How I became a Huffington Post Blogger -- by Darin

In 2005, I a went to a party in New York thrown by the Creative Coalition, an association of entertainers, artists and political activists geared towards enlightening young people on vital socio-political issues. While I was there I met political commentator Arianna Huffington. Starstruck, I gushed to her what an admirer I was of her intellect, her courage and her sense of humor (not to mention she's a drop-dead knockout and cameras don't do her justice, but I digress). She told me that she had just started a new online blog called The Huffington Post and that they were looking for bloggers and I was welcome to blog about whatever I fancied. Nervously I took her up on the offer, wondering what the hell I was gonna write about and who the hell would care. Both questions were answered very quickly. Three years on, The Huffington Post is ranked the #1 most authoritative blog in the US (out of some 5 million), with a huge stable of contributors. Here's a link to all my posts.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/darin-murphy/

How I Got My Voice Back

People who've been following my career as Trish Murphy for a while, or even as Trish and Darin back in the day, might already know that singing has never come easily for me. Somebody somewhere out there has sat through a performance when I was so hoarse I could hardly get through the show, or even showed up only to find that I couldn't sing at all and had to cancel (this only happened once, in 1999 at the Mucky Duck in Houston, and I was still there to sign CDs and have a CD-release "party.") Those days are pretty much over, except for November and April bouts with allergy-driven pharyngitis, and if you were in Houston last weekend you heard it for yourself.

I have Skyrocket to thank, though, for a lot of my rehab.

From the time I was a tiny kid I've had kind of a rasp to my voice, and by the eighth grade things got pretty dire. I'd go to a slumber party and be mute the next day. Singing was limited to about one hour's worth, and after that forget it. Finally I was diagnosed with vocal nodules, which are basically hard callouses that form on your vocal chords and cut off some of the air that needs to pass through them to make a clear sound. Surgery followed in 10th grade, and months of speech therapy to correct some of the habits I'd developed in the attempt to make my voice audible -- to push sound out through those two tense, worn-out little reeds of muscle.

I didn't know then that it would take a lifetime, really, for my voice to heal. Nobody knows what causes the musculature to tense up in your throat, tongue, jaw, neck and head, but that's what happens when you're using an impaired voice. "Raising my pitch" to eliminate "tongue tension" became a daily practice in therapy, and it seemed so stupid and annoying to hear the fake, babyish pitch I had to use instead of my 'real' one, which was low and throaty and pressed down on my pipes in a way I could feel. The new voice was surprisingly free of effort, heady and relaxed, but I thought I sounded like a dork. I never got the hang of it.

My range was limited to maybe an octave by that time. I limped through high school in choir and theater, faking it as a second soprano and praying I wouldn't poop out when I got cast as Babe in "The Pajama Game." I can't even count how many speech tournaments I bombed when my voice would buckle under the pressure in final rounds. Sometimes we'd win anyway, but I never felt good about it. It seemed like whenever the stakes were high, my voice would always give me away.

Fast forward to the Trish Murphy years, when major-label showcases, South by Southwest, and the relentless grind of sleep deprivation and industry scrutiny caught up with me from time to time. By then I'd regained some of my footing and earned some confidence, but the high-stakes climate of career decisions and competition would still take its toll. I'd have nightmares where I would need to scream but no sound would come out. Or someone in the dream would make me fly into a hoarse, impotent rage.

By the time I joined Skyrocket, in 2004, I was ready for things to get easier. I'd just put out a new record that I'd financed and then promoted independently, including radio and European tours, and the stress of it was getting to me. I had also begun to realize, the hard way, that not speaking up for yourself to command what you need, want and deserve in life (or in a career) isn't a good thing. Eventually as I started to reverse that habit, the weirdest thing happened. The stakes somehow didn't seem so high any more. I started to relax. And my voice came back.

