June 17, 2010 we raised $1,000 for justassociates.org  (J.A.S.S.) through ticket sales and our raffle.  Contributions came from many local vendors such as Chalet, The Northern Trust, Stelle, Gavin, The Noodle, The Big Picture, Trio, Massage Envy, Green Horizons,  Niyama yoga, Great Harvest Bread Co, The Vocal Gymnasium, Shure Microphone and many more.  We gave away so many wonderful items!

The AFTRA singers (American Federation of Television & Radio Artists), Greta Pope, Joe Wright and Paul Zimmerman, Stephanie Rogers, Wendy Morgan and Shana Spiegel opened with  ”One Voice” an original song by Butch and Brenda Stewart .  A song that expresses unity and often used  to inspire labor unions to come together as one voice.

Wendy Morgan, founder, Vocalist and Voice Teacher of  The Vocal Gymnasium and the show’s producer,   started off the evening with a brief history of J.A.S.S. highlighting their camp for women in Haiti.

Then Ruthie Hauge, staff photojournalist for the Pioneer Press and Sun Times Media, briefly spoke about  her photos, taken in Haiti immediately following the earthquake.  These pictures were the backdrop for the evening’s young musicians which included: Darragh Dolan who at age 11 created a YouTube video along with her original acapella song for Haiti, Students of The Vocal Gymnasium, Elenna Sindler and Desiree Gonzalez contributed their talent. Then four local Mom rockers, Wendy Morgan, Rivka, Marjie Killeen and Stephanie Rogers took the stage and expressed their emotions through songs like “Fragile” by Sting and Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah”.

The evening was fully celebrated when The Covergirls, five talented violinists led by Jennifer Loew took the stage in mini-skirts and really pumped up the crowd.   It was a tremendous and inspiring evening of women helping women!

The event ended with Guitarist/Vocalist Darryl Boggs and all of the evening’s entertainers on stage for a rousing rendition of Bill Withers “Lean on Me”.

Show Organizers: Wendy Morgan, Stephanie Rogers and Shana Spiegel were delighted with the outpouring of love and local support received.

We will not forget the beautiful people of Haiti who have struggled so much and continue to struggle each day -
Thanks to all!

Hey Everyone and Welcome to my newest Blog!

Thanksgiving is coming and this is the time to think Thankful thoughts.

I am thankful for all of you and especially those who made the show!!  For those of you that didn’t make it that night I still love you and I want to share some of the fun. I have attached a photo from my Green Dolphin Street gig and a review by someone (a very accomplished musician by the way) who was in the audience that night. Singing for me is a source of happiness – so it makes sense that I teach which is such a wonderful gift. Being able to help others achieve with their voices their full potential.

Review of November 6th show at The Green Dolphin – Chicago, IL

We really enjoyed Wendy and her ROCKIN’ band!

Wendy has such presence on stage!  Entertaining goes far beyond singing, and she shows how it’s done.  Every moment she shows the audience that there is nowhere she’d rather be than movin’ to the music right

here, right now, and making us feel that way, too.

She makes it look so easy but I can see the hours of dance classes that enable her to have that fluidity of movement. She’s a pro and it’s so much fun to watch her. It was too bad we had early commitments this morning as we would have loved to catch her second set.

This was Wendy’s best band that we’ve ever seen.

The drummer (Rich Stizel) is spectacular for creating a powerful groove without overpowering the other instruments and voice and he, too, is an entertainer.  You watch his face and you can FEEL his complete concentration on the beat, especially

when he chooses to lay out for a few beats and then make an explosive reentry (with his genius being that he doesn’t steal the focus from Wendy in doing this but boosts the energy of the ensemble).

The bass player (Chris Clemente) is also a genius of the grooves they played.  Such intricate bass lines performed effortlessly, Her guitarist (Darryl Boggs)

no need to say anything – he’s always been terrific.  The keyboard player (Kevin Smith) played just what was needed – I really liked what he did and, like the

others, he didn’t ever steal the focus but was part of the ensemble that supported Wendy like a 747 taking off – smooth yet incredibly powerful and unstoppable We’re looking forward to the next one!

John E. Fish, Ltd. Deerfield, IL