Welcome, music sloots, to another edition of Manor Music Monday, where we can all jam with music and share it with everyone in the Manor. Better still, at the Manor's "Deez Nuts" after-hours lounge, DJ Li'l Scratch will be spinning tunes from a melodious missy we'll all enjoy. Intrigued? Wanna know who? For that, let's time travel back to the 1930s, shall we? Hold tight. Wheeeeee! Phew, that was fast (I think I hurt my coccyx!). But here we are - and there she is. The lovely and talented Midge Williams. "Midge whooooooo?" you may ask. I did, too, but she looked so fetching years ago when I saw her on CD covers and in photos that I decided to find out what her deal was. What I discovered is a largely unheralded jazz singer who really ought to be in every jazz lovers library. Why? Start with her creamy-smooth vocals, which curl flirtatiously around the lyrics in songs like "It All Begins And Ends With You" or "I'm With You Right Or W...

Welcome, music sluts, to another swingin' edition of Music Manor Monday, where DJ Li'l Scratch is playin' and slayin' tonight at our exclusive "Boots Knocking" lounge with none other than Miss Felicia Sanders. "It's not the brains you reach for, it's the heart," she once said when asked to explain her singular singing style.  She sang for years (and years) in small, sometimes ratty, nightclubs in Hollywood throughout the 1940s and early 50s, where she was considered an "underground success" and dubbed "America's Edith Piaf." But for some dumbfounding reason, no one wanted to record her. Yet years later, at NYC's tiny, but influential  Blue Angel Supper Club , she wowed everyone in town and could no longer be ignored. Record companies at last came calling. The result was her terrific first album, "At The Blue Angel," a generous mix of jazz standards which she wholly revitalizes with her unique, deeply felt...

Clear the way! They're comin' through! Virginia, Mattie Jane and Anne Louise. That's right, the sisters. Are. In. The. House. Lucky you, you'll hear them tonight at the Manor's exclusive "Crisco Twister" after-hours club, where DJ Li'l Scratch will be spinning The Peters Sisters, a powerhouse vocal trio who started out singing at their local church in the early 1930s in Los Angeles. People took notice. In no time at all, they were swingin' and singin' at the popular Trocadero Club in Hollywood. Then the movie industry took notice. Called "rotund and delightfully upbeat," they appeared as a novelty act in several 20th Century Fox movies, though their numbers were cut from prints distributed to the South. But no matter, since they continued killing at various night clubs, including The Cotton Club in Harlem where they performed with Duke Ellington and Cab Calloway, thankyouverymuch. Yet these were international sisters, mind you, for t...

Welcome, music hors, to the Manor's exclusive "Poca Chica Lounge," where DJ Li'l Scratch is bringing us some classic blues from the divine Ms. Trudy Lynn. Trudy, as you may know, is a blues artist extraordinaire. When she performs indoors, she raises the roof - and, yes, this happens outdoors, too, 'cause heaven blows its top every time she sings. Not for nothing was Trudy the opening act for several "Ike and Tina Turner" tours, but that was just a start for this sonically-astounding performer and composer, who was soon after cutting LPs and performing in clubs worldwide.  Born in Texas, where she honed her gifts, Trudy first learned about the blues as a young girl when she tiptoed from her mother's beauty salon to Club Matinee , the legendary Houston Club, which was right around the corner. Destiny? Seems like, right? Though her family later thought she'd purse a career as an X-Ray technician after high school, Trudy had other ideas, by then in ...

Welcome, sluts and sloots, to another Manor Music Monday! As always, DJ Li'l Scratch is in the house, tonight at our very own Club Sassy Sausage. Truth be told, DJ Li'l Scratch is a bit weary given a world that's lately gone completely bonkers. Which means it's time, he believes, for some heart-cleansing levity, or as the inimitable Chuckles the Clown says, "A little song, a little dance, a little seltzer down your pants." And, yes, soul-reviving music, too. A fool's paradise? Perhaps. But DJ Li'l Scratch'll take it. And who better to lead the charge than Betty Carter? In 1955, she made a stunning debut with jazz pianist Ray Carter in a 12-song set now justly regarded as historic. But don't worry, there's no mothballs here; their performances still have the shock of the new, of raw talent bursting at its seams. Betty was only twenty-five, yet her rangy, expressive voice sounded fully seasoned - and a lot freer than someone just earning the...

DJ L'i'l Scratch is in the hizzy, yo! Isn't that what the kids used to say? What do they say now? Subscribe and like? DJ Li'l Scratch doesn't care, because he's already on his 12th life - at least - his longevity credited to a regular diet of the 'nip, tuna and whiskey. Oh, and the ladies, including this fine specimen: Va-va-voom. Cherchez la femme. Ommph. All are appropriate responses to Belgian-born Monique Van Voreen, who hot-cha-cha-cha'd her way to heaven only five years ago. Monique, as you may know, had a highly eclectic and unusually long career. I say "unusually," because a long career is not generally associated with an actor who's first introduced like this: Back in the 1950s, she was the movie's latest sex-bomb. Yet she kept on working - well past the regulation sell-by date for sex symbols - in roles both large and small. She even conquered the Broadway stage (twice!). And, oh, yes, in her spare time, she published a succe...

