Oh My! will be playing at the Backstage Pass Photography Exhibition in Taos, NM on Saturday, December 16 at Gallery LouLou.
Catch a rare close-quarters Oh My! performance, with Michael Scott Parker and Karen Spritzer Flores!
The exhibition is all original prints of rock icons as taken by the original photographers of Rolling Stone magazine.
Michael Scott Parker and Karen Spritzer Flores are profiled again by the Gazette, in their ongoing quest for female musicians in preparation for touring.
Oh My! will be making a special appearance at the VIP gathering for the Parade of Homes, from 6:00PM to 8:00PM on August 3. If you are one of the 1,000 people invited, make sure you catch the women of rock!
Oh My! is profiled in the Colorado Springs Gazette, in their continuing quest for musicians and stardom. Interesting news about a young session musician.
Original article can be found here.
15-year-old may join Oh My! as drummer
Adrian Stanley
June 23, 2006 – 12:00AM
I’ve been writing periodically about local rocker Michael Scott Parker’s efforts to put together an all-female band.
In my May 19 Tune Town column, I told you about Parker’s partnership with Karen Flores, a local singer-songwriter-keyboardist-violinist. The duo is calling itself “Oh My!”
Parker still wants to add a drummer or bassist to the band before it embarks on a European tour in the summer of 2007.
“I’m trying to find women who want to go make history with me,” Parker tells me.
Well, you can’t ignore history. So I’ve decided to follow Parker in this pursuit, and I’ll report on it in a series of installments.
Here’s the third:
Michael Scott Parker is chipper — even more chipper than usual.
Her face aglow, her long skirt and tank top paired with bright red lipstick, she looks every bit the glamourous star she aspires to be. She glides around her home near Cheyenne Cañon, smiling and doling out cups of rose tea. For Parker, things are good. Scratch that. They’re wonderful.
“Things are really working out for me in a way I hadn’t expected,” she said.
She and Flores had their first performance together at the V Bar in downtown Colorado Springs on June 4. The two pulled it off beautifully. The night was sprinkled with little bits of drama — a duet between Parker and her visiting stuntwoman mother, a midshow phone call from the duo’s promoting manager in Scotland, and a contract for Flores, cementing her as a permanent member of Oh My!
“It was pretty cool,” Flores said of the show.
Parker feels like she and Flores are ready for the world, and that’s a good thing, especially because Parker recently confirmed dates for the group’s 2007 European tour. They’ll play shows overseas from May 20 through June 23.
In preparation, Parker and Flores are recording an album they hope to release in January. That means even more work for the duo — who already put in six- to eight-hour practices several times a week. Parker and Flores say they’re ready for it — even excited about it.
In more good news, Parker may have found a female drummer. Emily Gould, 15, isn’t old enough to join the band and play to bar crowds, but she may be talented enough to be a studio drummer for the group’s album.
Gould stopped by Parker’s house for an interview and audition June 9. Tall and a bit shy, with innocent blue eyes and a neat ponytail, Gould looks like an average teenager. But behind a drum set, Gould stands out from her peers. She’s been training on the drums since she was 9 and told Parker she aspires to be “the best female drummer ever.”
After all, she said, “There’s not that many of them.”
Gould, who is homeschooled, said she has plenty of time for the band. Her parents are supportive of her musical aspirations, and though she has trouble concentrating on schoolwork, she’s dedicated to the drums. She admitted that she may have to overcome a bad case of claustrophobia before she packs herself and a drumset into a tiny, windowless studio, but she seemed willing to challenge herself.
A grinning Parker and a beaming Flores were even more impressed when Gould began to play her drums.
Gould is creative and focused, and she picks up new songs quickly. The Oh My! women were especially impressed when Gould nailed the rhythm for the quirky “Good With A Knife” on her first try. Gould had never heard the song, yet she waded through its odd rhythms with veteran skill.
“She did take instructions very well, and when I told her to get creative, she did,” Parker said after the audition.
So, Oh My! may have found a drummer to add zest to its album, but Parker’s still on the lookout for a permanent rhythm section for the band. Check www.creaturerock.com under “Events” for more about the job, and e-mail Parker at michael@creaturerock.com.
Check out Michael Scott Parker and Karen Spritzer Flores at the V-Bar on Sunday, June 4 at 9:00PM! This duo is magic and the show will kick some serious butt!
The Colorado Springs’ Gazette sat in on one of Oh My!‘s rehearsals, and spoke with Michael Scott Parker and Karen Spritzer Flores about the progress of Oh My!
Michael Scott Parker, eccentric singer-songwriter, has officially welcomed Karen Spritzer Flores into Oh My!, making the venture a duo.
