In an earlier post I alluded to meeting one of my favorite musicians while in New York. That musician was the totally amazing Sophie Madeleine, the Duchess of Awesomeshire (made that up myself).
I've posted a couple entries in the past about Sophie Madeleine,
here and
here. I discovered Sophie's music in 2009, somewhere on the internet. When her
video for "You Are My Favorite" was released and featured on
BoingBoing.net, I was hooked. It was the happiest video I'd ever seen, and I loved Sophie's song.
Shortly thereafter I bought "Love, Life, Ukulele", Sophie's first album release. In 2011 she released "The Rhythm You Started" as her second solo album, and "We Like Cake and Beards and Stuff" with Hannah-Rei as the duo Rocky and Balls.
In the past year and a half, I've listened to Sophie more than any other artist. And, believe me, I listen to a lot of music. One of the perks of having an office - speakers attached to the computer and the freedom to listen for a goodly part of the day.
So, prior to my trip to New York, I contacted Sophie (exactly how will remain private) and asked if she and a guest would like to join my wife and I for breakfast (her public Facebook page had the information that she was in NYC). You know, you don't accomplish things unless you ask. So I just asked, as politely and unobtrusively as I could. I was thrilled when I got the response back from Sophie - she and her boyfriend would love to meet us!
We worked out the details, and met for breakfast at a diner in New York near Grand Central Station. Sophie and her boyfriend Tim spent an hour or so with us, chatting over breakfast (French Toast for Sophie and me, omelets for Tim and my wife). We talked about many things - the differences in Christmas time between Kansas City, New York, and England; the live production of "A Charlie Brown Christmas" Sophie and Tim had seen the night before; what to do while in the city; Sophie's popularity in the USA, etc. We had a wonderful time talking with them - Sophie and Tim are superbly nice people, and seemed to enjoy the time meeting us mid-westerners as much as we enjoyed meeting them.
Toward the end of breakfast, Sophie very graciously let me be a silly fan. She signed a couple CD cases I happened to have with me, with the ultra-fine black Sharpie I also just happened to be carrying :-) She recorded a little personal greeting to my daughter, who is also a big fan, and who did not know about this breakfast meeting. And she posed for a few pictures, posted below.
We concluded breakfast, walked together toward Grand Central Station, all wished one another a Merry Christmas, and parted ways. It was, indeed, a lovely way to spend a morning.
Frankly, I would not have been more pleased if I had breakfast with Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen, or Lady Gaga.
Sophie is an amazing artist. She is an accomplished singer and ukulele player (guitar as well). She writes all of her own songs, and, as Tim proudly pointed out, also produces and engineers her records. I'm pretty sure she does most of the work on her videos, too.
I hope that this post spurs my readers to check out the music of Sophie Madeleine. Her music is all available on iTunes and Amazon. She has a youtube channel ('misssophiemadeleine'), a Facebook page, and a blog called
Sophieland. She did an incredible 30 cover songs in 30 days last summer to promote the release of her CD (all available on Youtube). Check her out, and if you like what you hear, buy her music :-) And tell all your friends.
Breakfast with Sophie Madeleine:
