Hold up just a minute. This is Chase and I'm with special guest Blair Perry, with another short episode, ride off the heels of the Brave Little Toaster. Blair? How did we do on the brave Little toaster? I felt great about it. It was so fun to rewatch.

, I'm an external processor, so I really analyze things as they're coming out of my mouth, which might not be the best for a podcast. I don't tend to think ahead. , this one's fine. Great, great. I'm listening back. . To our episode, , I felt like you had a lot of points that I didn't think of.

. All three of you really identified a lot of metaphors. I. That I was enlightened by. I thought, wow, there, there's way more to this movie than I even realized. So , I had a great time. This is the first time in human history someone has said that they've been enlightened by Andrew and Kyle.

That's probably true. So, wow. They're gonna be so excited. Should I take it back? I should probably retract that statement. We can edit it out later. , well, today we're talking about the art of performance. , you're a performer. You've have a long history of performing, so I kind of wanna dive into that subject.

, I know it's music , and we have a film podcast. It's a little different, but I feel like there's some similarities and who better to tell us about the similarities than you. Yep, that's right. I know all the things. So  I wanna talk a little bit about how you got your start. Performing. ,  talk a little bit about what you started doing at a young age that got you performing. Well, I grew up going to church, , with my mom on Sundays at the first United Methodist Church in northeast Alabama. And I. I did a lot of performing there. That was where I did all of my performing for my first several years.

, I had my first solo when I was three. I. , in the Christmas play and I, in the middle of my solo forgot the words, , which is now where my fear of forgetting lyrics comes from. I still think back that to that moment and how horrified I was. Not that anybody cared at all. I was literally just. A three-year-old wearing a giant Christmas tree cutout.

Have you, have forgotten lyrics recently? Yeah. , I still forget them all the time, honestly, but that's just 'cause I'm performing a lot more now. , and so there's a lot more opportunities, but , I'm finally kind of over it. If I forget lyrics, it's not the end of the world. But for a while , I was pretty horrified that it was gonna happen, , again for years.

, so a lot of, a lot of singing at church. I got the opportunity to. Sing at my school, at my elementary school a few times in talent shows I performed, , for, we would have, I don't even remember  what they were, but the whole school would be getting together for some reason, some sort of assembly.

And I would sing.  I was Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz. In the fifth grade at the school, , I grew up in a really small town in northeast Alabama called Center, Alabama. And with an e with an ERE. It's spelled, they changed it in the sixties.

It used to be center, C-E-N-T-E-R 'cause it was in the center of the county. And in the sixties we decided to get fancy and make it all British. , that's just tax evasion from like small town counties like that. They have to change it so no one will come find them. , so I. Did most of my performing just within my little community, but then I auditioned for Dorothy and the role of the Wizard of Oz in a Gadsden.

, Alabama production, which at the time was a big deal looking back, it's hilarious 'cause Gadsden's not a big city by any stretch of the imagination, but it was the town,  where we would go out to eat. Like if you were gonna go to, a fancy restaurant and buy fancy, I do mean Red Lobster.

, or Ruby Tuesday. Biscuits are good though. Oh my gosh. They were delicious. My parents would get the salads  called the shrimp vinegarette, and it was a vinegarette that had these tiny, tiny, just above microscopic shrimp. , and I thought it was the fanciest thing, and it was only in my late twenties when I really, I.

Kind of reflected back and thought, oh my gosh, that was not a fancy restaurant that I really thought it was. We would've to wait for like two hours sometimes. But anyway, that was also where we would go to the mall. , 'cause there was really nowhere to shop where I grew up. So that was the next biggest city.

And I got cast as the Wizard of Oz. And I remember, , I  was nervous the whole time thinking I'm not really good enough to be here or do this. I'm not quite sure why they cast me. At one point they gave me an acting coach. , it was just an older girl maybe in high school. , and I didn't think anything about it at the time.

I just remember her kind of working with me on , some of my lines. And then later I realized, oh my gosh, they realized after they cast me that I really wasn't good enough or not, not good enough. I wasn't that great. And so they needed somebody to teach me how to act. 'cause I had never been trained on how to act.

And this was, even though it was still kind of a small theater, , we had crowds of almost 200 people. . Some nights that would come to see us. So, , but that was probably big my big time. Yeah. Right. Yeah, I mean, I thought it was big because at the end of the performances I would have little kids.

