“It was my senior year of college. I was balancing two jobs, writing a new EP, and experiencing my first heartbreak. This show was a distraction — and a catalyst to take my career seriously. I then woke up with no voice, body aches and a fever. I anxiously warmed up my voice to see if I had any range to sing with; luckily, most of it was still there.
“As I got ready, my DJ told me that the boy I wrote most of these songs about was going to be there. I was so not ready for that! I hadn’t seen him since he brutally dumped me. Now he was going to be at my first show?! Hearing songs about how he hurt me?! I cringed! I tried my best to avoid him, but of course, like all stories, I saw him right before I went up.
“I wondered whether I should perform those songs. They were so personal. I honestly felt embarrassed, but music is therapy, right? And what better intervention than crooning my sorrows to a crowd...and the one person who never really cared about how he hurt me. I brushed off the doubt and sang my heart out.”
There will be an art installation and screening of YaSi’s new video, “Lie,” at Fort Greene Bar on Saturday, February 24, from 4 to 7 p.m.
Editor's Note: The Denver Bootleg is a series chronicling the history of local music venues by longtime Denver cartoonist Karl Christian Krumpholz. Visit Krumpholz's website to see more of his work.
