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GREENSBURG, IN It’s 11 a.m., and we’re sitting at a small table in the middle of Roxie’s, a homey diner in the old part of a quaint Midwestern town. Across from me, inconspicuously slumped into a dark green vinyl booth, sipping green tea out of a coffee-stained mug, is a woman who’s quickly becoming a musical legend.
“It’s hard, all this tourin’,” Mandy Sailsman tells me. “I barely even know what town I’m in anymore. They all start to look the same. Gig after gig. Town after town. They’re all becoming a blur.”
A month ago, Mandy began her first national tour as a recognized artist. In the 12 shows since then, she says she’s learned a lot about music—and about people. “We’re all so similar,” she tells me, looking up from her plate of blueberry pancakes. I notice that her tired eyes are beginning to show the wear of the road. “We all have our own problems. But, really, we’re all going through so many of the same things. We just want to get away for a while and forget. We want to get lost in something—like music. We want to know that someone else knows how we’re feeling. And if I can spot that glimpse of relief in one person’s eye…if I can make someone smile and sing along…if someone gets lost in the music for just a minute or two…I’ve done my job. I’m here for them. I decided when I went on tour that my life is no longer my own.”
And I think back to her show last night. She was stunning in her baby blue pantsuit, perfectly transforming herself from Ella Fitzgerald to Courtney Love. And those who looked up from their drinks and their conversations to listen or to sing along or to cheer were truly thankful.
“It’s been quite a whirlwind career,” Mandy says as we part. She’s stepping daintily into her early-‘00s Ford Escort, ready to move on to the next town. Her popularity has skyrocketed in an extraordinary way since her friends filled her with Margaritas and coaxed her onto the stage to perform “Stand by your Man” just a year ago. “That’s when I knew what I had to do. I had to entertain.”
Mandy’s US tour of karaoke bars continues through the end of November. Check out her web site (www.karaokequeen.com) for her tour schedule, and go out of your way to catch her show—no matter how far you have to drive. Her flair and talent are well worth the trip.
Kristin Dreyer Kramer has been writing in some form or another (usually when she was supposed to be doing something else) since the ripe old age of ten—when she, her cousin, and their two Cabbage Patch Dolls formed the Poo Authors’ Club. After a short career in advertising, Kristin got sick of always saying nice things about stuff that didn’t deserve it—so now she spends her days criticizing things, and she’s much happier for it.
Since creating NightsAndWeekends.com in February of 2002, Kristin has spent her life surrounded by piles and piles of books and movies—so many that her office has become a kind of entertainment obstacle course.
As if her writing and editing responsibilities for N&W.com weren’t enough to keep her out of trouble, Kristin also hosts a number of weekly radio shows: Reel Discovery, Shelf Discovery, and On the Marquee. She’s also a proud member of the Broadcast Film Critics Association (CriticsChoice.com), the Central Ohio Film Critics Association (COFCA.org), the Online Film Critics Society (OFCS.org), and the Women Film Critics Circle (WFCC.Wordpress.com).
Kristin lives in Columbus, Ohio, with her husband, Paul, and their daughter, Anna. She welcomes questions, comments, and fan mail at kdk@nightsandweekends.com.
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Kristin Dreyer Kramer has been writing in some form or another (usually when she was supposed to be doing something else) since the ripe old age of ten—when she, her cousin, and their two Cabbage Patch Dolls formed the Poo Authors’ Club. After a short career in advertising, Kristin got sick of always saying nice things about stuff that didn’t deserve it—so now she spends her days criticizing things, and she’s much happier for it.
Since creating NightsAndWeekends.com in February of 2002, Kristin has spent her life surrounded by piles and piles of books and movies—so many that her office has become a kind of entertainment obstacle course.
As if her writing and editing responsibilities for N&W.com weren’t enough to keep her out of trouble, Kristin also hosts a number of weekly radio shows: Reel Discovery, Shelf Discovery, and On the Marquee. She’s also a proud member of the Broadcast Film Critics Association (CriticsChoice.com), the Central Ohio Film Critics Association (COFCA.org), the Online Film Critics Society (OFCS.org), and the Women Film Critics Circle (WFCC.Wordpress.com).
Kristin lives in Columbus, Ohio, with her husband, Paul, and their daughter, Anna. She welcomes questions, comments, and fan mail at kdk@nightsandweekends.com.
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