At this time I was. What, 11, maybe 12. , and I would have little girls come up to me to ask for my autograph, uh, after shows. And I remember thinking, this is the best thing in the world. Like there, this is like, that doesn't get better than this is anything. I mean, that's an achievement. 'cause think about how many people have never been asked for their autograph other than like when they're signing like checks or like signing warrants or something like that.

So like, , it was pretty cool. , it was a, that was one of the biggest. Things that  had happened to me as far as performing at that time. , and I had some setbacks after that that kind of made me think maybe I'm not meant to be a performer. And since then I've gotten over it, but Okay. ,

so, performing at such a young age and doing these different, like. You did theater, you did music. Was there any point in time where it was just like, it felt like it was just easy, like that it was kind of natural that you didn't have to really work for it? Yeah. , . It was easy in that I didn't really get trained on how to do any of these things.

My dad could sing, but he wasn't a singer. , he was in a band when I was really young and before I was born, but he, and he can sing, but he wasn't trained, didn't know how to train me. , so , it was easy in that , I could, I was able to sing, I could hit notes. I didn't have to work at hitting the notes. Like, I remember one time a woman after a church performance saying, that was amazing.

You hit all the notes like you weren't. Flat or sharp on any of them. And I remember thinking, yeah, like I, I know how to, I can sing like that. That the moment where I thought, I kinda realized, oh, I guess that's not the case for everybody. , it's hard for people to find the note. That's one thing I've never struggled with.

, my range has always been a little bit of a problem. There's , some other just insecurities in there. , so I think there's parts of it that are easy. The parts of it that were hard, I've always. Struggled with being shy on stage and 

I would be horrifically nervous before every single solo. Every time I would get on stage at church, I would just feel so nervous. And I remember begging my parents, , why do I have to sing? Can I please not sing this Sunday? Can I please not sing? , at this event, I'm so nervous.

And she would always say. It please. Like everybody wants to hear you, it's gonna be fine. And I would always do it and I would realize it was fine. But , it was  definitely into my like early thirties that I was extremely nervous before every single performance. I've just recently gotten over that.

The reason I ask that question is 'cause I don't think it's something that,  come natural to a lot of people. , not many people can get on stage and do whatever, even if they're trained.

, we have a show on movies and film, so we talk about acting and I feel like it's in that same vein as a musician. , not everybody can just get up and do it, trained or not. , and it's why we. , ridicule them on this podcast. Mm-hmm. And three individuals that have no talent at all to do any of that.

, but that's why we have the talent to do this podcast. So, what goes into a good performer, whether it's on stage, it's in film, or in music from, , being natural to being great. , what goes into being a great performer? , I think a big part of it is being able to think about your audience, , you're a writer.

, when you're writing, you're thinking about your audience, who is going to be reading , what you're writing, and as a performer it's even easier because  you often know who it's going to be. And even if you don't, once you're there, you know who it is.

, you know how many people it is, , it's about  tapping into , what they want to hear, what they want to see, or what's going to, , move them, , it's also just an awareness of your own. Body of your own like voice and kind of knowing when you're moving on stage, trying to make sure that you're connecting with the audience, 

. Even though it's a performance, you're putting on a show for them, you have to involve them somehow.  Especially as  the lead singer of a cover band, a rock cover band, it's really important because . They're not there to hear all the great new songs that you have written.

They're there to have a good time  and feel something or release. , but at the end of the day, everybody comes to see a performance to be moved in some way. , so it's an escape, right? Yeah. Yeah. In some way or another, like they're looking to  lose themselves and the piece of work or piece of art.

Definitely. , what do you think makes like performing an art?  Oh, that's a great question. I don't know if I'm gonna have a good answer for that question. . , what makes it an art? , I guess art is.

You are taking what is in  your own heart, your own soul, your own mind, and you are manifesting it somehow, whether that is manifesting it visually, , auditorily, whether you're, you know, putting it on paper. , , you are taking what you feel and you are showcasing it. You're manifesting it.

, and  transferring it to other people. , so, , you might say there, there could, you could be a sliding scale of  a little bit of art to the most artistic thing. I don't know , if anybody thinks of it that way, , I have a friend that always wants to talk about what is art.

And  , if you're copying a picture. , but you're still doing it yourself. Is that still art? If you're making a copy of a copy of, you know, is it still art? So I don't know. , but yeah, in general I would say  it's just you putting your, what you think and feel and manifesting it.

