Feeling The Things
[Sent: September 3rd, 2022]
For the first time in a while, I was nervous to perform for our neighbourhood “Porch Fest.” Whenever we perform, I think about the before and after. Are they expecting my voice to sound like Aretha Franklin? What will go through their minds afterwards when I walk out of my front door the next morning to go to work? These thoughts are not wrong by any means, they’re just in a manila filing folder in my brain.
In the middle of these thoughts, Brendon entered the bedroom and asked with his hopeful eyes, “Are you excited?”
“Yeah,” I responded with a smile.
“Yeah,” he said, matching my response, “It’s going to be fun!”
And it was.
Friends, roommate, and neighbours mostly consisting of older generations, sat in our driveway and cheered for us. At the end, someone came up to us and asked us for a photo with a knitted llama for their son in the army.
“I really appreciated your performance and how it made me feel.” I wanted to cry so bad after that statement.
We made our way to two more homes, one of them being the person who ran the whole event who played a mandolin on his front porch with a tiny endearing voice. The sound of an electric lawn mower made it difficult to hear but one of the audience members marched down the street to request that he shut off his fucking mower. I think the interaction was more wholesome than that but a girl can daydream.
The next was a home with a quintet of more old people singing tunes of their times. At one point they handed out lyrics to Yellow Submarine by The Beatles with bubbles and it was so magical. The Beatles are iconic but I unfortunately only know about three songs and Yellow Submarine is not one of them. This reminded me that I should watch a documentary about them soon.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGZtt4ecCYk&t=1s&ab_channel=UnsociablyHigh
Later that evening we held a second outdoor concert where more of our friends joined us for late night tunes and barbecue. Our friend Shawn Scissons (hi if you’re reading this) played an always comfy and cozy set and we followed after him. We gave each other many warm hugs and exchanged words that made my heart turn from a human heart to a cartoon heart. Sophie D'Orleans also swung by and we made a voice recording (on Brendon's phone because I couldn't find mine at the time) of a chorus we made up called, "We All Have Opinions." We'll let you listen to it sometime ;). It was one of those moments where we fed off of each others creative juices.
"I really liked your performance, it made me think about things,” said another kind soul.
Two years ago, I was brainstorming the vision of Unsociably High and thought that one of the goal would be to create spaces where people can feel all of the things. People are feeling the things! It’s good to feel… things! :D
If you enjoy this newsletter and like feeling things (haha), you will love our Patreon which is launching the same day as our life drawing performance at Live On Elgin on October 13th. It will have unreleased songs, Patreon-only videos, our band practices, audios of our songwriting sessions, and our daily activities and art projects. I’m also thinking of perhaps making a monthly podcast. Let me know your thoughts and if there is anything else you would like to see :).
Our life drawing performance at Live On Elgin is October 13th and tickets are available for purchase here: https://www.liveonelgin.com/products/life-drawing-with-unsociably-high.
We are using so much of our brains to make this a memorable event and can’t wait to show you the fully formed beast with lights, merch, and our bodies. We're also excited to see your sketches if you choose to do so!
*Kiss sound* *Kiss sound*
Tiffany
Unsociably High