Peckerwood Manor

"What-whaaaaat, my bitches!" cries DJ Li'l Scratch at the Manor's "Tubesteak Lounge." Right now he's spinning Etta Jones. Yes, Jones.   Etta Jones is not Etta James (let's clear that up right away).  Have you heard of her? I hadn't until my bestest galpal introduced me to her years ago, and I've been hooked on her ever since. She's another one of those singers who was popular with the public for a wee bit, then forgotten, then rediscovered to a certain extent through YouTube and blog sites in the early 2000s. But she's never been forgotten by jazz aficionados. They've been devoted all along. Born in the 1920's and coming into her own professionally in the 40's and 50's, Etta endured long, grim years of struggle,  toiling at rough factory jobs during the day, then  performing at night with a 'who's who' of jazz performers. Years later, she partnered with sax legend Houston Person for nearly thirty years on t...

Come on in, hepcats! DJ Li'l Scratch is spinning some fine tunes at The Manor's "Tubesteak Lounge." What inspired this week's selection of artist Bev Kelly? Two words: Earthquake, earthquake! San Francisco had a shake-shake-shake last week, dont'cha know, and luckily it was fairly mild. But it did make me think of Jeanette MacDonald - and gosh, how brave she was in " San Francisco " ( Judy does it better ) - and the Golden Gate Bridge and beatnik coffee shops and the always delightful 1950s and 60s-era jazz chanteuse Bev Kelly, who recorded several LPs in good ol' Fog City (see how neatly that all fits together?). Though largely forgotten by mass-market jazz aficionados (and she really shouldn't be), Bev was playing classical piano at age five, and by the time she graduated college, she was already touring the nation's top jazz clubs and recording albums. She continued performing well into the 1970s, but her family soon took priority - a...

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...