I am thankful....

I am thankful for so many things. I am thankful for my family, my friends, my fans and my community. I am thankful to have people in my life who are creative and want me to share my creativity with them. My new position as an intern in the Video Department at Mr Smalls had afforded me some spectacular opportunities this month. I have been to more shows in the last month than I have been to in the last year. You would think that as an entertainer I would go out all the time, right? Well, while I am out quite a bit, when I am performing, I consider it work. It is work I enjoy immensely, but if I am doing it right, I am not partying, I am performing and it's the patrons who should be partying. So, if I am not working, I stay home and deal with things like my dining room ceiling falling in, or refinishing floors or stopping the basement from leaking, real sexy stuff, right? But, now that part of my work is documenting the creative work of others besides myself, I find I am just thankful that there are so many wonderful artists in the world and that we have people in our lives who want to bear witness and be part of the magic. So, I guess what I am saying is, I am thankful for you.

That said sometimes not everyone has what they need to create, real basic stuff, like healthcare and housing.... fortunately 2 of the 3 gigs I have this very weekend are all about healing and living warm and safe.... and the other one is all about the tunes and the company (which I hope are just as healing).

Thursday November 14, 2013 - 8 p.m., $10, 21 & over
I am emceeing an amazing evening of diversified entertainers hosted by Balanced Mind Pittsburgh. 4 Rivers Vaudeville - Designed to Educate, Edify, Amaze and Uplift! It is part of a 3 Day Alchemical Adventure that is the beginning of a convergence of Integrated Medicine Professionals, Natural Holistic Healers and Creative Artistic Geniuses.
James Street Gastropub and Speakeasy, 422 Foreland St, Pittsburgh, PA 15212
https://www.facebook.com/events/664117206956040/

Friday November 15, 2013 - 5 p.m. - 730 p.m.
Join me and some musical members of the Cultural District for some cocktails and a multi lingual jazz filled evening to kick off this mid November weekend. November 15, 2013 will only ever happen once, and we would be honored to sing to you on that day before it slides away... No entry fee, just show up and enjoy the music, the spirits and the menu.
Backstage Bar, 655 Penn Ave, Pittsburgh, PA, 15222
https://www.facebook.com/events/597086450351379/

Sat November 16, 2013 - 12 p.m is Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council's inaugural Health & Housing (HE-HO) Fair for Artists, held on Saturday, November 16 from noon - 6 p.m. at the Kingsley Association, will bring artists face-to-face with local healthcare and housing experts and providers. Through vendors and well-organized seminars, HE-HO will prepare our community of artists for the forthcoming health care reform, the Affordable Care Act, and empower our creative community with the right knowledge on mortgage lending and fair housing by gaining information about buying, renovating, or retrofitting a property. HE-HO will offer free screenings, educational resources, seminars, one-on-one meetings, prizes, performances and hands-on activities. Child care will be available on-site.
The Kingsley Association, 6435 Frankstown Ave, Pittsbburgh, PA 15206
Registration to attend workshops is recommended -
http://www.pittsburghartscouncil.org/events-and-workshops-etc/gpacevents/event/115

Saturday Nov 23, 2013 - 7 p.m., $10
Atrocity Exhibition Documentary Screening!
I am not actually performing at this event, but as an Atrocity Exhibition artist, I shall be participating in the Q and A session after the movie. We are screening a documentary about the Atrocity Exhibition by Brian Cottington! This movie features the performances of local and nationally curated artists, like Macabre Noir, Cherri Baum, Lilith Deville, Nick Noir, Vinsantos, Reverend Decay, Rachel Deacon, myself and more!
Hollywood Theater, 1449 Potomac Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15216
https://www.facebook.com/events/1388619194707836/

Monday November 25, 2013 11 a.m. - 1 p.m., free , all ages!
Come celebrate a fall carnevale with us and our signature jazz, burlesque and sideshow performances at Rhoades Hall for the friends and community of Clarion University in Oil City!! Featuring performances by Kabarett Vulgare members Macabre Noir, Lilith Deville, Nick Noir & Penny de la Poison as well as my group "The Cultural District" featuring Don and Tony DePaolis and John "Smitty" Smith!
Venango College of Clarion University, Rhoades Hall, 1801 W 1st St, Oil City, PA, 16301
http://www.clarion.edu/

That's it for now, folks, but what a great month it is going to be! Be thankful for your family, your friends and know I am thankful for your support of local art, music and creativity! 

