Thoughts and Perusals of Phat Man Dee

It's 2012...Where's Phat Man Dee?!?

2012-01-14T01:01:00.000-08:00

Prospero Año y Felicidad mis amigos! Happy 2012!

We're still here and music must be made whilst we have the blessings of sharing our lives on this planet together in this exciting time!

Tonight, Saturday Jan 14, 2012 , 8:00 PM

I am joining in with a beautiful musical experience with some of Pittsburgh's finest vocalists!
The Pillow Project's monthly jazz-happenings w/ Vie Boheme joined by sounds spun by Brotha Free w/ Phat Man Dee, Gene Stovall, Jacquea Mae, Anquenique Wingfield, Ricardo Iamuuri. Spontaneous jazz physicality by The Pillow Project, new works by Kaylin Horgan, ongoing live art by Jordan Bush.
This event shall occur at:
The Space Upstairs (above Construction Junction)
214 N. Lexington Street. Pittsburgh, PA 15208
(the black door opposite Thomas Blvd)
All Ages, $10 suggested donation
http://www.pillowproject.org/

Next Monday Jan 16, 2012

Bloomfield Bridge Tavern, 4412 Liberty Ave, Pittsburgh, PA
412 682-8611
An annual concert on Martin Luther King's birthday featuring Pittsburgh based musicians and artists to benefit the homeless shelter "Duncan and Porter House" which is run by Vincent Eirene.
Other entertainers include:
With Bob Ziller, Renee Alberts, Johnnyflower, Paul Labrise & The Trees, Ben Hartlage, Chris Serra, The Grifters, The Stillhouse Pickers, and The BEATLESs
Age Limit: 21+ or w/ adult Tickets: $10 (sliding scale)
http://www.bloomfieldbridgetavern.com/

Next Saturday Jan 21, 2012

Belvedere's Ultra Dive
4016 Butler St , Pittsburgh, PA
I am emceeing for Pittsburgh's Premier Burlesque Beauties as we celebrate the colors that surround us! The Bridge City Bombshells Burlesque Troupe will be shaking it up with all of the colors of the rainbow. Each sexy vixen will represent a spectacular color. Our colorful songbird, the always enchanting, Phat Man Dee will be there to guide us through our prismatic journey! Our newest member, Deville (House of Deville, Charlotte, NC) will be there providing boylesque the likes of which Pittsburgh has never seen! DJ Hates You will provide the soundtrack throughout the evening as you bust a move to our favorite bright songs and a few special guests including the lovely Lola Veronica will be popping in as well. Who will represent each color? Will there be any Purple Rain? Perhaps we will take our Yellow Submarine. Join us January 21st at Belvederes and find out!
Doors at 9pm
Show at 10pm $7 before 10, $10 after 10
http://www.facebook.com/events/146708098772617/

Next month:

Feb 4, 2012

I will be singing at the gallery show following the benefit/preview of my cousin Jon Alloway's movie preview of "Into the ZoneThe Story of the Cacophony Society" in Santa Ana, CA.
Advance tickets for the movie:
http://www.yosttheater.com/calendar/2011/into-the-zone-the-story-of-the-cacophony-society-benefit-preview-screening/
I will be singing as part of the later gallery show:
The Cacophony Society Zone Show: You May Already be a Member http://www.grandcentralartcenter.com/

Feb 10, 2012

at The Rex Theater in Pittsburgh, PA
A Burlesque-a-pades Valentine's special featuring THE WORLD FAMOUS PONTANI SISTERS with some of NYC's hottest talents Angie Pontani, Albert Cadabra, Helen Pontani, Maine Attraction with local feature act Phat Man Dee! Advance Tickets: http://www.showclix.com/event/s20120210pont

Tonight, I want to party like it's 1999......

2011-12-31T11:18:00.001-08:00

I don't care if it dates me.... 1999 was awesome. It wasn't as awesome as 2012 will be however, because now I have you in my life and I have so much beautiful music to make for you. Tonight, if you like! I shall be singing for some gorgeous members of the Bridge City Bombshells at the 10 Year Anniversary 2012 New Year's Eve Bash at Mr Small's Funhouse! But first, a short history lesson, in 2002 I released my debut album "Life Just Goes On" that I recorded at a fledgling studio known as "Mr Small's Funhouse". They didn't have a marina or a skatepark back then, they didn't have an 800 person capacity theater in a church, they were a little 2 room studio on the 2nd floor of a walk up commercial rental on Grant Ave in Milvale. Since then they have grown into one of Pittsburgh's most beautiful places to see a show. They have hosted The Wailers, GWAR and everyone in between. I have sung there several times and I recorded in their new studio facility in North Side with Formula 412 last summer. I am so happy for them and a little in awe of everything they have done. Mike Speranzo and Liz Berlin are two of the hardest working people I have ever known and I honored to call them friends and even more honored that they have asked me to lead their New Years Eve Party into 2012 for their 10 year bash..... I would love to see you there tonight, it is only $10 at door (or $8 in advance).

With so many choices, I know your dilemma, but really, I am singing at the sexiest party in town and you know it. Did I mention that I am singing for Elizabeth Couteau , Macabre Noir and Penny De La Poison of the Bridge City Bombshells and also I am singing a duet with Liz Berlin of Rusted Root? I think there might even be some of those special balcony VIP tickets for $100 , all you can eat, all you can drink.....But you don't need to spend $100 tp see us, just if you want to try and drink out the bar..... $10 will get you into the creme de la creme of sexy Pittsburgh 2012!

