NO BUSINESS LIKE SHOW BUSINESS
Women in entertainment tell
what
draws them to their careers
By COURTNEY DRAKE-MCDONOUGH
Photography KIT WILLIAMS
Many people dream of being
in show business. They
want the glamour, fame
and adoration of loyal fans.
One thing is for certain: Success takes talent,
big dreams and lots of hard work.
Meet four Denver women who have
successfully become the entertainers
they were born to be.
LANNIE GARRETT
“From the time I came out of the
womb, I never wanted to be anything
but some sort of performer, dancer,
singer or actress,” says Lannie Garrett,
singer and cabaret owner.
Her big break started as a big lie. She
met singer and entertainer Ron Henry
and told him that if he ever needed a
backup singer to call her. He called. “I
didn’t know how to sing backup harmony
(still don’t), let alone actually sing
onstage in front of people,” she recalls.
But Henry hired Garrett and with his
group opened shows for Ray Charles,
The Four Tops, Richie Havens and more. “I started to get my ‘stage’ legs and
learned how to interpret songs — it was
my school,” she says.
Then, after many years of talent and
hard work, it was serendipity that
helped Garrett realize the dream of
owning her own club. She had just
ended a decade-long stint as the house
entertainer at a now-defunct restaurant
when the space in the basement
of the D&F Tower downtown became
available. Simultaneously, her friend,
actor and now business partner
Jefferson Arca moved back from New
York, and favorite interior designer
Lonnie Hanzon was available to create
the space. “It happened without much
real planning,” says Garrett. “We just
held hands and JUMPED.”
Open since January 2006, Lannie’s
Clocktower Cabaret was designed to be a
sensual, aesthetic space where “artists can
put on real shows with lights, a great stage
and a gorgeous environment,” according
to Garrett. “I wanted a variety of eclectic
entertainment that you might not see in
other rooms in town.” The Cabaret has
hosted local and national acts, including
Leon Redbone and The Mills Brothers as
well as burlesque dancers, hypnotists and
vaudeville performers. Garrett herself performs
nearly every weekend with a rotation
of her themed shows, including the
popular Patsy Decline, a country spoof
comedy show she created.
There is a disco-themed show, a salute
to music from the movies and Under Paris
Skies, a tribute to the French jazz style.
Outside the club, Garrett is regularly in
demand to perform for private functions,
fund-raisers and concerts.
Garrett’s dream for the Cabaret is “to
have a viable business with happy customers
and to work with people I like.”
As a club owner, she finds her days full of
meetings, answering countless e-mails,
booking talent and promoting the club
and its acts, including herself. Describing
her age as being “older than Cameron
Diaz and younger than Susan Sarandon,”
she wants to keep the cabaret going for
as long as possible, but would personally
like to taper off and sing about half the
time. “I would like the time to discover
who I am without having to work all the
time. I’d really like the luxury of dinking
around my garden, reading more, taking
road trips and some classes. I also want to
build a home and a life with someone
special,” she says.
Garrett is currently dating Dan
Brogan, publisher and editor of 5280
magazine, whose own flexible schedule
makes working around Garrett’s possible.
Now a fixture on the Colorado music
scene, with six CDs, Garrett says the road
has not been easy. “It took a long time
for an untrained, non-music-reading
chick singer to gain respect from male
musicians,” she recalls. However, she
says she finally proved herself to a good
chunk of them and works with some of
the best players in town, who support
what she does.
The financial struggles of the entertainment business have also been a challenge
over the years. There were times when she
was tempted to quit, but then serendipity
would strike with a club’s offer for a steady
singing job. She had no idea that, as a performer,
she would also have to learn to be
a businesswoman, booking the gigs,
doing the contracts and negotiating. “I
just wanted to sing!” says Garrett. “Fortunately, over the years the audiences
kept showing up, so I carried on.”
She says her greatest successes included
getting a standing ovation with her big
band when they opened a show for her
idol, Ray Charles. She is also proud of performing
with the Colorado Symphony and
singing nationally and internationally.
Watching Garrett deliver a song and
work a room, it’s hard to believe that she
is sometimes a bit frightened to be in
front of people and would just as soon
hibernate. “But the moment my foot
touches the stage, I’m there,” she
exclaims. “I love the audience. My adrenaline
starts, and I wouldn’t want to be
anywhere in the world but with that
audience in that moment.”
