Town Hall hosted Pink Martini, the
sprawling cabaret orchestra from Portland, OR, for two fabulous nights
this week. Thomas Lauderdale, the group's founder and pianist led the
evening, with a parade of special guests (including our own Kim
Hastreiter and honorary PM member on cymbal duty!). Principal vocalist China Forbes is
recovering from throat surgery, and guest singer Storm Large assumed her
role with wit, elegance, and splendid pipes. Japan's Saori Yuki, whom
Lauderdale introduced as "the Japanese Barbara Streisand," sang
several numbers, including one from their new album together, 1969, a
delicate, multi-lingual version of "Puff the Magic Dragon."
Lauderdale fondly told a story about discovering and buying one of
Yuki's albums in his favorite Portland record store many years ago -- he
even brought the old album to show the audience -- and
said their collaboration is a dream come true for him. Ari Shapiro, who
has moonlighted for a few years with Pink Martini, also sang throughout the
evening; in addition to having a perfect
voice, face, body, and suit, he's also the White House correspondent for
NPR and a talking head on cable news channels -- no big deal.
In the second half of the evening, Paper-BFF Joey Arias was a show-stopper with his humorous rendition of "Santa Baby" (and minor strip-tease), followed by Jewish Cantor Ida Rae Cahana. There were also trumpet duets, a harp, guitar and double bass solos, a string section, and cool percussion instruments we've never even seen before. Truly, an evening of splendor in Times Square.
In the second half of the evening, Paper-BFF Joey Arias was a show-stopper with his humorous rendition of "Santa Baby" (and minor strip-tease), followed by Jewish Cantor Ida Rae Cahana. There were also trumpet duets, a harp, guitar and double bass solos, a string section, and cool percussion instruments we've never even seen before. Truly, an evening of splendor in Times Square.