Love and light, thank you for listening this whole time, without you, none of this would be necessary or possible.
Mandee

Facebook event page with all the deets:
http://www.facebook.com/events/264880136898854/

Information contained on said fb page:

Mr. Smalls 10th Anniversary 2012 New Years Eve Celebration featuring performances by
Phat Man Dee, Bridge City Bombshells Burlesque Troupe, The Hoopla Girls
DJ sets by Sunset Till Sunrise, Buku, Kevin James, Agent Smith, Kinetik, Akuma

Tickets on sale now!
$8 adv, $10 dos
http://www.ticketweb.com/mrsmalls
866-468-3401
or at all Opus One Ticket Outlets -
http://mrsmalls.com/NewPHP/home.php?section=ticketoutlets
Ages: +21

Only 30 VIP BALCONY tickets available for $100 - includes an open bar, all you can eat food, party favors and a Mr. Smalls 10th Anniversary Commemorative Verdi champagne 8 oz bottle. Event runs from 6pm-2am.

2012 marks Mr. Smalls Theatre’s 10th anniversary and we’ve decided to throw a huge New Year’s Eve party to celebrate in style! Come join us on December 31st from 6 PM until 2 AM where we’ll wrap up the year with a dance party, with DJ sets by Sunset Till Sunrise, Buku, Kevin James, Agent Smith, Kinetik and Akuma! Special performances from Phat Man Dee, The Hoopla Girls dancing with hoops all night long...and can you say Burlesque girls? Bridge City Bombshells Burlesque Troop to be exact!

Tickets are on sale now at mrsmalls.com, $8 advance & $10 at the door. We also have 30 exclusive VIP balcony tickets available for $100 which will include open bar, all you can eat food, party favors and a Mr.Smalls 10th Anniversary Commemorative Verdi champagne 8 oz bottle!
Let's bring in the next decade of live music in Pittsburgh together!
Thank you for all your support over the past decade, we wouldn't be here with out you...Our city ROCKS!

Merry ChristmaChannaKwanzaa to you and you and you and especially you!

2011-12-09T21:49:00.001-08:00

Merry ChristmaChannaKwanzaa to you and you and you and especially you!

It has been a very exciting week here at Phat Man Dee Productions, this week I was voted #2 best local jazz singer/blues act in the Pittsburgh City Paper in their 2011 Readers Poll!

Also this week I am in rehearsal for my big show at the Carnegie Science Center next Thursday December 15, 2011, an "Intergalactic Holiday Spectacular with Phat Man Dee and Guaracha", to be specific. It is also serving as my official cd release party for my new holiday ep "Merry ChristmaChannaKwanzaa Vol 1.1" Together we shall present the most rockin’ holiday happening this side of the Milky Way! Celebrate the holiday season with an astronomy-themed performance of multicultural music as I sing in the Buhl Digital Planetarium. Hear classic tunes like “Fly Me to the Moon,” and “Stardust,” against stunning visuals that take you on a stellar journey through the universe. Be among the first to hear my newest hit single, “Picksburgh Xmas”. This one-of-a-kind collaboration blends jazz and science for an unforgettable extravaganza for adults and kids alike! See one show, or stay for both! Thursday, Dec. 15 8 p.m. & 9:30 p.m.; each showtime is a unique performance. One show: $15 advance / $20 door Two shows: $25 advance / $35 door For tickets call 412.237.3400.

Laughingsquid did an amazing blog post about the event and the album!

If you just can't make the show, but wish to have the disc anyways, and did I mention the cover art was illustrated by Pittsburgh's own Rob Rogers? You can purchase the disc online!!

In between now and then I am going to have an awesome time singing for Santarchy tomorrow (though by the time you read this it might be today) so quick, grab your Santa suit and meet me down at NOLA on the Square at 2 pm. NOLA is located at 24 Market Square in downtown Pittsburgh, PA.
For more info on the madness check the fb invite!
Print your own songbook!
Checkpoints and important information!

Or just meet us at NOLA at 2 pm, have a po'boy and listen to the music as the insanity begins.....

To those of you who were able to support by coming out to our benefits at Shadow Lounge the last 2 weeks for either Climate Ground Zero's work in West Virginia or the event at for Occupy Pittsburgh, I just wanted to thank you so much, we raised over $300 for the Climate Ground Zero folks and about $500 for the Occupy Pittsburgh people. Occupy Pgh just got an eviction notice from BNY Mellon, they are asked to leave on Sunday. I don't know what will happen to them, so please pray for them and support both of these worthy groups when and how you can.

Other impending dates featuring Phat Man Dee:
Dec 17
Morose & Macabre's House of Oddities Presents....
BLACK DECEMBER
an Atrocity Exhibition 2012 Fundraiser Event at Belvedere's!
FB invite: http://www.facebook.com/events/194896490595527/

Dec 23
Phat Man Dee and DJ Brother Strawberry at the Tin Front Cafe
Delicious vegetarian fare, home made vodka infusions by Sister Shortcake
6:30 - 9:30 p.m.
http://tinfrontcafe.com/

Dec 31
New Years Eve bash with Phat Man Dee, burlesque, djs and more at Mr Small's Theater!
More info as I get it! $8 in advance, $10 at the door, it is *the* place to be to ring in 2012!!
http://mrsmalls.com/

Love, light, music and friends, I am grateful for all of this and more. We may only have this one life to live and I am glad we are living it together.
Mandee

PMD @ Union Project Tonight & in Rochester, NY tomorrow!

2011-11-18T12:29:00.001-08:00

Ho diggity.....

It's been a lovely thick and crazy week my friends!

I have been veryexcited, just sent the artwork and music off to the disc makingpeople, 1000 copies of "Merry ChistmaChannaKwanzaa Vol 1.1" are ontheir way! Cover art by Rob Rogers of "Brewed on Grant" fame on theoutside and my new hit single "Picksburgh Xmas" arranged by MiguelSague III within..... As soon as I have them in my hot little hands I hope to sell each and every one of you at least 2 copies.

