Born Confused to Rock Star
We are all sick at my house. I, of course, am the last one to recover because I am constantly bathed in germs. Whenever anyone is sick, they get clingy and hang off me all day until they feel better, then off they go leaving a lingering imprint of their germiness on me.
Nonetheless. On Friday, I hauled my tired, sick butt on down to the Lower East Side to see author-turned-rock-star Tanuja Desai Hidier perform for the first time since she was seven months pregnant, four years ago. She has the sweetest voice, y'all. She hit a whole bunch of notes, all easy-like. It hardly seemed like she was working at it, just up there with her gorgeous self, grooving with her peeps and having a blast.
Can I just say how awesome it was to see this Brown, Desi, salwaar-kameez wearing chick (with the kind of shallow, beach water blue eyes that a lotta blondes would kill for) belting out Stop Draggin' My Heart Around? Remember that eighties tune by Stevie Nicks? Well, Ms. Tanuja definitely rocked it out with her band, T&A. And that T and A stands for Tanuja and Adam, in case your mind went elsewhere.
And falling into the Kewl! category is that one of the band members, an East Asian woman who played the violin as well as providing back up vocals, brought her young daughter to the gig. Her daughter was, I think, in the two-and-under set, and they had her car seat in a chair at the table they were sitting, next to the stroller. The baby also was sporting totally funky noise-blocker headphones. How cool is that? A rock-star baby with all the necessary accoutrements!
Anyway, for those of you who know me, you know how much I loved Born Confused (which was a Larry King Pick of the Week, FYI), Tanuja's YA novel about a South Asian teen coming of age in New Jersey in the nineties. So it was a total pleasure to connect with her for real and to be able to catch her while she was in town. She lives in the U.K. and performs over there usually, so you can understand why I hauled my aforementioned tired and sick butt down to the LES to see her.
Not only does she know how to rock it out, people, Ms. Thang is down to earth, warm, and just a lovely person overall. If you want to check out her music, it's here.
Nonetheless. On Friday, I hauled my tired, sick butt on down to the Lower East Side to see author-turned-rock-star Tanuja Desai Hidier perform for the first time since she was seven months pregnant, four years ago. She has the sweetest voice, y'all. She hit a whole bunch of notes, all easy-like. It hardly seemed like she was working at it, just up there with her gorgeous self, grooving with her peeps and having a blast.
Can I just say how awesome it was to see this Brown, Desi, salwaar-kameez wearing chick (with the kind of shallow, beach water blue eyes that a lotta blondes would kill for) belting out Stop Draggin' My Heart Around? Remember that eighties tune by Stevie Nicks? Well, Ms. Tanuja definitely rocked it out with her band, T&A. And that T and A stands for Tanuja and Adam, in case your mind went elsewhere.
And falling into the Kewl! category is that one of the band members, an East Asian woman who played the violin as well as providing back up vocals, brought her young daughter to the gig. Her daughter was, I think, in the two-and-under set, and they had her car seat in a chair at the table they were sitting, next to the stroller. The baby also was sporting totally funky noise-blocker headphones. How cool is that? A rock-star baby with all the necessary accoutrements!
Anyway, for those of you who know me, you know how much I loved Born Confused (which was a Larry King Pick of the Week, FYI), Tanuja's YA novel about a South Asian teen coming of age in New Jersey in the nineties. So it was a total pleasure to connect with her for real and to be able to catch her while she was in town. She lives in the U.K. and performs over there usually, so you can understand why I hauled my aforementioned tired and sick butt down to the LES to see her.
Not only does she know how to rock it out, people, Ms. Thang is down to earth, warm, and just a lovely person overall. If you want to check out her music, it's here.