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March - Williamsburg , VA Magazine , Next Door Neighbors

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DATE NIGHT!EVERY THURSDAY$Two entrees for Includes20www.annasbrickoven.comVoted #1 Nail Salon!Monday & TuesdayRegular Pedicure & Manicure $ 25Regular Pedicure $ 19Coming soon! Enjoy a glassof wine with our services.O.P.I.AxxiumFor flawless color that lastsup to 2 weeks.Ideal for Natural Nails.34 NEXT DOOR NEIGHBORSMARCH2011salad.Choice ofspaghetti andmeatballs,lasagna, chickenor shrimp alfredo,penne alla vodkaor manicotti.* SpecialS do not includetax, gratuity or beverageS.2021-D Richmond Rd.(next to Hertz)757-229-5252nailsuptown.comUptownNails 757-564-1809Open Daily: Mon - Sat 10-8, Sun 12 - 6 5251 John Tyler Hwy., Suite 34Sweat!Fitness ClassesCircuit TrainingIndoor CyclingCardio EquipmentZumbaYogaCertifiedPersonal Trainers“I enjoy all of the fitness options so I can always add something newto my workout.” ~ Denise Ridley“It’s the best gym in town! I’ve been a member for over 20 years andcould not imagine working out anywhere else.” ~ Scott JohnstonAsk About OurFREEWEEK TRIAL!Weekdays 5 AM to 10 PM; Saturday 7 AM to 7 PM; Sunday 9 AM to 5 PM757-229-58744325 New Town Ave. in New Town • www.ironboundgym.com • Scott Grafton, OwnerDavid Sloggie.While Megan attended Lafayette High School, she played the pianoand sang at a local restaurant. “I played at JM Randall’s a couple of hours aweek, for the dinner crowd,” she says. After graduation from high school,Megan headed to college to pursue a degree in music. “Music educationand voice,” she clarifies. “I fell off performing for almost a decade.”The halt of her performances seems to have come from one traumaticincident. “I definitely had stage fright for a long time,” Megan says.“When I went to CNU [Christopher Newport University], I somehowgot by for about three years without having to perform in front of people,and I would just do the assigned projects in front of teachers whowere judging me.” The instructors gave her assignments and she wouldcomplete them in a closed room with the teacher grading her.Eventually, the need to perform in front of an audience of her fellowstudents arrived. “Word got out,” Megan explains. “People said theycouldn’t wait to hear me sing because they were wondering how I gotinto the school, what my talent was.” She had created an enigma. Manyof her fellow students wanted to see Megan’s performance style, hear hersinging voice and experience her as a performer.“I cracked,” Megan says. “I sang three lines then walked off stage.That’s how much stage fright I had.”From that moment on, she avoided singing in public. “That was notsomething I was planning on doing again, ever,” she adds. “It wasn’tsomething I was comfortable with – I don’t know why. I guess somepeople have stage fright.” She wouldn’t sing in front of her friends, althoughshe continued to play the piano and sing at home. Then she metZach Moats.Zach played music around the Newport News and Hampton areas.“Not to get sappy,” Megan says, “but Zach is so comforting and his energyis so reassuring that I just tend to let my guard down with him.”They would sing and play music together. “Because I was able to singwith him, I got less embarrassed,” she explains. “We heard about theopen mic at Aromas in Newport News and started going there weekly.Creating a version of a cover song and doing that for fun. I was able to goto these small coffee shops and do open mic. I built it up slowly.”Along with her singing, Megan never thought she’d play piano in frontof an audience again. “Singing is one thing, but the piano is even scarier,”she says. “You would think I would be more intimidated because Zachis an amazing, award-winning piano player. The band has two pianos, Iplay while he plays, but he puts me at ease. I play rhythm piano while heplays the intricate stuff.”After her musical steps into coffeehouse performances with Zach, Meganventured into writing songs. From the time she started piano lessonsat the age of eight, she never thought she could write a song. “I wasa poet,” she states. “I always had words, but I couldn’t do melodies, Icouldn’t write songs on the piano.” As soon as she and Zach talked aboutcomposing songs, a comfortable collaboration developed. “He would approachme with a chord progression or some type of piano music he hadin mind,” Megan explains the process. “Somehow inspired by his piano

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