Until then..... tonight I am singing at the Union Project at 801 N Negley Avenue in East Liberty, for the Initiative for Transgender Leadership. They are hosting a Commencement Celebration. ITL is aboutto honor their first fellow, Rayden Sorock. We are celebrating thecompletion of the inaugural 10-month fellowship program dedicated tothe professional development and leadership of transgender youth inPittsburgh. The event is free and open to the public. I will besinging from 6:45 until 7 pm. Would love to see you if you are

available!

Tomorrow I am headed to Rochester, NY to perform at Abilene's Bar andLounge, 153 Liberty Pole Way with Carlos Peña and Miguel Sague III. I have gotton some great press on it, apparently Rochester is as excitedto have me as I am to sing to them!

See this wonderful bit of press I got from Mr Frank De Blase in theirRochester City Newspaper:
http://www.rochestercitynewspaper.com/events/choice-concerts/2011/11/...

Also got a mention in Freetime!
http://www.freetime.com/?q=content/departments/phat-man-dee

The details:

Phat Man Dee, multi lingual jazz artist, shall make her Rochester, NY
debut on November 19, 2011 at Abilene Bar and Lounge!
Doors open at 7 p.m.
Music starts at 8 p.m. with the Alt-Country and Americana Sounds of
that dynamic Husband and Wife duo: Kraszman & Fishwife
Followed at 9:30 p.m. by The Pride of Pittsburgh, “The Peggy Lee ofPunk" : Phat Man Dee with Miguel Sague III & Carlos Peña
All Ages, $5 cover charge Facebook event page:
http://www.facebook.com/events/197013380376676/
If you have any friends in the Rochester area, give them a call, I
would love to sing to them!

Very exciting Pittsburgh gigs on the near horizon:
I am singing back up for Christiane D at her music release party on
Friday, November 25, 2011, 7:00pm until 10:00pm. Pittsburgh based
artist Christiane D, August Wilson Center Fellow, releases her first
solo album, Obliquity of the Ecliptic, at a special live performance
and Album Release Party at the Shadow Lounge in East Liberty on
Friday, November 25th.

TICKETS ON-SALE NOW:
http://www.showclix.com/event/ChristianeDsAlbumReleaseParty
Facebook event page:
http://www.facebook.com/events/305032742856412/?ref=ts

Two days later I have put together an incredible evening with myfriend Kip, this night is going to showcase some of Pittsburgh'sfinest talent and for an amazing cause:

Pittsburner Decompression party to benefit Climate Ground Zero Sunday

November 27, 2011, 8 pm - 12 midnight , 18 and over, $10
Shadow Lounge, 5972 Baum Blvd, Pittsburgh, PA 15206

Featuring musicians:
Phat Man Dee
Miguel Sague Jr & Miguel Sague III
Geña
The Hood Gang
Amoeba Knievel

Featuring dance performances by:
Elizabeth Couteau of Bridge City Bombshells
Christine Hamer Andrews formerly of Zafira
SunBear Coe

Circus geeks and masters of the bizarre:
Andrew the Impaled - Pittsburgh's premier pain proof clown
Trundle Manor Creepshow

With DJs in the Blue Room:
James Gyre, Dr. Zayaz, Glitchard Nixon, Freebass & Dean

Video art inside and fire dancing outside!

All proceeds benefit Climate Ground Zero and their work to haltmountain top removal mining in West Virginia.
$10, 18 and over, 8 p.m.
http://www.climategroundzero.net/
http://www.shadowlounge.net/
Facebook event page:
http://www.facebook.com/events/136777183092071/

Come on out, you know I love you!
Phat Man Dee

P.S.
Do you want frenetic and sometimes meaningfully bits of prose and
poetry about everything and nothing in particular?
Follow me on twitter: http://www.twitter.com/phatmandee

Friday w/ DJ Brother Strawberry & Sat w/ Bella Sin!

2011-11-03T21:13:00.000-07:00

Hey hey hey!

I hope you had a phabulously phreaky All Hallow's Eve, I know I did. My favorite costume was the psychiatrist dressed as the 1%. This week has been sooo busy, I have been ensconced in finishing my new holiday album "Merry ChristmaChannaKwanzaa Vol. 1.1." at Church Recording Studios and tomorrow night I shall debut my brand new "Pittsburgh XMAS" song at my show at the Tin Front Cafe in Homestead. I will be singing from 7 - 10 pm with DJ Brother Strawberry who spins fairly eclectic but a usually jazz based set at my new favorite vegetarian restaurant. Tomorrow I shall try the pumpkin gnocchi. I hope you stop by, they've a full bar, wonderful scene, great beer, really delicious veggie food and me!

Deets:
Friday November 4, 2011 , 7 - 10 pm, all ages
(I don't think they have a cover charge but if they do it won't be more than $3.)
216 E. Eighth Ave Homestead, PA 15120
(412) 461-4615
http://www.tinfrontcafe.com/

The next day I just added a couple shows to my schedule, Bella Sin of La Femme Mystique Burlesque (Cleveland, OH) has invited me to join her show at the Christine Fréchard Gallery. Bella is just a gorgeous dancer and has hosted me on some outrageous shows in Cleveland.
Originally of Juarez, Mexico this delightful entertainer delights me every time I see her, her bump and grind es muy delicioso! Joining me on the musical plane are my wonderfully talented friends Carlos Peña on guitar & Miguel Sague III on vocals and conga.

Deets:
Saturday November 5, 2011, show at 8 pm and 10 pm, $10 each show
5871 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15217
http://www.bellasin.weebly.com/

I hope to see you out, some wonderful longtime friends have come to see me lately and it always makes me so happy to see old friends and new friends together. I am blessed to know you and to share this version of reality with you.

