LADY CHOPS - A one-woman musical performance that took place yesterday at a branch of the Shreve Memorial Library in West Shreveport. Elizabeth Vidos is a professional musician known as "Lady Chops". She's a Louisiana native who travels all across the state each summer to bring the joy of music and sense of empowerment to kids through her performance "Drum Roll Please".
Vidos explained "I'm bringing music to our kids because I think it's a very important part of our culture here in Louisiana, I think we're at risk of losing that as part of our culture. And I'm also trying to just inspire kids to do great things and to empower them to 'embrace their chops'. Your chops are something you're good at."
Vidos said her nickname stemmed from her ability to make music. "So I'm 'Lady Chops', my chops are drumming chops. But I'll have kids say to me ' reading chops' or 'taking care of pets chops' or 'baseball chops'. Everybody has chops, and that's the message here."
As a youngster, Vidos said she was exposed to music at an early age. "I grew up with my dad having a trumpet in the house, a harmonica, the bongos, a recorder, and I remember those things. I remember making memories, making music with my family," she explained. "And so I'm here to encourage families to bring instruments into the home. It's really easy to have the video games set up and have the internet set up. And I know that parents also battle with that, it's what the kids want to do most of the time. So I'm here to say 'hey (I'm also talking to the parents), here's some instruments that you can bring into the house that are affordable and here's how you can get your kids engaged and interested in the arts. And give them some other options. "
It was the option of learning music that launched Vidos' education which eventually led to a professional career as a percussionist. "It was a life-change for me, it took me places, I traveled playing music, I met some of my best friends playing music, I got a college scholarship playing music," said Vidos. "So I'm just here to remind parents that it's just not all about sports sometimes. And I played sports too but some of our kids have music inside them that needs to get out. If you got some 'movers and groovers' that are always taping on things and saying 'play this song', they might need to be alittle musician."
Elizabeth Vidos toured with the off-Broadway show "STOMP" for 10 years. It took her all over the world. Today she is a childrens recreational therapist Louisiana Methodist Children's Home in Ruston, La. But this week you can see her perform at different branches of the Shreve Memorial Library as it is part of the "Libraries Rock! Summer Reading Program"
For more information: www.Shreve-lib.org or Lady Chops Facebook page.
