November 2011
1 post
Of all the things I never thought I'd gush...
…”database programs” were definitely at the top of the list. But you never know when love will hit you. And it definitely hit me yesterday.
My beloved’s name? Bento. And if you’re a singer, you’re going to love it too.
Let me back up. I’ve always kept a database of my music, so I could know what I have. Whenever the pile of Xeroxes on my desk got...
August 2011
1 post
4 tags
July 2011
2 posts
She's with the band
I’ve been a Tierney Sutton fan for awhile now, but this weekend I saw her perform live for the first time. And…wow.
From listening to her recordings, I already knew she had an innate musicality. And a fabulous band, guys she’s had the luxury of working with for nearly 20 years now. A few years ago, they celebrated their collaboration with a one of my favorite Sutton CDs,...
Greetings from a foreign land
When it comes to the latest color in nail polish, I’m right on trend (at the moment: navy blue) but when it comes to pop music I have often lagged a bit. So a couple of weeks ago, I decided to educate myself.
I turned some unexpected free time into an immersion course. You know the idea: You go by yourself to a foreign country where you’re forced to speak the new language 24/7 and...
June 2011
4 posts
More reflections on the Big Man
I was delighted to read this reflection by Jon Pareles in today’s issue of The New York Times - it expresses the same kind of appreciation of Clarence Clemons that I was aiming for in yesterday’s post.
RIP "Big Man"
I don’t remember when or how I came to own Born to Run. But I can still remember standing next to the stereo in the living room staring at the album cover as the vinyl spun for the first time. Something about the cat-that-ate-the-canary grin on Springsteen’s face as he gazed at that big, black saxophone player he was leaning on, that image seemed the perfect embodiment of the music...
Simon (doesn't) say
Reading a biography of Paul Simon. It was fairly well-reviewed, but I have to say I don’t feel like it’s giving me any sense of who he is. It’s more like I’m watching through a very thick, scratched-up window as Paul Simon walks past me down the street.
I think Ray Charles spoiled me. I mean with Ray I got to start with an autobiography. Man, no scratchy window there:...
Okay, I was wrong
When last we met, I had just posted about my 1998 CD Just Around the Corner, which I discovered was a “rare” and “collectable” item. Who knew?
Now, I haven’t thought about Just Around the Corner in years - at least not without cringing. But an old friend of mine found the sales link on my website and decided to purchase the thing. Which meant I had to sell it. ...
May 2011
3 posts
"ULTRA RARE 1998 first press!"
Show me a musician who’s released her own CD and I’ll show you a musician with lots of storage space.
When I released my first CD (Just Around the Corner: Songs of love & longing from the 1930s) in 1998, I got a great deal: 500 CDs and 500 cassette tapes for the low, low price of whatever. I can’t tell you offhand how many CDs are still stuffed in my attic, but if you know...
Collaboration
There’s a lot in this review that made me smile. “Superb work” - that’s not a bad thing to hear. Neither is the closing description: “It’s outrageous and it’s great fun.”
But I think my very favorite thing about the review is that the writer, Roy Sander, recognized the collaboration taking place onstage. “The arrangements and musical...
"Your voice sounds like..."
There must’ve been something in the air on Wednesday night at the Metropolitan Room because after the show, several people found themselves struggling to describe the qualities they hear in my singing voice.
One of those struggling was a critic, someone who’s seen (and enjoyed) my performances before. But he seemed to hear something different that night. It will be interesting to...
April 2011
1 post
Believe in what you do...
“Believe in what you do. Because you may have to do it for a long time before it catches on.” - Seth Godin
Half of the people in my audience last night were people I didn’t know. That’s one of the great things about playing the Metropolitan Room - they have a good quality brand,...
February 2011
1 post
Ray Charles and I don't have a lot in common
Yesterday I had a conversation with two women who are pretty well connected in the cabaret world. One of them introduced me to the other and said something about the wonderful Ray Charles show I was doing. So I produced a postcard for my new acquaintance - who was very impressed that I had them already, since my next performances are still eight or nine weeks away. Then she said, wonderingly,...