Amoeba Knievel tonight!

2011-10-21T11:57:00.000-07:00

Good day and salacious shenanigans to all my good people!

It's been a thick couple of weeks in my world, I recorded at theChurch Recording Studios with my buddy Dana the final tracks to myimpending release "Phat Man Dee & friends, Merry ChristmaChannaKwanzaaVo. 1.1" with my brand new "Pgh XMAS" song, arranged by Miguel SagueIII of Guaracha. The session was phabulous, I cannot wait to releaseit and make it available at the gigs!

But between now and then I would like to invite you tonight, October21, if you reside in the Pittsburgh area to come see my husband's band"Amoeba Knievel" play at St James Tavern, located at 153 S 18th St inthe South Side!
10:30 pm, $5, over 21 also performing are theMoodswingers!http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=222071077857331

Tomorrow I will be heading downtown to support the Justice for Jordan rally at Market Square. 2 years ago a high school student named Jordan was chased and beaten by 3 unidentified men who later turned out to be police officers. These officers beat him so badly he had braids ripped out of his hair, they arrested him for resisting arrest and though the charges were dropped against young Mr Miles, the police officers were never charged. They got a year of paid leave and are currently back on the job. I am not booked to sing at the rally or anything, but I will definitely be there.
For more information of this call for justice for a young musician so brutally beaten:
http://justiceforjordanmiles.com/

Impending performing appearances:
Friday October 28
I am emceeing at Cattivo for The Bridge City Bombshells BurlesqueTroupe, with Devilz in the Detailz, guest burlesque performances byBella Sin of La Femme Mystique Burlesque!
21+ Doors 9pm Show 10pm, Admission $10 at Door
Cattivo is located at 146 44th St, Pittsburgh, PA 15201
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=250595958317704

Friday November 4
I am singing at the Tin Front Cafe with DJ Brother Strawberry! I lovethis restaurant, even if it is vegetarian... Their butternut lasagnemakes me so happy..... The entire blocks around it in Homestead havethe most amazing shops, like Mostly Mod and of course The OuterSkin.... Haven't been into Tracy's yet, but it is definitely on mylist. So, anyhoo, come on out, it's a wonderful place and I hope todebut a couple of my new holiday tunes that night. Not sure if I willactually have the cd's in hand for sale by the time that show happens,but maybe.....
Tin Front Cafe, 216 E. Eighth Ave Homestead, PA 15120
More info call 412-461-4615
http://www.tinfrontcafe.com/

Be well, I will send out more info about the holiday disc with "PghXMAS" on it and please, whatever you do on Halloween, know that in mysoul, I have always wanted to dress up as Humpty Dumpty, After theFall, and I have always wanted to have Tommy Amoeba dress up as Allthe King's Horses and All the King's Men, but so far to no avail.Maybe this will be the year. If you see a suspicious trail of egg yolkbubbling through the streets of Pittsburgh, PA, maybe then my dreamswere fulfilled.....

Love, light and eggs,Mandee
http://www.reverbnation.com/phatmandee
http://www.twitter.com/phatmandee
http://www.facebook.com/phatmandee

Phat Man Dee @ Backstage Bar, Stories on the Square & World Maker Faire!

2011-09-12T20:41:00.000-07:00

They say once a girl starts singing in a bathtub 20 feet in the air she'll never want to sing in the shower again.... And so I find myself booking transport to NY this weekend for the World Maker Faire at New York Hall of Science in Queens. But I have many songs to sing between now and then and I hope you may attend one of the events!

new photo by Adam Blai 2011

This Friday September 16, 2011 in Pittsburgh, PA
From 5 - 7 pm I shall sing with Miguel Sague III and Carlos Peña of Guaracha Latin Dance Band at the Backstage Bar downtown at 655 Penn Ave, Pittsburgh, PA. No cover, great little menu, delicious cocktails. Start your weekend with a song or two by one of Pittsburgh's most engaging performers. Jazz in any language with Spanish guitar and Afro Cuban percussion is the perfect complement to your busy weekend. No cover, great bartender and great light menu. See you in Pittsburgh, where the music flows and the drummer knows just what you need.
For more info visit Backstage Bar on the web!

Immediately afterwards *THAT SAME EVENING OF 9/16/2011* I shall rush off to speak about personal transformation and stories of emergence, at "Stories on the Square". I have absolutely no idea what I am going to say. I might tell about the time we nearly burned down Lafayette, LA during a tropical storm playing flaming soccer with the Veg O Matic in 1997, or I might tell about the time my preschool teacher called my mother when she thought I was suicidal because I chose black as the
color for my birthday crown.....Who knows, I am happy there are other speakers on the gig, like Vanessa German, Wendy Bell of WTAE, Brian Broome, Christina Springer and more! This is sure to be an powerful evening of intimacy, expression and of course...delicious food. Tickets are $45, (a tax-dedictable donation) and there are only have 55 seats available. All funds raised by Stories on the Square will be used to fund Initiative for Transgender Leadership's (ITL) first paid Fellow, Rayden Sorock.
For more info:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=203953746324579

Then I shall make haste to New York City! The Lifesize Mousetrap is set up again, this time at New York Hall of Science at World Maker Faire! I shall sing again in their beautiful bathtub 20 feet in the air again, and this time I am even getting a set on the Maker Faire music stage at 1 pm on Sunday September 18, 2011!

http://www.lifesizemousetrap.org/

http://makerfaire.com/newyork/2011/

So, I have a busy busy week ahead of me, and I hope to see you somewhere sooner rather than later. It's gonna be swell. Better than cookies under moonlight. Ok, maybe not quite that good, but close, I promise.