Couldn't have said it better. What is art is , you probably need six or eight episodes on that. Deep, deep. I dunno if I'm ready to get that deep. Yeah. Because I mean, art  is subject to whoever's looking at it. Right. Some people deem stuff as like, some people don't even think about film as art,  or they think it's like kind of lowbrow.

Right? Or depending on , what it is. Like there's certain films that are art. , terrifi as Art Terrify is definitely already checking. , and there's so many people that are gonna disagree with that. I saw , a big fancy truck that had a terra, like a big terra fire sticker on the back window , of the cab.

And I normally would've seen it and thought, oh my gosh, , I love terra fire. So I would've been like, that's great. That's amazing. But then there's a part of me that thought. I love Terrifi Air, but I would never put a sticker of it on my car. I don't know. There's something about it. Were, were you thinking about like, putting it on the wall, like at home?

Like it was just gonna go there instead? Like, oh, I wouldn't put it on my truck. Right. But I would put it on my bedroom wall. I don't want,  it's like I love it, but I don't necessarily want everyone to know that. I love it. , and here's the other thing is  I didn't see it until after this guy had honked and honked and like zoomed around a.

A line of cars. So , he was acting like a jerk. And then I saw it and then I thought, Ugh, he's given terrify fire a bad name. And then I thought, wait, terrifi fire, is he self of bad name is murdering children saying, I saying, yeah. Then I had to like reflect on my own morals and .

So  I asked, , I asked George this question and I think it'd be fun in this situation. So ask him on the wrestling episode if he would do his Mount Rushmore Oh no. Of, , wrestlers. I think right now it'd be a great opportunity to find your four favorite. , performers  and , I'm gonna throw some ground rules here.

It doesn't have to be just music. I know you're in the music world, but performance though, performance period. It could be acting, it could be stage,  , and I really wanna go a little deeper. I don't wanna just say like, random great performers, but people that have influenced you. It could be somebody that everyone else is like, oh.

I don't think of that person as a great performer, but it could have hit you in a certain way.  And , I'll do one too. , we'll trade back and forth and that way you'll give, it'll give you a little bit more time to think in between each one to think of, you know, I'm so bad at thinking of nouns, proper nouns.

Oh my goodness. Okay. I've once forgot my own aunt's name because I was under pressure. I, I've, okay. I am gonna, Jennifer names. Yeah. Okay. And I have two too. Okay. Alright. , okay. So the first one I have to. I have to say is Elton John because, , performer in all aspects, he was, , one of my favorite artists when I was a little kid.

, some of the first songs I learned to play on piano and sing at the same time, , were Elton John's songs. I listened to him a ton growing up and, . I love just everything about his artistry, the way he dresses his whole, , his whole aesthetic. And  I love the timur of his voice. I also connect with him because I also can't write lyrics.

, I can only write music. So, you know, I need a Bernie Chopin like he had, 'cause he did not write lyrics. So I connect with him. People still. Still respect him as an artist, despite the fact that he didn't write any of his own lyrics. Hey, most, most people these days don't even write their own lyrics.

So, and I guess that's true. I guess that's true. There's  12 people writing one song now. It's, it's very That's true. That's true. Very crazy. , so  definitely Elton John, , continues to impact me. , ,  I've seen him, , twice and just cried like a baby at the beginning of the last one, just uncontrollably.

So. Yeah. Are you gonna go next? Are we gonna go 1, 1, 1, 1. Yeah. I'll go next. So, , one to think outside the box a little bit, , I think about Robin Williams' performance in the bird cage. , that's one of those performances that he really brings a lot of life to that character. And a lot of different nuances if you follow that movie where  he's kind of this, this jerk to his partner for reasons that are selfish.

, and he's able to like, overcome those selfish reasons at times, , to put not only himself first, but like his lifestyle that a lot of people look down on. , he really brings his character into like something that , you could feel. And you can believe it could be you at any point in time.

So that, that was one of my, this is one of my favorite movies of all time. And with him in that performance, it just, it always sticks with me. Okay. So that's, that's one thinking from a film perspective, 

I'm gonna say something really embarrassing because , , I teach. Social studies. , we're coming up with four. This is four people, right? Four, not five. Yeah, there are four. There are four. None on Mount Rush.

I was like, how many people are you teaching? I'm coming up with, I'm like, in my head, am I classroom today? A classroom of four people. All right. All right. Okay. So that just helps me to kind of narrow it down. This is gonna be really hard. Okay. I don't wanna put too many men in there, , because you know.

