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MP is far better live than on the CD I find. The voice is much stronger.

That's good to hear, Kush. Makes me even more interested in what Bobbie's take will be on their concert.

Bobbie, I was refering to her debut album Martha Wainwright, released May 2005, so she's only starting to gain attention around. It actually still isn't released in Europe (coming this November, they say), so I bought it from her UK label via Amazon.uk. I had parts of her previous, privately pressed EPs in MP3s downloaded all around from the web. Ah yes, her first 6-track EP was indeed titled Martha Wainwright, as the debut album now is. The debut album is actually compilation of her first 3 EPs and some new songs (i.e there's no Lolita which you probably have on the EP).

Rufus - I succeded until fifth song on Wanted: One Wanted: Two is out of question. But I firlmy thinks it's his concept to blame (making two album with opera techniques, or whatever he did say) - his first album was more pleasant.

Madeleine - didn't she dissapeared

Madelein'es rendition of Dance Me... reminds me on Kate Gibson's version I wanted to get for so long time... It's one of my favourites Cohen covers. Did you hear? She sung it in similar jazzy-in-smoking-bar style, with weary voice, and some verses repeated in French... It was recorded for that Kathryn Bigelow movie about millenium-bug, I can't remember its title.

Strange Days (1995). Lucky we, always to have Jarkko's Files for such situations It was cult movie that year but it was more or less forgotten later. As was Kathryn Bigelow, former James Cameron's wife. She did great TV series Wild Palms, about which we were made as much as we were about Twin Peaks at the time. Sadly, I never found other music by Kate Gibson, nor any info about her, but that she recorded just one record, and that was completely unavailable and unnoticed. Kinda liked her voice and moods she was producing. I should make an MP3 and put it somewhere online if you're interested.

Tom... Indeed you're right, as you so often are. I forgot that Martha's new cd is self titled. I bought that one on the day it was released here - didn't realize it isn't available yet in Europe.. for some reason I was sure that Lizzie Madder told me she bought one as a gift for someone. The earlier 6 track one I have has a few songs not on the one just released. Right, "Lolita" is one of them, as well as "You've Got A Way", "Laurel & Hardy" (which is a wonderful, very touching song about Rufus), and "Jimi (Takes So Much Time)" I also have a compilation of Martha songs that Linda Straub made for me, taken from other cds I don't have and didn't know existed. (Linda told me that the original self titled album is next to impossible to find, so I feel pretty lucky.)

Herewith, the track listing for Linda's compilation:

CD Title: Factory
1) Factory
2) The Car Song
3) Bye Bye Blackbird
4) New York, New York, New York

Misc Songs:
1) Lolita
2) G.P.T.
3) Laurel & Hardy
4) Jimi (Takes So Long)
5) Don't Forget

CD Title: Bloody Mother Fucking Asshole #1
1) When The Day Is Short
2) Pretty Good Day
3) Bloody Mother Fucking Asshole (written about her father)
4) How Soon

CD Title: Bloody Mother Fucking Asshole # 2
1) I Will Internalize
2) It's Over

As for Rufus... he is a great performer, and I love his voice in duets, just that it's too much of the same for me when he is solo.

So.. Kathryn Bigelow... ex wife of James Cameron. You mean the one who directed Titanic.... ?? What an awful movie.

No, I haven't heard of Kate Gibson, either, but I like your description of her singing with a weary voice in a smoky bar.. :--) If you are able to post an mp3, I'd be interested in hearing it.

Lizzy... I guess I sounded like I don't like Ethel Merman... I don't dislike her, just that probably I would never be playing any of her records while I'm cooking dinner, I don't think - but you never know. I do recognize her talent, and have seen some documentaries about her - and yes, qute an amazing woman. I guess I just remember her from childhood, singing God Bless America on the Ed Sullivan Show. As a little girl, I was bored with that.. I wanted to see all the acrobats twirling hoops around one leg, two arms, and their neck all at the same time while standing on the head of someone who was doing the same thing... probably you know the sort of act I mean. I also wanted to see Louis Armstrong whom I adored, and still do, and Jimmy Durante. (go figure) Ethel had that perfectly coiffed hair, the sparkly jewelry, the floor length tight dress with the sequins, the loudest voice I'd ever heard and the biggest bosom I'd ever seen. I was just a little farm girl... maybe I felt intimidated. ;--)

Kush.. good to hear that Madeleine is much better in concert than on cd. I figured it would be so, as it most always is with recording artists - I'm looking forward to the concert.

