HERE'S WHAT ITS ALL ABOUT ....

Cabaret Hotline Online is an independent website with more than 7,400 pages of news, information and stories on cabaret, owned and maintained by Stu Hamstra. CABARET HOTLINE ONLINE is not affiliated with any club or organization. It is totally supported through advertising and membership donations. This blog is an extension of the website and newsletter.

NOW IN OUR 26th YEAR OF PROMOTING THE ART & ARTISTS OF CABARET!

"His eye is on the sparrow...."

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

KITCHENETTES PERFORMANCE CLASSES IN SAN FRANCISCO

The Kitchenettes (Lua Hadar, Linda Kosut & Barry Lloyd) will offer a new series of SING OUT LOUD! PERFORMANCE CLASSES starting on Tuesday, June 9th. The classes give each singer the opportunity to work on several songs in a master class setting, addressing interpretation of lyrics, stage presence, mic technique, verbal introduction to the song, working with instrumentalists, and "selling" the song in performance. Video may be used as teaching tool. In addition, all students are featured in a showcase performance, with Barry Lloyd accompanying, to which family, friends, and associates are cordially invited. San Francisco Classes continue for an additional three Tuesdays, ending on Tuesday, June 30th. The classes will be held at the LANDIVAR STUDIO from 6:30 to 9:30 pm. Tuition is $175 (including a $20 non-refundable registration fee.) See http://www.thekitchenettes.com/ for full details.

ANOTHER UPDATE ON THE JULY BIRTHDAY EVENT

I want to invite you once more to attend our 5th Annual CABARET HOTLINE ONLINE Birthday Party - our 19th, celebrating the start of our 20th year of publication! Its at THE WEST BANK CAFE/LAURIE BEECHMAN THEATER (407 West 42nd Street, NYC - 212-695-6909 - ) on Thursday, July 9th at 7:00 pm. Just to be perfectly clear, you must have joined or renewed as a 2009-2010 member to get the special MEMBER PRICE of $15 - non-member price is $25. Its like getting an instant $10 discount on your membership. And members can purchase one additional ticket at the member price (making a $20 discount, the cost of a SILVER membership and more than 1/4 the cost of a GOLD membership) Note: There is a $15 food/drink minimum required by the venue.

There are only 75 seats on sale. The room holds more than 75 but we have to save seats for some special people who will be our guests: the past recipients of the JEFF MATSON and DOTTIE BURMAN awards of the past 4 years:

2005 - DC Anderson: JEFF MATSON AWARD
2006 - Hector Coris & Trudi Mann JEFF MATSON AWARD
2007 - Collette Black & Joe Regan JEFF MATSON AWARD and Maria Gentile DOTTIE BURMAN AWARD
2008 - Miles Phillips JEFF MATSON AWARD and Tracy Stark DOTTIE BURMAN AWARD

This year's winners will be invited to attend no charge as well - plus each SPONSOR receives a free ticket, and any one who joins as a $250 Crystal Member or above gets 2 free tickets (subject to availability).

Tickets and memberships are on sale right now via the website - and we advise you use PayPal so that your reservations will be confirmed immediately. If you plan to send a check, please let me know first so that I can make sure there are seats available. And don't forget - postage rates have gone up. Please remember, all checks should be made out simply to STU HAMSTRA and mailed to 676A Ninth Avenue #120, New York, NY 10036.

Each event lately, instead of a raffle, we have presented each paying guest a free cabaret CD from what was once our vast collection of unopened duplicate CDs in our collection. But the cupboard is bare - the last of the collection were given out at the MARCH IS CABARET MONTH show in (naturally) March. If you would like to contribute some CDs (wrapped) for this event, send them to CABARET HOTLINE ONLINE at 676A Ninth Avenue #120, New York, NY 10036. (You can also drop them off - it is a MAILBOX ETC. store just around the corner from DON'T TELL MAMA - closes at 7:00 pm weekdays, 5:00 pm Saturdays and closed on Sundays).

We are lining up some fantastic performers - many of whom you have not seen before, as well as some old favorites. And we pledge that this year's show will be held to 90 minutes tops - there is a show following ours at 9:30 pm at THE LAURIE BEECHMAN so after the show we will move upstairs for schmoozing and cake. Next year - our 20th - I promise champagne!

Want to be a $100 sponsor? Want to run an ad in the program? Go to the website for all the details and links to sign up. All sponsors are mentioned in every promotional item we write about the party - just like in the next paragraph. (You can remain anonymous, if you wish).

The 19th Birthday Party of CABARET HOTLINE ONLINE is sponsored in part (so far) by Raisa Katona Bennett, Suzanne Carrico , Chelsea's Desktop, Inc. - Chelsea Hudgins, Teresa Fischer, Marty Geiger, Eric Michael Gillett and Laura Hull.

Monday, May 25, 2009

CABARET NOIR? YES - AT DON'T TELL MAMA TONIGHT

Cabaret legend Steve Hayes, along with Tom Cayler, makes a rare cabaret appearance at DON'T TELL MAMA (343 West 46th Street, NYC - 212-757-0788 - ) in a new comedy in one act for two actors called "Stories We Tell Ourselves." Performances are scheduled for Mondays, May 25th and June 1st & 8th, both shows at 7:00 pm. The comedy portrays a dipso with a secret who meets a "9 o'clock gay with a 12 o'clock past. Its a "film noir sendup" where men are men and women are more so. There is an $8 cover with a 2-drink minimum. Mr. Hayes is one of the most creative folks in cabaret - from the Bruce Hopkins-Helene Kelly era - the true golden age of cabaret.

TAKING BACK THE STREETS

On the way home from DON'T TELL MAMA last night - after attending a farewell party for Michael Edelstein celebrating his relocation to Florida after 33 years in NYC and 18 years at the piano in the piano bar at MAMA'S - they were putting up the barricades to close off part of Broadway and part of Seventh Avenue between 47th St. and 42nd St. in TIMES SQUARE to create a huge pedestrian mall - all traffic will now have to use the other side of the square. The tourists looked bewildered and the locals seemed ecstatic (except for the taxi cab drivers).

So I was at 4 parties yesterday: the annual LOISAIDA FESTIVAL on Avenue C, then salsa (both the sauce & dance) party in Jackson Heights, then Michael's farewell at MAMA'S and finally "Take Back the Streets" in TIMES SQUARE.

What a day - what a night!

A MOMENT OF REMEMBRANCE AT 3 PM TODAY

Americans are being asked to stop whatever they are doing at 3:00 pm local time Monday to share a minute on Memorial Day and honor those who have died in the cause of freedom.

"The time 3 p.m. was chosen because it is the time when most Americans are enjoying their freedoms on the national holiday," according to the White House Commission on Remembrance. Congress established the National Moment of Remembrance.

"The Moment does not replace traditional Memorial Day events; rather it is an act of national unity in which all Americans, alone or with family and friends, honor those who died for our freedom," the Commission on Remembrance said on its Web site.

"It will help to reclaim Memorial Day as the sacred and noble holiday it was meant to be. In this shared remembrance, we connect as Americans."