Whoa Nellie

So I just happened to be searching for the latest and greatest by this artist named Nellie McKay. Now Nellie McKay is hard to characterize. Mostly she would be under the definition of jazz, but that is because she plays cabaret style records behind a piano. However her content is not usually what one would consider cabaret fare. It's political, cynical, and everything else in between and all behind a voice that would have fit perfectly into the Doris Day mold. So it was my pleasure to find that she was doing a series of club appearances that coincided with Adam Carnegie Culture Week. Much to my mother's lament, I left the house at 10:30 p.m. last night to go to her late night show.

She was late because she had gone to the Tonys, since she has been doing a musical in the city (The Threepenny Opera). And from the jump she was charming and witty, everything her music says about her and more. In the midst of reviving old standards, some of the material from her first album, and a touch or two from an unreleased sophomore set, she touched on the stupidity of critics, her visit to the trial of some crusader she supported and her distaste for the people at her former record label, Sony. She did all this in a beautiful vintage golden gown and her wonderfully Veronica Lake styled blonde mane. Can you tell I'm in love?

It must be serious when this porcelain figure sings songs with couplets that include head/dead. run/gun, and so on and so forth. Anyway. It was a phenomenal experience and now I am off to see if I can find some bootlegged material. Hooray for me!