There's only four and I even 50% would be, but , I'm gonna go out of order. I was gonna try to go in order of like how at the time of my life when I was impacted. Mount Rushmore is not in an order. You are correct. You're correct. I don't think so. Anyway, , I'm now realizing that I know enough about Mount, but how old they, like when they lived time.

In order of anything. I don't know. But there's no ordered amount. They just, I've gotta go do some research after this. Chiseled a bunch of white men into the side of a mountain. That's fair. Okay. , I'm going to go with, oh my gosh, this is so hard.  I should have known that you are gonna do this to me, and I should have thought ahead.

Well, that's why I didn't tell you. Oh my goodness. 

 Do you want me to go again? 

Okay. My next one is Brandy Carlisle. That's a good one. She's got such an incredible, I mean, just an incredible voice. A range that is just insane. , she's such a brilliant lyricist, such a brilliant songwriter. , when I heard the story for the first time and there's a part in it, you know, that kind of the most famous part of that song where her voice breaks while she's singing. , it's just unbelievable. And it made me cry and I just thought there's, she's so good at putting emotion into her voice.

So I didn't even know what she looked like for years. , 'cause I didn't have. , an album like with where I could see what she looked like. I, and I didn't have the internet reli, you know, reliably to look up pictures of her. , , she was able to perform just through her voice. , and she's just really incredible and I've read, .

Her most, the book that she wrote, , her autobiography, and it's phenomenal too and funny. She has a, , a relationship with Elton John. They're close and she talks about him in her book. And they've written songs together and performed songs together. , so I'm going to put her on my mountain Rushmore.

That's very fair. , that's a good one. I love Brandy Carlisle. , I would have to say like, it's, so I do wanna put a musician there. I don't wanna go just straight acting at this point. And we're not trying to segregate our Mount Rushmores here, so IO this is one that probably the audience is not gonna know.

I hope they do, but I don't think they will. You will. But like, I'll always like wanna put Sammy Ray in that conversation because of, I mean, . You just go see her live. Everybody like, I mean, she's touring now. So go find tickets, , turn this off and immediately go to , wherever you get your tickets.

It's more important. And find Sammy Ray if she's even within an eight hour drive, drive there, find her. She's great. Sammy Ray. Ray is spelled RAE. And the friends, , one of the best, I guess you could classify her as new, I guess, newish. She didn't even, they have one full album out. They don't even, and then the rest are eps.

But  for the last like eight years, finding someone like her and seeing her live, , it's pretty special. I feel like she has that drive to really connect to the audience. And she makes you feel like if you, no matter where you're sitting in that, that entire auditorium, she's  singing to you?

Yes. Specifically, definitely. She's got that. I mean, I don't. I didn't think I was going to bring up Twiz in this podcast, but, , Taylor Swift is sort of known for being the best at that. , but , Sammy Ray does that with somehow with, she has a different energy and a different aura about her, but she is, I think, as good at making the audience feel like they're a part of her family.

Incredible voice too. Oh my gosh, yes. Oh, so incredible. She's great. So great. Now I can't put her on my Mount Rushmore. You can, we can double up. Thanks. Thanks. No, no, no. We can double up on Mount Rushmore. I don't think you were going to, I'm gonna copycat you. Who do you think I am? So we're onto your third.

So who's your third on your Mount Rushmore? , okay. So I feel like I'm going to need to go with, I think I'm gonna have to go with Adele. Because  she was one of those artists that I heard and was just enamored by her voice. She had one of those voices that I have so much respect for voices that I just know.

There's just no way I can ever sound. I mean, nobody sounds just like anybody. Everybody's got a unique voice, but she's just, , I. She's absolutely phenomenal and is, her songs always speak to me most, almost all of them. , they're really meaningful. She's another one that is able to put so much emotion into her voice and her songs that, , and I've seen her, I've never seen her live.

I would love to, but I've watched lots of videos of her performing and she doesn't do much. I mean, she doesn't move around like me. I move around. Like crazy  I'm kind of an actress first, so , I kinda act as I'm singing. She does all of her acting just with her vocal chords and with her like face B and barely even that.

It's just all with her. That's a good catch too.  ' when you think of performance, you think of someone doing a spectacle of sorts. Like you almost see it like as a circus. Mm-hmm. Which I think that's where a lot of the performing arts had like evolved from is just.