Other dates in the not so distant future:

Friday September 23 with DJ Brother Strawberry at Tin Front Cafe at 216 East Eighth Avenue, Homestead, PA, 15120. I'll be singing some tunes as he djs the night away. Amazing vegetarian food, good drinks, I suggest you make reservations, it's Bernard's from Mostly Mod's birthday party and it's gonna be off the hook.
website: http://tinfrontcafe.com/ ph:412.461.4615

Saturday September 24 with Tadashi, Gia Cacalano & Jeff Berman at the
Zen Center of Pittsburgh for a benefit to assist survivors of the Japanese Earthquake and Tsunami Relief efforts. All proceeds will be donated to the Japanese Red Cross. $15
http://deepspringzen.org/

Tuesday September 27 at the Andy Warhol Museum opening for NewVillager, a collective of multi-media artists from San Francisco and New York.
Read more at http://www.warhol.org/
http://www.warhol.org/webcalendar/event.aspx?id=3815#ixzz1XnURCw2X

Be well, prosper, stay warm and snug, my beautiful and human spiritual machines, I am honored to be in your world.
Mandee
http://www.twitter.com/phatmandee
http://www.facebook.com/phatmandee
http://www.reverbnation.com/phatmandee

Jazz @ Andy's Tonight! Followed by Fiesta Wednesday!

2011-08-31T06:58:00.000-07:00

What are you doing tonight??? I would love to see you out and about downtown at the beautiful Fairmount Hotel in their Andy's Wine Bar! Joining me are Miguel Sague III and Carlos Peña of Guaracha and on bass Mr Tony DePaolis! Showtime is 8-10 pm, no cover, great cocktails and a delightful little menu. This is one of Pittsburgh's newer homes for jazz downtown and I am really excited to play there.

Afterwards I am rushing over to the Shadow Lounge to complete my evening with Guaracha Latin Dance Band and their every Wednesday Pittsburgh tradition of Food Bank Fiesta! $5 to get in with a can for the food bank or $7 without. 21 and over.

Hanging out with me tonight is Rose Harden and Mark Perez of Lifesize Mousetrap, if you want to come tell them how awesome they are and how much you want them back, tonight is the night, for tomorrow they drive their bus away...... The beautiful mice are leaving and they're taking all the cheese.....

To everyone who came out to see the Mousetrap last week, thank you for supporting mine, the Toonseum and the Carnegie Science Center's efforts to bring fun science and weird art to out humble Burgh. To those of you who couldn't make it, let's see if we can bring them back next year!

To see CBS Local news coverage of the event click here!!!

Video of me singing in their bathtub at last years World Maker Faire in NY

Watch out Batman, there's a Mousetrap in town!

2011-08-10T16:10:00.000-07:00

It's true, Batman is filming in Pittsburgh, and I am pretty excited about it. In the heart of all the world's growing pains and insanity right now, somehow Hollywood manages to make it all shiny and new..... but as excited as I am for the caped crusader, I am far more thrilled to let you know, if you hadn't already heard.....

The larger than Lifesize Mousetrap is in town!!!!! These old friends of mine from Burning Man and beyond have been working on this artistic physics experiment and wonderment for over 15 years. When I see them at their big shows in California or New York, they let me sing in the Bathtub of the Mousetrap before they drop the bowling ball into the trebouchet..... We are having a gala event to open their week long installation at the Carnegie Science Center this Saturday and I really hope you can attend. It's not a cheap event, but it is soooooo worth it. Trust me. Besides, you can come back all week long the following week to see it during Science Center hours for free, it's by the river, next to the submarine. Joe Wos from The Toonseum helped put this together, so come out to the event and tell him he rawks. Cuz he does. He's not just a pretty face who can draw a mean 'toon, he is a mover of mountains......

Info!

Life-Size Mousetrap Big Bash!

Presented by The Toonseum at Carnegie Science Center

Saturday, August 13 · 7:30pm - 10:30pm
Carnegie Science Center
1 Allegheny Center
Pittsburgh, PA

Kick off this SMASHING exhibit with the ‘cheesiest’ party in town. For the first time ever, the nationally renowned Life-Size Mousetrap and its crew will perform in Pittsburgh. See this incredible spectacle, with local performers like Phat Man Dee, Andrew the Impaled, the Reverend David Apocalypse, bellydancers Olivia Kissel, Rose Harden and Lady J, JD Limelight, Jesse Roadkill and music by Guaracha Latin Dance Band in a show that makes physics so rockin’ it would make Isaac Newton drop his apples. Science, music, drinks, juggling, and a two-ton safe falling from a 30 ft. crane…you won’t want to miss this.

Tickets include two evening performances of the Mousetrap, live music, three drinks, and munchies including assorted cheeses and desserts. Add-on a Laser Show or Omnimax movie at the door for only $5!

$40 advance registration/$45 at the door
Ages 21 and over
RSVP by Thursday, August 11

If you'd like to attend this event you can purchase tickets online.
http://members.carnegiemuseums.org/site/Calendar/700343887?view=Detail&id=68256

Facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=194157053976726

Mousetrap website
http://www.lifesizemousetrap.org/

So please come out. If you don't I really will cry. I have lots of other gigs, it's true, but this is the biggest thing I have helped bring to Pittsburgh since our wedding 9 years ago. Ferreals.

