Local Music

I stumbled upon a band called Alphamama a few months ago when walking through Darling Harbor. Some friends and I walked into the Tokio Hotel Bar to see this all chick band rocking out. They played a lot of funk, soul and reggae covers, including Shaggy, Ginuwine, TLC, Destiny's Child, Erykah Badu, along with some original songs. They were the house band on Saturday nights - I had such a good time that night that the next time I was out with my friend Ann (colleague from BOA), I got her to come with me.

This time I was blown away for a different reason. The guitarist was different this time and could really play well. Oh yeah, and she was smoking hot. I'll try to take a picture with her the next time I'm at a show, but trust me. She got the chance to sing during one of the sets and I was absolutely blown away. Ann kept snapping her fingers in front of my face because I was so taken with this amazing musician.

During one of the breaks the band went to the bar and Ann kept nudging me to talk to the guitarist, who turned out to be named Milan. She was pretty shy but really nice, as were all of the band members. I'd like to get a chance to go to an after party with them, they seem like a pretty fun group.

At the end of the show I got up the nerve to ask Milan for her number. She very sweetly declined, saying she had a boyfriend, but still invited me to see her solo work with her group called Massema a few weeks later. She was playing in a weekly show called Sun Sets Sundays at Fringe Bar in Paddington. Despite what you may think about my intentions, I am really amazed by her voice and promised to come out and see her again.

I found out my British friend Mark, whom I met in Cairns, was in town so I invited him to come to the show. I was glad to have some company because I would've felt pretty weird showing up there by myself. I also invited along a girl from Dallas named Laura, whom I got in contact with through the American expat group on MeetUp.

As I thought, the show definitely lived up to my expectations. She played some covers and a few originals (I thought the ones she wrote needed some polishing, but they were hers and I'm sure had meaning - that didn't take away from the quality of her voice though). Mark was pretty blown away as well. I'd have to describe Milan's voice as somewhat smokey and bluesy, somewhere between Erykah Badu and Norah Jones. I'll try to get some video and post it.

Alphamama was also playing there that night (I didn't know that when I decided to go), so Milan played back-to-back. I said a quick hi to all of them after the show and that was it.

This past weekend I was out with a bunch of people I met through Ben (from the American expats group) when we found ourselves in Darling Harbor on Saturday night. I steered everyone to Tokio to check out Alphamama and we ended up staying there for the entire night because everyone was having such a good time. I saw Milan during a break between sets and had about a 10 minute conversation with her. She remembered me, which was a plus, but was REALLY shy and totally insecure about her talent. I gave her a good ego boosting pep talk and she promised to rock out for me. I guess I'm a groupie now?

I've really got to get some video of a live show and I'll let you judge for yourself. To be continued...