Family Affair

If you read this blog with any regularity, you'll know I'm a big fan of music and of my nieces and nephews. Every now and again I get to combine the two - whether it is by taking them to a concert or going to one of their recitals.

I know I've blogged here (maybe a year ago?) about the pain that it is to go to these recitals. Painful to my ears, to my brain and even to my butt - as there is always uncomfortable chairs at these things. But the biggest pain has always been the guy who runs the event. ...you can look back to last November or December to read about that. I'm here to talk about my oldest niece.

Anyhoo....this may be a proud uncle talking, but last Saturday my oldest niece performed two songs: one an original composition (she's 16!!) and the other from some unsigned artist she came upon.

Her confidence and talent really showed as she was the only person to perform at this recital solo. Though she works hard at this - she clearly has a natural talent. As I stood there watching (and taping) her, there was a sense of pride coming from me, as well as a protective vibe.

Though her parents were sitting nearby, they missed two boys from an earlier performance come in and I overheard them say "she's on next!" I later confirmed that Katie didn't know either of the boys. OMG - she has admirers. My back went up. Hence my protective vibe.

The video below is one I took with my digital camera, and the compressed the file a number of times just to get it to YouTube standards. It's a bit grainy, but you get the idea.



After her performance a man came up and asked if she was my daughter. I told him she was my niece and he went on and one about how great she was. Hence my pride. He went on to say, 'she should be on American Idol'...to which I quickly said, 'oh no, she's too good for that'. We both laughed.

Watch the video and enjoy (hopefully). I will attempt to post the second song (her original) later. Unfortunately I do not know the name of the song she is doing. ...and she's been unresponsive to her proud uncle's emails asking her.



Song by: Sly & the Family Stone