News

February 11, 2005

A quiet press release went out announcing "The Joplin Project".

January 19, 2005

It's Janis Joplin's Birthday! Janis Lyn Joplin was born January 19, 1943.

~ 2004 ~

December 26, 2004

The world is shocked as a Tsunami triggered by an oceanic earthquake with a magnitude of 9.3 devastates hundreds of thousands across Asia and claims more than 200,000 lives.

June 18, 2004

The day of the contest! Rita's Aunt Linda and Uncle Martin from San Diego were there to cheer her on. There were many talented celebrity look/sound-a-likes that were very talented.... but out of 32 contestants, Rita made it to the semi-finals as one of the top five! "Andrea Bocelli" won, but Rita vows to return and win first place!

June 17, 2004

With her good friend Richard Barry, and her boyfriend Fred Michael George, Rita is on her way to Las Vegas!

April-May, 2004

Once again, Rita participates in the big L.A./O.C. Karaoke Fest 2004, and once again, makes it to the semi-finals.

March, 2004

Rita discovers that the Imperial Palace in Las Vegas holds a Karaoke Contest looking for celebrity look/sound-a-likes. She signs up for the June contest.

~ 2003 ~

December 26, 2003

A devastating earthquake rating 6.6, kills 26,300 in Iran's ancient city Bam.

July 12, 2003

Once again, Rita has the honor of being one of her sisters Brides Maids!

Rita's sister Gina and Robert MacLean married on July 12, 2003

April-May, 2003

Still not able to drive by herself at night, Rita still manages to participate in Karaoke Fest 2003. Karaoke Fest is "The Big One", with all of L.A. and Orange County combined. This is Rita's first big competition and all the regulars want to know who she is... which only makes them judge harsher. In spite of all that, Rita makes it to the semi-finals!

April, 2003

Rita's eyes are doing great and discovers that her eyes reflect like there are mirrors in them, much like a cat's eyes! So weird... and also so cool! (You can actually see it in one eye in the color photo of Rita with the pink scarf that's in the slide show on the front "home" page... can you see it?)

March 2003

Rita has her right eye operated on. After much deliberation, Rita chooses to have what's known as "Mono-Vision". That means, one eye is set for distance, while the other is set for seeing up-close. A natural lens that a person is born with is made of protein and has the amazing ability to expand and contract to be able to focus, much like a camera. However, a lens made of silicone is basically made of glass.... therefore it is ridged and cannot focus. Rita has a choice to make. She can choose to have perfect distance vision, but then she will need to wear reading glasses anytime she wants to read something, even a price tag. Or she can have perfect up-close vision, and she will definitely need glasses to drive anytime. OR "Mono-Vision". One eye distance, one eye up-close. But, as to avoid headaches and vertigo sometimes associated with Mono-Vision, Rita had her left eye set at almost perfect distance, and her right eye set at almost perfect up-close. This should work out pretty good.

February 2003

The operation was a success! In fact, Rita could see the moment she came out of surgery. But she had to wear an eye patch and follow a strict eye drop regime of 4 different kinds of eye drops, for weeks. All well worth it.

January 2003

Rita's life will be forever changed from here on out. Rita is finally able to receive eye surgery! This is a different kind of eye surgery than LASIK, Rita is considered "Nearsighted" plus astigmatism with a prescription of +13.5. Most people that get LASIK are Farsighted needing a -2 prescription. To have a -4 prescription for Farsighted, or a +4 prescription for Nearsighted is pretty severe in any direction! Whenever an eye doctor discovers Rita's prescription of 13.5, the reaction is usually shock, followed by interest. The only surgery to correct Rita's vision would be the same surgery that elderly get to remove a cataract lens and have it replaced with a man-made one made of silicone. But to make matters even more complicated, Rita's eyes are abnormally small and abnormally shaped. To create the correct power for Rita to see, each eye is going to have to have TWO lenses connected together by a little S shaped metal "spring" and they will be implanted folded together.

Rita's Mother, Carol Runzel chooses one of the finest surgeons in the nation. Dr. Tooma at TLC, The Laser Eye Center is one of only 5 surgeons in the nation that is qualified for this special surgery. He is very famous and respected amongst his fellow surgeons, and has done Tiger Woods LASIK surgery. Rita can only have one eye operated on at a time just to see how it goes.... Rita has her left eve operated on first.

~ 2002 ~

August 10, 2002

Rita is very excited to be one of her sisters Brides Maids.

Rita's sister Katie and Greg Barry married on August 10, 2002.

