NEW YORK, AT NIGHT!
Well it was one of those famous New York City nights last night. It started with me running uptown to check out this Nat King Cole cabaret debut. It wasn't the best thing I have ever seen. I will tell you the places here in the city are so smart. They get ticket prices from you and always a 2 drink minimum. So more about this show. It was an interesting attempt at Cole. Even one of his daughters was in the audience. No. . .sadly not Natalie. So it was the actor (Lee) and his pianist. The show started off slow and got weirder! He did this take on Embraceable You that was Disco and then went into Gospel? It was at that point that I was like why am I even here. Well my buddy Adam and I went back down to the restaurant row area and caught up with our good friend Jim Caruso.
You may remember Jim.
He is the weekly host of Cast Party. It's sort of like an open mic evening, except on steroids. One never knows who will be coming in to sing. It can be as simple as the star of Billy Elliott or as amazing as Tony Bennett stopping in to croon a hit. Last night we enjoyed an amazing jazz vocalist at first, then the brilliant Tenor William Blake took the stage. If you have not heard him sing, you are missing out.
F-A-B-U-L-O-U-S!
William Blake. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U51hXfIaWA0So we stayed until about 11 and then headed downtown. This turned out to be the absolute highlight of my evening and probably year thus far!!! We arrived at this huge 2500 square foot loft that reminded me something out of the Broadway show RENT. So Bohemian. As it turns out HBO shoots there regularly among many other publications.
We proceeded in and there was this great really old upright piano. Of course, I jumped on it and the party continued with guests singing everything from the Temptations, to Sinatra and Les Mis to Cabaret. It was so much fun.
However, what then took me by a complete surprise was as I has stepped into the other room to have a cigarette, I heard this brilliant jazz music coming from the piano room. It was this 22 year old prodigy who had never taken any sort of lesson in his life. He was visiting the city for one more night, and was then headed back to Germany. He had the licks of some of the best jazz players down pat. I'm talking Herbie Hancock, Miles, Thelonius, you name it all the way to Jamie Cullum. You know it's funny. I had enjoyed a glass and a half of wine last night and I could have stayed up all night listening to this player! It was the type of moment that I liken to seeing my first Broadway show, and had those chills running down your spine! It was so honest and so damn good! By the end of the night we were dueting with blues riffs together. I looked up and it was 2:30 in the morning. Time had flown by and my experience was priceless.
More stories from the city coming soon. There is always something to do and we seem to find the fun ones. Thanks for reading! Keep up with everything entertaining style and fun events. Join me on twitter @lawsonroberts. You may also follow me on Facebook. Friend me @Lawson Roberts. Check out the new additions to the website http://www.lawsonroberts.com/.
No comments:
Post a Comment