Other gigs I have happening this month:
August 20 at NOLA on the Square with Miguel Sague III & Carlos Peña
August 27 at Kerouac Fest with Tony DePaolis
August 31 at Andy's at the Fairmount with Tony DePaolis, Carlos Peña, & Miguel Sague III

(Please note that only one of the gigs mentioned above has a LARGER THAN LIFESIZE GAME OF MOUSETRAP I MET DURING MY OLD CIRCUS AND BURNING MAN DAYS!!!!)

photo by Michael Michael

Love,
Mandee
http://www.reverbnation.com/phatmandee

Reeva Memorial/Crohn's Foundation benefit 2mrw & th' Bullfrog Willard McGhee next Thursday!

2011-06-17T15:56:00.000-07:00

Hey, hey, hey! My phantasmagorical phat-o-licious phan base and super phriends!

I hope this letter of intent meets you well. I intend to do much as I have done before, which is sing, and hope you listen. By your reading of this letter, you indirectly agree you shall listen, and hopefully I will sing. Now we have all the legal bases covered, upcoming show listings for Phat Man Dee and friends!

Tomorrow night, June 18, 2011

I'm deeply honored to be included in a show opening for Rusted Root. I will be accompanied by Colter Harper, Miguel Sague III & special guests. Also performing are Bill Deasy, Lightening Box and Drowning Clowns. Mr. Smalls will host the “My Heart Will Go On” benefit, an evening of music and artistry to honor the name and legacy of Reeva Alexis Kelly, a 12 year old angel who recently passed away. All proceeds will benefit The Reeva Charitable Fund, the goal of which is to empower the child suffering from Crohn’s and Colitis, and The Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America.
About The Reeva Charitable Fund: “Our beloved Reeva Alexis Kelly passed away on November 15, 2010, at the age of 12 after a two year struggle with Crohn’s Disease. The Reeva Charitable Fund is dedicated to easing the struggle of children who suffer from Crohn’s Disease. Donations will help such young people take part in joyous activities consonant with Reeva’s many interests such as dance, theatre, photography and music. Funds will also serve to promote Crohn’s Disease awareness among educators and peers to help ease the day-to- day life of children who live with this disease.” -The Berlin Family
“My niece Reeva was a beautiful and amazingly talented girl who was taken from us far too soon. Her mother (my sister) Katie and the rest of our family feel that the least we can do to honor her memory is to try and create opportunities for children like her to live a more beautiful life.” –Liz Berlin (Rusted Root, Drowning Clowns, Mr. Smalls, Creative.Life.Support)

If you want to come, I suggest you buy tix in advance. They are selling very well and might sell out. Tickets:
$25 General Admission
$45 Garnet level VIP
The Garnet Level VIP offers a VIP reception with hors d’oeuvres, beer and wine, “Hot World Chamber Music” by The Ortner-Roberts Duo, and a meet and greet with the artists performing that evening.

$180 Diamond level VIP
The Diamond Level will offer a VIP reception with hors d’oeuvres, beer and wine, “Hot World Chamber Music” by The Ortner-Roberts Duo, and a meet and greet with the artists performing that evening plus a signed Rusted Root poster, and a VIP Balcony seat during the show.

Tickets may be purchased at the Mr. Smalls Box Office, or online at www.ticketweb.com/mrsmals or charge by phone 866.468.3401
(All service fees will be waived by ticketweb in support of the benefit)
Facebook event page:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=147251832012395

**************************************************************

Next Thursday June 23, 2011

Please please come out to this, I am playing with Carlos Peña and Miguel Sague III, and my old friend and master blues man th' Bullfrog Willard McGhee is
returning to South Side!! It's been at least 10 years since I last booked him on my old weekly variety show but his music is as killing as ever! Tall Paul Leech who played on my first album and also with much beloved S Side bands of yore like Crawling Low Band is also coming home for the gig!
Only $10. 21 and over at the Club Cafe, 56 S 12th St, South Side, Pittsburgh, PA.
More info about the gig:
http://www.clubcafelive.com/

His website with music and videos:
http://www.willardmcghee.com/

Facebook event page:

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=208923032478955

**************************************************************

I will be emceeing for the Bridge City Bombshell's monthly show/ parade of decorated flesh and fabulous debauchery, in a monthly celebration of wild women and their immense power. Good times. Hot chicks. Beer. What else can I say?
Belevdere's is located at 4016 Butler Street, Pittsburgh
(Lawrenceville), PA 15201 412-687-2555 Doors open 9, showtime 10 pm.
I think the cover is $10 before 10 pm and $12 after, don't quote me.

**************************************************************

Following Thursday June 30, 2011

I am singing at a Tornado Benefit with Miguel Sague III at Mullaney's Harp and Fiddle, 2329 Penn avenue, Pittsburgh, Pa, to raise funds for the Red Cross in an effort to help those that have lost so much. Other performers include Terry Griffith, Khafif , Phat Man Dee , Whiskey Limerick, Sean O'Donnell, Dan and Casey Deely, Red Hand Paddy.
Tickets are only $10.
More info:
http://www.pittsburghirish.org/benefit/

**************************************************************

Summer festival appearances include:

*X Day* (for Subgenius ministers only) July 1-5, 2011 at Wisteria Campground, Pomeroy, Ohio. If you have purchased your salvation, come on down and join us for the Rupture as we await the pleasure domes and the aliens! (Only, $30 what a deal!)
http://www.subgenius.com/scatalog/x_day_items.htm

*Starwood*
July 7 - 10
I will again be at Wisteria Campground, Pomeroy, Ohio. At this event I will be singing at the Caffeina and Green Man Pub stages with Miguel Sague III and Mathew Tembo. Lots of fire, freedom and arcane knowledge live at this beautiful campground!
http://www.rosencomet.com/starwood/

*Sirius Rising*
Thursday July 14, 2011
I shall sing on the main stage at Sirius Rising at Brushwood Campgrounds in Sherman, NY. I will be singing with Miguel Sague III, Carlos Peña and special guests. I love this campground. I camp with Anomie and we have a permanent
dancing pole in the front yard. Come for a spin, but don't forget your panties!