I swear to goodness I didn't fall in.....

But I fell out....and up....and all around.....maybe now I should consider falling in.....

So, I send these emails out once a month, right? Unless my dining room ceiling falls in and my mom shatters her ankle and I lose a couple friends in a sadly untimely fashion and I decide to start working in the video department at Mr Smalls Creative.Life.Support and maintain my regular gig schedule.... then apparently I don't write for 3 or 4 months..... I am ok, healthy, if slightly crazed...But the dining room ceiling was fixed by a motley crewe of sideshow marvels, boylesque dancers, drag queens, Christian clowns, and blue haired ukelele players under the careful guidance of an Italian fine artist. Miraculously NOTHING was broken. Not the dried flowers I have from Tommy Amoeba's father's funeral service, not the wedding pictures, nothing....It's all really dirty, but it's all intact. However, while my mom is sadly still in a nursing home, on the plus side, she normally lives on the Navajo Nation in Chinle, AZ for 11 out of 12 months a year and I NEVER get to see her but I've been able to see her ALOT in these last couple months. And she caused my uncles to come visit from Tulsa and that was very exciting. The friends I have lost, well, I will miss them a great deal but I have great faith that I shall meet them somewhere in some form a little on down the line and around a couple bends. As far as my video gig at Mr Smalls is concerned, it's been very exciting. I have been studying on and off at Pittsburgh Filmmakers for years now, as I could afford the classes and I've studied with some great teachers there and now I am interning at Mr Smalls Theatre and I'm shooting music and editing video of some incredible artists and there I've found a home to produce my video podcast. I am still seeing my vocal coach Beth Claussen and I am still working out at a gym. I've started a vitamin regimen and am somehow able to maintain this bizarre schedule. I am still a member of Pittsburgh Filmmakers, a new member of the Pittsburgh Arts Council and i even donated to WYEP because I love the Soul Show...

Things I have happening in the immediate future.....I am really excited about this show.....
 

Creative.Life.Support Revival Series presents:
“Phat Man Dee’s Cavalcade of Stars N’at!”
When: Thursday October 17th
Doors 6:00PM,  Show 7:00PM
Where:  Mr. Smalls Theatre   400 Lincoln Ave.   Millvale, PA 15209
Cost: Over 21: Free       Under 21: $2.00
 
EVENT OVERVIEW:
Creative Life Support Revival Series and Phat Man Dee Productions have teamed up to bring together the first ever "Show of Shows and Cavalcade of Stars" featuring some of Pittsburgh's finest entertainers. The music performed will be jazz, salsa, gospel, hip hop, and rock n' roll as well as burlesque and bellydance.
 
This "Cavalcade of Stars N'at" includes:
    •    Phat Man Dee's cabaret jazz group "The Cultural District"
    •    Amoeba Knievel - local rawk n' roll phenomenon
    •    Live Video Feed Performance -  Dr. Colter Harper in Ghana
    •    Machete Kisumontao - Caribbean salsa, vocals by Geña
    •    Reverend Deryck Tines - gospel artist
    •    HollyHood - the sexiest hip hop mc in da'Burgh
    •    J-Pad da Juggernaut - hip hop mc and beats master
    •    Lita D'Vargas – burlesque
    •    Christine Andrews – bellydance
    •    Trixy - fire breathing pick'em up art car by Trundle Manor

The entire event will be filmed for an impending “Phat Man Dee Smallscast”! Phat Man Dee has just joined Mr. Smalls’ vibrant team as a Video Intern and will be celebrating the beginning of her web series with this debut Revival series performance. She looks forward to celebrating local art and music by showcasing it in this digital international showcase! Come and celebrate with the Mr. Smalls family!
 
The Creative Life Support Revival Series:

The “2013 Revival Series” is a revolutionary model of local showcase where admission is free. Each artist will be distributing free tickets and paid according to how many of their tickets are redeemed at the door. The show starts at 7pm and is free for anyone over 21. Under 21 guests will be charged a measly $2 at the door.Because in our perfect world:
Shows are free, people show up, bands get paid & local music reigns supreme!
Please register for your free ticket here:
http://www.phatmandeerevival.eventsbot.com/

To help spread the news via facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/events/521371724609956/

If you register for your free ticket and show up to use it, the band you've chosen to register for will get $1 from the venue in addition to whatever tip $ comes when they pass a hat for each group. So, it costs YOU nothing (unless you're under 21, then it costs you two bucks) but it means something to the performers.

