Simply Belle

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Finding her harmony
Junior singer-songwriter releases debut album

March 5, 2008 by Roxna Irani

Pop — Six — Squish — Uh-uh — Cicero — Lipschitz!”

Dorm lounge, Thursday night.

A game of beer pong under way; the persistent sound of a hollow plastic ping pong ball trying in vain to land inside the cup. Two long-lost friends catching up on life, their chatter adding to the indistinct haze of music playing in the background. Another student in a corner working on an essay; the backspace key speaking the loudest.

And then a moment of silence. Unwanted silence. But silence that put that random medley of sounds into a different light. In a unique way, these students were creating a different genre of music. It was their own Chicago Cell Block Tango: Pop — Six — Squish — Uh-uh — Cicero — Lipschitz!

And Monday evening at the Toyon Eating Clubs was the Pop — Six — Squish of Stanford’s own face of music, rising singer-songwriter Stephanie Hilliard ‘09. Hilliard, a biomechanical engineering major from Payson, Ariz., officially released her first CD this week. Called “Poker Face,” it includes songs she composed and sang.

Continue: Stanford Daily

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Update: The CD party was a huge success. The room was packed with people. She sold all the CDs. Now, she needs mom to send her a box of CDs ASAP. She performed really well and got lots of applause. People asked for encore. She sang “At The Edge,” “Trust,” and a couple of new songs, “Under The Moon,” and the other one I haven’t heard. She had someone play the cello for her. She also sang with the a capella group she is in.

Picture of the CD Release Party:

What: Stephanie’s CD Release Party for “Poker Face”
Where: Stanford Eating Clubs – Toyon Hall – El Capitan (Stanford University Campus in Stanford, CA) – follow the signs
When: March 3, 2008 – 8:30-10pm
Who: Stephanie Mae, plus featuring guest performances by Winston Lofton, Isaac Johnson, Girmay Zahilay, Naomi Andebrhan, Miguel Sugay, AND an a cappella group I’m in called EVERYDAY PEOPLE.

If you’re in the Bay Area, please come out and show your support! It’s gonna be a fun show!! Relax with coffee, tea, and biscotti.

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Finally, the long-awaited CD has arrived. Sorry, it took longer than expected due to the learning curve. Next time, if ever there is a next time (we hope there will be), it will be much faster.

For those who already placed an order within the USA, please go to Stephanie Mae’s site to purchase a CD. Or you can send a check made out to Stephanie Mae for $10.99, (shipping & handling included) and mail it out to:

Stephanie Mae PO Box 1354 Payson, AZ. 85547

For those of you who placed an order from outside the USA, we are still in the process of figuring out the shipping and handling. Those from the Philippines, you may have to wait until we can provide more information on how to market the CD there. Or one option is to wait until I come home.

Thanks for your support!

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Stephanie Mae’s songs are now playing on KRIM-FM 96.3, the number 1 listened to radio station in town. Thanks to Kit Mcguire, a talented radio personality in town, for believing in her. Actually Kit has promoted several artists, and one of the them is Feist, the famous Canadian singer, who picks up four Grammy nominations: best new artist, best female pop vocal performance, best short form music video (for 1-2-3-4), and best pop vocal album (The Reminder). Feist’s popularity escalated in the recent weeks when she was featured in the ipod nano commercial. I am rooting for her!

Anyway, I have been listening to KRIM-FM 96.3 but I haven’t had the chance to hear Stephanie’s songs over the airwaves. Though my husband, Stephanie, and Lexi, on their way over for a meeting with Kit at the station last Saturday to record one-liners, happened to turn in to the radio and lo and behold, Stephanie came blasting to their ear. What a nice gesture of welcome! What other station would do that for an unknown singer? Only KRIM-FM 96.3, and I wish them all the best for giving the independent artists a chance to be heard.

Here is, by the way, the final cover for Stephanie’s CD. She said, she looks more like a young girl rather than a young adult in the previous design, thus, she reverted to the original design.

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Just want to share with you guys Stephanie’s CD cover that she designed herself just a few hours ago. CD will be available soon!

Please share with me what you think about the design. Thanks!

She made some improvements on the above design and this is what she came up with. Which design is better?

