I participated in my first Twitter chat on Sunday night. It was actually quite simple. I logged on to Hootsuite, my Twitter client of choice, and added a stream tile for the topic hashtag, #blogchat. Once the chat session began, the tweets started streaming, and I simply refreshed about every minute or so taking time to read several tweets and and even venture a few times on to shared web pages.

The general topic, blogging, is something near and dear to my heart, and something I’ve been doing across several platforms for a few years. The specific topic for this chat was the differences between blogging platforms, and how to migrate from one to the other, if desired.

At first I was just going to lurk, as the concept of a Twitter chat session seemed a bit odd to me. (more…)

Jane Monheit performs with her trio at Scullers Jazz Club

Trying to find the correct adjective to describe Jane Monheit’s vocal talent is like trying to finds words to describe the most perfect moment you’ve ever had in your life. Smooth, silky, luscious, powerful, dramatic, soul-stirring, haunting, the list goes on and on.

And trying to avoid all the cliches that articulate female jazz singers is an exercise in futility. Chanteuse? Most definitely. Sophisticated? Check. Bawdy? Most assuredly, but not in a distasteful way. Worldly? She’s recorded and toured for a decade, and played every form of venue from intimate jazz club concert hall. She’s performed with any combination of instrumentalists, from solo piano and jazz trio, to brassy big bands and full orchestras, and she’s recorded with a variety of singers and instrumentalists from Michael Buble to violinist/fiddler Mark O’Connor.

The Long Island native also claims her own Wikipedia entry, bunches of You Tube pings, and enough Google image tags to rival Sarah Brightman or Shakira. (more…)