In my apartment with Joan Chew and Graig Janssen, making a video of "Unrequited Love."
To enter NPR’s annual Tiny Desk Contest, you just need a video of an original song that includes a desk—some people have taken “tiny” literally and used a dollhouse version! This is my second year entering the contest. Last year I performed “Tiny Stars” (that “tiny” was just a happy coincidence) and this year “Unrequited Love,” with fabulous musicians Joan Chew, on keys, and Graig Janssen, on guitar. See our video, recorded by the redoubtable Susan Rasco, on the home page and some photos from the session, also by Susan, above and below. You might also want to view some of the other entries, many very inventive and all showing a great DIY spirit. You can vote each week for best video among several chosen around a theme (this week it's "Desks in the Wild").
Setting up beforehand.
We did the video in my (rather cluttered) studio apartment in Soho, with my friend the filmmaker and actor C.G. Reeves on hand to help with visuals, and my husband, the writer Robert Rosen, there as well for general assistance, such as turning off a noisy radiator! (He also gave me, as a Christmas gift, the sequined cami I have on.) My cat, Oiseau, did her own thing and so upstaged me during one take—licking her paws, looking around, etc., while in the frame—that I couldn't use that version! Here are a couple more shots from the one we did use:
"I think of you..."
Thanks to everyone who helped out! Looking forward to next year...