Thursday, March 4, 2010

The One With the WOW Moment

Do you ever have those nights when you can’t shut your thoughts off to sleep? Sometimes that happens to me with music. Last night I couldn’t shut the music off. I think it started with American Idol last night. I can’t bring myself to watch the early rounds of Idol. I am not a fan of public humiliation. Even these earlier rounds of elimination are a little painful. But last night in one of the promo films, Simon Cowell told one of the girls that she was a good singer, but in the whole song there was nothing that made him just say, “Wow!” I realized that is why I watch the show, too. I am wishing… hoping… for that wow moment. It didn’t happen last night on Idol. Then I went to bed, and my own music started playing on that relelentless stereo of my brain. I arranged and rearranged. I wrote new songs and then tossed them. I tried to turn the music off, or at least down low enough to sleep, but with not much success. I finally had to come down and have a go at the keyboard for a while.

In the course of making my Christmas CD, I had a few wow moments. Honestly, probably more than my fair share. The most vivid one in my memory happened the day before Halloween, less than two weeks before the CD had to be completed. We were performing a rescue mission on a song which I had mostly decided to give up. We worked most of the afternoon and finished the first two verses of the song. I was happy... it was really good. Maybe not wow, but really good. We took a break, and when we returned, the tracks were simply gone! I don’t know if I didn’t save them right, accidentally deleted them… I just don’t know. I felt so bad I wanted to cry, but the vocalist just rolled up sleeves and said, “Let’s just do it better this time, then.” And for the next four hours, that is what we did. It was so much better that when the music poured through my headphones, it was electrifying. I found myself lip-synching, as though I could pour my own energy into the voice, and strangely, I would hear the sound come out exactly how I wanted. It was such a high that even though we were completely starving, we let pizza grow cold for two hours rather than take a break, and even after the recording was finished, I couldn’t stop editing it until 2:00 in the morning because I just had to keep listening to it over and over. I couldn’t even wipe the silly smile off my face. The instrumentals weren’t perfect. The performance was not flawless. I can still pick out parts that ought to be fixed. But that didn’t stop it from being just… wow.

I guess that is what keeps me up at night, even though I am going to pay for that today, since I have to cater a dinner for 100 tonight, and so there is no rest. I guess I just can’t help sitting on the edge of my seat along with Simon, looking for that wow moment. Those times make everything worth it. When was your last wow moment?

12 comments:

Momza said...

We are all looking and working for those "WOW" moments in our lives, whatever we're doing.
I watched AI last night too...and NONE of the gals singing had a SOLID WOW moment...but you know what? It reminds me of something Joseph Smith said, "It is the effort, not the achievement that makes us perfect."
My biggest WOW moments have come when I least expected it most often. I think that's why they call it a "WOW" moment--we don't see it coming.

Welcome to the Garden of Egan said...

Well, that's what you get for being so dang talented!!! You can sing, write music, make CD's AND cater a dinner for 100. YOU NEED TO SAY NO!!!!!!!!!
Mercy. I'm tired for ya!

Hope you get through the day....by the way what's for dinner?

Laura Lynn said...

It seems that all of my 'WOW" moments aren't particularly big, but just small things that cause me to pause for a moment.
Dinner for 100? Okay, that's a wow!! Good luck! Love your blog, I'm a fan!

CB said...

I couldn't sleep last night - I didn't have a WOW moment - I mean if I am going to have insomnia at least something cool could come from it!

It seems when I have a WOW moment it is usually a small insight that helps me move on in life and for the life of me I cannot think of a specific incident right now...so it musta been awhile - ha ha.

Hope you have a great day and good luck with your dinner tonight!! I know it will be fabulous!!

wisniew said...

Well, I don't know if I would call it a wow moment, Vix, but I too was watching a movie last nite. It has recently become a fav of mine, cuz, like the scriptures I see to get more out of it, everytime I encounter it. Yea, it is an R-rated movie for f'bombs (so unnecessary) .. "The Game". I haven't watched it for a couple of years I think. I was practically in tears at the end when Michael Douglas' character realizes that he didn't kill his brother and that has been rescued from the fate of his father, and that it is time to open his eyes, remove himself from the selfish ruts of his life and care for the people in his life. (The scene where he apologizes to his wife has taken on a whole new meaning for me now.)

So, in my own way, it was a wow moment. Thanx for sharing this Vix.

Joe

Anonymous said...

I live for those wow moments too. You never know when they will pop up.

I miss reading your blog. This is the firs thing I've read in weeks.

Good. Very good.

Victoria said...

The catering was not a wow moment. I would call it maybe shock and awe. And I was the one in shock. Way more people than I expected/cooked for! Pasta for about 160. I just got done washing all the dishes... again, definitely NOT WOW. But done!

Unknown said...

I saw you that you left a comment on Shelley Lauk's blog. Mind if I follow you?

Kerry

RSM Text Factor Gurus said...

hey, blog some more... I think you are eating out too often.

Victoria said...

@sad but true: I'm neither very inspired nor very inspiring... but I can eat like nobody's business.

Loralee and the gang... said...

Last wow moment? Listening to my 16-year-old daughter sing a new song that she wrote. She's awesome... YouTube "Rawrly" and see what you think...
And you cater, too? You are one talented and busy lady!

alpinekleins said...

Yes, I also live for the WOW moments of life. If they start to get too few and far between it's usually an indication that my scriptures and prayers and becoming far between. I seem to see a regular correlation between the two.

Just recently returning from our little beach excursion to South Carolina - we always fly standby (long story), and had trouble getting on flights due to a break down and flight cancellations. But to our surprise - in Atlanta which is always the worst for connections - surprisingly we got right on an unexpected flight that had been sold out all day. So that was a WOW moment for us!

Kristin