Ain't Nuthin' To It (Pink Martini)

I've been threatening myself to start this blog for some time. Looks like today's the day.

I got an email yesterday from Ticketmaster (I’m going to refrain from my usual expletives associated with their name) reminding me of the end of the pre-sale tickets for the Pink Martini show at the Paramount Theatre in Oakland on November 20th.

I’ve been a big fan of Pink Martini for a long time and my wife and I managed to see them on their last pass through San Francisco when they played with the San Francisco Symphony.  It was a fantastic show but I wasn’t sure if I wanted to see them again so soon. But…

I remembered getting an email back in June announcing that China Forbes, Pink Martini’s amazing vocalist, had endured some sort of injury to her voice and would be undergoing surgery. Vocalists Lucy Woodward, Storm Large (ominous name, huh?), and others were said to be featured at various shows. The news about Ms. Forbes was sad for sure. I’m hoping the she’s recovering nicely.

For those of you that don’t know Pink Martini, they are more than China Forbes’ incredible voice. Her partnership with Thomas Lauderdale and their excellent musicians create a diverse repertoire that has an old Hollywood vibe that is smart, funny, and extremely engaging. Check out the video. It's the title track from “Sympathique,” from their debut. You may recognize it.  For the record, two of my other two other favs are “Hang on Little Tomato” and “Hey Eugene!” They also release on vinyl!

It turns out that Ms. Large will be there for the San Francisco show so I decided to check out both her and Ms. Woodward.

Ms. Woodward’s is a fun new discovery. In the va-va-voom category, I'm looking forward to listening to her stuff more.   I can definitely see her singing with PM.

Ms. Large goes beyond va-va-voom. The following video, featured on her web site, and some of the other stuff I found by her is original (she even does a really fresh, live cover of "Tainted Love"), high energy and a lot of fun. Beware that the video may be jarring to some sensibilities.

Ahem,.. well… I wonder if they’ll cover any of her stuff. I decided to buy the tix and find out for myself. Plus, it’s at the Paramount, which is a fantastic venue.

I’ll report back after the show. In the mean time, check out The Pink, China, Lucy & Storm. In fact, you'll find me listening to them on budtobud when we launch next month.