Happy Thursday

TGIT! Doesn't have quite the same ring as TGIF, but it means that "F" is only one day away, and that makes me a happy girl!
Anyway, let me get to my updates. Sunday night, my family and I headed to the Bradstan in White Lake, NY to see Colm Reilly's show, Being Green, which was all Irish songs. I had seen the show in NY over St. Patrick's Day weekend and was thoroughly charmed, so I couldn't pass up the chance to see it again - especially because this time, my Irish granny came along. She knew every word of every song and was singing along with Colm the whole evening. We really had a lot of fun. Colm is one of the owners of one of my favorite cabaret rooms, Helen's. If you haven't been there, it's definitely a treat. Not only do they book great talent for their cabaret room, but their piano bar is my favorite one in the city, and they also have great food. What's not to love?!
Monday evening, I was planning to go see Marty Thomas at the Cast Party. It was a fun night - not nearly as exciting as the previous week, but very entertaining nonetheless. Last night, I headed over to the Metropolitan Room for Jamie deRoy and Friends. What a great night! Jamie, as always, was a charming hostess, and the talented lineup included Anna Bergman, Kathy Brier, La La Brooks (lead singer for the '60s group the Crystals), and singer/songwriter Julie Gold (best known for writing Bette Midler's hit, "From a Distance"). It was great to see Kathy Brier - I was in a summer stock production of West Side Story with her nine years ago, and she's gone on to have a very successful career on One Life to Live and she also starred in the Broadway production of Hairspray. She did a terrific song from her new album, Heartbreaker. If you get a chance, swing by her website at www.kathybrier.com and check it out.
So, that's all the news for now...more to come soon!

Hilary Kole, Matt Sigl, and Other Things...

Let's see, where did I leave off? Last update was on Tuesday, after that exhilerating night at Cast Party...that evening, I headed over to Gotham Comedy Club for "MAC Night Out," which is a social event for members of MAC (Manhattan Association of Cabarets and Clubs). The turnout was small, but good for a midsummer day in NY. Bumped into my friend Matt Sigl, who was this year's MAC award winner for "Best Male Debut." I saw his show, "Unstuck in Time" in its initial run last year, and will be heading to see it again this Sunday at Ars Nova. I can't wait - it's really fun, and Matt's energy knows no bounds. Check out his website for all of the details. After schmoozing at Gotham for a while, I headed over to Birdland to see the fabulous Hilary Kole in her new show "The Haunted Heart." Wow. Really. She is absolutely incredible. Her voice, her interpretations...everything is right on and then some! If you're in the city, she's there through Saturday, July 22nd - I'd highly recommend checking it out! I will be heading up to Middletown for the weekend - I'm doing a 3-6 p.m. gig on Saturday, 7/22 at the Port Jervis Arts - if you're in the area, stop by and say hi!
That's all the news for now...hope to have more for you soon!

Oh What a Night

Wow, I had a spectacular night last night! Now, Monday nights are always fun because of Cast Party, but last night was possibly the best Cast Party I've ever been to! First of all, Lucie Arnaz had done an earlier concert to celebrate her birthday, and she was joined by friends Phoebe Snow, Valarie Pettiford and Michelle Lee. Unfortunately, I was unable to make the concert, but lucky for me and my fellow cast partyers, Lucie and friends stuck around for Cast Party! (Michelle Lee had to take off, but the rest stayed). What an absolute treat. Phoebe Snow brought the audience to their feet with her version of "You Send Me." Lucie and her music director Ron Abel did their fantastic arrangement of "Blue Skies," and Valarie Pettiford brought the house down with her version of "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man Of Mine." In addition to these fabulous performers, grammy winner and star of Broadway's Ring of Fire, Lari White performed, as did the fantastic singer/songwriter Victoria Shaw. Oh! And Janis Ian! As I was watching all of these unbelieveable performers, Lucie's music director's name kept running through my head. I kept thinking, "Ron Abel, Ron Abel...why do I know that name?" And then it hit me - Ron wrote the music for one of the big hits of my "I Hate Men" show: a song called All the Good Men are Gay. For those of you who haven't heard it, it has to be one of the funniest songs ever written. Every time I perform it, the audience goes wild. So, here I was, in the same club as the composer. I ran over to Jim Caruso (the host of Cast Party) to double check that this was the same Ron Abel, and he confirmed it for me. So...as luck would have it, I had the music with me and I got to do the song for Ron! Jim had already paved the way by speaking to Ron and telling him not to leave until I sang. Well, I sang, and it went better than ever! Afterwards, I got to meet Ron, which was a lot of fun. And THEN...after Cast Party was done, I ended up going out for after hours drinks with none other than the fabulous Maude Maggart and Tony DeSare, both of whom were in attendance at Cast Party and had closed the night there by singing a duet of "You Belong to Me." All in all, a terrific NYC night.
That's about all for now...more updates soon!

Long time, no blog!

Sorry I haven't updated in a while - I've been a little under the weather! So, what's new? Well, I got a fabulous review from Stu Hamstra in his Cabaret Hotline newsletter last week. If you go to www.cabarethotlineonline.com you can find it in his newsletter from Monday, July 3rd. Speaking of Cabaret Hotline, I was planning to attend the Cabaret Hotline Sweet 16 bash last week, but unfortunately was kept from going by this nagging cold. All reports were that it was a smashing success. Congrats, Stu! I also was unable to attend opening night at the new Laurie Beechman Theater at the West Bank Cafe. It's being booked by Phil Geoffrey Bond who did such a great job revitalizing the Duplex. He'll be sorely missed at the Duplex, but I'm looking forward to checking out his new digs this Friday, July 14th. I'll be heading over to see Brandon Cutrell's show at 9 p.m.
Anyway, I've got to get back to the ol' day job now...more to come soon!!