Song Spotlight: Georgia Maq's You'll Be Singing My Name (an afternoon at the Art Center College of Design)

As mentioned in a prior blog post, I notice via a Gracie Gray Instagram Story that Mini Trees was going to play a short set on the ArtCenter College of Design rooftop (curated by the Altadena Seed Library) during the Printed Matter Art Book Fair. A number of singer-songwriters performed throughout the day. I saw only four of those performers. The last performer was Georgia Maq (aka Georgia McDonald). 

Georgia Maq at the Art Center College of Design

Mini Trees (if interested, I also wrote about the Mini Trees here) had the most personal moments of the four singers I saw, while McDonald had the most humorous moments as she had no filter on her love life (or lack of a love life). When Mini Trees (moniker for Lexi Vega) ended their set, Vega asked McDonald if she was ready to get on stage. She responded that she was looking for a date on Hinge. Was she serious? Who knows, but my Google search indicates that the site isn't for hook-ups but for meaningful relationships. 

The conversation during the set focused on relationships. She mentioned that earlier in the day she had brunch with her ex-boyfriend (from her perspective) and his mother. She wasn't sure if the mother knew that the two of them had broken up (or who knows, maybe the ex-boyfriend has a different perspective of their relationship). Later she mentioned that she moved to Los Angeles from Australia (her accent gave that away). She told the audience that she initially thought that acting slutty was a way to get a California boyfriend. 

Georgia Maq at the Art Center College of Design

Another story she told was about bringing a harmonica to a date. She got drunk and started to play the harmonica. "There was no second date, but that was kind of my doing. I didn't want him to be one of my boyfriends." 

Perhaps hinting that a potential future boyfriend might be out in the audience, she told the crowd that she had a boring Saturday night planned, spending the night dog sitting for a friend. 

Every song of the set was dedicated to the founder of Altadena Seed Library, Nina Raj. During Mini Trees set (as a note the date of this event was May 17th), it was raining. By the time McDonald hit the stage the rain had turned into the occasional sprinkle. That gave the more artistic teens and young adults the opportunity to show their drawing skills. There was colored chalk in a box and during the set, various artists (be it for the day or maybe even professionally) drew on the rooftop. 

Georgia Maq at the Art Center College of Design

Unfortunately, I didn't catch the song titles from her set. While writing up this blog post, I had Spotify playing her album Pleaser. The song "You'll Be Singing My Name" stands out to me. I love the piano chords that allow her to put her vocals on melody blast. The song doesn't have a choir background, but I could seriously imagine her taking lead vocals with a 30 member choir singing backing vocals. 

Didn't know what else to do
Lay here in the dust with you
Staring at your arm tattoos
Wish I could mean that much to you

Complaint of the set (all the sets I saw were performed sitting): I feel a bit weird about sitting on the ground . . . but, it's okay.

There was a art book fair going on. Doing brief breaks between rooftop sets, I would leave the roof and explore. It was like going to a photo / art exhibit in mini-form. According to the website, there were over 300 exhibitors. It was a packed event. I often had to squeeze my way through the crowd to get to the next exhibitor. I will admit that I was more impatient than most people as I was doing some quick browsing before heading back to the rooftop. The below photo doesn't do justice to the packed nature of the event. The below is a photo of the large hall. There were side rooms that were just packed with people and exhibitors.  

Printed Matter Art Book Fair

As a note, by the time I post this blog, she will have finished up a tour with the illuminati hotties. Also, she'll be hitting up Zebulon on October 15th.