The Little You Know

Right now, I am listening to a girl I used to work with singing on her myspace page. It is myspace.com/ohdorian. I am a big fan of female singer songwriters - Neko Case, Emiliana Torrini, Lucinda Williams, Mindy Smith on occassion - and Oh Dorian has just been added.

Heather Kemp is a little bit of a girl, a fireball in a way, but quiet as well. We worked together and I was her manager. What made it frustrating for her to work with me is that management had not made any official declarations of who would be in charge in the store, only asking me to keep things in line since I was the senior member of the staff. There were little things I was nit-picky about, things that would interrupt busy times and cost money -only cents, I'm sure- but over time a cost that would add up while being completely unnecessary. Because of the nit-picking, we had a strained working relationship although I like Heather a lot. She had her own sense of style, her own way of getting to the heart of things. She took things with a laugh and generally had a smile on her face. She worked hard, which should have been commended, but I was too new to know anything except how to talk about what was going wrong. Outside of work, we were strangers in a sense, the kind that feel that should stop and talk to each other, but at the same time, were eager to get away as soon as the silence reached 2 seconds. I heard that she had begun singing and playing and I wanted to go check her out, but I haven't had the chance. I even delayed listening to her site, even though it was easy to do. For the last couple of weeks, I've seen her everywhere and I guess we've seen each other out of our normal context. I think, in a way, it has been refreshing to each of us because we've had a delight in seeing each other in a way we never had before.

So I decided to hit her site. I was blown away. It just proves how little you know about the people around you, their dreams and aspirations. Her talent is evident. Her voice isn't vampish, as if she wants to claim some title that Brittney Spears left behind. Sometimes it's as clear as a bell, wafting through the air, reverberating through you in waves. Sometimes it's gritty as if what she has to say is too tough and if she didn't have music, she wouldn't be saying it at all. She plays both piano and guitar and each add its own element to the music. She uses the music to give a prelude of the song and her voice is singer and instrument as well, the way the words flow, the way she structures them. She has a song that reminds me of Tori Amos and though I have not always liked Tori Amos, she does the style that I do like from her. She combines her influences, never imitating them dead on, but mixing them in interesting ways. As I sit and listen, I love her voice and I want to hear more.

So many people have talents. I enjoy writing, but there are people who know me, even people who know that I write, who have no idea how hard I have worked and am working to become this elusive thing called Writer. There are people around Heather right now that don't know that she has this talent. She works with them, among them, being normal, chipper. This Friday, I'm going to learn this other side of her, the side called Musician, and if her website is any indication, I will love it.

She plays at 550 Blues at 9pm on Friday March, 9. 550 Blues is on Riverside Drive between MLK and First street.