January 2011
1 post
my favorite adjectives
BroadwayWorld weighed in with the first review of InspiRAYtion. It includes some of my favorite adjectives - words like “terrific,” “thoughtful, engaging, informative and beautifully executed.”
And - spoiler alert! - here’s the ending: “Throughout the show, Ms. St. George’s warmth, intelligence, and wry sense of humor shone through, making it a highly...
December 2010
1 post
Encore!
The debut of InspiRAYtion was a smashing succcess. So much so that less than 12 hours after I left the stage, the Metropolitan Room had offered me a range of dates in January. So you have three more chances to catch the show: Monday January 3rd and Wednesday January 19th at 7 p.m. or close out your Valentine’s weekend with us on Sunday February 13th at 9:30.
The inimitable Tedd Firth is...
November 2010
2 posts
rehearse & rehearse
Tedd Firth and I met a couple of times during the summer to work out charts for the Ray Charles show, getting them ready for the Boston performance. But now we’re getting ready for New York, and that’s a whole different level of “ready.”
I had imagined I’d be more tense about these New York-centric rehearsals, but the opposite seems to be true. Tedd and I had a...
September 2010
1 post
2 tags
My new show debuts - October 2nd in Boston
I’m finally ready to unveil my new one-woman show, InspiRAYtion: The Musical Legacy of Ray Charles. I’m going to premiere it at Boston’s Club Café on Saturday October 2nd at 9pm and bring it to New York in early December.
Ray Charles sang just about every kind of music there is, from rock & roll to Broadway, blues, country, and jazz. This show touches on all of those...
August 2010
2 posts
A three-hour tour
Finally got most of the details worked out for my Boston debut - will post info here soon. Very excited about it, but I was a little surprised this morning to discover that the club expects me to sing for three hours. Or at least to fill a three-hour block with something resembling entertainment.
Three hours? 180 minutes! In New York, you’re lucky if they let you sing for 75 -...
Drive All Night
Do you know Bruce Springsteen’s song “Drive All Night”?
You’ll just have to trust me when I say it’s gorgeous. Without the dreamy instrumentals and his sexy, gravelly vocals, the lyrics seem a little, well…here’s the opening line of the chorus: “I swear I’ll drive all night, just to buy you some shoes.”
Hard for me to imagine being so...
July 2010
1 post
All in the Details
My partner saw a gorgeous butterfly when she was walking our dog the other day. I can’t even begin to describe it as she did - many colors, many different markings. She stood there marveling at its beauty…until she realized that this gorgeous creature was perched on a piece of dog poop.
A truly detailed, emotionally specific and connected performance can have the same breathtaking...
April 2010
1 post
A Night at the Opera
I went to the Met last night to see its acclaimed new production of Carmen. It’s probably the sexiest opera I’ve ever seen, very stylishly designed and directed and lustily performed by all onstage. It was refreshing to hear real (i.e. unamplified) voices once again. And even more refreshing to be in the presence of proactive ushers who stared down wrapper-rattlers and even shushed...
July 2008
2 posts
Don't wake up, sleepy-head?
Where does creativity come from? I found some of the answers in the July 28th issue of The New Yorker, in a great article by Jonah Lehrer called “The Eureka Hunt.” Unfortunately, the magazine’s Web site only has an abstract of the article, but here’s the part that made me fish out my highlighter pen:
“[Cognitive neuroscientist Mark Jung-Beeman says] ‘The...
Island Girls
The pseudo-spouse and I are heading off for some fun in the sun. First to (Viva) Las Vegas, where we will celebrate my birthday, among other things. And then to beautiful Fire Island, where I will perform the first preview of my new show. That’s Saturday August 9th in Cherry Grove.
I’m excited about both trips, for different reasons. I’ve never been to Vegas before. The...
May 2008
2 posts
Finally!
