28 May 2011 Dr Sketchy Set List

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28 May 2011 Dr Sketchy Set List Nice cleavage shot of Dinah Washington, the great torch singer of R&BThis Bank Holiday Saturday afternoon Dr Sketchy at The Old Queen s Head was nicely mellow and boozy (well, I m speaking for myself here) with no stressful technical glitches (apart from some last-minute drama about locating a microphone for emcee Ophelia Bitz , but nothing major).The performer / model this time was Tallulah Tempest , making her Dr Sketchy debut. We were all dazzled by Tempest: A former ballerina-turned burlesque performer, she still wears her white satin ballet shoes and displayed her ballet skills by posing en pointe for long, tortuous stretches. Ophelia and I admired Tempest s powerful calf muscles while she modelled “ impressive! Her costume was great, too: a sort of harlequin / Pierrot black and white diamond-patterned ballerina outfit, with black tear drops drawn coming out of the corner of one eye. She looked like an escapee from the 1950 Kenneth Anger film Rabbit s Moon .You can actually watch Kenneth Anger’s wondrous Rabbit’s Moon in its entirety on Youtube. I recommend you do. Or better yet, get it on DVD. The dream-like imagery, married to a doo wop soundtrack, is sublimeWhen I was in Vegas in April I spent a whole afternoon exploring the maze-like Charleston Antiques Market. One of the used books I skimmed and was tempted to buy was Queen: The Life and Music of Dinah Washington by Nadine Cohodas. (The other one I almost bought: a pristine edition of Funeral Rites by Jean Genet. I really should have snapped that up!). I ve never read any biographies of the great Rhythm and Blues torch singer. Her life and career are fascinating. One of the true jazz and blues greats, Washington s influence is incalculable: just as Washington as a young singer was initially indebted to Billie Holiday, you can recognize Washington’s idiosyncratic phrasing in the like of Esther Little Esther Philips, Lula Reed and Timi Yuro. (When I play Timi Yuro s swinging, finger-snapping version of Fever , people assume it s Dinah Washington ). Today, Amy Winehouse has declared she reveres Washington.Washington s life was short but tempestuous and decadent “ qualities audible in her remarkable gritty, bluesy wailing voice. A dedicated boozer and pill-popper, she was dead by the age of 39 (in 1963) of an apparent accidental overdose when she unwisely mixed diet pills (which in those days were essentially amphetamines; Washington struggled with her weight) with sedatives and alcohol “ a combination that proved lethal. What a loss, as Washington was still at the peak of her powers at the time of her death. There was a great photo in the biography of Washington shortly before her death wearing a platinum blonde bouffant cotton candy wig, a mink coat and an outrageous pair of diamante-trimmed cat s eye sunglasses: the caption says something like Dinah wearing her two favorite accessories: a wig and a mink coat . One of the first African-American superstars to enjoy crossover success on the white pop charts, Washington was financially able to indulge her love of bling. Luxuriating in jewelry, furs and sports cars, she embraced the ghetto fabulous ethos decades before hip hop. Washington was called The Queen of The Blues in her lifetime, and by all accounts her manner was definitely imperious. A defiant and willful tough cookie, she was known to pull out a gun in disagreements. During recording sessions she would pound back magnums of pink champagne (no wonder her vocals sound so relaxed and effortless!). By the end of her life Washington was married seven times. Her career was as volatile as her private life. As a recording artist, Washington was very prolific and there wasn t always the highest quality control (the liner notes to one of my CDs claims Records were released that Dinah didn t even remember making ). On the plus side, that means there are always more treasures to discover in La Washington s oeuvre . Dinah Washington is definitely an artist I play a lot at Dr Sketchy. I know she s most loved for classics like What a Diff rence a Day Makes and September in the Rain , her duets with Brook Benton and her sumptuous, string-drenched version of Noel Coward s Mad About the Boy , but I think I like her best at her most subdued and melancholy, when she drops the trademark bravado and sassiness to reveal a sensitive, bruised side. Check out these two stunning, goose-bump inducing heartbreak ballads I ve recently discovered “ to me they sound like Dinah Washington baring her soul. I ve been playing both these a lot lately when I want to drop the tempo to something sultrier and dramatic. You’re Crying by Dinah Washington I Want to Cry by Dinah WashingtonMiss Irene – Ginny Kennedy

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28 May 2011 Dr Sketchy Set List