So you can see, I am very happy working at Mr Smalls as I can now produce these crazy shows and we are planning on video taping this one and it is going to be footage for my first ever podcast featuring local artists. Liz Berlin and Mike Speranzo (owners of Mr Smalls) are dong some truly wonderful and exciting things with their venue, music camp for kids in the summer (I am importing footage now from those sessions, the camp looks amazing) and building a beautiful VIP balcony and a restaurant and I feel like I am really part of something locally grown but nationally known beautiful scene, and I just really hope you come to my first show. And I would be remiss in not mentioning that my friend and now boss at Mr Smalls , the lovely and talented Liz Berlin, is having her own show at Mr Smalls the week before mine, it is a similar event, part of the Creative.Life.Support Revival Series and she is also having my friend Frieddi Price close out the night. She is an incredible singer, as I hope you know and he is an old friend of mine from Oakland, California, and he is spectacular. He's in town for a puppet show called The Pigeoning, but he's gonna give us a set late night at Mr Smalls. I'll be there that night, but I will be shooting video!
For info on their gig: http://www.eventsbot.com/events/eb264951183

I am also working on doing a very intimate live evening of me with the band at Church Recording Studios, I intend to shoot a live dvd of that show, so keep your eyes peeled for a kick starter plea form me, but I am editing the video ask before I will send out the link. The cobblers children... they have no kickstarter campaigns.......

Normally here is where I say "Love and Light" but honestly, I've been doing so many different things and just trying to maintain reality, that my energy is a little scattered, so I will just say, thank you for being in my world,  thank you for allowing me in yours. If you want to hear from me more frequently, I am on the twitter.... If you tweet to me, I shall follow back.
Yours, Mandee

Final local Phat Man Dee appearance for 5 weeks!

Hey sugar dumplings!

I am just making a quick post to thank you for being on my list and in my world. I have been blessed to have some great gigs lately and I just want you to know that it's such a blessing to recently sing for new people and make new fans and it makes me realize afresh how much I appreciate the fans and friends I've had for so long. I also, wanted to remind you about my last local shows for a little while. I am out traveling doing festivals this Summer, so if you want to hear me sing before I go, then this is the weekend to do it!

Tonight June 21, 2013!
I am singing at an art opening at Ava Lounge, the show is called She: Art by Danielle Robinson
I probably go on about 9 ish. Big emphasis on the ish. My friend makes beautiful images, and this venue is closing soon, so come celebrate with us before the lights go out on Ava Lounge.
More info:
https://www.facebook.com/events/377736448998712

Tomorrow June 22, 2013
I am singing at my husband Tommy Amoeba's Rock N Roll Birthday Bash and SubGenius Devival! Special guest the Reverend Ivan Stang himself!
Howlers Coyote Cafe, doors at 9 p.m.,  21 +, $10 at door
Performers include amoeba knievel, Andrew the Impaled, Eric Singer, Phat Man Dee, sT tENTATIVELY a cONVENIENCE and the Reverend Ivan Stang!!!!!!!
If you are lucky, maybe Princess Wei R Doe will join me for a tune or 2!
See what Bill O'Driscoll had to say about it in the Pittsburgh City Paper: http://www.pghcitypaper.com/pittsburgh/short-list-june-19-25/Content?oid=1662054
Scott Mervis also included it in the Weekender in this week's Pittsburgh Post Gazette: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/ae/music/local-scene-in-music-this-week-692322/

Facebook invite: https://www.facebook.com/events/160390250799321/
It's so exciting to have Ivan Stang back in town, he hasn't been here since 1998, and if you purchase salvation this weekend, you could come camping with us in July at the SubGenius World Gathering on July 1-7 at Wisteria Campground!!!
More info:http://www.subgenius.com/newdevivals.html

Hope to see you, I will have live musicians with me tomorrow (Michael Murray, Colter Harper and Tony DePaolis), but am singing to backing tracks tonight.