*Bobby Porter Fest*
July 21, 22, 23 (I'll probably be on the 23rd, more details tba.)
Somewhere in Pittsburgh, in honor of the great singer Bobby Porter.

*Shadow Lounge Block Party*
Friday July 29, 2011
More info tba.

Please come out and see me sometime soon. I love you dearly, and its easier to love you in person.
Mandee
http://www.facebook.com/phatmandee
http://www.twitter.com/phatmandee
http://www.reverbnation.com/phatmandee

Tonight at Little E's! Next week in Asheville, NC!

2011-05-27T10:25:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the late notice, it's been a beautifully busy week! Christiane's music debut at the August Wilson Center was fierce and flawless, we packed the room! I remembered all my harmonies! Christiane was an elemental force! The band kicked it so hard I almost fell off! The weekend previous was spent with The Cadillac Creeps, Damien Youth, Hellga of the It's Alive Show, the Bridge City Bombshells, Adam Blai and so many wonderful others at the Grand Midway for DraculaCon. And now I'm filling out some intense applications for some grants and big projects I'd like to do, so forgive me if my publicity is a little behind the ball.....

But if you aren't crazed tonight (though if you are, some sweet jazz is probably EXACTLY what you need) come downtown to Little E's, I am singing with Miguel Sague III and Carlos Peña of Guaracha Latin Dance Band from about 8:30 til about midnight. No cover, only a $10 minimum for your choice of delicious food and/or tasty drinks. Let me sing in English, Spanish or French to you knowing that we can play anything, for any reason, at any time...... Besame Mucho to the Star Trek theme song, anything could happen, but no matter what happens, when I have Miguel and Carlos at my side I know it is artistically possible.
Little E's is located at 949 Liberty Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15122
Phone 412-392-2217
Facebook event page:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=190253847689104

Next week I am heading down to Ashevegas! (Known on the maps as Asheville) North Carolina! I am singing on Sunday June 5 at Mo'Daddys after an incredible event known as "ABS Fest" or "The American Burlesque and Sideshow Festival". While I am not officially on the bill, I will be attending this incredible event and am planning an unofficial after party on one of Asheville finest clubs with a great musical history. (Heck, the WHOLE town has great musical history!) Joining me will be my old friends, two musicians I have featured on both of my discs, Tall Paul Leech on bass and Michael Murray on piano.
Only $5, 21 and over 21. 9 pm. If you have any friends near Asheville, please please please let them know about this gig, I am really hoping to make some new friends and fans so I can keep taking the show to new places and spread the music to all and sundry......

Photo by Adam Blai 2010

Mo Daddy’s Bar is located at 77 Biltmore Ave., Asheville NC 28801

Facebook event page:

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=147580188648551

More info on the American Burlesque and Sideshow Festival:

http://www.sideshowburlesque.org/

Love, light and song friends......

Bring out the dogs and let your heads hang high, I'd love to sing to you by the by!

Mandee

Books, Burlesque and More!

2011-05-11T15:25:00.000-07:00

Who loves the written word or a pair of pasties more than me? If you like the turning of a page or a shimmy and a shake, you should totally make it to both my shows this weekend.... If you don't like these things, I don't know how exactly you ended up on this list, or reading this blog, but I'm happy you are here, and hope we at Phat Man Dee Productions may enlighten you to the beauty of flesh and language.

This Friday May 13th I am emceeing and singing at the Rex Theater! We are hosting a great night featuring visiting burlesque beauties from Baltimore!

Baltimore’s Sticky Buns Burlesque troupe is performing at the Rex Theater for a Friday the 13th Masquerade Ball. Sticky Buns specializes in unique theatrical striptease with sexy, comedic commentary. They’ll be performing with local jazz singer Phat Man Dee and the Bridge City Bombshells. The show is part of the “Burlesque at the Rex” series. Tickets are $15 in advance, $17 day-of-show, and to fit with the Friday the 13th Masquerade Ball, $13 in costume. Advanced ticket-holders will be refunded $2 at the door if in costume. Doors open 8:00 PM; show begins 9:00 PM and will be done by 11:30 pm, so if you're coming, buy your ticket now, come in costume for partial refund, and be on time. It's gonna be super hot and sticky sweet, I want you to enjoy every sugary drop!

Tickets are available here:
http://rextheater.inticketing.com/events/145062/Sticky-Buns-Burlesque
Facebook event page:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=101199149966656
The Rex is located at, 1602 E. Carson St., Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in the South Side

Once upon a time there was a wonderful used bookstore in the South Side, always full of cheap wonderful books that opened in my brain worlds I could never have imagined. Now I am older and have traveled a little more, I understand what it really was, affordable access to the wormhole of adventure without which I would be a sad and ignorant dullard. I was very out of sorts when ElJays Books left South Side, but luckily for us they have moved into some beautiful new digs in Dormont and they have more books than EVER! I am singing at their Grand Re Opening this Saturday and I want YOU to be there! No cover charge and cheap books everywhere!

Saturday, May 14 · 6:00pm - 8:00pm at Eljay's Books
3233 West Liberty Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in Dormont
Free event!

Come celebrate Eljay's Grand Reopening. We're full of books and ready to party. We just need you. (And your family and friends, and their family and friends etc... Music from the lovely Tommy Amoeba and even lovelier Phat Man Dee, with appearances by Andrew the Impaled, Christine Andrews of Zafira, poet Jerome Crooks and Professor EmCee Squared of the It's Alive Show promised to stop by and show off his spooky car! Cheap Books! Food and Drink More Books! Door Prizes And did we mention all the Books?

