Introducing Christine

I know the "friend" is really Steve Smith and Hard Road, but the only reason I have that friend is because Chris is a part of it.  Take that, Steve. 

Here is the short version of this blog:  Chris taught me to sing.  Chris is talented.  Chris was the pastor at my wedding.  Chris is my Guru.  And she likes turtles.

At first, I thought Chris was a man.  When I nervously switched majors and auditioned for the vocal program at NMSU, the only familiar face was that of my high school friend, John.  John was 3 years older, a music T.A., and whenever he saw me on campus, he bugged me about not pursuing music.  So I finally caved.  A few days later, I got a call from John.  He told me that he would be my voice teacher.  He told me that originally, I was signed onto Chris's studio, but there was a mixup, and he would be my guy.  I was so relieved, because John already knew me, and I didn't want to be stuck in some male teacher's studio.  Stranger danger. 

I cut my teeth with John for a year, and when he graduated, it was time for a new teacher.  Again, I was placed in Chris's studio, and I was nervous.  She was a real teacher, and I was nervous that I wouldn't measure up.  My first day of class, I wore my new pink blouse with nice shorts, and pretty shoes.  About an hour before class, I visited my boyfriend's dorm, and spilled water all over my blouse.  The water would not dry on it's own by the time I had a lesson, so I did what any ingenuitive person would.  I microwaved the shirt.  Just for 15 seconds.  I'm not sure if the big brown burn mark or the smell of singed nylon was more offensive.  Without time to run home, I asked to borrow a shirt from Marky.  The only halfway thing we could find was a faded Tori Amos shirt.  Aside from the fact that I HATE Tori Amos (don't try to talk me into her--it won't work), I now was left with no confidence.  I had ruined my shirt and now looked like a bum for my real lady teacher.  I think I blacked out the first three or four lessons out of sheer nervousness.  Once I became conscious, I cried 5 out of 6 times I stepped into her office.  Chris is eternally patient. 

Once we got more acquainted, Chris and I started to collaborate.  When I would get a little guitar gig, she would accompany me with her piano and harmony.  Chris Fun Fact: As long as I learned my Mozart, Chris would coach me on Janis Joplin.  She encouraged me to skip a semester of school to do an opera apprenticeship.  After that, she pushed me to join her revived vocal jazz group.  She forbade me to pursue a master's degree from NMSU.  It seems like she was always pushing me to do something amazing, or holding me back from potentially deadly disasters. 

Chris is the most amazing jazz director ever.  She had us lay on the ground and moan whatever tone we wished as a warmup.  We arranged most of our music as a giant collective around the piano.  Chris, Elena and I arranged "The Star Spangled Banner" without a piano, while we colored Easter eggs.  Chris would give us entirely too much credit for our roles in Cider Jazz.  Most of us tried our hand at arranging melodies, but Chris refined them for performance.  Also, if Chris wasn't such a good interpreter, half of our music wouldn't have come to fruition.  She can play absolutely anything.  My Favorite Chris Joke: When asked if I arranged a song, I would say, "I wrote down the notes, and Chris put them all in the right place."   Once, the group assembled at Isaac's house, we drank some beer, and everyone wrote an idea on a little slip of paper.  A sentence, a word, anything.  "Elvis is the king of Rock and Roll," "My Best friend is an Asshole," "Cherries," "I love Tequila," "Africa" and so on.  Then we put the ideas in a hat, and everyone drew a slip.  We took our slips and individually wrote poetry about that subject for 10 minutes.  Next, we folded up our poetry, put those in the hat, and everyone drew again.  We revised each other's writings for 5 minutes, and put them back in the hat.  The last time we drew, we had 15 minutes to add music and arrange the song.  We performed our songs for each other, and found ourselves with 6 new wonderful creations.  I remember Chris's the best, the chorus "Africa-ca-ca" causing me to laugh so hard I fell off the piano bench.  We never actually used any of the songs outside of that night, but it was a wonderful creative venture. 

When Chris heard that I was driving to Chicago, she snatched up a one-way ticket from Chicago.  We had a three-day conversation that happened to take place in my Toyota Echo, spanning a 1500-mile trek across Southern and Midwest America.  We sang on the stage in Nashville, visited Graceland during Elvis Week, ate Chicago pizza and listened to jazz at the Green Mill.

Chris was ordained as a pastor for our wedding.  She jokingly refers to herself as "Pastor Prime"...  Say it out loud, or it isn't funny.  Chris gave us marriage counseling a day before the wedding.  We all sat on the bed of our little hotel room huddled around a three-wick unity candle. 

Currently, Chris is working on a musical about Enron, writing the soundtrack for an independent movie, touring with her bluegrass band, and enjoying the euphoria associated with recently becoming a former-NMSU faculty member.  She recently visited me in Chicago, a trip that was all too short.  We did our share of painting the town red.  I miss her on a daily basis, and look forward to VH-1 interviewing us for "Behind the Music".