A few weeks ago my mom was in the audience and saw Skyrocket rip out a full-tilt version of "Crazy on You," complete with the little acoustic-guitar intro. She couldn't believe I actually sang it. I don't have one of those golden throats, but what I do have is hard-won, and I hope the sound that comes out is honest. The material doesn't matter to me. My own songs are written as a confession, and the singing is an afterthought although the melody is usually scrupulous. Singing other people's songs is strangely liberating. The stakes are lower. And I probably need the relief.

Matthew Mahon took that picture of my tonsils.

WEINERS, WATERGATE, AND WALLBANGER

If you read cookbooks from the 1970s, you'd think Americans lived on Campbell's soup and weiners back then. Maybe we did. The '70s were kind of the golden age of convenience food, when you could open a few cans, add some weiners, and proudly serve up something called a "bake," "supper" or "delight." And nobody batted an eye. Plus for dessert you could have Screaming Yellow Zonkers, or a good, boozy Harvey Wallbanger Cake, Sock-It-To-Me Cake, or Watergate Pie, which was really not a pie at all but something with pistachio pudding (wha??) and a pecan sandie crust. And nobody cared that everyone was already sauced from the cocktails. It was the SEVENTIES. I've heard this phrase used repeatedly to excuse just about everything from wife-swapping to DDT.

And the cocktails. The glorious, swanky cocktails. My grandmother was single and working for a liquor distributor in the '70s. So she had every cocktail recipe ever invented, plus lots of awesome logo swag like windbreakers, keychains, lamps and toys. We had a life size Johnny Walker Red bottle for a penny bank. A giant, blow-up canoe for the swimming pool that said CUTTY SARK on the side. And an inflatable Tanqueray alligator. She drank whiskey sours and played cards every Thursday. I adored whiskey sours as a child, but I could never understand why they'd ruin it by putting nasty whiskey in it. She used to make the powdered mix for me just with water and let me drink as much as I wanted.

So why don't we throw a party, play some canasta, and pretend that convenience foods, DDT and loads of alcohol aren't going to kill you. What the hell. Sock it to me.

SPAGHETTI FRANKFURTER SUPPER
1/2 cup each chopped celery and onion
2 tablespooons shortening
1 pound frankfurters, sliced
1 can condensed tomato soup
1/2 cup water
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
6 ounces cooked spaghetti

Cook the celery and onion in the shortening. Add the franks and brown. Add everything else and heat for 15 minutes. Serve over the spaghetti.

BEAN AND WEINER BAKE
for starving he-men

6 hot dog buns
6 weiners, sliced in half lengthwise
1 can condensed bean & bacon soup
1/4 cup ketchup
1/3 cup water
2 tablespoons sweet pickle relish

Preheat the broiler. Separate the buns and put them face-up on a cookie sheet. Put a weiner half on each one. Combine everything else and spread it completely over the tops. Broil until hot.


WATERGATE PIE

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup chopped walnuts
• 3/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup confectioners' sugar
• 1 (16 ounce) package frozen whipped topping, thawed
• 2 (3 ounce) packages instant pistachio pudding mix
• 3 cups cold milk
• 2 tablespoons maraschino cherries, chopped (optional)
• 1/4 cup chopped walnuts

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. To Make Crust: In a medium bowl combine flour and walnuts. Mix in softened butter or margarine until mixture is smooth. Spread mixture into the bottom of a 9x13 inch pan.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 20 to 30 minutes, until set and lightly browned. Allow to cool.
4. To Make Cream Cheese Layer: In a medium bowl, beat cream cheese until fluffy. Mix in vanilla extract, powdered sugar, and 1 cup of the whipped topping. Beat until smooth. Spread mixture over baked crust. Chill for 1 hour.
5. To Make Pudding Layer: In a large bowl, whisk together pudding mix and milk. Mix until pudding thickens. Spread over cream cheese layer. Top with remaining whipped topping, and sprinkle with cherries and walnuts. Chill before serving.
   

