Twang

Our school's annual variety show was held on Friday. I give kudos to my fellow classmates who risked total embarrassment to flaunt their skills in front of the entire student body.

Thankfully, this year's performance was a vast improvement over last year's.

I'm not saying that those previous show participants weren't talented, per se... it's just that some of their acts were cringe-worthy.

There was the boy who brought his guitar on stage and spilled his guts out in a angst-ridden song complete with passionate exhortations and vocalizations into the mike in a slightly tone deaf whine.

Or the girl with the powerful voice... but not the range required to sing the song (Think James Earl Jones attempting to vocalize one of Mariah Carey's impossibly high lines).

But anyways, 2009's show was everything a talent show should be. Full of talent.

There was one performance that really struck me (not including the violin duo in sunglasses who managed to play pretty much every hit played on the radio brilliantly): a senior girl who played the guitar and sung "One Sweet Love" by Sara Bareilles. She just walked onto the stage and she looked so cool.

It wasn't what she was wearing. In fact, her overly bohemian dress (long knit sweater, brown leggings, thick scarf, brown suede boots) was overkill.

It was her guitar.

And I was inspired to pick up my Fender at home later that day and start playing again.

I'd taken lessons a few years back, but I quit due to the fact that I had no time... and I was just getting bored with it.

Now I'm back, and I'm really enjoying it!

Maybe I'll have to put a video up of me playing some annoying-ly simple pop song... but when I get better.