The Oak Room Open Mic August 13th, 2009 at the Algonquin Hotel
Wednesday night last, I had a wonderful evening at the 1930’s Idol, singing a short version of the 1905 song “I Don’t Care,” which I was originally introduced to by Judy Garland’s version in the movie musical “In the Good Old Summertime.” I always wanted to sing it, so I cut a 32-bar version down to meet the requirements of the contest. Happily (see former blog entry) I am now a 1930’s Idol Finals contestant, and will sing one, maybe two, more songs next Thursday night (check www.bnonyc.com if you want info!)
On Thursday, I attended the Summer-weekly Oak Room Salon, the smaller but more snazzy version of the Algonquin Salon Open Mic. Still hosted by Mark Janas and Peter Napolitano, this version requires a minimum and cover, but offers some amazing guest hosts and guest singers. This week, Sue Matsuki helmed the microphone introductions, and Will Trice sang two gorgeous songs from his Bistro-award winning repertoire. The master guest artist of the evening was Martin Lass on his violin and his wife, Ingeborg, at the piano. I’ll let Martin’s web site speak for him, because there is no amount of praise I can give him that hasn’t been said already. He’s spectacular, and Ingeborg is fantastic on the piano as well. Their daughter also sang a heavy jazz-rock version of the Beatles “HELP!” and proved that the family has musical chops that must run deep in the DNA.
The evening was one for the record books, and I was happy to be there. Of course, I recorded my longer version of “I Don’t Care” and posted it, enjoy –>
Hear the mp3 of “I Don’t Care” (with Mark Janas at the piano, hosted by Peter Napolitano and guest host Sue Matsuki).