Club Review: The Kinsey Sicks—”Deep Inside Tonight”

Gerry Geddes
The Green Room 42, which recently celebrated its own sixth anniversary, played host to the 30th anniversary Show of “the dragapella, beauty shop quartet"—The Kinsey Sicks. As its title Deep Inside Tonight implies, it was a parody of a cable news show through a skewered, madcap, political, hilarious lens. It was an evening filled with original material...

Club Review: Dane Terry—”How to Play the Piano”

Gerry Geddes
Dane Terry splits his artistic life between painting and music. The musical half frequently leads him to cabaret stages around town. Most recently he brought his show, How to Play the Piano, to Pangea in the East Village.  The show is a look at the singer/composer’s back catalog of material, which he has revisited and sometimes...

Bistro Bits: Summertime Serenaders, Part 2 – Julie Benko and Laurin Talese

Mark Dundas Wood
No matter where singers are in their career trajectory, the potential for creating something magical is a constant. Veteran performers are obviously more qualified to look back at how they’ve gotten to where they are, while newbies tend to look with yearning toward what’s ahead on the path. But there’s no reason for singers to...

Club Review: Anthony Wayne—”…Just Me”

Gerry Geddes
From the first notes of Earth, Wind & Fire’s “Fantasy” (Maurice White, Verdine White, Eddie del Barrio), the opening number of his new show, …Just Me, singer Anthony Wayne leaves no doubt that he has a remarkable voice. The title is somewhat belied by the fact that surrounding him on the stage at The Green...

Bistro Bits: Summer Serenaders, Part 1 – Jane Scheckter and Marieann Meringolo

Mark Dundas Wood
No denying it. Summer is winding down now. Daylight hours are gone by 8pm. Technically, there are still a few weeks left in the season, but they’re flying by. There have been some terrific cabaret turns this summer—seen by some as “off season” for cabaret. This week and next, Bistro Bits will center on a...

Bistro Bits: Summertime Cabaret: Looking Back, Looking Bacharach, Looking Forward

Mark Dundas Wood
Like a good many things, cabaret action slows somewhat during the summer months, though it certainly doesn’t shut down entirely. There have been plenty of club shows playing in the early summer weeks to keep an avid cabaret goer occumpied Unfortunately, the imminent closing of the Laurie Beechman Theatre has been the biggest news story...

Club Review: Hannah Carter

Gerry Geddes
It is particularly thrilling to come across young jazz vocalists and musicians who are investigating the classic repertoire from the Great American Songbook on their own terms, not so much interested in recreating it as in discovering their own voices within the material.  Hannah Carter, currently studying jazz at Columbia University, is one such singer,...

Bistro Bits: Where’s That Rainbow? Kelsey Seaman, James Beaman, and Pride 2024

Mark Dundas Wood
Happy Pride Month 2024, everyone. Let your rainbow flags unfurl and fly! Just remember that, while we celebrate, there are always new concerns percolating. The first Pride event I ever attended was in San Francisco, I believe it was 1978, less than a decade after the Stonewall uprising that instigated the modern gay-rights movement. At...

Sally Mayes in “Now and Then: The Stories”

Gerry Geddes
In February of this year, singer Sally Mayes presented the second in her four-part Now and Then series, Jazz/ Standard Time, and it will surely prove to be one of the standout shows of 2024. She recently debuted Now and Then: The Stories, the third installment, at The Green Room 42, and while it may not...

The Deborah Newallo Experience

Gerry Geddes
Red Rooster is a restaurant in the heart of Harlem’s music scene created by Andrew Chapman and Marcus Samuelson. It is so titled in honor of its namesake, a legendary Harlem speakeasy that attracted neighborhood folk, jazz greats, and major figures of the 20th century.  It continues a tradition of good food, friendly service, hip...