Bobbie

Hi Bobbie ~

When it comes to Ed Sullivan, I remember very well every one of 'those' acts . Poifect description of Ethel, too ~ I never liked her at the time, for reasons related to the poifect description......loud, bawdy, cheap looking, etc. I guess I could have felt intimidated, too , but at the time, I'd swear it was just that I couldn't stand her . That's why I was so surprized when I listened to the special on her, on NPR, and had only her voice to listen to. I've never seen a documentary on her. I believe they said her mother tried to discourage her from a singing career[?], but she persevered, and those in the business ended up writing musicals specifically for her to perform. So many years later, we can more easily reframe things, can't we ?

Looking forward to your concert review . Martha's pretty outspoken about her father [vs. Dad], isn't she? I don't know her history, but it sure sounds like she's got plenty of good reason.

~ Lizzy

Lizzy.. Now I'm wondering if my mind/memory is playing tricks on me.. suddenly I'm thinking that the face I remember on the Ed Sullivan Show doesn't match up with the face I remember to be Ethel Merman's... but I don't know if I'm just fuzzy on the details... or what. After all, I was about the age I was in my avatar here. Do you have any memories of some other woman like the one I described being on the Ed Sullivan "Shoe". Ethel was a small framed woman of normal weight, I think, or maybe that was just in her younger days. The woman I'm thinking of was (seemed) much larger. I just remember the huge bosom up to her chin, just like my great grandmother's.. :--) and I knew that beneath that gown she was stiff as a board, all bolstered up with elasticized rubber and corset stays... just like my great grandmother... :--)

I bet ~greg knows the answer without even having to think about it, don't you?

Bobbie

Hi Bobbie ~

Well, if you're wrong, I'm wrong, too; but, that's how I remember her. With TV being as it was then, the angles may not have been so complimentary. Maybe her voice carried all that with it !?! The way of the day would have been to dress to the nine's, show biz style, particularly being a Broadway singer/actress. I wasn't as young as you were, but young enough and new enough to the medium of TV, to have anyone featured as a solo artist to seem bigger than life [wires, stays, rubber, and all ]. Part may have been real, part camera angles [or lack of], and part perception.

the Ed Sullivan "Shoe".

Right!

Somewhere here, I just read that Martha will be opening for Madeleine. Now, I'm wondering if they'll actually be performing together, at all. Did the ad you read indicate it one way or the other?

Hi Lizzy...

Guess you're right about tv giving a different perspective back in those days...not to mention the wonder of it at all to begin with! I was 9 or 10 at least before we had television in my house (til then there weren't any television stations nearby!) ... and then it was sketchy at best re: reception, etc. Meanwhile, today I've thought about who else I might have been thinking of, and I can't come up with it... so maybe I'm just getting the face/name mixed up, after all.

All the advert said was "With special guest, Martha Wainwright". So, I don't know.. sounds like anything goes, but probably whatever you read is correct, that's she's opening for Madeleine. Either way is fine with me, but the opening act would be just great. She is so good on her own, she doesn't need anyone else.

Bobbie

Hi Bobbie ~

Actually, I read it somewhere in this thread [I believe ~ for sure in the Forum, so pretty sure in this thread ~ but in scrolling back, couldn't find it; too tired to spend much time looking, though]. Even so, as you say, Martha will be just fine alone [for me, possibly the highlight of it all ]. It would be great to see how they offset one another, though; so, I'm still hoping for a duo at some point in the show.

Now, I'm beginning to want to Google Ethel Merman ~ but, I'm sure the image, we both had, and the person go together. With that voice, I'm sure the show's producers would want her to look as 'spectacular' as she sounded ~ the difference being what was considered spectacular at that time doesn't necessarily hold true today . That was still the time of bejeweled movie stars with coifed hair and sparkling gowns.

I was 8 when we got our first TV, the last on our block to get one. I still remember that truly spectacular moment of pulling the on/off knob, and the black and white picture emerging from the screen. Pure magic. I was lying on the floor, with my chin cupped in my hands, looking up at it. Remember the picture fading to a small, white dot when you turned it off? And the 'greyed' screen that remained for a bit, afterward? Probly zapped us with radiation .

