Nov 24
AndrewCabaret
Vermillion Lies, billed as sister cabaret, opened for Amanda Palmer. The two sisters harmonized and clapped and played a ragtag of makeshift instruments to great effect. The opened with a little ditty about cutting open Grandfather, then sang the song of the two sisters with Long Red Hair. The songs smacked of Grimm’s Fairy Tales, definitely not the happily ever after kind. They harmonized beautifully, kept up the chatter in between songs.
“What’s in the box?” we were prompted to ask before Blue (complete with a marionette performance). The Astronomer was a dirty song “the solar system really turns me on
I’m floating through your galaxy your milky ways are all over me”. They closed with two romps through Circus Fish and wildly entertaining Global Warming, which got the crowd pumped and chanting along to the refrain:
global warming – it’s hot!
global warming – it’s not cool!
global warming
it’s too cool for school
Jun 29
AndrewCabaret, Performance
Cover act cross between the Andrew Sisters and Me First and the Gimme Gimmes. Got a earful of Crazy in Love (Beyonce), Heart of Glass (Blondie) and their finale was Walk Like an Egyptian (Bangles). Also did Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy. Nice voices, 40’s style dresses but my attention wandered two songs in. The crowd was into it more than I.
Mar 14
DaraCabaret, Gypsy, Jazz
the fantasmous band, all hoppy and Charlestony with the 7 foot man in short pants as their lead singer, they’re not meant to play outside – better in an old bar with wooden floors!
Feb 14
DaraCabaret, Country, Jazz, Latin
so good that I was in continuous state of body prickles and it wasn’t only because of the horror of the previous band, one of the most charming and engaging bands I have seen in a long time, in large part due to the charismatic lead singer – a pug girl with a shock of blonde hair and a puppy dog enthusiasm and energy, she sang in an old-timey cutesy voice – kind of playful but high high quality, she verged on insane – jaw bracing, eyes darting – and I kept waiting to see a dark side but she maintained this tremendous aura of joy and quirkiness before, during and after her set, she also played guitar, the violinist was fantastic – a wispy near-severe former gothic woman in a red satin dress and ripped arms – purportedly one of the best in town, the positive interaction between the lead singer and the upright bass player when leaning in to share the microphone also built the appeal of a band that enjoys each other and enjoys what they’re doing, mostly old-timey swinging jazz and country songs, cute lyrics, one Spanish guitar song, one more modern-sounding song that reminded me of CocoRosie, the girl has it is my point
Dec 29
AndrewCabaret, Indie Rock
The Dresden Dolls came out for the Winter Tour to close out 2007 (and on New Year’s Eve in NYC). Their Boston date was supported by Meow Meow and Luminescent Orchestrii, as well as an art house performance by members of the Lexington High School Drama Troupe. Opening with a back-to-back raucous versions of “Girl Anachronism” and “Missed Me,” the songs set the tone for a wild romp through mostly early tunes. The Dresden Dolls are never dull but there was something surprisingly normal about the whole affair. Mostly lacking the “cabaret” aspect of their performance, this was a straight rock ‘n’ roll concert.
That didn’t stop the audience or the duo of Amanda Palmer and Brian Viglione from enjoying a frisky race through some well-worn hits like “Coin-Operated Boy,” and some lesser played tunes like the gorgeous “Ultima Esperanza” and “Boston.” They invited Sxip Shirey to play a searing cover of “You Gotta Fight for Your Right To Party!” and closed out the show with the entire Luminescent Orchestrii on a cover of the iconic Eurythmics hit “Sweet Dreams Are Made of This.”
Despite having a cold which caused Amanda to have problems with some the notes, there wasn’t a dull moment in the set. Amanda even spent some quality time in each corner of the house, moving through the audience and Brian spent a chunk of time handling guitar and drums at the same time and also took lead vocals on “Fight For Your Right” with Amanda on his drum kit.
Dec 29
AndrewCabaret, Performance, World Music
Meow Meow opened the show in the audience, making her way in full winter gear (with luggage) to the front of the stage, taking an assist from the house crew to get on to stage. She then proceeded to introduce herself and undress, one piece at a time, with the help of men from the front row. Sitting almost dead center, I was asked first to help her out of her winter coat while she talked to the audience holding her mic. It was challenging because she was wearing mittens and I was trying a) to not touch her inappropriately and b) not pull her mittens off with her coat.
After depositing her jacket on the stage, she asked me to help her out of her pants. Yeah, I admit, I thought she was kidding. She bent over in front of me and then turned and asked, “Have you ever undressed a woman before?” Then she bent over with her head around her ankles. I grabbed the zipper, without ever touching her body, and then was urged to pull down on both sides of her pants to bring them down around her ankles.
At which point, she continued to struggle out of items of clothing with other people in the front row. “The male dancers usually do this,” she told the crowd while wrestling out of a vest.
She asked on lady to be her mic stand. Then, she got not one, but two members of the audience to snuggle with her on stage while she performed. She later corralled a third person out of the audience after he shouted at her about something. She said something to the effect of “It’s really easy to be shouting out when you’re in the dark” before she got them to raise the house lights. So three people draped around her (and she continually moved their hands around so they were touching her rather intimately.)
Her entire set was only one song. She was accompanied by keyboard player Lance Horne (an accomplished musician in his own right.) It was cabaret and opera, mostly in French. She wailed and belted and crowed and engaged the audience without ever missing a beat. When she wanted the help of someone in the audience, she would admonish them “Quickly!” and even once switched to German, “Schnell!”
Finally, calling out to Horne, she asked how much time she had left. “I have to get through one song. It’s on my contract.” After determining there was 5 minutes left in her set, she decided she had enough time to crowd surf. She started out on the other side of the stage but decided that half the audience wasn’t a good bet and came over to our side.
I’ll admit, I still thought she was joking. Even after helping her out of her knickers, I guess I should have known better. She made a grand show of it, even asking to young men in the third row to fill in a gap so that she could make it passed the first few rows. Then she leaned out and “floated” (term used loosely) her way to the back of the house, all the while, gabbing with the audience and finishing the tune.
As remarkable as that fact was alone, even more unbelievable was that for most of her crowd surfing, she was sitting straight up with her legs split. The crowd supported her (mostly) all the way back to the stage where she collected her things and departed.
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