Of all the acts in the 1970s who echoed the sound and, in this case, the gender symmetry of international pop musical industrial complex Abba, none came closer to actually recreating that authentic Abba…
Category: Music
Blog posts
Stargayzing Review: Cabaret Convention, Closing Night, October 10th, 2013
This review first appeared at bistroawards.com When KT Sullivan, attired in a robin’s egg blue gown and matching chapeau with a huge feather, swept onto the stage to introduce the Cabaret Convention’s closing night program,…
Mary Tyler Moore Performing Paul McCartney’s “With a Little Luck”
“Of course I enjoy watching the venerable Miss Moore apply the same “Mary-isms” to the top-ten Wings hit as she did to any random confrontation with Lou Grant, but what really thrills me is the expression of pain on David Letterman’s face.”
Natalie Cole Gave Fever to Birdland, October 7th, 2013
I’ve been hearing for quite a while Jim Caruso’s Cast Party is by far the most amazing open mic night in Manhattan. I was so glad to finally stop by and check it out…
Melismania! The Art of Good Singing Has a Terrible Case of the Runs
I recently received a thoughtful email regarding my Stargayzing piece about Christina Aguilera’s musical identity crisis. In addition to expressing strong feelings about the relative aspects of what I perceive as Aguilera’s disappointing artistic trajectory,…
Annie Ross at the Metropolitan Room, New York City: The Singer as Actor
One of the beautiful things about the culture of jazz and cabaret music is that life experience, and the emotional deepening that it confers on its artists, is considered an attribute, not a reason…
Quote of the Day: Joni Mitchell on Fame and Music
“The trick is, if you listen to the music and you see me, you’re not getting anything out of it. If you listen that music and you see yourself, it will probably make you…
Shanghai’s Jinjiang Hotel Has Its Very Own Pop Song and It’s One Hell of An Ear Worm
One of the highlights of breakfasting in the dining room of the lovely Jinjiang Hotel in Shanghai, was the cognitive dissonance of reading the International Herald Tribune’s coverage of North Korea possibly restarting its…
Guest Columnist John Frazier Interviews R&B Legend Dee Dee Sharp
Many may not know or realize that she was the first black female teen pop idol, with hits like Mashed Potato Time, The Gravy, Do the Bird, Ride, and my personal favorite I Really…
A 1980s Lesbian Music Video that is Hypnotically Awful
If you’ve ever pondered what a group of theatrically inclined lesbians with big dreams, a song in their hearts, and a video camera might do for fun in 1987, prepare to rejoice for your…
Stargayzing Returns: “I Turn My Back For a Minute and All Hell Breaks Loose,” Says Munk
I’m back after a short hiatus and even though I was quite busy, I must tell you how much I missed writing Stargayzing. There were so many times I had the impulse to comment…
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