You know, flying around, doing acrobats or like that one lady with 16 toes, whatever, in the, the corner, so, okay. Um, well, I mean, even Elton John, he has a, an incredible voice and is an incredible songwriter, but he's dressing up in crazy outfits and standing up playing piano and. Running across the stage in a, you know, sequin Dodgers outfit and, you know, , he's more , of a spectacle performer.

I love the spectacle that me, I mean, me too. , I feel more like that myself, but, so , I guess I have a lot of respect  for performers that are able to do so much by physically doing so little. They have very list. Yeah. No, I mean, it's a, it's very impressive and it's a good, it's a good thing you bring that up 'cause.

You, you don't often think about like a musician putting on a performance with their vocal chords. You think about like them running around or them, you know, playing six  guitars at once or setting the stage on fire and jumping over it. And like, at least I do, maybe I'm out in myself here in front of everybody.

Um, my,  next one, .  Comes from my mom. If she's listening, she's not, but if she was listening, , I have to say Goldie Ha mm. Okay. , , I watched a lot of her movies growing up, and she has this just charm about her when she's in a scene where she just kind of like captivates you.

I don't, I don't know. It's just like when she's in a scene. , that's, that's the only person you're looking at and it's always felt that way to me. Like she just kind of steals the show all the time. And in a time too where women didn't get the opportunity to steal the show and she was in movies with a lot of big time actors,  but she's always been able to rise above them except for Meryl Streep and um, that becomes her, where it was just them rivaling each other the whole time.

Poor Bruce. That's funny 'cause I was considering, I'm considering putting Meryl Streep in mind, but that's it. Since you've already brought her up. I'll choose someone else. Thank you. That makes it easier for me. So  Goldie Hawn is my third. So my Mount Rushmore's almost done. Yours , is gonna be done after this one.

Aren't you excited? Oh my gosh. , it's so hard. Only four. , okay. I think I've thought of somebody, I'm trying to, to change it up a little bit because I'm thinking Elton John is , is the one I was certain about. The other two, , I don't identify with being. Like, like them. , I feel like in my performance I'm not , as much like them.

, and I'm trying to, I was trying to think of someone that I've seen a lot performing , in different ways. Well, I'll in access too places. , was there anybody that you saw in concert performing that? 'cause you talk about Bruce Hornsby. And seeing him. Yeah. But was there anybody out there like that, that you saw performing that when you were young you were like, that's what I wanna do?

I mean, uh, not, not enough to put on a Rushmore. , not anybody specifically. I went to a lot of, I didn't go to a lot of shows when I was really little. I went to a lot of musicals, but  I knew that I didn't have that kind of voice to be in musicals. Like I saw Bernadette Peters and Annie Get Your Gun when I was eight and I was one of the little one of Annie's siblings in, Annie, get Your Gun in my, one of my high school, my local high school shows.

We went to see them and I heard her sing and I just remember thinking, that's not me. , I love acting.  I loved being in musicals in, in high school. Attempted to be in them in college and . The people there were basically like, yeah, you don't, that's not your voice. . I'm not saying I don't have a good voice or I'm not a good performer.

It's a different style. Right? It's a different style in my, and I don't, , and I would be pitch, I would, there's only certain roles that I'd be able to play and they would not be great. You don't see Axel Rose out there in  Broadway plays or anything? He definitely could be. Are you joking, kidding?

He would not at all. I think they would, he would fight way too many audience members. There's just, he's already a fighting audience member. These has gotten too old now to do it. Imagine. Oh my gosh. , so. My last one, I've,  I know who it's gonna be. , it's Maya Rudolph. Oh, that's a good one. , I've been watching her on SNL, you know, the whole time she was on SNL.

, I've been watching SNL for my entire life.  And Maya Rudolph was someone that , I could identify with in that she's a, she has a phenomenal voice.

She has a really great voice, but it's not her main thing. Her main thing was she was on snl, so she was funny. So she could act, she could do voices, , which I like to do. I, you know, just. With my friend group and just in front of my students, , I put on my own little, little sketches and do little bits with them.

, 'cause they're captive. , audience members , are you better than Kyle? At just doing little voices. Absolutely not. Are you joking? Did you hear me attempting to, , I didn't even attempt to do the lamp because, not the, not lampe the lamp, but the lamp, Hey, I can't do it. I can't do it at all. I can't think of.

