A Little Bit About Mel

Melismatic was voted 'Best Blog of the Day' on April 20th, 2009.




Several blogs that I frequent have a little section where they talk about themselves. For most writers, this is a bit difficult to write about, because it feels borderline narcissistic. However, considering my blog is now 100 entries, and several months strong, an indicator to myself more than anything else that I have a degree of commitment to Melismatic, I figured why not give you a bit of insight inside the mind of Mel. I apologize now if I bore you, but it was you who chose to click on this link. ;)

My given name is not Mel, it is in fact a pseudonym I have personally adopted in order to feel more free about speaking my opinions. It's not that I do not stand by them, because I do. It's a matter of wanting to be honest not just to my readers but to myself. Mel is short for Melisma, a musical term.

melisma (n.) (mi-liz-muh) - an ornamental phrase of several notes sung to one syllable of text, as in plainsong or blues singing. (read: Christina Aguilera, Mariah Carey or Whitney Houston's riffing)

Melisma is a phrase I've been interested in for a long time, mostly because I was so deeply influenced by R&B music since a very young age. Hence the name of the blog: "Melismatic", the adjective form of "melisma", because I am often describing both music and musicians in this blog. Bet you didn't think you'd get that in depth of an answer, now did you?

Mel Elsewhere On the 'Nets: Twitter, Last.FM, Tumblr

Personally, I am a lifelong music fan. I was born in June of 1987 in a mid-level city in upstate New York, when Atlantic Starr's "Always" was the number one song in the United States. My first real experience with music, so at least I am told, was later that year upon the release of the quintessential 80's film "Dirty Dancing" starring the incomparable Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey. The love theme song "(I've Had) The Time Of My Life" was all over the radio at the time, and my mother testifies to the fact that despite being about five months old at the time, my whole face would light up whenever the song came on the radio, and I would "bop" to the beat, giggling fiercely from the core of my belly. I guess you could say I was destined.

The first album I ever "bought" was Mariah Carey's "Music Box" in 1993, when I was six. The album spawned the singles "Dreamlover" and "Hero". Mariah instantly became my own personal 'hero'. I used to line up my stuffed animals and sing into my hairbrush or pencil, wavering my little hand to the riffs as I heard them through my humungous stereo system in our den. I would close my eyes and pretend I was on a stage, pretend I was Mariah.

Other early favorites include Whitney Houston's "Whitney", TLC's "Crazy Sexy Cool", Janet Jackson's "Janet." and En Vogue's "Funky Divas". The latter was my absolute favorite, and I still listen to it all of the time. I used to play dress up and act out "Never Gonna Get It" by myself (as I was an only child), not really understanding what "it" was.

The switchover to pop music was basically a sneak attack on my R&B focused mind. It was thanks to three little blonde boys from Oklahoma, better known as Hanson. The boys broke through in 1997, when I had just hit double digits in age, the youngest in the band being just two years older than me. Their debut, "Middle of Nowhere", began my journey into adoring pop music. Not long after, the Spice Girls began dominating my youth culture, encouraging little girls everywhere to chant "Girl Power". I still remember going to birthday parties in the 5th grade when all we'd talk about was the television show "Boy Meets World" and work out dance routines to "Spice Up Your Life."

Shortly after the Spice Girls' star began to fade, the boy band invasion began to take over America, thanks largely to the Backstreet Boys and *NSYNC. If you were a preteen/teenage girl in 1999, you had to choose a side. You couldn't pick both. It was un-American and unconstitutional. I, of course, leaned on the side of *NSYNC, which led to three concert experiences, endless hours of recorded performances on VHS, lots of posters cut out of teen magazines, and even more screaming. I think just about everyone has to go through that experience with some musician, and I'm glad mine was *NSYNC.

During this time, a time before mp3s were the main currency of music and new releases, I vividly remember waking up early every Saturday morning to listen to Rick Dee's Weekly Top 40 radio program. I would eagerly write down all of the chart positions, clamoring over the changes from week to week to whoever would listen, and would keep each week's position safe in a plastic black binder. No joke. I still have it. I would also tape various songs live from the radio broadcast onto a tape so that I'd have a real copy. This is recognized as illegal now, but I was rebel when I was 12.

In 2001, shortly after the dominating effects of September 11th, I was 14 and found out about a latina quartet called Soluna. I began following their career, which led to helping form a national street team for them with two other fans, that was not only recognized by their label, Dreamworks Records, but more importantly, the girls themselves. After several concert trips to far away cities (Chicago is a long way away from upstate New York and is even farther when you travel alone and you're just 15 years old). I'm proud to call all of the four women in that now defunct group my friends, and I continue to follow their careers to this day. It was through working with Soluna that I truely began to realize that music promotion was what I wanted to do with my life. It was my calling.

In 2005, upon graduation of high school, I made my transition into college, still at a safe upstate state school, majoring in music industry, with a minor in Spanish. I finished up this degree in May of 2009.

In late 2006, I was approached on MySpace by a fledgling girl group then called Bliss, made up of a trio of New Jersey teenagers, who had recorded a cover of "Take Me Home Tonight" by Eddie Money. The group would later become the Candy Coated Chaos of today, and I began developing a street team idea, complete with fansite www.cccfans.net to help promote the group. I've been in contact with the group ever since, again following their career despite their premature breakup in 2009.

In late 2008, I accepted an internship at a prominent record label in New York City and recently made the transition to living in the big city, beginning the internship in January of 2009. Now graduated from college -- I'm living life in the USA's biggest city trying to find where I fit in...

Thanks for walking this walk of life with me.