HARVEY WALLBANGER CAKE

• 1 (18.25 ounce) package yellow cake mix
• 1 (3.5 ounce) package instant vanilla pudding mix
• 4 eggs
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 5 fluid ounces Galliano liqueur
• 2 fluid ounces vodka
• 1/2 cup orange juice
• 1 cup confectioners' sugar

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour one 10 inch tube pan.
2. Combine cake mix and pudding mix in a large bowl. Blend in eggs, vegetable oil, 4 ounces Galliano, 1 ounce vodka, and 4 ounces orange juice. Mix batter until smooth and thick and pour into prepared pan.
3. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Let cake cool in pan for 10 minutes then remove and place on cooling rack. Spoon glaze over cake while it is still warm.
4. To Make Glaze: Combine the remaining 1 ounce Galliano, 1 ounce vodka, and 1ounce orange juice with the confectioner's sugar and blend until smooth. Spoon glaze over warm cake.

SOCK IT TO ME CAKE
1 package butter cake mix
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup water
4 eggs
1 cup chopped pecans
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
1 cup confectioners' sugar
2 tablespoons milk

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease and flour one 10-inch tube pan. In large bowl, blend together cake mix, sour cream, oil, 1/4 cup white sugar, water, and eggs. Beat at high speed for 2 minutes. Pour 2/3 of the batter into prepared tube pan. Combine pecans, brown sugar, and cinnamon, and sprinkle over batter in pan. Spread remaining batter evenly over filling mixture. Bake at 375 degrees F for 45-55 minutes until the cake springs back when touched lightly. Cool right-side-up in pan about 25 minutes. Mix together confectioners' sugar and milk. Remove cake from pan and drizzle with glaze.

WHISKEY SOUR

2 oz blended whiskey
juice of 1/2 lemon
1/2 tsp powdered sugar
1 cherry
1/2 slice lemon

Shake everything together over ice in a cocktail shaker and strain into a chilled rocks glass. Makes one cocktail.

I Was The Walrus, But Now I Am...Paul?! - by Darin

All are aware who know me even remotely that I'm a big fan of the Beatles (to a fault if you're my spouse), but I never thought they'd ever be a part of my life story. One of the biggest thrills of my life was playing the role of John Lennon on Broadway and working with Yoko Ono in NYC. That all happened because of some homemade tapes I'd made years ago recreating early Beatles hits from scratch all by my lonesome. So It seemed like I had this sort of Lennon connection 'cause I did this dead-on impression of his voice yap yap. But that was yesterday. Today I learned that it's actually Paul.

This story begins in late fall 2004, when Austin rocker Billy Harvey called me about doing some voice overs for his new website. He had this idear of having celebrity guests appear on the site by dialing some phone numbers, and asked me to be the Beatles. So I went upstairs to my loft studio and laid down the best improvised impressions of John, Paul, George and Ringo that I could muster up, and I sent them off (to see and hear them on billyharveymusic.com, find the black phone and dial 999-9091, then click on the Beatles when they appear).

Flash forward to fall 2007. I get a phone call from Ken Scott, a well-known recording engineer who began his career at Abbey Road Studios during the Beatles era. Ken was preparing a multi-media presentation documenting his adventures recording the likes of Bowie, Elton, Supertramp, and of course the Beatles. The show included an anecdote of a session he had done with Paul during the making of the White Album, and to illustrate it he needed someone who could provide Paul's speaking voice. He found me, he said, after a mutual acquaintance sent him to Billy Harvey's website. So, giddy as a 1st grader I sprinted back up to the loft and spent a couple of hours throwing down my best candid McCartney quips and pinged them over to Ken. I didn't hear from him for another six months and wondered if he'd even liked what I'd done enough to consider using any of it. And then today I got this email:

Hi Darin,
I just wanted to drop you a quick line to once again thank you for the McCartney asides you did for me. I've now used them several times and the audiences really seem to like that section of the presentation. I even gave one at a Beatles festival in Amsterdam and the fans really thought it was Paul, so that was wonderful.