July , 2002

At 4:00 in the afternoon, Rita hears an announcement on the radio about a singing contest in Hollywood that was to be held later that night. Out of about 38 contestants... Rita, singing 2 Janis Joplin songs, is the winner of the Howl At The Moon in Hollywood "Karaoke" contest hosted by Ralph Garmen of KROQ, wining $500 cash plus $500 in prizes!!. Someone in the audience tells Rita to look into the "Legends In Concert" show in Las Vegas.

~ 2001 ~

December, 2001

Rita leaves "Funny Farm" on good terms to prepare for a busy year as being one of her sisters Brides Maids. Rita's farwell show was at Jasper's Saloon off Bristol in Santa Ana / Costa Mesa near South Coast Plaza and The Performing Arts Center. Rita got heartfelt cards and gifts, and LOTS of hugs.

September 16, 2001

Rita sings Shania Twain's song "Fron This Moment" for the first dance as a duet in Jasmine and Michael Kooh's wedding

Jasmine and Michael Kooh married on September 16, 2001

September 11, 2001

Rita's roommate wakes her up to come and watch the news. There was an attack on the World Trade Center's Twin Towers in New York! Both towers had already been hit, and one of the towers had already fallen. Rita watched in horror as the second tower fell on live television. The 9-11 Attacks, including both of the Twin Towers and The Pentagon, claimed nearly 3,000 lives or 2, 986 to be exact. Click here for complete details:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_11,_2001_attacks

~ 2000 ~

November 11, 2000

Rita sings Faith Hill's song "Breathe" for the first dance in her friend and co-workers Erika's wedding.

Erika and Chris Uyan married on November 11, 2000.

September, 2000

Rita and guitarist Don Rollins from "The Remains" form the cover band "Funny Farm".

August, 2000

Rita leaves her cover band "Paint The Alphabet".

May 10, 2000

Rita's stepfather, Roy Runzel, passes away from a sudden heart attack. Rita's family was devastated and He was loved by many.

Needless to say, the Pearl and The J.J. Express project was abandoned.

March 10, 2000

With the help of her bass player Billy Pulliam, Rita starts to form a Janis Joplin Tribute Band called "Pearl and The J.J. Express".

~ 1999 ~

December 31, 1999

P.T.A. plays Centerfield Sports Bar for New Year's Eve. Not much of a turn out.... everyone was afraid to go out! Could the world come to an end at the turn of the year 2000?

October 26, 1999

Rita attends the INCUBUS release of "Make Your Self", their third album, again at The Roxy in Hollywood. This time, the club was packed with fans and press. INCUBUS was just about to hit the big time and their release single, a ballad called "Drive", had just been played over the radio a few days earlier.

1999

Another great year for "P.T.A."..... work, work work!

~ 1998 ~

December 31, 1998

Rita and "Paint The Alphabet" play at their home bar T.C.'s for New Years Eve and played Prince's song 1999 exactly at 12:00!!

October, 1998

Rita travels to Europe with her guitar player Nick Rizzo. They meet with close friends in Paris, France... sang songs to people on the street from up on a window ledge in Rome, Itally... and experiences the real Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany.

May, 1998

Known for their raw energy and hot off the radio play list, "Paint The Alphabet" was now one of Orange County's most popular cover bands. They were also becoming known as "P.T.A.".

March, 1998

Rita and "Paint The Alphabet" record a 6 song CD demo to get gigs at the more hard to get clubs.

~ 1997 ~

September 9, 1997

Because of Rita's friend Mary Marzollo, Rita meets the band INCUBUS at The Roxy in Hollywood for the release of their second major label album "S.C.I.E.N.C.E." The lead singer of INCUBUS, Brandon Boyd, had very long dread locks and shook Rita's hand and thanked her for coming to their show. At the end of the show, Rita was very surprised to see her High School friend Scot Chronister there. He was somehow connected to INCUBUS because he was the one checking ID's for the VIP room upstairs.

From here on out, Rita became a huge INCUBUS fan and also a big fan of Scot's band ALLERGIC... which meant hanging out in Hollywood ALLOT. But watching them on stage had a great influence on Rita as a growing performer.

August 22, 1997

Rita's ex-husband Charlie tragically commits suicide the day after he turned 25.

July, 1997

Rita and "Paint The Alphabet" have their first gig (which was actually an audition) on a Sunday afternoon at Tumbleweeds on Beach and Atlanta in Huntington Beach.

June, 1997

Rita and the band come up with the name "Paint The Alphabet".

April, 1997

Tina Hoffman sets Rita up for an audition for a newly forming cover band in Newport Beach, and is chosen as the bands lead vocalist.

January, 1997

Rita has her very first experience singing in a band! She sat in and sang 3 songs with the cover band "The Tickets" at the very posh Studio Cafe upstairs on main street in Huntington Beach (which is now Fred's Cantina). She sang "Hangin On The Telephone" from Blondie, and "Mystery Achievement" and "Kid" by The Pretenders. Never hearing her sing before, they almost didn't let her up on stage! But Rita brought nearly 30 friends with her to assure that they would let her sing... and it worked! After that, "The Tickets" started inviting her to sit in with them all the time.

