A Very Nellie Christmas

Thanks to Matt Mendelsohn for the lead.



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SWINGTIME FOR NELLIE!

BAT favorite Nellie McKay is scheduled to make her Damrosch Park swing band debut this Tuesday, July 8, 2008 at Lincoln Center's Midsummer Night Swing. The dance lessons start at 6:30, so you should be able to Lindy Hop like a pro by 7:30, when the main event kicks off. Tickets are $15 each; you might be able to hear the music from afar.

And remember: On Friday night, the Loser's Lounge does disco in Damrosch!

Here is "archival" footage of a McKay appearance on The View!



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NELLIE NEWS

Over the weekend, Nellie McKay performed her song "Mother of Pearl" on A Prairie Home Companion. The audio can be heard on the video below; you can hear the whole show here.

Apparently (as Garrison Keillor might have suspected) some listeners didn't get the gist of the song; I have to admit that I still haven't deciphered the Dennis Kucinich reference at the end. And I'm not the only one.

McKay's schedule includes the following New York gigs:

Feb 7 New York, NY
Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre
Ben Karlin's "Things I've Learned from Women Who've Dumped Me"

Feb 9 New York, NY
Lincoln Center / Allen Room
Appearing with David Yazbek

Mar 10 Albany, NY
Family Planning Advocates Conference

Mar 31 New York, NY
Symphony Space NYCLU
"Voices for Change"

Apr 1 New York, NY
Joe's Pub (9:30 and 11:30 pm)

May 2 New York, NY
Rubin Museum of Art "Music Without Borders"

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ASYLUM STREET SPANKERS KICK ASS!

Austin's awesome Asylum Street Spankers brings cheeky attitude and crackerjack musicianship to the Barrow Street Theatre today through Sunday, January 20, 2008. Seen earlier this week, the seven men and one woman in the troupe's current lineup delivered a very entertaining evening of selections ranging from oldies such as "Everybody Loves My Baby" to an arrangement of "Think About Your Troubles" (increasing my appreciate of songwriter Harry Nilsson at least tenfold) to group member Charlie King's edgy-in-NYC political ditty "My Baby in the CIA" to a medley of the group's naughtier numbers.

Vocalizing and performing on guitars, ukulele, mandolin, banjo, bass, violin, harmonica, clarinet, and percussion as well as rubber chicken, the group came across as a kind of fusion of many of the funner things in life, including the Boswell Sisters, Firesign Theater, the Holy Modal Rounders, Spike Jones, Mae Questel, They Might Be Giants, and, of course, the throat singers of Tuva and some kids singing in the back of the school bus. And they really know the value of tight cut-offs—and I'm not talkin' about hot pants, smartass!

It would be cool to see the Asylum Street Spankers as part of a festival of 1930s-ish pop music performers. I guess this used to be called New Vaudeville. The lineup could include Al Duvall, Maude Maggart, Nellie McKay, the Pontani Sisters, the Raymond Scott Orchestrette, Vince Giordano and His Nighthawks, and the Australian sensation Singing Sadie. Hm. Maybe I'll get something going here at Blog About Town....

For starters, here's a glimpse of the highly recommended Asylum Street Spankers, featuring Christina Marrs on the singing saw (a.k.a. the acoustic theremin).



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NELLIE MCKAY AND BRIAN CHARLES ROONEY AT JOE'S PUB NEW YEAR'S EVE AFTER-PARTY

"Nellie McKay and friends" is the name of the New Year's Eve Afterparty at Joe's Pub. Who are the friends? Well, this just came in from Brian Charles Rooney, who was amazing alongisde McKay in Broadway's recent Threepenny Opera: "I will be performing with Nellie McKat tonight from 1am to 4am... not the whole time, but some of it :)"

Ahh, Nellie McKat, that wonderful, wonderful cat....

NELLIE MCKAY IN "MI AMOR"

I've been enjoying Nellie's new CD. Here's three-year-oldish video featuring her.



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NELLIE NEWS

Thanks to Myra for tipping me off about Nellie McKay's upcoming late-night gigs at Joe's Pub in advance of the September 25 release of her CD Obligatory Villagers.

Wednesday, August 8, 2007 at 11:30 PM ($20.00)
Wednesday, August 22, 2007 at 11:30 PM ($20.00)

It seems that you've got to stay up pretty late these days to see Nellie perform! McKay, who has scored a musical version of the graphic novel The Amazing True Story of a Teenage Single Mom, is slotted to appear on The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson on July 30.

Here's a performance of McKay's "Cupcake" by the Carleton Singing Knights. Enjoy!



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GUITARCHIKS: TOBY LIGHTMAN

Tonight, Toby Lightman joins The Roches, Joan Osborne, Nellie McKay, and David Bromberg at the Moving the Mountain Tour at Town Hall.

But here she performs "Alone."



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Previously on Guitarchiks: Carol Kaye

COMING SOON TO THE TOWN HALL!

Joan Osborne, The Roches, Nellie McKay, Toby Lightman, and David Bromberg and Angel Band are slotted to play The Town Hall at 8 pm on Saturday, May 19, 2007. Tickets run from $35 to $65.

The concert is part of the Moving the Mountain Tour, the road show version of the Mountain Stage radio program.

It's been a while since I posted Nellie McKay video. So here's something from earlier in the year, just before she performed at BAM on the same program as Osborne.



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GUITARCHIKS: PALOMAR. Coming to the Mercury Lounge on Thursday, April 12, 2007: the Brooklyn band Palomar. The group, which includes bass Sarah Brockett and guitarists Christina Prostano and Rachel Warren, has a MySpace page.

The ladies are interviewed here and here.

Here's the band's cool video for "Albacore." Like Nellie McKay, these guitarchiks seem to have a thing for mock retro Brit girl pop style. Know what I mean?



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Previously on Guitarchiks: Charlie Dore