~ Lizzy

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 01285.html

The Martha/Madeleine show was Saturday night.. pretty much a full house at Lisner, from what I could see... very nice, comfortable venue, just big enough and just small enough... or as baby bear said... "Just right!!" I believe it holds roughly 1500 or so, and is where Leonard performed during the '93 tour. (I kept imagining him on stage)

Martha opened, and performed for about 45 minutes (not long enough) and was very well received - I heard a lot of commenting during the intermission between acts.. "She's great. How is it I've never heard of her!" A lot of people lined up to buy her cds, which she was very happily autographing, and there were t-shirts as well. In fact, she sold out of everything well before the 15-20 minute intermission was over, much to the chagrin and disappointment of everyone still waiting to get their share. (I hope they will follow up at the local music shops.)

She began the set with "The Factory" and ended it with "Bloody Mother Fucking Asshole", during which she stated mid song... "This is for Mr. George Bush", at which point the audience went crazy with delight, whistles, and applause (and of course, with that encouragement, she belted it out even more!) (DC is not a Bush town - 90% of DC voted against him.) She apologized ahead of time for the "offensive" lyrics, but said she felt it was appropriate due to the anti war march in Washington that day.. "and besides, Madeleine wants me to do it.. so don't blame me!" In between, she did "Far Away", "TV Show", "Allez Vous En", "Bye Bye Blackbird", another song completely in French that I'd never heard her do before, by someone named (sounded like "bababa"... or something... a French singer from the 50's, 60's and 70's. There were others my memory is failing me on... but each one was great.

She was wearing white capri slacks that tied at the bottom, tan suede slouch boots (high heels), and a brown scoop neck (low) sweater top with 3/4 length sleeves, some sparkly earrings. (Thought certain men amongst you would like to know what she was wearing... ) :--) Her hair was pulled back off her face.. she looked great.

I did get a chance to speak to her during the intermission, reminded her of the time spent till all hours of the morning in Hydra Harbour (she said she remembered me, but I dunno.. I was only one amongst many and it was a long time ago - still, it was nice of her to say so!) I told her we'd love to have her join us in Berlin.. said she didn't know we were going there in 2006, but that she'll probably hear from Lorca about it. I said "Yes, and you'll be hearing from Henning, too!" She said... "Who.. ???" Haha.. no, she didn't say that bit about Henning.... just that I try never to miss a chance to tease Henning whenever the opportunity arises!

Anyway... Madeleine. I won't go into too much detail... I've included the link of the review from today's Washington Post, which pretty much says it all. She did a great job, as well, and was very well received. She was all dressed up, in a just below the knew rose coloured shimmery dress with accompanying shawl... hair pulled back (later she let it fall down, but kept pushing one side back behind her ear). She entered the stage, strapped a guitar around her neck, and started singing straight away, without a word. (Martha came on, said "Hi" as she picked up her guitar, and started playing.) Later I told Marc that Madeleine's fancy dress with the guitar almost seemed like an oxymoron in some way - but the visual combination worked very well. The review says she wasn't always at ease, and yes, she did fidget with her shawl during the times she didn't have her guitar (took it off, put it back on, took it off, put it back on, fidgeted with the ends) like a new non smoker trying to decide to do with her hands... but she sang absolutely effortlessly, like she was simply having a nice chat with her best friend over a glass of wine.... you know how some performers are entirely comfortable when they sing... like Willie Nelson is.. it's just something they do.. unlike someone like Michael Bolton who always looked like he was being tortured nearly to death.

Anyway.. that's it for now! Well, I guess that's it, period. As you can see, the writer of the Post review didn't have a word about Martha. I told Marc this morning.. "maybe the writer is a republican."

Gotta run!

Bobbie

Thanks for the comments and the article Bobbie. As I like both chanteuses (of course MW could hold a stage alone, but doing an opening of MP, it is a real gift for the listeners) I find this a terrific idea of a show.

Thanks for your comments, Tchoco...it really was a great show - they were both incredible in their own very different styles. Still, I was hoping that maybe, just maybe... both Madeleine and Martha would do an encore song together... but no such luck. I said this to Marc after the show when we were walking to the subway, and he said... "Martha was probably on the bus sleeping by then. "

Yeah... probably. :--) My husband, always the practical one... and me, always the dreamer.

Bobbie

Thanks for the coverage, Bobbie, it seems it was really great:-) I hope that the ladies will get around this part of Europe someday...