Behind The Curtains (It's Ozma! Or is that Razma?)

Hi there! Carey Colvin here, the Girl Behind The Curtains. I'm also known as Razz, because there are a lot of Carey/Keri/Carries. (Raz is for Raspberry Sun Music, my company.) For those of you who don't know me, please allow me to introduce myself: I am a musician ("performing songwriter", for those of you who subscribe to being politically correct), mom, wife, and painter. The medium I most use to paint with these days (besides words) is pixels. I'm the webmistress (although I like the term Jannel & crew have for me, which is "Web Goddess") for the GINA Foundation web sites, the Clementine site, and Jannel's site. It's my job to make sure that all the information on all the sites is current and accurate.

I started designing web sites about 10 years ago, when the person doing my own site had my tour dates up . . . only they were three months out of date. If you wanted to come see me play and checked my web site, you weren't going to find me...! So, I decided (in my "I-must-fix-this", organized and efficient manner...wait, did someone say, "anal"?!) to do my web site myself. And a funny thing happened - people went to my site, ask me who designed it, and started asking me to do theirs, too. So, I kind of started a business by accident. Now I have a lot of clients and it's become kind of my day job, between writing songs and performing whenever I can.

Some of you may have met me last year at the SWT Finale in Little Rock, AR. My husband and music-slash-business partner, Granger Helvey, and I drove up to participate in the Finale. (Granger, by the way, is the GINA technical/IT Guru.) It was one of the most memorable performances (and trips) that we've ever had.

As a matter of fact, I do need to explain something to all of the families that were in Little Rock last year. Some of you may have wondered why I kept my eyes closed or averted during my performance. Here's why I was pretending to be invisible: I am a very passionate and emotional woman. I feel things very deeply, that's just how I came into this world and who I am. I'm the person who looks at the faces of the missing every single day. I find their information, I calculate how old they were when they vanished, I resize their photos, update them when necessary, make slides, flyers, and put them in three different places on the GINA site. I go through all the missing on our site every week to find out if they've been found - when they are, I'm the one who puts "Found" on their information. I feel like I know every single one of these people.

Sometimes, it really gets to me. There's one young man who's missing whose information and picture I can barely bring myself to look at, it hurts so bad. Why him? I don't know. I just know it's so. When it gets to me, I can get up from my computer and walk away and go garden or play with my dog or hang out with my family. I can clear my head and revitalize and re-energize myself. When I was in Arkansas, I looked from the stage at all the faces of the families, and knew that they could never walk away, no matter how much they might want to, just for five minutes. I was pretty much overcome with emotion, and I knew if I looked at anybody, I'd just lose it. So that's the explanation of why I sang most of my set with my eyes squinched shut. It was close 'em or drown!

I started doing the GINA sites about a year ago. I think there were maybe 50 missing persons on the site when I took over. Right now, at last count, there were 603. Some of them have been found, but the total is 603. That doesn't even BEGIN to touch the number of total missing in this country, not to mention worldwide. Every one of these people has a story, and every one of them has someone who loves them and misses them. I'm glad that I'm able, through my talents both musically and "designally", to make just a bit of difference for the missing. I'm blessed to have hooked up with Jannel (thanks, Yvonne!) - I think it was something that was meant to be. We, all of us, make a great team.

Quite simply, Jannel is one of my favorite people. Her determination and compassion is amazing, and she's one of the most positively energized people I have ever met. We are all very lucky that she's on this planet.

I had hoped to come to Nashville tomorrow to participate in the tour, but life had other plans for me and I won't be able to make it. I have been on this entire tour, though, in spirit and in reality - just not on the bus :).

I'll relinquish the blog now to those who are on the bus, as they're probably scratching their heads and saying, "why the heck can't I access the blog?!"

Lots of love and miracles,

Carey

Where you can find me:

www.careycolvin.com
www.myspace.com/careycolvin
www.raspberrysunmusic.com