If you wish to come on the road with us, you should consider coming camping at the beautiful Brushwood Folklore Center in Sherman, NY. I am performing at Summerfest on July 26 with both my jazz band, The Cultural District, AND the sideshow burlesque troupe with whom I am affiliated, Kabarett Vulgare. On Sat July 27th, the night after we play, my good friends Guaracha Latin Dance Band, will be performing and then shall lead us drumming and chanting to the big bonfire in the Round House. Camping and singing and drumming and dancing and going to workshops with other beautiful musicians and artists sound good to you? Buy your ticket now and make sure your tent is in good order!!!
More info:http://www.brushwood.com/summerfest.html

Have a beautiful weekend, may your solstice burn bright and shower you with cosmic life force, keep our friends who need our prayers in mind, there is much strife in the world and I hope we can leave this place better than we found it, one song, one kindness, one gesture at a time.
Mandee

Jazz is a how you do, not a what you do....

Or at least that's what I tell myself. I also believe that jazz happens when you use music and your instrument to communicate complex ideas and feelings in a conversation that isn't spoken. You don't  need words, (though they help,  if your a poet and vocalist like me, they are as much a part of your instrument as much as a reed is to sax player or a string is to a bassist). Sometimes those conversations bleed into to other art forms, they shape them and the other art responds and shapes the music right back. When you talk about New Orleans, you talk abut the music and you also talk about the food.... Jazz can affect many mediums like dance and visual art and that to me is the beauty of this particular musical form.... I think that might be why I do so many different kinds of gigs. Once one of my musicians said to me that while he might make more money playing with some other cats, he could never pay for the experiences that playing with me has led him. I like to take the jazz from hither to thither and yon. I've sung on the high desert in Nevada beneath flaming steel lotus sculptures just before dawn, and I've sung it to the homeless who live in the depths of the sewers which run alongside the LA river, I've sung it for bellydancers, burlesquers and circus freaks and I am proud to say that no matter where I go, people like to listen. I am honored to have such a wonderful and diverse community of friends and fans. Thank you. I hope you can come out to some of the nice gigs I am blessed with this month.

This Friday May 24, 2013 from 7 - 10 p.m. at Tables on the Green!

New venue, new restaurant, no cover, please come out and support this new venture in Natrona Heights! Join me with my group, The Cultural District, featuring Carlos Peña (guitar), Miles Jackson (bass), Langston Kelly (sax) and Brian Edwards (drums) at this once private club in it's new incarnation as a beautiful destination restaurant! Creole cuisine and live jazz! Their motto is “In an effort to shape our way of cooking, we look to our landscape and delve into our ingredients and culture, hoping to rediscover our history and shape our future.” For some of you it is a bit of a drive, I know.... but I hope you come anyways. It's going to be a great night and I'd love to see you there!

Tables on the Green - 1299 Lane avenue Natrona Heights, PA 15065
web: http://www.tablesonthegreen.com/ phone: 724-226-0955 no cover, all ages

The following Friday May 31, 2013 at 7 p.m. Morris Levy Gallery aka Monk's Place

photo by Mia Donna Maneer

I am singing at a closing for an art show for my friend Mia Donna Maneer (photographer). She documents many of the counter cultural performances happening in town, she has great images of our burlesque and other performing art extravaganzas. I shall sing a short set accompanied by pre recorded backing tracks. LUPEC (Ladies United for the Preservation of the Endangered Cocktail) shall also be present mixing up some delightfully historic libations! No cover, but you can buy the art what hasn't already sold from her exquisite collection!  

Morris Levy Gallery aka Monk's Place

3634 Penn Ave. Lawrenceville Pittsburgh, PA 15201

no cover, all ages, though art work featured will include adult material

   

Saturday June 8, 2013 8 p.m. - midnight at the Pillow Project

Phat Man Dee is thrilled to be included in the Second Saturdays event with the phenomenal dancers of the Pillow Project. Also featured throughout the evening will be new conceptual multimedia work by the residents of The Space Upstairs, as well as ongoing Freejazz performances. I will be bringing a slightly different version of the Cultural District to play with me, joining us in this exciting improvisational collaborative effort between jazz dance company and myself will be the musicians: Carlos Peña (guitar), Dave Pellow (bass), George Jones (conga) and Poogie Bell (drums). The Pillow Project occurs every second Saturday at the Space Upstairs. 