Proceeds of the sales will help defray her college expenses at Stanford U. She has 2 2/3 years left in Biomechanical Engineering.

Update: Remember a couple of weeks ago, I personally brought the computer-burned CD to our most listened to FM station in town and I promised to update you with what the station manager had to say about it? Here is what she said:

Hi Belle!

I took a listen to Stephanie’s CD today, and I find her very very good. The song Poker Face would fit in our format very well, and would like to add it, if that is permissible with you. The whole CD is very nice, but that’s the one song that really stands out! I try to stay away from the Mariah Carey type songs, as we try to maintain the Classic Rock format. If she has anything else, let me know. Also, is she going to market the CD? I just have a problem when people call and want to know where they can buy something, and it’s not available. Thank so much! I invited Stephanie to be on my “friends” list on myspace!

For those of you who haven’t listened to Stephanie’s music, let me direct you to her myspace site. FYI, she composed, sang, played the piano and guitar, sang the harmony, and co-produced her songs. Her producer is the talented Mr Jack Conte, who sings and composes his songs himself.

And thank you to those who already placed an order. Thank you for supporting the independent artist

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I had to delete the post of my daughter singing, “Hard to Say I’m Sorry” after it messed up my site in an attempt to upload some recent pictures of her. This whole thing is too technical for me. I have to get lessons from my daughters when they come home this Thanksgiving.

You can find the song here, or you can listen to her original music at My Space.
You Are Not There and Poker Face are my favorites.

Recent pictures taken after the show:

She is the one on the left.

Now, I don’t know how to repost your comments. I am truly sorry, but I saved them for my daughter to read.

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My dear blogger-friends, please help my daughter decide which version of her song entitled “At The Edge” is better. You can listen to it here.

She just put up her latest song, “You’re Not There.” which will be recorded next. Please listen to it and give us your feedback.

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Steffi is, once again, holding a concert on August 10, 2007 at 7:30 PM at Fireside Espresso in Payson, AZ. She will be singing mostly original songs like “At the Edge,” “Trust,” and “Room” to name a few. You can preview some of her songs here.

There will be a silent auction of Filipino handicrafts during the concert.

Donations are welcome and proceeds will go to the UP XDS scholarship fund for the benefit of the economically-disadvantaged students.

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Thirteen students and the music instructor from the P School Modern Choir were invited to perform “Schubert”s Mass in G Major” in Carnegie Hall last June 11, 2007. At first, I was against letting Lexie go because of financial constraints. She had graduated last May and the trip would not be until June, so it made more sense to focus on her college education. At least, that’s how I saw it. Imagine– each student had to come up with $2,000, and not only that, they also had to raise money for the 7 chaperones.

But Lexi was so adamant about going to Carnegie Hall even with my objection. She said that she would work hard to raise the money. In between choir classes, the students organized fundraising projects now and then. Lexie did all kinds of stuff, ranging from baking, selling, and singing, to earn a few bucks here and there. To make a long story short, she raised about $800; unfortunately, this was still not enough to cover all of the expenses. That meant, we parents had to pay the difference. Good thing we have a program called “Credit for Kids” at school where we can donate a maximum of $400 for a year and use that as a tax write off. The money went specifically to her trip to New York. We donated late last year and early this year, which amounted to $800.

She was getting close to hitting her goal, but was still a little shy. For some reason, with sheer determination and hard work, she and the other students pulled through.

Finally, they were granted the opportunity to sing at Carnegie Hall. They fulfilled their lifelong dream to sing on a stage that many musicians spend a lifetime trying to reach. Just walking on the stage for the dress rehearsals was overwhelming. Imagine, they got to sing where great musicians have performed. Pretty lucky bunch of kids, huh?

Dr. Thye, the condutor, taught them a lot. The singers were told to open their mouths more when they sang and to sing to the heart of every pitch. “There is no room for arrogance in excellence, and why would you ever want to sing any less than professionally?” Dr. Thye said.

The choir, along with singers from other schools that were invited, received a standing ovation during its 20-minute performance. The conductor brought the best out of each one of them, and they became better singers. For them, it was a performance of a lifetime.

Too bad, cameras were not allowed at Carnegie Hall to document the event. The photos above were the ones she took with her friends while checking out a bit of the city.

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