ION INDIE MAGAZINE August 2015, Volume 15 | Page 9

Angie spoke about a brief period of disillusionment, when several bad breaks made her
question continuing in the business. Her instructors at THE STARK KENT STATE
CAMPUS—PROFESSOR SEEDS and DR. BIRCH--encouraged her
and helped change her mind.
"They were a delight to talk with about the business.”
I asked Angie what she would do differently looking back over
her career…
"Oooooooooooh God!!!! Pursue it more head on. Looking into the
business aspect, I wished I would have fallen in early with the right people…learned to
market better, practiced more--stayed focused. My strong point is when I am told, ‘No,
you can't!’ I will do it anyway to prove I can. I never got so discouraged that I quit. I always
wanted to go further, better. I wish I hadn't been so vulnerable when I was younger. This
business is full of let downs, and having to tell your family about them and see them get
discouraged."
But a particular point of pride arises from Angie shortly thereafter...
"My 85 year old grandmother comes to every show!" Angie continues after a sip of
coffee, "Music is a love/hate relationship, a torturous struggle."
Angie then told me the story of how she opened her show at The Akron Civic, seated in the
audience with her guitar. She stood, walked up the aisle of the theater singing the whole
way up. The song she opened with that night…"Bells in the Back Seat", she sang seated
across from me at the table. I was literally moved to tears by her beautiful rendition.
"I view success differently than when I was a teenager. The touring, the long drives; it's all
worth it. If I can touch just one person, show them the arts are a necessity and not a luxury-to live, and embrace the arts because it provides a safe place to be vulnerable."
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