Oh My! will be performing at the V-Bar in Colorado Springs on Sunday, June 4 at 9PM. Come catch Michael Scott Parker and Karen Flores, performing together for the first time!
For information about Michael’s recent trip to Scotland, check out the Bio page.
Adrian Stanley
April 14, 2006 – 12:00AM
In my last Tune Town column, I told you about local rocker Michael Scott Parker’s efforts to put together an all-female band.
Parker will call the band Oh My, and is planning a European tour for summer.
“I’m trying to find women who want to go make history with me,” she tells me.
Well, you can’t ignore history. So I’ve decided to follow Parker in this pursuit, and I’ll report on it in a series of installments. Here’s the first:
AUDITION NO. 1: Friday, March 31
Singer-keyboardist-violinist Karen Flores is about to arrive at Parker’s homey abode.
Parker has been anticipating this moment — her first audition — and aesthetically speaking, her presentation is nothing short of welcoming.
Two dogs — one huge and clumsy, one small, blind, and adorably manipulative — wander the kitchen, where a pot of rose tea is ready to boil.
In her bedroom, the blond artist-musician-Pilates-instructor sits on a cozy blanket-draped ottoman next to an open glass door that lets in fresh Cheyenne Canyon air. She has arranged a small table and a few chairs around the ottoman, and collectively calls the nook her “European cafe.” Today, the cafe will serve as a setting for her interview.
“This is a very serious project,” she tells me. Parker expresses the syllables sternly, as though trying to overcome her normally light-hearted demeanor.
Flores arrives. Slender and pretty with green eyes and long, dark ponytails, she carefully drags her equipment into Parker’s living room and takes a seat in the cafe. Parker works her ruby-red, Betty Boop lips into a smile and switches on her tape recorder.
The interview process for Parker’s soon-to-be band, Oh My, is a bit, well, involved. Parker swears she’s not a control freak; she just wants this to be phenomenal.
Parker crafted a series of tests: a professional interview (How are you at being in costume?), a personal interview (Do you take birth control?), two Polaroid photos and a musical audition.
Parker pulls out her list of carefully considered questions and begins quizzing.
How much time will Flores have to spend on the band?
Well, Flores works 40 hours a week as a waitress, but says, “If I have something to work for, I’m willing to kick my own ass.”
Parker smiles.
“What are your not-so-likable qualities?” she asks.
Definitely the stage fright, Flores says, but she’s working on it.
Does Flores have any computer skills?
Flores can use a computer, but she’s no Web designer.
Parker’s eyes flare mischievously. “How are you at having pyrotechnics strapped to your body in a Las Vegas-style costume,” she asks, raising a quizzical eyebrow.
Flores stutters.
Parker’s facade busts and she laughs at her own joke.
She knows she can be intense, but there are a lot of problems that can come up in a band, and she’s planning strategies to avoid most of them. For instance, members of an all-female band will end up having their periods at the same time, she says, and she doesn’t want a bunch of hormonal discontent spelling the end to her dream project.
Following the interviews, it’s clear from Parker’s glowing face that she’s pleased. She likes this one.
The two ladies head to the living room to play music.
Parker suggests they play one of her songs, “Let’s Make Crazy.”
It’s a bit choppy at first, but Flores is quick to pick up the rhythm and pace.
They’re an interesting pair. The sexually charged song brings out the ham in Parker, who struts around suggestively and howls seductively in the mic. Flores, obviously battling some nerves, lays low and concentrates on her playing.
“I missed your cue. Sorry,” Flores says sheepishly.
“No, I thought that was a very good first go,” Parker says, her voice patient and encouraging.
Flores struggles a bit on the keys, but she performs beautifully on violin for the slower piece, “Tiny Yellow Leaves,” and her playing on the gypsyfeeling “Renegade Cowboy Dreams,” sometimes edges on authoritative.
Parker wants to hear Flores’ original material, but rather than play it, Flores offers to grab a tape out of her car. There’s a very Tori Amos/ Fiona Apple feel to Flores’ work; it’s richly textured and patterned with Flores’ impassioned vocals. It’s very good.
Parker is ecstatic. “I love it!” she says, beaming. “This song we would definitely do.”
Parker is a mess of ideas now. She wants to work with Flores for a month and if everything goes well, Flores will be the first member of Oh My.
But for now, Parker is getting ready for a trip to Scotland on April 9, where she’ll be scouting venues for Oh My’s summer European tour.
With the history of modern music being written in her head, Parker bids Flores goodbye and scoots off.
By PDGACO gaballaloans.co.uk
