Fine Dining room in Lufkin Texas but I've also started playing at the Oak Manor Nursing Home where my Dad is. It's a new thing but I think that offering them more opportunities to hear some thing other than the church music they hear every week is good.

An excellent evening! I actually got a compliment from one of the original waiters. He said he loved my choice of songs for the evening.
I never know if I'm going to play a set that will strike home for anyone. I use to start from the front of the book ( which has gotten quite big) and then I started opening it at the middle and this time I went from the back to the middle and jumped to the front and skipped around sort of as it felt right.
I use to make a set and stick to it but as you play longer, you learn to look at the audience and feel the mood and change songs to fit the mood. I use to have a stack of sheets laid out that the waiters could hand out but I've expanded my list of songs so much that I need to completely revise my sheets and I haven't had the time to sit down and redo it. I'll do it.
A new friend of mine, Ann Castle, came and sat right in front of me. It's funny. When I started, people said they preferred to sit in one of the back rooms and now lately, people have [...]

I got to the Manhattan early enough to deliver my fresh bag of figs and a dozen eggs to Destin, my boss. It started off slow but picked up quickly. Instead of the usual two tables for the regular crowd, it ended up with 4 tables and I spent the first part of the evening drinking wine during the breaks at the bar. The conversations were very diverse and interesting.
I covered most of the James Taylor and Joni Mitchel and Paul Simon songs I knew and then switched to Peter Paul and Mary, Dylon and squeezed in various originals as I could. They really want to hear the song they recognize. Leonard Cohen's " Hallelujah" and the old traditional" There's Whiskey In The Jar" from the traditional Irish is always a great one as long as I put John Denver's " Country Roads" before it and after a couple of bottles of wine. It was a great evening!