Ingrid

There's something quite strange about celebrity being attached to someone one has known from babyhood and watched grow up in front of them. Can this be the shy girl that couldn't manage an all-night sleepover at age 12?
Went to see Ingrid Michaelson at Webster Hall last night with her parents and some other friends of theirs from Staten Island. The crowd was twenty to thirty somethings for the most part and this sold-out concert was entertaining, albeit physically uncomfortable to some extent. And we had seats! What is the deal with people in the VIP section talking (loudly) through the three warm-up acts and pushing their bodies into the back of our chairs when all we could do to accommodate them would have been to throw ourselves two stories down into the crowd? In fact, what is the deal with paying to stand up for four hours? Not my idea of music appreciation.
Ingrid was charming and very funny. She thinks on her feet quickly and comes up with amazingly clever observations as she goes. Which of course, is why her lyrics are so strong. If nothing else, the songs alone will sustain her into her old age because they are timeless and they strike a chord with "real" people. She performs in such a way that the audience is a large part of things--there are sing-alongs and clap-alongs and she's not afraid to respond to what is called out to the stage.
She has proven that the "No guts, No glory" philosophy is true. I was worried that she was giving up her health insurance when she quit her part-time NYC Department of Recreation job!
I just want the world to know that I had her perform at my salons when I had my Edgewater House many years ago and she sang at my wedding in 2004. I'm as proud of her as a non-Mom can be and I so look forward to what comes next.