Welcome, music sluts, to anther edition of Manor Music Monday, today with an added skosh of sass, brass and class - and heaps of talent, too, from a flirty dame who started out as a jazz songstress, then segued to becoming a fine actress, then segued right back to being a jazz songstress. You can hear her perform scads of delightful tunes tonight at the Manor's "Bush Diver" after-hours lounge and ramen dinette, so be sure to swing by. And get this: yours truly actually met this songstress. Can you believe? Lucky me! Can you guess who it is? If you guessed Monica Lewis, you win! When I met her, it wasn't long before she passed, unfortunately. She was in her early 90s, chipper as can be and attending an anniversary screening of the movie "Earthquake!" in which she appears. I nabbed her before she went inside. She was so delightful, so sweet, and surprised that I knew her primarily as a singer. "I thought everyone forgot about that," she said and rega...

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...