But he's the one that sounded , like I Gore. Yeah. Igor. Igor. Igor. , they told mere it was I Gore, no ire go wrong then, or something you get at ikea. , , Amaya Rudolph finishes out , your bout rush.

Um, so she has a great voice. I feel like our voices are similar. Like she kinda has that low like. , kind of gravelly. You're about to do a Shakira present. Yeah,

so  I love Maya Rudolph.  She's been in a lot of movies. I mean mean Girls for heaven's sake. , she's sisters, so I think she's hilarious. . I love her voice. I love the impressions that she does, and I just feel like she's, ,  I'm, I'm kind of silly. I'm not, I'm not a serious performer.

She's ever like shaking the entire time she's doing it. It's like hip shaking me. Yeah, you are. You're over here shaking every time you talk about Maya Rudolph. That's right. I just get. I just can't, I was getting little bit, I love her so much for my, for my fourth one, , I thought for sure when we started talking I was like, oh, Nathan Lane's gonna be  my fourth.

Mm-hmm. But the more we were talking about this, and I think it's more or less like stuff you've opened up. I am not a huge fan of her music to start this. , okay. , it's not that I don't like, oh, I wish I could guess. And you can try to guess. . You're not a big fan of, I'm not a big fan,  oh my gosh. Are you gonna say Celine Dion? No. No. That was like, how dare you. No, no, no. So she's gonna come sue your podcast. This isn't, this isn't me saying I hate her music and I won't listen to her music. This is me saying, it's just not been like something I wanted to listen to as much, but then I saw her in concert.

And it was one of the best concerts I've ever seen. And it was Lady Gaga. I almost said Lady Gaga. , that was an experience that was like an out of body experience, kind of show , , she's a phenomenal And that, and that's all I gotta say. It's truly like if she starts touring again, people need to go see her.

'cause you like came to six cities. Last time and Oh, that's it. Yeah. We were lucky , to have it in Atlanta, so she was, we're so lucky. We have so much good music here.  And she was singing in Truist Park, which doesn't have the best like audio and sound design, and she just absolutely crushed it. It was incredible.

So I, that's, that would finish off my, my mal rush more. That's a great, that's a great one. And now she's. Performing in as an actress and Nathan Lane, if you're listening, I'm sorry. Like, I really thought you were gonna be there at the end. He's not listening. Yeah. I can replace you with Robin Williams though.

Wow. Maybe not. Wow. , it's, it's, it's hard to throw Nathan Lane to the, to the gutters. Yeah. No kidding. , I mean, really. We are only allowed to pick four. I mean, for heaven's sake. There's so many incredible performers that I left out. So before we wrap this up too, like the reason I ask that too, and, and you brought up kind of the point that I was gonna get to on this, so you just did your Mount Rushmore.

  I wanna talk a little bit about  how hard it's been for women in the performing arts. , and. As a woman in the performing arts, do you ever feel like it's been kind of a struggle for you? , for me, really the only thing that I'm have that I've, that's I've had the struggles with in the performing arts is just my, I just can't get out of my own way.

It's mostly just been me. , so yes, some of it might be related to me feeling like. M kind of an inferiority complex. , I get that. What is, what do they call it? The, , imposter syndrome.  I have a lot of friends that are girls and guys, but I do feel like, , I tend to talk , with my girlfriends about imposter syndrome way more than my guy friends who you all might.

Experience this just as much, but I just know that we, I'm gonna speak for all of us, all of us. Minute we, uh, be the leader. , this is very dangerous. I do, I do wanna say that like, yes guys do deal with imposter syndrome. We're just kind of. Too dumb to like, let it bother us. Okay, cool. Cool. Well,  I don't know if that's related to being a woman, like I said, but um, that's something that I've dealt with a lot.

, the only other thing is just that, that I literally deal with, I dealt with this weekend, , when I did a show, is there's something about. Just the aesthetic of women performing. , how do we dress? Every decision that we make regarding dress is gonna be judged more harshly, , than men, period. They men  .

Have more leeway, more options, more.  You know, we can be fancier, , but , everything seems to be judged. , I'm in a band where I'm the only woman and,, unfortunately I would love to have an all woman, all female band. . But  the guys that I perform with literally wear t-shirts and jeans and nobody cares. 