Thanks and cheers,
Ken

Well you're quite welcome, Ken. Say, you don't still have a key to Abbey Road, do you?

i fell in love at sammy's on main or the triumphant return of the silver dancers

live photos: aly toups

friday night we played sammy's in houston for the first time. we had a blast! here's an overview... there were pretty girls, a great crowd complete with dancing people, my uncle chuck, a helpful staff, delicious meatloaf, gorgeous bartenders, we played "surrender", we parked on a sidewalk, we hung with friends under the freeway, i got to hold a very pretty girl's hand while i sang a duet with darin, trish and cory brought the thunder even though they were losing a battle in the allergy war, we got to see our old friends from new years eve, benjamin found a new way to mess with me and it really works.

saturday we played a fundraiser for the zachary scott theater in austin. it was sooo much fun. there we dancers painted all silver dancing on little stages everywhere, dance troops on roller skates. i used the wireless microphone to sing to darin from across the room while slow dancing with a silver girl dressed in future clothes. people danced their asses off! benjamin invited 38 people onstage at the end. overall a super-great weekend!!! i can't wait to do it all again.

xo, johnny

HOUSTON WE HAVE NO PROBLEM

We love Houston. We'll be back there this coming Friday night at a place called Sammy's at 2016 Main. Most of us grew up in Houston, and we all have stuff we miss about it. Especially the ethnic food. Well, especially the ethnic anything. Houston is one of those places where when you're in Chinatown all the street signs are in Chinese. And now there's Vietnamese, Korean and all kinds of other Asian boroughs. It's the most international city in Texas and it seems hilarious to even use those two words in the same sentence. But it's true. We love Houston. It's supposed to be a packed show and we hope so. With lots of colorful people.

how it's done in san antonio... the photos!

hello. you read trish's blog... here are the photos.

HOW IT'S DONE IN SAN ANTONIO

We played a gi-normous party at the Argyle, which used to be a giant ranching headquarters but looks like a giant house that Scarlett O'Hara would haunt. The guest of honor was a young woman who'll be crowned as a Duchess at Fiesta, which if you've never been to San Antonio is their high society's version of a private Mardi Gras. It's a big, honkin' deal, and we don't really understand how it works but it means that lots of glamorous parties have to be thrown. Somewhere around 800 people were invited to this one, and there were two bands, us and a 16-piece salsa orchestra who flew in from Miami. They were spectacular. There were tiki huts everywhere, and a huge rowboat filled with flowers hanging over the dance floor.

You never know how people are going to react to Skyrocket!, especially people in formal wear, but in San Antonio nobody stands on ceremony for long. Or high heels either. It was a typical rock and roll throwdown after midnight. Trish had three costume changes and two boys in tuxedos to carry her around during "Material Girl."

The cutest girl at the party was from Victoria, TX and gave a detailed routine about how to work big hair. "I'm from the COAST! Honey, I know how to work the humidity!" She was hilarious. We hope we'll see her again this Friday at Cedar Street.....

SONGS WE LEARNED AT TONIGHT'S REHEARSAL

BOOGIE SHOES
Benjamin looks really, really funny when he sings this.

MATERIAL GIRL
Benjamin really, really wanted Trish to sing this.

MISTY MOUNTAIN HOP
If you already hear the song in your head just from reading the title, you're a Zeppelin fan.

MY KIND OF LOVER
Well, Benjamin loves Billy Squier.

THE BITCH IS BACK
A signature song for Hotchie. Although Darin also channels Elton John well -- he used to have this little Elton John costume he wore around the house as a kid. Kind of a "Rock of the Westies" look.

DO YOU REMEMBER?

What happened to YOU at the last SKYROCKET! show? We can't be the only ones having fun. Or confronting our personal issues. Or having wardrobe malfunctions. We carry duct tape for emergencies, so just ask....