How Can You NOT Laugh at a Time Like This?

carlaulbrich.com,
http://www.carlau.com/bio.html

Carla Ulbrich was a guest last week (Nov. 13, 2011) on Gene Shay's Folk Show radio program on WZXL, and proved to be quite good, and funny.

Having come down with some medical problems that were hard to diagnose, and once they were thinking she was doomed to die, she took on a comical persona that continues to make people laught. Her new book is titled: How Can You NOT Laugh at a Time Like This?

Her strong suit is her playing guitar, singing and song writing, as she often performs in hospitials and nursing homes, and has written a number of truly great, funny songs.

And best of all, she recently moved to New Jersey, alas North Jersey, but she's now a Jersey Girl, and should be performing more in these parts.

Here's her bio:

Carla Ulbrich is a comical singer-songwriter and guitarist from Clemson, South Carolina and currently living in New Jersey. Insert your own punchline here.

Carla has a love of wordplay and a keen observational eye. She is primarily known for her humorous songs about such topics as wedgies, Waffle House, Klingons, and how rich she would be if she had the copyright on the 'F' Word. She also dabbles in fingerstyle guitar. Something of a mix between Phoebe and Jeff Foxworthy, she cites her biggest musical influences as Sesame Street, camp songs, and commercial jingles for beer and breakfast cereal.

The Professional Smart Aleck has toured all over the US and England, and has appeared on USA TV, the BBC, Dr. Demento, Sirius XM Radio, and The Bob and Sherrie Show and venues such as the Falcon Ridge and Kerrville Folk Festivals, Club Med, Eddie's Attic, and the Bluebird Cafe.

Carla started out on guitar at age 8, taking lessons from a nice lady down the street who only taught beginners. At age 12, she was told the teacher had nothing left to teach her, so Carla joined the school band, playing the flute. The band was particularly - well, bad, and they played the same music every year, so Carla switched instruments every year to prevent boredom: flute to clarinet to piccolo to tuba to xylophone, finally becoming the drum major her senior year. Had the band been anything worth bragging about, Carla may have ended up being a band director, but hey, we'll always have the memories of "this one time at band camp..."

Instead, she went to college to major in music in performance, where she frequently got in trouble with her professors for wasting time writing her own songs when she should have been practicing scales and listening to 12-tone "music." So, she wrote songs about her professors as well. Those approximately 18 minute and 20 second tapes, much like the Watergate tapes, have been conveniently erased.

College, however, was not a total waste. It was where Carla overcame crippling stage fright. "I used to sign up for open mics and then literally run away before my name was called. One of my friends threatened to never speak to me again if I did not get over myself and perform. If it weren't for her, I'd probably still be working in the mall selling suitcases and dancing flowers. Do they still make dancing flowers?"

Carla's first CD, Her Fabulous Debut, was released in 1999, the same year she won the South Florida Folk Festival Song Competition. In 2002, Carla fell very ill with kidney failure and a stroke. As part of her recovery, she wrote a bunch of humorous medical songs lampooning her frustrating experience with the US health care system, resulting in the CD "Sick Humor."

In 2009, Carla released her 5th CD, “Live From Outer Space,” recorded at Sirius XM Radio's Performance Theater. The CD was chosen as a "Top 10 CD of 2009" by George Graham (WVIA), Festival Radio, and the Serious Comedy Website. The track "Duet with a Klingon" was the #5 most requested song of 2009 on Dr. Demento.

Feb. 1, 2011 saw the release of Carla's book of humorous essays about her medical adventures as "The Singing Patient": "How Can You NOT Laugh at a Time Like This?" (pub: Tell Me Press). This book has received the Lupus Foundation Seal of Approval.

Ulbrich, President of the Difficult Last Name Club and former member of the defunct trio Girls Gone Funny, has shared the bill with such luminaries as Cheryl Wheeler, Vance Gilbert, Modern Man, the Bobs, Chuck Brodsky, Bob Malone, Bill Staines, Greg Greenway, David Massengill, Steve Forbert, Bob Malone, Lou and Peter Berryman, the Austin Lounge Lizards, Rev. Billy C Wirtz, The Boomers, and Twiggy the Water Skiing Squirrel.