My bass player wears cargo pants and suspenders. He's not an old man. He's only 49 years old, and he wears suspenders and nobody cares. Kind of looks like he's going to a yard sale instead of a concert, right? Yes, exactly. , , and then I think, you know what, I could dress like that when I first, when I started Suspenders car.

No, I could wear. Cargo pants and suspenders. But  that would be a, a choice. They'd be like, she made a choice.  And everybody would start thinking like all these things about, about me. Like, oh, she must be this, she must be this. But with, with a guy, it's like, oh, he's just like, cool and chill and doesn't care.

, and I just feel like I'd be way more judged. And so then with my old band, I wore. Jeans, like black jeans with holes in them sometimes and cut off band t-shirts. Like that's what I went black boots, that's what I wore every to every show. And I thought, you know, , I want it to be, this is my look and it's like a rock look.

, I kind of wanted just kind of like a guy, but the girl version 'cause I didn't want people to, I don't know. I, I was, I'm always in my head about it. Then, but you're But you're proving the point though. Yeah. I mean, even you going through this motion is proving the point of like, it's something as simple as just what you wear on stage every weekend.

Yes. I have to think about it way more. And then I joined my new band and we're material girl and I. You can follow us material Girl Atlanta on Instagram. Basic. There'll be plenty of time for plugging later. A little pre plugging. So I thought, okay, now  we're doing eighties.  It's height. It's a little bit higher energy.

, I'm, do you know I'm doing Madonna songs, I'm doing more girl songs. I need , to amp it up. And I started watching other female performers that I know and thinking, here's, I've gotta take it up a notch. And now I've reached a point where I'm like, is it too much? Am I dressing too sexy?

You know, is wearing things that are too short? Are there people? And I'll have people come up to me at the end of a show and say, just literally tell me that I look good. And they won't say anything about. The performance, they won't say anything about my voice, which is, you know, whatever. It's to be expected, but it's just like something I'm constantly like, is it too much?

So I'm, I just, I have to think about a lot. Does that, does that ever, like, I mean, how does that make you feel? Like where you're, you're there to perform and it's , the sexualization. Um, I mean, like, I get like what you said earlier is there's something about a woman performer, right? Like where it's kind of like, I mean, I could go back to wearing what I was wearing with my old band, and that would happen less.

It would probably still happen, honestly. Yeah.  But it's just a, it's just a balance of like, I, I'm, I'm never surprised by it. It's just something that I just have to kind of brush off.   I had a, an older man, this was back when I, and with my old man when I was wearing. I wasn't even wearing like skirts and stuff.

I was mostly just wearing like jeans , and t-shirts. And he said, I have  some advice for you. And let me tell you, this is, if y'all, I'm gonna give you just a visual of like this bar you walk in, you're hit by just the, the thickest, thickest cloud of cigarettes. Smoke is smoke. Is this timbers? No, it's not timbers.

It's not timbers. We're talking on the other side of Atlanta. We're talking the east side. We're in Gwinnett County.  It's a di, it's the divest bar that's ever dived. Like it's a super dive bar. But this old man comes up to me, he's like, let me give you some advice. So I'm just like prepping myself, like I can't wait to hear what it is.

And he says, never let an audience see you. Wear the same thing twice. And I just thought at the time, I was like, of all the things that I am trying to keep in my head at all given to, I'm trying to, I'm trying to remember the lyrics to 34 songs that rotate every three or four shows I'm thinking about.

Can I, am I hitting the notes correctly? I'm thinking about when should I go in and now I have to. And I'm a teacher, I don't make enough money to have a wardrobe. My closet won't physically fit enough. So I just remember thinking that, and then afterwards I just kept thinking about it and I've still kept that in my head this whole time thinking maybe there's something, something to be said about that.

And then that's just another example of me. Having to overthink everything. Like now I'm having to think about I have to change my outfit every single show.  I mean, I think that's a perfect answer to the question because it is,  the little insight into, you know, you, you didn't even mention the prep of practicing, warming up your vocals, all this other things or like what you're gonna do in your performance, but it's just like something that society has put a hold on, women is dressed.

It's been a thing since. Long, long, long, long time to go and it still persists and it's still kind of, it makes the performance a lot harder because you're thinking about so many other barriers too, that, like you said, warring could go out there and wear , a barrel with some straps on it. Oh my gosh.