214 N Lexington Pittsburgh, PA 15208 phone: (412) 225-9269
All Ages, $10 entrance fee
Facebook event page: http://www.facebook.com/events/556446571066743/
Also, when we say The Space Upstairs, it's up like 2 flights of stairs, so if you have trouble walking, this may not be the gig for you, it is not wheelchair accessible.


Friday June 14, 2013, 10 p.m. to midnight
Phat Man Dee's Cavalcade of Stars, featuring Bob Lynch and friends at the Americans for the Arts Conference

This gig is for attendees of the Americans for the Arts Convention only.
I am so excited to be hosting this year's musical jam session after the VIP welcoming dinner for the Americans for the Arts Conference. Featured guests include CEO of AFTA Bob Lynch & friends, the ensuing improvisational musical collaboration shall extend our sonic bridges far beyond Pittsburgh! Musicians include Carlos Peña, Tony DePaolis, Miguel Sague III and all of our wonderful guests! This conference is very exciting, over 1200 attendees from all over the country shall come gather in our fair city and talk about the future of art in America!!! We are so honored to be included and cannot wait for this glorious weekend!!
Phat Man Dee's Cavalcade of Stars, featuring Bob Lynch and friends at the Americans for the Arts Conference shall occur at the Westin Hotel downtown and any attendee to the conference who is musically inclined is welcome to sit in with us or take the stage for their own!!
More info about the conference and how to attend: http://convention.artsusa.org/


Saturday June 22, 2013 9 p.m. at Howler's Coyote Cafe

Join us for this madcap event featuring the dulcet tones of Tommy Amoeba and his band Amoeba Knievel as he celebrates his 52nd birthday in grand style in conjunction with Pittsburgh's first SubGenius Devival in almost 15 years! Also performing is myself with members of the Cultural District namely Michael Murray (keys) and Tony DePaolis (bass) , Andrew the Impaled, Saint tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE, local pyrotician/roboticist/saxophonist Eric Singer, and amazingly the honorable and ever more adorable, very irreverent Reverend Ivan Stang, co founder of the Book of the SubGenius himself!!!  For more info on how to join the Church of Bob and buy your salvation for only $35 or triple your $$ back, or to find out how to keep the pinks from STEALING your SLACK! Check out http://www.SubGenius.com
Howler's Coyote Cafe  4590 Liberty Ave Pittsburgh, PA 15224 21 and over, $10 at door 
 

So.... as you can see, jazz happens in strange and unlikely places. Sometimes it happens in a lovely restaurant with delicious creole cuisine, sometimes it happens in art galleries, sometimes it happens in dance spaces with improvisational modern dancers turning the music into beautiful movement, sometimes it is the medium with which musicians and artists from all of the country can come together and learn about each other and the region they are visiting, and then sometimes it happens in the middle of a SubGenius devival featuring savvy salesmen selling salvation in the form of aliens who will come to take us all away in our pleasure domes when the Rupture comes and the pinks and norms begin to burn..... In any case, I am happy to meet the jazz there and bring it forth, for I too have a message, and my message is "We're all a bunch of weirdoes, let's celebrate it and love each other for the freaks we really are, cuz if this is the only go round (and I'm not saying it is, but I have alot of friends who believe it might be) I don't want to spend it trying to fit into someone else's misinformed opinion of what I should or should not be, so let's have a good time and as the SubGenius say 'F*ck'em if the can't take a joke!' Of course they also say 'If you're gonna eat a hamburger, eat the HELL out that hamburger!' which is good too, unless your vegetarian and then I suppose it would be 'If you're gonna eat a veggie burger, eat the HELL out that veggie burger!' I do eat meat, but I also like veggie burgers, and I am digressing cuz it's been a long life, so please come to a gig, I am here now and so are you, and if not now, when???" That's a long motto, but I'm sticking to it.

My Mom Rawks!!!

