Our dear friends and neighbors Matt Fazekas and Allie Beauchesne are moving back to Boston next week, so in their honor we want to highlight Matt's wonderful musical stylings (recorded at our Open Mic Night.)  Listen and enjoy three of his awesome original songs, and Happy Wednesday Song Day!  Photo credit to Brandon Braun, who captured some super cool light painting last night.  

Thank you to all who came to our open mic night on Wednesday!  It was an awesome gathering of artists - I was verklempt seeing everyone perform such diverse styles and genres amongst other supportive artists.  It was great to see people trying out new skills and styles outside of their comfort zones: we had new songs, new monologues, styles performed for the first time in public, and even a new stand up routine.  And we couldn't have hoped for a more collaborative group.  For example, I'm usually a very low-tech performer (I don't know much about amps, mixers, or microphones, so I usually shy away from "plugging in"), but Rachel Garcia and Thu Tran (from the fabulous The Singer and the Songwriter) set me up with a mic and I loved it.  Check out the video below for snippets of all of the wonderful performances, and stay tuned for longer videos of individual sets, and our after-hours jam session.  Thanks to Brandon Braun for being our cameraman and to Allie Beauchesne for capturing pictures and creating beautiful chalk art for our sidewalk board.  We're already planning our next open mic - details coming soon!  See below for a list of the fabulous performers.

Kimberly Peterson
Singer, Founder of Citizen Workshops 

Ani Kresse
Singer/Songwriter

Rachel Garcia and Thu Tran
The Singer and The Songwriter

Reena Esmail
Musician and Classical Composer

Matt Fazekas
Singer/Songwriter/Guitar Builder/Rockstar

Amir Carpenter
Actor/Model

This week's Wednesday Song, "From Me To You" by the Beatles, is performed by the Musical Prophets at the West 4th Subway station in NYC (click here to email the duo). I spent considerable time on this subway platform while living in NY - it's one of the stops where you can transfer from the A and C subway lines to the slower/more infrequent/more annoying F train (the train that went to Smith and 9th - the closest stop to my apartment in Red Hook).  Thanks to Brandon for filming, chatting with the musicians, and for capturing a great shot of the view from Smith and 9th.  Happy Wednesday Song Day, and see you at Open Mic Night tonight!

Thank you to everyone who came to Citizen Talks last night - what a wonderful group of people sharing and asking questions about such diverse creative topics!  Join us for our next event - open mic night on Wednesday August 19 from 6:30-8:30pm at NoHo PAC.  See you there!

This week's Wednesday Song is an original I wrote while living in New York, and it's also a preview of one of the songs I'll use in my talk tonight - "Being a Vocal Chameleon: Singing in Different Styles."  My talk will be one of 6 Citizen Talks given by myself and 5 other wonderfully creative people who will share their knowledge.  It all goes down at 6:30pm tonight at NoHo PAC - please join us!  

We are lucky that the brilliant Allie Beauchesne will be sharing her knowledge with us tomorrow at Citizen Talks!  Allie is a graphic designer, photographer, and marketing consultant with years of experience helping small businesses build their brands.  After spending nearly a decade in the mobile app space, Allie is always following the latest trends in tech and social media.  This week at Citizen Talks, Allie will walk you through five easy steps to help establish your brand across social media platforms, grow your audience, and find your online voice.  Join us tomorrow night - details in the flyer below!

We are so excited that Brandon Braun will be sharing his photography expertise with us this Wednesday.  Brandon is a photographer who loves using both new and old technology - he collects antique Polaroid cameras in addition to playing with the latest and greatest in digital photography.  He also enjoys discovering new and unique ways to use his cameras.  Some of his favorite techniques include experimenting with long exposures, and testing out various shutter speeds to capture unique shots.  Come by this Wednesday to hear Brandon discuss his journey to becoming a self-taught night photographer, and to see/play with some of the awesome cameras in his collection.  See you this Wednesday August 5 at 6:30pm in North Hollywood!  More details in the flyer below. 

Another fabulous speaker who will be joining us at Citizen Talks next week is Jennifer Bennett. Jennifer is a classically trained singer who specializes in musical theater, and is a graduate of the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music and Boston Conservatory. She has extensive experience auditioning in both New York and Los Angeles, and has participated in many productions throughout the United States (and internationally on tour with the musical Cats). Jennifer has expertise in navigating the worlds of Equity and Non-Equity for stage actors, and would be happy to answer as many questions as you can throw her way. See you at Citizen Talks - next Wednesday, August 5 from 6:30-8:30pm at NoHo PAC (11020 Magnolia Blvd. in North Hollywood)!