Luna Tart died at Joe's Pub & She Took Me Down with Her!

Luna Tart at Joe’s Pub May 18, 2009

Pathos. Fragility. Drama. The absurd.

... Sung by the kind of slightly aging woman you'd pity, drunk, at the end of the bar.

Draped in a bright yellow boa, paired absurdly with a ukulele – this broad’s got a sardonic sense and a surprisingly beautiful voice. She’s so damn depressing, it’s funny – like when you cry so hard you start laughing, or vice versa.

Luna Tart – a Bernadette Peters look-a-like – with an equally on-target sense of timing, is the alter ego of Laura Freeman, who wobbled on stage at Joe’s Pub tonight, in a semi-drunken stupor. Deceptively faltering, yet always in charge of her phrasing, Luna left me hanging on every word. Whether quivering her poetic lyrics, or singing in shockingly high full voice, she imbued her story-songs with heartbreak and longing. Luna’s “I’ve Forgotten You,” an imagistic piece sung by a woman struggling to remember even a fragment of her lost love, was simply devastating. When she eeked out the final question “Did we dance … did we … dance?”... In the silence that followed, I felt a tangible unity with the rest of the audience – a kind of group mourning, a shared sensibility of personal loss and grief.

For some odd reason, I kept imagining a TV show where Luna gets into all kinds of hopeful, sad and bizarre romantic situations, punctuated by the songs on her “Luna Tart died” CD … the plotlines are all there: Luna remembers her sad childhood as her mother sings a lullaby, Luna gets jilted, joins the circus, becomes a prostitute, lives the highlife, gets jilted, gets jilted, gets jilted … time and time again … as she reflects on it all from a barstool in a dark and seedy joint.

I advise you to check out Luna out at her next gig. If you’re a TV producer, at least give her a screen test for a pilot. Whoever you are, while sitting, listening in the dark – you won't feel alone in your anguish – and you’ll probably find the strength to laugh at your relative good fortune.

Many thanks to Tsar Stefan for bringing her to Joe's!

http://www.myspace.com/lunatart

http://www.zamo-zamo.com

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Tsar Stefan's Birthday Bash for Prince Philip

Thursday, May 14th was the date of a wonderful party in honor of "Prince Philip" thrown in all its magisty by Philip's partner of many, many years, "Tsar Stefan" - the impresario of New York Cabaret.

The party had four fabulous phases:

At 6:00 pm "Prince Philip, who as being honored for his 60th birthday, gave a 45-minute recital- in German. From all reports Philip was astounding … I wish I could report the details, but I did not attend. Instead, I took a brief, but much-need “club nap,” to prepare myself for what I knew was going to be a night to remember.

I showed up for drinks at 7:00, very much on time, for the 2nd phase -- a multicourse dinner at the Chinatown Brasserie, near Astor Place. The guests streamed in costume and finery, for great food and lovely and fun company.

Rebecca Joy Fletcher sang a Jewish blessing for the food in Hebrew and English, and another woman sang a post-dinner gospel song.

Dinner (from 7-9 pm) was followed by a parade made up of the now slightly inebriated party, bedecked and bejeweled, in feathers and wild outfits (see the photos!), carrying multi-colored Chinese umbrellas supplied by our host. The throng made its way towards Joe's Pub, accompanied by tuba, trumpet and snare drum, drum - with a fire-breather dancing along leading the way – stopping traffic – and I’ve recently found out, drawing the attention of NY-1, which featured the parade on the news the next morning. The dancing continued outside Joe’s Pub, where the elated group finally entered, donning strands of beads on their wrists to identify us as the “in crowd” able to enter the party. The parade band kept the energy up in the club ‘till the first performer took the stage to delight the audience, which was made of cabaret artists, friends and entertainment professionals.

I could wax poetic about the long list of performers who delighted us ‘till 2 am – crazy wild and wonderful people, who touched my heart, shocked me, propelled me up out of my seat to dance, and caused me to almost fall out of that seat with laughter. Performer after performer simply knocked me out. These songs were prayers of the self -- deep, passionate, odd, campy, and outrageous. This quirky mix of night-lifers – a stripper, a beat-box guy who played with toys, and singers – one after another – who have loved and honed their craft – entranced us.

I wish I could name names, but I was too spellbound to do anything but experience the moment – I’ll get that list up soon. For the time being, suffice it to say: if you ever get invited to one of Tsar Stefan’s parties – GO!!!