On this day, and every day, I thank the heavens above and the earth below for my mother. She worked 2 jobs to keep us alive and got her masters degree in special education while raising us 3 kids, all at the same time as reforming her life as a single mom in Pittsburgh. She came to town knowing exactly one other single mother. Both of them forged a road that would allow us kids whatever futures we desired. My mom taught in prison, taught special needs kids in Philadelphia, helped rehabilitate ex convicts after their sentences were served and is currently living and working as a special needs teacher on the Navajo Nation in Arizona. I miss her and wish she could come home, but I know she is happy doing what she does best, helping people realize themselves and stand up and learn to live their lives as whole human beings and not take the judgment of ignorant fools who may decide they know better.

My mother marched in the Civil Rights marches when she was a young woman in the 1960's in Tulsa, Oklahoma. My mother spent a decade as a union representative in Western Penitentiary on the Northside of Pittsburgh. She taught me many things, how to cook porcupine balls, how to love to read and write, the love of music, but the most important thing she ever taught me was to never let someone stare you down. It's ok to be yourself, if you treat someone with respect, they should respect you back, and if they won't, then they aren't worth your time.

My mother is named Sally Russell Baker Kivowitz and I am proud to be one of her three children. If I had one wish for my mother it would be that she could stop working long enough to enjoy the love and respect she has fostered in so many lucky people whose lives she has affected in her extremely busy life, and write her book. She's got so many stories, I wish she'd let them out.

On this day and everyday, I say, "Thank you Gods and Goddesses for my mother and all the mothers who have gone before and all the mothers who shall be, but mostly my mom cuz she rawks!!!"

Burlesque, Jazz & the Return of the Bong Show, a benefit for Pgh NORML!

Oh friends.... what a fascinating, tumultuous and looooong winter it has been.... I'm happy to say I finally believe we may have actually reached the other side. The warm winds blow with the sweet tantalizing promise of beautiful music, graceful dancers and hilarious escapades. I don't trust the wind to deliver these things all by itself, so I have committed myself to helping make them reality.

Tomorrow April 6, 2013

Cattivo Sotto, 146 44th St, Pittsburgh, PA, 15201, US
I am emceeing at TEASE! Performers include Bella Sin, Smokin' McQueen, Sable Starling, Charlie Monroe, Dame Cassandra, Kiyla Kitty and Sahara! Join us for an evening of burlesque, jazz and more! Featured performer is the Peggy de Lune, best British Newcomer to the London World Burlesque Gamers 2012!

Doors at 8 p.m. Tickets $15 at the door!  21 and over!
More info: http://www.bellasin.weebly.com

Saturday April 13, 2013 NOLA on the Square 

24 Market St, Pittsburgh, PA

For reservations: 412-471-9100
Join Phat Man Dee & the Cultural District as they sing & play through an evening of multi lingual classics & original tunes in one of the tastiest destinations in Pittsburgh! Delicious jambalaya, jazz and more! Reservations suggested, especially if you want to be seated near the music! No cover, all ages!
More info: http://nolaonthesquare.com

Saturday April 20, 2013 The Bong Show! A benefit for Pittsburgh NORML

Lava Lounge, 2204 E Carson St, South Side, Pittsburgh, PA
Featuring a talent show where the stakes are high and so are the judges!!! Join us for this lighthearted evening of entertainment as the judges (who are live via satellite feed from the great state of Colorado) decide who does, and who does not, get bonged! Hosted by Phat Man Dee and Smokin' McQueen! Featured musical guests include J Pad da Juggernaught, Chai Baba and the Rusty Haywhackers! Come learn about the reasons why we all support the legalization and decriminalization of cannabis, especially when used medicinally!
Tickets $5 for NORML members, $10 in advance or $15 at the door! 21 and over!
For more info check out: http://www.pittsburghnorml.org
Facebook event page: www.facebook.com/events/222022421277530/

One of the reasons I mention above that it has been a long winter is that recently our community has lost some wonderful people, friends of mine, and this world was a much richer place for having known them. Please, raise a glass, tip some libations, light a candle, whatever you do to remember your loved ones for my friends Dan Lichten and "Scooter" Paul McCarthy. I have known Dan for years but really got to know and respect him in Occupy Pittsburgh, he helped feed those wonderful activists who camped out downtown in the bitterest cold as we all worked towards a fairer world. My friend Paul I have known since I was in high school, he was a character known most for riding his motor scooter through Pittsburgh, blasting music. He was also politically active and wrote many letters to the editor He personally rode me on his bike to the Kerry Rally when John Kerry came to rally in Pittsburgh... I will miss them both terribly, If you have lost any loved ones this past winter, let us all pray together that they are enjoying that wonderful cabaret in the sky. Or whatever you believe. We were blessed to know them and I hope we remember those that have gone before as we move ahead in this cycle. I am blessed to know you.

