Does everyone out there have their very own private muse? The benefits are overwhelming. I highly recommend it. You can learn all about mine and download her music at bernadetteseacrest.com. What can I say? I’m a lucky S.O.B. She offers her music at no cost, although it sells off iTunes and CDbaby. As frustrating as it is for an entrepreneur such as myself to observe, she insists that “getting it out there” is far more important to her than making a buck. It’s “art for art’s sake” and that’s surely part of why it stays genuine. Gigs are another matter. Aside from the Daddy D’z sessions, they command a respectable fee for bookings and engagements.

Much to my embarrassment as a lifelong Atlantan, a handful of dopey club owners throughout Atlanta were seemingly disinterested when the highly revered chanteuse of the Southwest introduced herself as newly arrived from Albuquerque. UPDATE - B and the boys packed Eddie’s Attic 10/8/08 and are playing there again 1/21/09. Having recently finished a gangbusters tour in France she wanted to try a couple Atlanta venues on for size. The reception was less than warm. Some fella’ at Red Light Cafe even suggested she come by for “open mic night” (?!) um…..yeahhhh - no. True to form, she flipped them the proverbial “bird” and picked the least pretentious dive in town to play a series of FREE shows for a strictly “word of mouth” crowd. Evidently, the right people were listening - Bernadette won Creative Loafing’s Best Atlanta Vocalist within her first year of being in Atlanta and playing Daddy D’z.  We took advantage of the effort to hold many a company funded evening of beer, BBQ, and some of the finest in underground music entertainment in Atlanta for all the Onyx people. It was here that Bernadette first sang the brilliant songs that Charles had written for her. This was also the place where my daughter Delia would sing an opening number of “You Are My Sunshine” or “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” when she’d only just turned four. She and Bernadette would “rehearse” at home before shows. These small private shows marked an era in our lives that I’m very sentimental about. Now that I’ve had time to reflect, I wanted to blog about what I thought was their best show since Bernadette moved here from Albuquerque in 2006.

It had been roughly a year up to this recent Wednesday show in August 2008. A year of no shows makes for a pretty good turn-out as all the people who were lamenting their dissapearance made sure to come out and bring their friends. There was a perfect mixture of people to include past fans, several of our friends, Onyx customers who’ve become friends, a scattering of family and the coveted “newcomers”. They played all their best stuff with several of Charles’ more recent songs. Everything Bernadette had been saving up over the year was coming out clear and strong. I stood at the back with a couple friends looking dumbstruck as usual - “is that MY woman up there doing that?!”. “Cabbagetown Girl” was the final number and seemed to have a   lot of locals mesmorized in what could only be described as a “you had to be there” kind of moment. It was, without a doubt, the best show I can recall. The people who came, the focus and energy of the performers, the absence of promotion or pretentiousness and the intimacy of Daddy D’z dumpy little BBQ-shack stage area - all these things converged to create the perfect underground Atlanta show experience. I was proud. I was re-energized and inspired. It felt good to be there. It really did.