People would love that. Yeah, exactly. And if you did that, God. Knows what would happen, but, , but I, there would be arrests made. , no, but that, there's two sides to every coin. That's, that's the one side. The other side is, it is fun. I, I have a lot of options for things I can wear. , if I can just ignore , the commentary from  the creepy, sleazy guys, like the women.

, I love when I have some women come to one of my shows and they say, girl, look at you. Look at your tights. Oh my gosh. That top look at you. Or, you know, I, I love when they'll, they'll come dressed as Madonna. I've had women come dress up. In their own like eighties, get up to my shows. And I just absolutely love that.

So there's the, the other side of it is it's really fun. It's part of the performance aesthetic is important. , so I try to focus on that part of it and just the It's fun. Yeah. , yeah, it's, it's, it's one of the, it's one of the key questions to the art of performance is  do you have any , advice for anybody out there that like, maybe is nervous about performing wherever that may be? Like if they're performing in music or film or theater or even, even somebody who's just. Giving , a speech at work on. Mm-hmm.  Like a quarterly report. Like those can be so nerve wracking.

Those are worst. That's the hardest performance ever. It's definitely harder. Just, I mean, I tell people this all the time. Go out and do karaoke. Go, even if you're just singing karaoke with your friends. Kinda work your way up. Performing is so liberating and so fun, and I know some people say, well, that's easy for you to say you have a good voice.

But I still,  the more I've done it, the less nervous I've gotten. I now don't really feel that nervous, , before shows I get more excited. , it's like more of a 70, 30 excitement, nervousness than it used to be. , the opposite. Yeah. And performance is like what we said. It's not just being a musician, it's not about like, I mean, performance is an everyday thing for some people that have to go to work and put on a brave face.

Yeah. Right. Some people per, they're literally performing.  In their everyday lives is going to work. Like they have to pretend like you, you're feeling care. You have to pretend like you care and pretend like you're happy. And we don't always feel that way, you know, we're having to do that constantly. So, you know, everybody's a performer.

Everybody. Everybody's like, everybody's an artist. We all truly are.  So before we get outta here, what's your favorite part of performance? . . My favorite part is truly when I have people that tell me after a show or send me a message after a show , that's like.

 I had a really hard week. I've been having a really hard time. I needed that. I had so much fun. I've had people just write me messages saying, I just, that's the most fun I've had in a long time. We just had a blast. Like that's, that's my favorite part about it, because then. You know that you're accomplishing the goal.

I can feel great about a performance all day long. I can feel sheety about a performance and feel like I did not do my best. And I, if I have somebody that talks to me at the end and says, I had so much fun. This is the most fun I've had., I haven't gone out in a long time, and this was so awesome. I loved dancing it.

Then I accomplished the goal. It doesn't matter how I felt about it, because at the end of the day, performance can be, it can be for yourself, and it is. Very meaningful for you, but , you're manifesting it, you're sharing what's inside you with a group of people or with, um, , with other human beings.

And that's, to me, that's the best part about it, is just the connection. , with other people. Well said. Well, she did such a great job. We had to bring her back on two episodes, so, oh my gosh, stop. , so play her. Tell all the people out there, all 14 million people that listen to this podcast where they can find you.

What you got going on, where are you gonna be next? Let 'em know this is your time to shine. All right. I know I gave a little prepl. I don't know. I'm so sorry about that. Prepl. Sorry, not sorry. I thought about just cutting you off after that and just like ending the episode. So I am the lead singer for Material Girl.

You can find us at Material Girl Atlanta. We are, , a very high energy, , rock pop cover band. We do some pop songs, but they're rocked up versions. , so a lot of women. Songs. , a lot of men's songs too. I got a very low voice. , you should come check us out. We play at places like Dixie Tavern, , Guston's, Woodstock.

, we. Play , all around the town. So you could check us out on Material Girl at Atlanta on Instagram and Facebook. , and then I do some solo shows. , Dorothy Blair music is where you can follow me for those shows. I play piano and sing,  a lot of times at the Marietta Wine Market and , you should follow us to see where my band's gonna be next.

Well said. Well, we appreciate Blair being on Back to Back episodes, bringing the best movie that Holdup has watched to date. I'm still waiting , on my, my reward. My, my trophy. Uh, well, when, when Patreon kicks in and people start donating, then we'll get that to you. I'll be waiting. As always, this is Chase from the Holdup podcast.

Follow us on Instagram  to find out what we're doing next. Thank you so much, Blair. Hopefully we'll see you again next time. Bye.