One love friends! I hope to see you out at one of these good gigs and we can share some music and fun times together!
Mandee

PS I’m on the twitter. Follow me and shout out at me if you want me to follow you back! @phatmandee

It's raining, It's snowing, where's Phat Man Dee showing???

Ah springtime in Pittsburgh..... snow filled, lovingly salted Pittsburgh. It's a good thing we have so much wonderful art and music to keep our mind, bodies and spirits warm and stimulated! I've been pretty busy applying for different programs to try and get my video projects off the ground, if you would like to see the demo video I put up kind of illustrating what I'd like to do, which is curate and host a locally based globally destined art and music showcase featuring Pittsburgh based entertainers, check out the demo video I shot at Shadow Lounge last December. It features me with my group "The Cultural District" i.e. Carlos Peña, Tony DePaolis, Miguel Sague III with special guests Olivia Kissel and Miguel Sague Jr.  

Please cross your fingers and wish me good fortune. All I can do is work at my music, video editing and put my dreams out there and hope someone thinks they're worthy enough to support. 

Coming up! 

This Saturday March 9, 2013 - 8 p.m. - 11 p.m. All Ages 

Second Line Saturdays at NOLA on the Square! 

24 Market Square, Pittsburgh, PA 15222

With John Purse on guitar, Tony DePaolis on bass and Miguel Sague III on conga/vocals. If you are thinking of coming, please do make a reservation. It gets very very busy on Saturday nights and I hate to see my friends and fans standing waiting for a table.

 Also Sat March 9, 2013 

I shall also be appearing in the form of electronic signals (read video) in a labyrinth for the Q Ball, a gala fundraiser supporting the much beloved theater company Quantum Theatre. You may recall my friends Colter Harper and Carolina Loyola Garcia did a series of images a couple months ago, they shot some stunning surrealistic light painted images of local artists, of which I was one and another model was Karla Boos (director of Quantum Theatre). Other models included Thaddeus Mosley, Ben Opie, Adrienne Wehr, Olivia Kissel and she decided to put all the images in a labyrinth designed by my old friend Tony Ferreri of City Theatre! Some of the models will actually be in the maze interacting with the people as they go through! Obviously I am already booked that night, but if you would like to go support the beautful work of Quantum Theatre ( maybe after catching some dinner and my first set at NOLA??) then I hope you will! I will be appearing via video that was shot by Ray Gerard of Occupy Pittsburgh Now Media and that I edited as one of the stops in the labyrinth. Enjoy me live, enjoy me digitally, in any case, it's all good in the wood my friend.
More info about the Q Ball: http://www.quantumtheatre.com/support/galas.html 

Friday March 15, 2013 - 6:00pm All Ages 

The 18th Annual Ides of March March 

Birmingham Square, S 12th St & E. Carson St, South Side Pittsburgh, 15203 

 

Join us for the 18th Annual Ides of March March! This yearly phenomenon celebrates the "It that Is" and that which makes us each and individual. Bang a drum, toot a horn, beat the scorn, make guitars thrum, wear a costume! All ages, we march to 22nd St, turn around & come back for cake! No $$, just you, in a costume, on time, so we can avoid the drunks!

 Sunday, March 17th at 7:00pm 21+ 

Mr. Smalls Theater 400 Lincoln Ave, Millvale, PA 15209

Creative. Life. Support. Revival series! 

Drowning Clowns cd release party w/ DJ Zombo, Phat Man Dee and more!

I am on early, like 7 p.m., so if you want to come see me, be on time! Email me for a free ticket!

Saturday March 23, 2013 - Invitation Only

I am participating in a private event in a haunted hotel in Windber, something about poetry, jazz and burlesque. Margaret Bashaar of Hyacinth Girl Press and Blair Murphy of the Grand Midway are putting it on, people are coming in from Chicago. That's all I know. I am bringing a tutu.