~ 1996 ~

December, 1996

Rita sees the cover band "The Tickets" at Centerfield Sports Bar in Huntington Beach and approaches them and asks if they do any "girl" songs. They sounded hesitant, but then she told them that she was friends with Michael Ubaldini. In that case, they invited her to sit in with them next month at The Studio Cafe... that is if she knows the three "girl" songs that they do. Rita said that she knew them already, and then went straight to the library to find the songs so that she could learn them.

November 23, 1996

Rita celebrates her 25th Birthday. Her Grandfather gives her a copy of "See You At The Top" by Zig Ziglar and Rita plans to implement her new positive communicational skills towards "opening the doors of success".

October, 1996

Rita meets singers Tina Hoffman and Hope and becomes inspired to the possibility of actually being in a band..

September, 1996

Rita meets singer/songwriter Michael Ubaldidi. Hearing her sing at Karaoke, he strongly encourages her to think about joining a band one day.

August, 1996

Singing only familiar soft ballads at first, at 24 years old, Rita starts to sing Karaoke on stage, for the very first time. After about 6 weeks, she discovers that this kind of Karaoke provides the backing tracks to the kind of songs that she likes to listen to, not just the kind she sang in choir. Rita starts to sing songs that have more meaning to her.. and she finds an angry song called "Mother Mother" and she likes it... ALLOT.

~ 1995 ~

July, 1995

Rita is once again a free woman... although not so easy.

~ 1994 ~

June, 1994

Rita's very first public appearance! Rita's sings Cat Stevens "Morning Has Broken" in her friend Linda Leonhart's wedding in Sacramento, Northern California.

~ 1993 ~

November, 1993

At only 22 years old, Rita gets married! On her honeymoon with her husband Charlie, Rita records herself at "Only You" in Fountain Valley. Her favorite songs were "Dust In The Wind", "American Pie", and "Dream Weaver". She thinks that she sounds much like Helen Reddy.

~ 1992 ~

October, 1992

Rita discovers a place in Fountain Valley called "Only You" where you can go and sing-a-long to popular pre-recorded songs without the vocals in it. They have private little rooms with couches and the TV shows you the lyrics to sing! You can even make a tape of your singing to take home with you! It's called Karaoke, and it's all the rage in Japan.

January, 1992

Liking many things, but not knowing what to do, Rita checks out the Academy of Radio and Broadcasting and takes classes at Goldenwest College in Film, Television Production & Camera Operation, Vocal Performance, and most importantly.... Career Choices. Taking the Myers Briggs Test, Rita finds that she is an ENFP (Extroverted, Intuitive, Feeling, and Perceiving type)....

Just perfect for becoming an entertainer!

~ High School ~

Fall of 1984- Spring of 1989

Rita really enjoyed being in Concert Choir and then Vocal Ensemble at Ocean View High School in Huntington Beach. Being a part of a big group gave her the courage to sing in front of people. Scared to death of being alone on stage, her first and only solo act, dressed as a news paper boy from the 1930's, and performing "blind" because she didn't want to wear her embarrassingly thick glasses on stage, was singing the song "On The Streets Where You Live" from My Fair Lady in a Choir show. One other time she did a duet singing Karen Carpenter's,"Yesterday Once More". She also tried her hand at acting in her Senior Year. Rita says that her Choir teacher Mrs. Holtz, and her Theatre teacher Mr. Waxman, are one of the finest and most knowledgeable people you'll ever meet.

~ Jr. High School ~

Summer of 1984

Rita and her best friend from Jr.High, Jennifer Birdsall, listen to records of Simon and Garfunkel and The Mama's and The Papa's over and over again. They tried very hard to mimic the tight harmonies. Jennifer had to go to Huntington High School, and Rita to Ocean View, so they decided to join choir at their separate schools as a way to stay close.

June 1984

Rita and her friends perform a lip-synch as Prince and The Revolution for their 8th grade talent show at the end of the school year. Rita "played" the Keyboards.

~ Childhood ~

1980-1983

Having a piano in the home, Rita would often rock-out playing "Heart and Soul".

1976-1980

Rita and her big sister Laura, two years older, would put on little musicals and plays for their parents. Laura was always the star, while Rita played the role of all the other characters. Rita grew up loving musicals, "The Sound Of Music" was a family favorite, and The Donnie and Marie Osmond Show, Barbara Mandrell, and The Muppet Show were never to be missed.

November 23, 1971

Mercy Hospital in Downtown San Diego... a screaming Sagittarius, Rita Jean is born!