MARGUERITE JUENEMANN
One of the talented performers who
has appeared at Lannie’s Clocktower
Cabaret is jazz singer Marguerite
Juenemann. “I’ve never been anything
but a musician for as long as I can
remember,” she says. From playing
instruments in school to jamming with
her musical family in their living room,
performing has been a fact of life for her.
Juenemann, 52, feels that her background
studying and playing seven different
musical instruments enhances her
singing abilities. “There were disciplines
required for whatever instrument I was
studying, so the habit remains to practice
consistently,” she says. It’s no wonder
that Juenemann has been called a “musician who sings.”
Her professional career started while
she was still in college. She put up a sign
in the music department to see if anyone
was interested in playing or singing folk
music, just for fun. She got an immediate
response and, along with her brother,
started a group. “It was nonstop education
from that point to right now, with
so much more to get into yet,” she says
enthusiastically.
After performing professionally for
several years, Juenemann decided she
wanted to become a jazz singer when
she saw the legendary Betty Carter perform
in 1978. “I watched her just stun
the audience with consummate musical
skill, using only her voice and a trio,”
recalls Juenemann. “That became the only thing for me to pursue as a singer.”
Juenemann was a founding member of
Rare Silk, a small female vocal jazz group
that started in Boulder in 1978. Success
came and grew as the women toured with
Benny Goodman and his orchestra, playing
concert halls (including Carnegie Hall)
and music festivals all over the world. Rare
Silk was even nominated for a Grammy
Award for its debut album. Since the
group disbanded in the ‘80s, she has had
a very active solo career, playing mostly
concerts, festivals, private functions and
clubs here and internationally. She has two
solo CDs and has appeared on a number
of other musicians’ CDs.
Juenemann also teaches voice and is
a host of a weekly jazz jam session for
professional and amateur musicians at a
local restaurant. Despite having performed
and lived elsewhere, she is happy
to stay grounded in Denver with her garden,
friends, family and loyal fan base.
Like Garrett, she has faced obstacles
from males in the industry but has gained
their respect over the years. As for having
a personal life, she says it is possible, but
then smiles and quotes Katharine
Hepburn, who said, “Men and women
should live next door to each other.”
When it comes to performing,
Juenemann says, “I’ll testify to feeling
anxious nearly every time I hit the stage.
There’s a part of your musicianship that
you trust, always, so you know you’ll be
able to play the music. The part that
sometimes makes you anxious is wanting
every utterance to be stellar, and sometimes
it just isn’t.”
She loves performing because it’s a
chance to share something she loves
with her friends and strangers. “It’s nice
to be a part of humanity from any
aspect, whether you are the one performing
or in the crowd,” she says.
WENDE CURTIS
When Wende Curtis was a child, she
considered becoming the president of
the United States. But she wanted to be
in show business even more.
Curtis achieved her dream when she
became the first female owner of The
Comedy Works, a local comedy club in
Larimer Square. Although there are a lot of
women in the comedy industry working as
agents, managers and publicists, there are very few female comedy club owners.
Curtis, 44, has heard the stories of
women in the industry being held back by
men, but says she’s never experienced it
herself. She thinks this may be because of
what she considers to be her male as well
as female traits — daring, courageous,
aggressive. She continues, “But I’m also
very warm and fuzzy to those I deal with — from our customers to my staff and our
comedians — a bit motherly, I guess.” Of
her business ownership style, she says in a
good-humored tone, “There are a lot of
male club owners who should stand up
and pay attention.”
Curtis got into the comedy club business
while finishing her degree in acting and
directing at CSU in Fort Collins. She was so
eager to get into show business that she
worked as a cocktail waitress at the local
Comedy Works location just to get her foot
in the door. After graduation, she became
the general manager, booking acts. After
doing different projects for Comedy Works’
various ventures, she developed a reputation
for being able to come in and turn a
struggling location around.
Eventually, Curtis landed at the
Comedy Works location in Larimer
Square. She had worked every angle of
the business and ran it well, so when the
opportunity came up five years ago, she
and two others bought it. “Then in a
huge ‘aha’ moment, I bought them
out!” she adds.
Although she is very supportive of
female comedians, Curtis doesn’t make an
effort to book more females than males. “My agenda is and has always been to
book the very best and biggest, whoever
they may be,” she explains. “If all of the
acts were white males of average height,
the audience would just be confused by
them,” she believes. “Diversity makes the
whole show more memorable.”
