My niche

Monday, May 17, 2010

One of the key rules of blogging is to find your niche. Especially if you want to write reviews. I love to travel, but sadly due to a 1 1/2-year-old terror who I happened to give birth to, a real vacation is not in our imminent future (despite the MANY Disney ads and cruise ads that my inbox has recently been inundated with...sigh). I swoon over romance novels, but I don't really have the time to read lots of books. But our family loves music and I LOVE theater. So I've jumped at the chance recently to bring our kids to some events in Philadelphia.

Theater, especially of the musical variety, is my personal splurge. I have a subscription to the Kimmel Center's Broadway at the Academy series as opposed to major league sports season tickets. I dreamed that my little girl would love theater as much as I do (my love is partially fueled by the memories of my high school and college musical theater glory days). I started her out early taking her to shows with her favorite characters: Disney Live, Disney on Ice, the circus.

As Katie got older and some of her sensory-seeking tendencies began to emerge, I thought "Well, theater is probably out, but at least she'll love sports." However, last year, my subscription included "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" and unfortunately, it was for an Easter evening performance and it didn't look likely that I'd be finding anyone to go with me. So, I bought the movie for Katie. I got her interested in the story and ultimately decided to bring her to the show with me. And at only 3 1/2 - she loved it.

Last month, with only the CD of the Broadway performance of The Lion King to teach her the story, Katie went with me to see "The Lion King" at Philadelphia's Academy of Music. As she whispered to me during the second song of the show that "Mom, this is REALLY great," I smiled inside. Perhaps it's the African language that some of the songs are sang in that she identifies with. Her favorite pretend name for herself is "Africa" and the limited amount of final consonants does seem to be a little easier for her to speak. She's been singing the opening song of "The Lion King" on a constant basis for the last week. She proudly told me as she came home from school one day that she had been singing it ALL day: at daycare, at school, even on the bus. I inquired, "Oh, and did your teachers LOVE that?" She told me, "Well, they did keep saying 'Ok, Katie - that's enough. And the bus driver told me, that's enough Katie."

Last weekend my friend and I took Katie and her friend Max to see Princess Katie and Racecar Steve at the Kimmel Center. We had a great time and Katie loved how Princess Katie walked through the audience.


(ahem, Tea Collection, yes - our children would LOVE to model for you. And we'll even try to make sure Katie doesn't get blue icing all over her clothes.)

This weekend, Chris and I took Katie and Timmy to see Joanie Leeds and the Nightlights perform at World Rock Live in Philly. As newcomers to her music, she had me at "I love Sushi":



Katie initiated a mosh pit of running toddlers and pre-schoolers.


While Timmy clung for his life in the safety of his Daddy's lap.
I know he loved the music though. The whole way to the show he was singing in the backseat of the car to the band's CD "I'm a Rockstar" and dancing in his carseat. He's used to his Daddy bringing him to the basement and playing rock concerts on tv when he can't sleep, so he was just snuggling in for the show. I may have had to tickle him to get this reaction, but I know he enjoyed himself.
After the show, we got to meet the lead singer, Joanie Leeds, and she even let Katie interview her for my review page.



So yeah, I think our family found a niche to explore. Of course, we don't intend to limit ourselves, but I couldn't be happier. And we were very excited to find out that Joanie Leeds will be back in our area on June 5th to perform at the Philadelphia Zoo. I'm giving away a copy of the new Joanie Leeds and the Nightlights CD "I'm a Rockstar" over here. Please check it out and enter. It's a really fun CD.

2 comments:

Anonymous,  May 17, 2010 at 9:37 AM  

I love the interview.
CZ

Jayme May 17, 2010 at 7:24 PM  

Love it! Love the pics :)
I need a niche. I'm currently the blogger who blogs about everything and nothing.

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