I have a draft of the new show! And only five and a half months after I decided to do it. [At this point, dear Reader, please imagine me shaking my head ruefully.] Five and a half months! I wrote my last show in one DAY. Okay, I exaggerate slightly. I wrote the first draft in a day, got comments from the pseudo-spouse (my best editor) that night, and finished the second draft the next...
I was a Teenage Gym-Class Cutter
In my entire educational history, I cannot think of any class I hated more than gym. I even based my choice of college on it. I could have gotten a full ride to a private school, but it would have required one year of lab science and three years of Physical Education. I figured a full ride wasn’t going to be worth much if they threw me off the bus halfway through, so I chose a different...
March 2008
8 posts
Does your iPod talk to you?
Mostly, my iPod is set to “shuffle songs,” and I have a pretty eclectic mix of music - everything from show tunes to cabaret to The Cliks - so I never know what’s going to come out when I press “Play.” And sometimes, I swear, my iPod sends me messages from the Universe. I’m not kidding. It happened twice on Saturday. I had been up really late on Friday, doing...
"Musicians Rethink Approach to Money Making" →
The pseudo-spouse pointed me to this story that aired on NPR last week. I’ve done house concerts before, but this made me want to do more, more, more…
1 tag
Theme & Variation
So far, every cabaret show I’ve done has been a theme show. One of them - Ain’t We Got Fun?: a love story about looking for work - was even named the best concept show of 2002. Whether the theme is job-hunting or politics or plain, old-fashioned loooooooooove, I enjoy the freedom of choosing songs from different eras, a range of styles, and putting them together to tell a story. With...
Apologies
Apparently you’re not able to download songs from here…but you can listen as much as you like. Sorry for the mix-up - I’m new to this technology!
“I Only Want to Be with You” - Elaine...
1 tag
I Only Want to Be with You
Okay, okay. I get it. Free is the new black: Everybody’s giving away free tracks. But I haven’t - till now. Not because I’m cheap, but because I want to make sure I’m on the right side of the copyright laws. But I understand how the world works: If I want you to like my music, you have to hear my music. And why should you pay for the privilege? So I bought a...
“They’re cheaper than models and they don’t move.”
– Artist Georgia O’Keeffe, on why she decided to paint flowers.
Time Travel
The pseudo-spouse and I traveled back to the 1960s last night. We went to see The Beebo Brinker Chronicles, a new play based on several lesbian-themed pulp novels from the era. Much breathless, guilt-ridden groping; some very funny dialogue, expertly delivered; some truly sad situations (you wish you could pop all of the characters into a time machine and fast-forward them to the 21st century);...
February 2008
4 posts
Park it!
Finally saw Sunday in the Park with George last night. It’s the only show for which I’ve ever spent $240 for a $120 ticket - I had a ticket for a couple of weeks ago, bought the very first day they went on sale, but then I got a gig out of town and couldn’t use it. (Or sell it, either. The reviews weren’t in at that point.) But I’d gladly spend more - I just might see the show again. And if...
3 tags
R&R ("River" & Renee)
One of my favorite songs is Joni Mitchell’s “River.” I missed it somehow when Joni recorded it originally - the first time I heard it was on an “Ally McBeal” Christmas album, where it was sung by Robert Downey, Jr. For some reason, it moved me a great deal. Since then, I have collected versions by six other singers - the usual suspects like the Indigo Girls and...
1 tag
kab-uh-RAY (n.)
So just what is “cabaret”? Google the word and you’ll quickly discover that outside of New York City (and perhaps small sections of Boston, Chicago and LA), “cabaret” is the euphemism applied to the kind of clubs where patrons stuff dollar bills into performers’ undies. (Or elsewhere.) Technically, that does fit the definitions supplied by Mr. Webster’s...
1 tag
Where do you start?
My last cabaret show, “The Girl That I Marry,” premiered in 2004. That’s years ago - 28 if you’re a dog, 32 if you’re a cat, and about 900 if you’re a performer. The critics loved it, the musicians loved it (seriously, musicians don’t compliment you unless they mean it) and the people who came to see it loved it - both of them. No, no -there were more...