One of her goals was to expand the
club, and she seriously considered downtown
Chicago. “Ultimately, I decided to
shore up my own back yard first,” says
Curtis. Her new location, Comedy Works
South, opens in November in the DTC
area with a show room, martini lounge
and restaurant.
Curtis divides her time between the
two clubs, planning every detail, handling
countless phone calls, meetings and emails.
She is often at work well into the
evening, especially on show nights.
Weekends are the busiest times, so she is
present for every show. “I love the energy
of the weekend with so many people and
so much going on,” she says.
This happy workaholic says she takes
Sundays off but then adds, “Well, I come
in for a couple of hours every few
Sundays. It’s never done, I can tell you
that ... never, never, never.” Curtis readily
admits she puts her job first, which
has made a personal life difficult.
Although there have been tough
times, Curtis says that success has
come easily, but adds that she’s very
driven. “I’ve always been ‘hungry,’ and
a lot of people lack that hunger,” she
says. ”I’ve done the time, and I’ve
worked my tail end off. I’ve given up a
lot and put this first to be the best ...
and I’ve been nice to people — what a
concept!” she exclaims. “The people
who are not nice to others are missing
the point entirely. They’ll never achieve
truer success than I have.”
HAZEL MILLER
When she was in third grade, Hazel
Miller toyed with the idea of being
either a singer or a marine biologist.
She was advised not to pursue marine
biology because at that time, there
were no “colored people” in that profession.
So from that point on, she
wanted to be a singer. “It’s who I am,”
she says matter-of-factly.
For the past 37 years, Miller has
entertained audiences performing
blues, rock and jazz, first in Louisville,
Ky., and then in Colorado. “In
Louisville, I had the best band in the
city. I was considered a local celebrity
but wanted a larger challenge. I wanted
to go to Los Angeles, like every
singer with big plans,” she explains.
On her way to LA, she stopped in
Denver and changed her mind. “Colorado seduced me,” she says. “There is an abundance of music here
and a love and support of local musicians
that I have never seen before. I cannot
think of any place in this country that has
the opportunities that I’ve found here.”
Miller, 54, got her foothold in
Colorado working as a backup singer
with the group Bighead Todd and the
Monsters. With the group, she found
major fame. “It is no picnic to be that
famous,” she says emphatically.
“I learned a lot watching the Monsters
handle all the fame and money and stay
true to personal values. It was not for me,”
she continues. “I think I was meant to find
the niche that fits me and build from that
place. I believe I’ve done just that.”
That niche included creating her own
band here in Colorado, continuing her
sometimes challenging role as band
leader. Being part of a band was fun for
Miller, but she was always at the mercy
of other people’s decisions. Running her
own band meant that she could make
the band revolve around her life, which
included her children and their needs.
Miller says that finding men who could
and would work with a woman band
leader was not hard, but inspiring loyalty
and quality output from them was.
“In my business, women are fringe,
even when they are the featured performer,”
Miller says, her jovial tone changing. “I am seen as driven, but that’s a quality
admired in men. So why can’t I be driven?
I have learned to ignore the reasoning
from men who don’t want to know
me as a good band leader, worthy singer
and solid businesswoman.”
Realizing her dream of being a performer
has come at the cost of Miller’s
personal life. “My prime years for dating
were taken up forging a foothold in the
Colorado music scene and raising my
sons,” she says. “My friends say I have to
be ready for a companion before I can
find one or he finds me.” She adds, “So
I’m getting my thoughts in a positive
place and getting control of my business
so I can be ready for a relationship.”
Despite her many years of performing,
Miller still gets very nervous before
a performance. “My guys will tell you
that I can be hard to be around before
the show,” she says. “It’s a mixture of
stage fright and anxiety. I want the
audience to like my performance, but
I’m afraid that my voice may not be
enough.” She needn’t worry about
that. With her group, the Hazel Miller
Band, she regularly performs at concerts,
special events, corporate and private
functions. Miller has four CDs out
and is working on a fifth.
“I love the time on stage,” says
Miller. “I love the energy and the unexpected
moments of perfection we
achieve while performing.”
WEB SITES:
LANNIE’S CLOCKTOWERCABARET —
www.lannies.com
MARGUERITE
JUENEMANN —
www.margueritejuenemann.com
WENDE CURTIS —
www.comedyworks.com
HAZEL MILLER —
www.hazelmiller.com