Scroll down for the egregious list of awards and venues played.

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SICK HUMOR:
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In 2002, Carla suffered two strokes and kidney failure. Undeterred, she re-learned the guitar from scratch that year.

Under the stress of constant "care," Carla finally snapped and became "The Singing Patient," resulting in her third CD, "Sick Humor."

This collection features songs such as "Prednisone," "Sittin' in the Waiting Room," "On the Commode Again," and "What If Your Butt Was Gone" (a parody of one of Carla's own songs, also featured on Dr. Demento's 2005 "Basement Tapes" collection). Most of the lyrics were written during her many hours in doctors' waiting rooms. (Caution: contains some poop humor. Hey, write what you know. Sorry guys, she's taken.).

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SPEAKING PROGRAM:
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Carla now shares her story of how humor, friendship, alternative therapies, occasional stubbornness, and hanging onto hope helped her beat the odds. Her speaking/ singing program is called "How Can You *Not* Laugh at a Time Like This." She has presented the program for various medical gatherings and company parties, as well as Unitarian fellowships and the Association of Applied and Therapeutic Humor.

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GUITAR INSTRUCTION:
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Carla has taught guitar at Lander University, North Greenville Baptist College, Hummingbird Music Camp, the National Guitar Workshop and her own private studio.

She is currently on teaching staff at Golden Age Fretted Instruments in Westfield, NJ.

She also has written a music instruction book ("Theory for Young Musicians: Notespeller") published with Alfred.

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MORE INFO THAN YOU NEED:
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If you are planning to feed her, she likes gluten-free bread, hummus, dark chocolate, beans, cashews, tofu, green tea, carrots, and salad (gluten free, no artificial sweeteners or MSG, no iceberg lettuce). As proof that all her success has not gone to her head (her butt, maybe), Carla does not drink alcohol, eat red meat or shellfish, but M&Ms are fine - even the brown ones.

Carla uses up excess brain cells watching Wheel of Fortune (which you can view in less than 10 minutes using Tivo), playing Words With Friends, listening to the original Van Halen, and collecting US stamps and bottle caps.

Reclaim Your Health with Humor, Creativity, and Grit
by Carla Ulbrich, The Singing Patient
Tell Me Press, February 2011

Chronic or life threatening illness is no laughing matter, but folk singer songwriter comedian Carla Ulbrich's new book, How Can You NOT Laugh at a Time Like This?: Reclaim Your Health with Humor, Creativity, and Grit, published by Tell Me Press, February 2011, brings a much needed dose of levity to this tough subject with some serious comedy and some sick humor. This book will make you laugh as it inspires and brings hope.

'While writing a great book on how to recover from illness, Carla Ulbrich wrote an even better book on how to live a healthy and fulfilling life. No doubt, you have a good doctor if you see How Can You NOT Laugh at a Time Like This? in their waiting room.''

Michael Stock, "Folk & Acoustic Music," WLRN Radio, South Florida

''How Can You NOT Laugh at a Time Like This? is outstanding....Carla is your guide to navigate the emotionally and technically confusing world of illness with heart, humor, and bite-size chapters. Everyone needs a patient advocate-and now you have one, with this book.''

Robert Aubrey Davis & Mary Sue Twohy, ''The Village,'' Sirius/XM Radio

''As a doctor, Patch Adams brought to mainstream America the concept of a caring, compassionate, and fun medical staff making a profound difference in the healing of their patients. Now we've been given the gift to hear about it from the patient's perspective. Carla Ulbrich is living proof that bringing fun, play, creativity, and laughter to the healing process does wonders for the mind, body, and spirit. Carla's uncanny wit is infectious-and that's an infection we can all benefit from!'

Danny Donuts, CPA (Comic Performance Artist) and member of the Association for Applied and Therapeutic Humor

''I was completely taken with [Carla Ulbrich's] amazing outlook on life, her tenacity, and her passion.... Carla talks to you honestly, on every level, in her book. She also does it with a fantastic sense of humor.''
LuckyYogini.com