It may be lazy-times before New Year's Eve, but DJ Li'l Scratch is still pumping the tunes in the Manor's Tubesteak Lounge for all your fun and naughty times. Speaking of naughty, j'adore Ana Gasteyer and loved her "Martha Stewart's Topless Christmas" on "Saturday Night Live." And, yes, Martha approved: But did you know? In addition to being a witty comic actor (who trained at The Groundlings) (because of course she did), she also sings. Actually, she's had quite the Broadway musical career and originated the role of "Elphaba" in the musical "Wicked" during its first run in Chicago in 2005, then performed the role on Broadway . She's continued to trod the boards, thrilling audiences in Broadway productions of "Once Upon A Mattress," "Threepenny Opera," "Kimberly Akimbo," "Hair," and many more. In 2014, she released her first jazz LP and, yes, it's a delight. Make no mistake,...

Are you ready? DJ Li'l Scratch is bringin' the fire to the Manor's "Tube Steak Lounge" tonight with the alluring, the incomparable Miss  Abbe Lane. This hot-cha Broadway, movie and nightclub bombshell is the perfect way to heat up the holiday season, though honestly, she's welcome all year-round.  Did you know? She was called  "the swingingest sexpot in show business"  during her heyday in the 1950s and early 60s, and once said, "Jayne Mansfield may turn boys into men, but I take them from there." For that quote alone, how can you not like her?  Of her marriage to Francesc "Cugat" de Deulofeu, the famed and notoriously volatile Cuban-born bandleader - she was a teenager and he was thirty-years her senior! - she offered this terse sum-up, "Oh, those gossip columnists. He was never really mean to me. Just Latin." Or was there more to it? In 1992, she wrote the novel " But Where Is Love? " I haven't read it y...

Calling all hepcats! DJ Li'l Scratch is layin' down some swingin' tracks at the Manor's "Pork Sword" lounge tonight. But first, have you seen the 1980's sitcom "It's a Living?" If you have, then you know about "Sonny Mann," the comically boorish lounge singer played by Paul Kreppel (in a performance that used to annoy me, though now I find it oddly endearing). Photo: ABC Networks Kreppel had to have been lampooning Buddy Greco, at least vocally, a fantastic Vegas lounge singer who surely originated the phrases "Who loves ya', baby!" and "Ring-a-ding-ding!" and "The meatloaf's fantastic! We're open all night!" Photo: Getty Images And while I make fun of Buddy, his LP, "16 Most Requested Songs" is winningly primeval. This is how songs like "The Lady Is A Tramp" and "She Loves Me" were first performed - or so I imagine - and in fact, how they should always be perf...

Aren't you lucky! Tonight at Peckerwood's "Meat Whistle" after-hours club, DJ Li'l Scratch will be playing Teresa Graves. Who, you may ask, is Miss Teresa? Before we get to that, watch her performance on "The Ed Sullivan Show" in 1971. And brace yourself. It's a wowza.  Phew! Can you believe? If you're an old, you may recognize Teresa from " Get Christie Love ," a groundbreaking 1974 TV series in which she played the namesake undercover agent. Teresa was only the second Black female actor to lead a series - and the first to star in a one-hour series - and though the show lasted just one season, that was enough to burn her image into the nation's consciousness.  The show was hoping to ride the wave of sassy, sexy Pam Grier movies, like "Coffy" and "Cleopatra Jones," but it was perhaps too hot a potato for many, including TV critics, who regarded the show's premise of a Black female undercover agent as "p...

Are you freaking out about the election tomorrow? Me, too. Or maybe you're having a more generalized "It's Monday, oh-my-fucking-gawd" freak out? In either case, please allow Peckerwood Manor's esteemed DJ Li'l Scratch to take you away. Many of you already know about Li'l Scratch, as he regularly lays tracks at "Heavy D's," the Manor's exclusive after-hours club.  Today he's spinning Teri Thornton, a vibrant, husky-voiced jazz singer and piano player who hailed from Detroit. In 1961, she exploded onto the scene with her debut LP, "Devil May Care," demonstrating show-stopping vocal prowess. The reviews were through the roof and so was the public reception, yet just as suddenly - poof - she vanished after a few more LPs, her career thwarted by market changes given the rise of rock 'n' roll. And that was that. She was all but forgotten, reduced to driving a taxi to make ends meet.  But in a jaw-dropping comeback, she re...