Lyndi Scott - ARTSCAPE Port Elizabeth's latest writer
Bob Eveleigh: Port Elizabeth has a newly published author – the book that bears her name had its first printing in America in January and is available online. Her name is Lyndi Scott and the publication, by American organisation, JaCol Publishing, is a collection of short stories and personally reflective pieces by four new authors under the title Four Doors Open, and is the latest in a series of "Four" compilations from JaCol, which is run by Californian Randall "Jay" Andrews in a constant search by him for fresh young international writing talents. Andrews describes the book on Amazon.com as follows: "The Four series is JaCol’s presentation of four authors writing about their lives. We are touched by the commonality of our uniqueness, how we look at the same setting sun, the rising moon, and all the stars in between. This collection of writers will give you pause in your daily lives, help you understand we are not alone. They will peel back the layers of emotions and give you a glimpse of their souls". And should you think that sounds a mite pretentious, well, think again, for just a glance at the 244 pages in the bound edition (186 pages online) will quickly show that these four female writers really do know how to use the English language. Lyndi Scott finds herself in excellent company with three Americans: multi-state resident AM Justice, Chicago's Elaina Portugal and Chicagoan "Shinazy" but, as she points out in her self-written introduction, Mrs Scott is the only one of the quartet who can claim to live in a country with 11 official languages!! So how did all this come about for professional musician Lyndi? Chatting with her over coffees a couple of times recently, her background is interesting indeed, since she studied for - and almost immediately went into - a career in music after completing her chosen tertiary education subsequent to obtaining her Senior Certificate at Victoria Girls High School in Grahamstown in 1996. "I loved music and, after matriculating, went off to study light music at the Pretoria Technikon - now the Tshwane University of Technology - for three years" she told me. "I did everything - jazz, improvisation, harmony, music appreciation, arranging, production, composition, history of music etc - to such good effect that I even gained a Samro Scholarship for my final year. After I graduated, I found myself playing lounge cocktail piano at The Palace at Sun City for three months and while there, was noticed by an agent, Maurice Fresco, who, immediately I finished my Sun City stint, signed me and sent me off to do more of the same at the Ramada Hotel in Doha, Qatar", said Lyndi. It was the start of a globe-trotting career - her next book, under the title Have Piano, Will Travel, will mirror some of her reminiscences of those next six years, before she returned to Port Elizabeth permanently. Her peripatetic existence took her to Algiers, Al Ain in the United Arab Emirates, The Royal Livingstone Hotel at Victoria Falls (all while continually playing cocktail piano) and, then initially funded by an indulgent uncle, but later by herself from income from incidental piano bookings, to - wait for it! - Britain, Central Europe, Australia, New Zealand, California and the Western US states ("Las Vegas was phenomenal!"), Canada, Ireland, Thailand, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Ghana. She also found time to au pair in London for a British couple's three children for five months, which included the Central Europe travels. And all this within six years! Phew! But in 2005 she returned to Port Elizabeth and to a more settled musical existence which saw her forming her own jazz group, Two Guys and a Girl (one of the "Guys" was top local string and guitar bassman, Andrew Warneke, now frequently being seen in Gary Hemmings' Centrestage productions) for a while. She also acted as musical consultant to the amazing 2005 and 2006 Herald on the Go Reunion concerts and On the Go Music Fund and joining with popular PE vocalist Buli G as musical director of a massive 2005 Christmas Concert at the Boardwalk Vodacom Amphitheatre. Lyndi's return to the Friendly City also brought in its wake two marriages - the first very short-lived, the second far more settled - and a son and daughter, now aged two and five and a half, and presently the apples of Mom's eye. "I also played at many Johannesburg venues and carried on with this locally at several hotels and restaurants - like the Kelway and Courtyard. I currently play background piano in the main lounge of the new Boardwalk Hotel over weekends" said Lyndi. If it's a truism that to be a successful writer, you should first have some life experience, well Lyndi Scott's wide-ranging activities during her relatively young lifetime to date certainly qualify her. Even as a schoolgirl in PE, she was a member of the Eastern Cape Childrens Choir, studied drama at the Rother-Swain Drama studio ("that's when your name first cropped up because, whenever we did a show, we were always told by Linda-Louise and Sharon that we had to be extra-good because 'Bob Eveleigh was in the house to review you all'!'' she laughingly told me. She also completed an Outward Bound Course in Grahamstown in the mid-1990s - is it any wonder Lyndi later had such a penchant for travel? To combine music - all genres but mainly light popular - with the ability to use words also pre-supposes that this is one thirty-something who, in the future, might well emerge as a popular music composer/ lyricist. In that connection, on first meeting, she immediately endeared herself to me by being the only person to date to know who Sammy Cahn was, since his extensive songbook forms the base of the 2015 Showtime Awards revue I am currently devising. Digressing, for the uninitiated, Sammy Cahn was probably one of America's premier lyricists of the 20th century, and although his name means little to the average person, he provided the words for many of the songs performed by top American singers of yesteryear, notably Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Bing Crosby, Mario Lanza, Doris Day and today's Robbie Williams and Michael Buble'. Hits such as Come Fly with Me, I'll Walk Alone, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Be My Love, Ain't That a Kick in the Head etc. study the 2000-plus Cahn songbook - but Lyndi knew who he was on my first mention! Two things that are unusual - given Lyndi's now proven facility with words - are that, despite the fact that she monotonously won the Poetry Prize every year in high school, in her Senior Certificate examinations she gained straight As (80 marks plus) in five of her six chosen subjects (including music, of course). The exception? English, where she only scored in the high 60s. The second thing - and here she certainly under-rates herself - is that she doesn't rate herself very highly in expressing herself vocally, especially in everyday conversation, far preferring to do so on paper or her laptop. And she keeps a notebook and pen with her, in her voluminous bag at all times, to jot down thoughts and phrases, for possible later use. In an Internet interview earlier this year, Lyndi opened up about how she thinks and writes and these are just a couple of her comments: How many hours a week do you spend writing? I write 5-6 hours a day and spend the rest of my day on my laptop and social media and with my kids. What inspires you? Humanity, humbleness, guts, boldness, courage, my children’s innocence - and love. If you want to experience Lyndi's insightful writing for yourself, Four Doors Open is available as a Kindle book on that area of the Amazon.com website at a price of $13.67 (R148.45), which includes VAT and free international wireless delivery via Amazon's Whispernet service. Finally, if you want to experience for yourself just how well she acquits herself musically, take a trip down to the Boardwalk Hotel Lounge, order a tea, coffee or drink, and savour the magical piano sounds she produces as she plays Saturdays from 9-11am and at High Tea from 2-5pm and Sundays from 9-11am. So much writing ability and musical talent packed into likeable attractive bundle! Some people really have all the luck ... Bob Eveleigh beveleigh@centrestage.co.za