The Singing Patient
The Singing Patient (Carla Ulbrich) is a member of the Association for Applied and Therapeutic Humor, and and is known by (at least) one of her friends' children as "Mommy's friend who sleeps a lot." How quaint. Most people just knock on the door and say "Are you dead in there?"
Once, when she stayed at her friend Grant's house, she left her bar of soap in the shower. He auctioned off on ebay. It went for $20. How exactly did she feel about that? "Well there goes any future career in crime. Someone out there has my DNA all over a bar of soap. I knew I shold have packed a washcloth."
When the humorous songwriter fell ill again in 2002, she used her wit and off-center perspective to cope with the many obstacles in her path. Carla suffered two strokes and kidney failure, along with accompanying anemia, hair loss, weight loss, congestive heart failure, pleurisy, fever, migraines, and fatigue. This was her third tiime with kidney failure since 1992.
Because of the strokes, she had to re-learn the guitar from scratch that year. She spent her many hours in doctors' waiting rooms penning funny parodies about her malady and the absurdity of the health care system. Under the stress of constant "care," Carla finally snapped and became "The Singing Patient" with her third CD, "Sick Humor."
This collection features songs such as "What If Your Butt Was Gone," "Prednisone," "Sittin' in the Waiting Room," and "On the Commode Again."
The South Carolina native's whimsical songs are heard on numerous radio stations, including Sirius and XM radio and the syndicated shows "Bob and Sherrie in the Morning" "Housecalls radio show" and "The Dr. Demento Show." She has released 3 CDs on Romantic Devil Records.
SPEAKING PROGRAM:
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 the Association for Applied and Therapeutic Humor and several Unitarian gatherings.
Carla is back to touring all over the country, singing, speaking, and tickling funny bones at medical and nursing/ caregiver conventions and banquets, colleges, concert series and festivals, and the occasional comedy club. She has also appeared USA's Up All Night and PAX TV.
But not one of those performances lasted as long as this webpage. Huh?
Some venues Carla has played:
Central Louisiana Arts and Healthcare
Alaska Palliative Care Conference
Assoc. for Applied and Therapeutic Humor
UU Cluster (South Carolina)
UU Aiken
UU Clemson
SUUSI
Club Med
Kerrville Folk Festival
Wildflower Arts and Music Festival
Falcon Ridge Folk Festival
Musikfest
Florida Folk Festival
South Florida Folk Festival
Gamble Rogers Folk Festival
Avalon Music Fest
The Forest Arts Centre (UK)
The Tower Arts Centre (UK)
Corner Comedy Club, Clermont, FL
Godfrey Daniels
Middle Earth Music Hall, VT
Caffe Lena, NY
Bitter End, New York City
Eddie's Attic, Atlanta
Kulak's Woodshed, Hollywood, CA
Hallenbeck's, Hollywood, CA
Kuumbwa Jazz Center, Santa Cruz, CA
Six String Cafe, Cary, NC
Main St Cafe, Homestead, FL
Art Serve Theater, Ft. Lauderdale, FL
Brookgreen Gardens, Murrells Inlet, SC
The Cannery, Dataw Island, SC
Fiddler's Green, Atlanta
Clemson Area Arts Council: Summer Series
FOCUS Concerts, MD
The Evening Muse, Charlotte, NC
Watchung Arts Center, NJ
The Minstrel, Morristown, NJ
Bodles Opera House, Chester, NY
The Dessert Club, Taunton, MA
Alcon 3 (Weird Al Convention)
Dragon Con (Science Fiction Convention), Atlanta, GA
GaFilk (Science Fiction Music Convention), Atlanta
various corporate holiday parties
League of Women Voters (SC)
a patch of grass in Central, SC
someone's backyard in Philly
TV spots:
"Good Morning Arkansas"
"Triad Today" (Winston-Salem, NC)
"Community Corner" Somerset, NJ
"The other side" with Ken Mottet, Chicago Access Network
"Phil Phun Show," Sarasota, FL
"The John Show," ACTV, Gettysburg, PA
Homegrown Music Concerts, WVIA, Scranton, PA
"Up All Night," USA network
"Lorrainne Entertains," PAX TV
"The Naked Truth," Charlotte, NC
AWARDS:
2007 ISC honorable mention, Comedy/ Novelty
2006 Just Plain Folks, Novelty Song of the Year
2006 Just Plain Folks, Lyrics finalist
2005, IAMA (USA songwriting competition), novelty category finalist
2004 Dr. Demento's #8 and #10 Most Requested Songs of the Year
2004 Falcon Ridge Folk Festival Most-Wanted Emerging Artist
2004 Kerrville NewFolk Finalist
2004 Just Plain Folks Novelty Album, 2nd Place
2004 Just Plain Folks Novelty Song, 4th Place
2003 Just Plain Folks Novelty Album Nominee
2004 USA Songwriting Contest Finalist, Novelty/Comedy Song
2003 USA Songwriting Contest Finalist, Novelty/Comedy Song
2000 B.E.A.M. Emerging Artist Grant (Jim Beam Corp.)
2000 Mid-Atlantic Song Contest, 1st place, Open category
2000 Mid-Atlantic Song Contest, 2nd place, Modern Rock/Alt. category
1999 South Florida Folk Fest Songwriting Competition Winner: Best Upbeat Song and Best Overall
1998 SC Arts Commission Project Grant
1998 Mid-Atlantic Song Contest, Open category, 1st place
1998 Merlefest's Chris Austin Song Contest, Country category, 2nd place
1998 Gamble Rogers Folk Fest Fingerpicking Contest, 2nd place