Friday March 29, 2013 7:00 p.m. , 18+ 

Shadow Lounge Legacy Series 

I will be singing first at the last weekend of one of the most important venues in my community. The Shadow Lounge brought together over it's thirteen year adventures people from all walks of life, backgrounds, cultures, it crossed genres like it invented fusion. I am going to miss that venue. We did poetry, burlesque, sideshow, hiop hop, funk, jazz, comedy, spanking parties, you name it, we did it.... Beautiful art was made there every single night and I made friends I will never forget. Join with us this final weekend to see the best of the best. $20 a night or $30 for a weekend pass. More bands and musicians then I can count. I am just honored to be included.The evening will be recorded live. Again, like the previous 3 listings, I AM ON EARLY! Like, I'm first. The sets are SHORT. No one gets more than 20 minutes. Don't be all showing up after 8 p.m. (when I was on at 7:30) and be like, hey girl, when you go on? Cuz I'll be swole up. Salted like an old rusty dog. As in, "Darling dear, I sang my heart out and performed a brand new piece of burlesque sideshow poetry in commemoration of the closing of this momentous venture at 7:30 and was done by 7:45, so sorry you missed it, guess you'll have to buy the Blu Ray when it comes out! Love you!"

It's a thick month and I am currently enrolled in Pittsburgh Filmmakers, so it just keeps getting thicker all the time. I am trying to learn AVID video editing system, as Final Cut Pro decided to destroy itself just as I was becoming comfortable with it..... But we soldier on. I have dreams and I am working on making them reality. Love, light, hope, solidarity. I am yours and you are mine, we are one in the mind of God and God is all around us and we are living in the light of the Goddess with every breath we take.

Thank you for reading, thank you for being you. 

--Mandee

Second Line Saturdays w/ Phat Man Dee & the Cultural District!

There was a galactic and planetary shift of consciousness last December. On the 21st we aligned with our solar system, the galaxy and the universe....whether or not you spent the solstice hiding in a bunker with a gross of rations and water purification tablets, in prayer with drums and chanting to the moon or madly purchasing gifts to prove to your loved ones that you really do care (I myself did a little of each, I like to keep my bases covered), whatever happened for you or for me, I am blessed to know you and have you in my world.

If you are in Pittsburgh this Saturday Jan 12, 2013, I would honored if you would come to NOLA on the Square, located at 24 Market Square in downtown Pittsburgh, between the hours of 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. and allow me the opportunity to sing sweet songs in English, Spanish, French, some original, some classic, with my trusty trio of jazz warriors, "The Cultural District". With Tony DePaolis on bass, Miguel Sague III on vocals and conga and Carlos Peña on guitar, at my side, we four musicians will forge a union so musical that even the hardest among us could not help but weep into their excellent bowl of gumbo.....Well, ok, maybe I got excited, I don't usually get people crying into their food at gigs, that would be awkward. But the gumbo is amazing, and so are my musicians. Reservations are not required, but as there are few tables up by the band, if you want a good seat, I suggest you make one.
For a reservation call 412-471-9100 or visit  http://www.nolaonthesquare.com/

I am otherwise laying low this month. I am going back to school for some more knowledge at Pittsburgh Filmmakers and I am in the process of planning my podcast and focusing on speaking my dreams into reality. I don't have too many public engagements right now, but there is an incredible article written by Mr TC Brown in Equal Magazine, please pick up a copy or you can read it online.

Check out the Delta Foundation of Pittsburgh's new magazine! The article is on pages 22-23!! 

http://issuu.com/pittsburghpride/docs/equal_jan_2013/25

I love having you in my life, thanks for being part of the world. If you lost someone you love since last we spoke, my prayers go out to you in one big love. I am sorry you lost them, but I am happy they were here for the time that they could be here. Let's work to make this world a better place to honor and remember them.

Mandee

PS Casa Rasta just bought a building and moved to 2056 Broadway in Beechview. OMG jerk chicken tostadas.... the Quesofundido is to die for. They even have vegetarian chorizo. Don't ask me how this possible. It's just delicious. Rastafarian Mexicans in Pittsburgh.... whouda thunk??

PPS I went to the Warhol Museum today with some old and new friends who wanted to see what Pittsburgh was all about... and now we have some horrifying black and white silent video proof of why one should NEVER leave me unattended with a camera:
the warhol: PhatManDee's Screen Test