| Behind the microphone 
Photo by Jeff Watts
For the most part, when people hear the voice of Sidsel Overgaard, it’s coming over the airwaves on WAMU, where Overgaard is a reporter. But once in a while, instead of the news, she can be heard from the stage, singing “You Are My Sunshine.” That’s where she’ll be this weekend, singing with her husband’s rockabilly band as glassworkers ply their craft at an open house—kids, dogs, and strangers welcome—at the DC Glassworks warehouse in Hyattsville. It was Overgaard’s husband who dragged her up to the microphone and transformed her into a weekend singer. “He’s always trying to get me to play or sing with them, and I’m usually shy about it,” she says. “It’s easier on the radio,” she laughs. “Then you can’t see people.” But anthropology graduate student (and weekend drummer) Mike Sullivan figures music is more fun when you make it together. “She has a beautiful voice,” he says. “And she’s always been a musician.” Admittedly, though, it’s mostly been a quieter type of music—cello or guitar in the living room, not rockabilly in a warehouse full of glassblowers. Overgaard’s career behind the microphone really began with a post-college radio internship in New York City, which was leading, slowly and predictably, to other small jobs when Sept. 11 hit. “It was all hands on deck. It was a big learning experience,” she says. Between New York City and Washington, D.C., she taught for a year in Honduras, which gave her a chance to learn Spanish. Overgaard already spoke Danish; she had learned a smattering of the language from her father, who is Danish, and improved her skills substantially during a high school program in Denmark. An opportunity to work as a producer for Morning Edition at WAMU brought them to Washington in 2003. Overgaard has also been director of WAMU’s Youth Voices program, where students are trained in radio reporting and produce segments. Sullivan, her high school sweetheart, taught in Prince George’s County before starting graduate school. Their band’s next appearance is at a unique event—the open house at DC Glassworks. Buck Forty Nine has become something of the house band for the glassworks studio, which hosts regular open houses that Sullivan describes as “a wonderful public ritual—so artistic but so informal, like a giant campfire gathering.” People stroll around the furnaces as the artists blow and twirl molten glass into fantastic shapes that slowly become plates, vases, bowls, and beer steins. As Sullivan puts it: “After just one piece, there are no more strangers in this warehouse.” It’s a seven-hour, open door affair that runs this Saturday, Feb. 4, from 3 p.m. to 10 p.m. at the studio, which is tucked away among car lots and warehouses at 5346 46th Avenue in Hyattsville. Information is available at dcglassworks.com, or by e-mailing Sullivan at sullbox@yahoo.com. —SA |