Lastly, if you are reading this on Wednesday May 11, 2011, the day I am composing it (I love and fear the immediacy of the internet) please note that today is a Pittsburgh is Art's Day of Giving. Basically, if you can give any $$ to the smaller organizations who help keep our culture unique and fresh in Pittsburgh, today is the day, because GPAC has put together a powerful coalition of folks who are willing to match all donations up to $400,000. You know, I was thinking today about some of the wonderful things people have said to me or gifted me with over the years because they like my music and the shows I produce and I was thinking about how lucky we as a region are to have so much talent here with such a supportive environment, and how it is the smaller organizations that really keep it all moving. If you can, check out the website and send some $$ to a group you like.
http://www.pittsburghgives.org

Here are some more details:

Pittsburgh is Art Day of Giving will be held on Wednesday, May 11, 2011.
This is a 24-hour opportunity for the Pittsburgh community to support our thriving arts and culture sector. Initiated by the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council (GPAC) and the Heinz Endowments, it is sponsored by The Pittsburgh Foundation and modeled after their October 2010 Pittsburgh Gives initiative. With the help of funding partners such as The Benedum Foundation, the Buhl Foundation, The Grable Foundation and the Hillman Foundation, a $400K+ matching pool will be available to over 130 local arts and culture organizations. It is the perfect time to support smaller non-profits and help them stretch their funding a little further. Visit http://www.pittsburghgives.org on May 11th, to show your support for groups like the ToonSeum or the work of Creative.Life.Support, the not for profit arm of Mr. Smalls Funhouse or Pittsburgh Filmmakers or any other large number of wonderful groups who work hard every day to keep art alive and kicking in our beautiful city.

Next week on Saturday May 21, 2011, I am singing some original songs I have been keeping under my hat about ghosts and robots at the Grand Midway Hotel in Windber, PA. It's going to be a ridiculous event. Other acts and speakers include:
Devilz in the Detailz, Michelle Belanger, Bridge City Bombshells, Catherine S Cox, Damien Youth, Adam Blai, The Cadillac Creeps, Rosemary Ellen Guiley, Chad Hammit, Nova is tending bar, and Ghost hunting will be permitted. A hotel tour will be part of the experience... Buy your tickets now, and I am sure the in house's hotel rooms are being used for all the out of town guests, but I am sure there are reasonably priced hotels in very nearby Johnstown.
http://iliveinahauntedhotel.com/Dcon/Draculacon2011.html

The following Wednesday May 25, 2011 I am singing with Stevee Wellons of Smooth Groove, we are singing back up for Christiane D's new project!
More info and all the details:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=209065849124101

Love, light, burlesque, books and vampires! Happy May everybody!
Mandee

PS I would like to add that the above writing is dedicated to my mother, Sally Baker Kivowitz. She is a wonderful writer and teacher. Currently living in Chinle, AZ she is teaching special needs children on the Navajo reservation. She worked has worked very hard my entire life as a teacher, she has worked with college kids, inner city special needs youth, prisoners and now rurally based special needs kids. She fought in the Civil Rights marches in Oklahoma in the 60's and has always instilled in us a sense of social justice. She is a special lady and I have much to thank her for. I wish I could buy her a hot tub and a decent retirement plan, but in lieu of being able to do either of those things I would like to publicly say, thanks Mom, for loving and supporting me just the way I am and not how I was "supposed to be".

Tonight is Cinco de Mayo Eve! Animal Friends Benefit at Diesel!

2011-05-04T14:42:00.000-07:00

Friends, Romans, Yinzers!

I entreat you to celebrate your Latin American heritage, or if you are like me, celebrate the heritage of the Latin Americans around you! Sorry for the late notice but I just got a call to sing as opening act for Pittsburgh's longest running Latin Dance Band, Guaracha! Tonight at Shadow Lounge I am singing this evening May 4, 2011 from about 9:30 - 10:15 pm as the opening act for Guaracha Latin Dance Band's Fiesta Wednesdays! Join me as I sing with their band leader Miguel Sague III and their guitarist Carlos Peña as we celebrate Cinco de Mayo Eve! The event is only $7, 18 and over, and if you bring a non perishable food item, it is only $5. To date they have raised almost 1000 pounds of food for the Greater Pittsburgh Food Bank. After I sing, Miguel will be giving dance lessons in salsa, side step, back step and cha cha style, and maybe even some merengue! Finally, the piece de la resistance, Guaracha will take the stage, about 11 or so, and blow us away with their salsa, cumbia, merengue, reggaton and more! Cuban standards and original music! I hope to see you out tonight!

This weekend, on Friday May 6 2011, from 6:00pm - 9:30pm, I am singing and emceeing at a benefit for Animal Friends at Diesel.

Here's the deets:

"Charaoke…Karaoke with a ♥” is brought to you by Top of the Line Entertainment! TICKETS ARE AVAILABLE HERE: http://www.showclix.com/event/29952
The night will feature karaoke by Anti-Flag's JUSTIN SANE, The Pump Fake's PATRICK MALONEY, Toonseum's JOE WOS, Comedian AARON KLEIBER, Former On-Air Radio Host SHAWN ISRAEL, Singer JESS SIDES, Comedian SEAN COLLIER, Una De Luna's MARLA DEGENHARDT, Comedian STEVE SWANSON, Ferris Bueller's Revenge's SHAWN MAUDHUIT, Kill the Drama's BRYAN LASKEY, also featuring a few members of the STEEL CITY DERBY DEMONS!!!! The event will be hosted by PHAT MAN DEE! Judges include WTAE's SALLY WIGGIN, 100.7FM’s MELANIE TAYLOR, WDVE’s MIKE WYSOCKIi and City Paper Radio Host LYNN CULLEN! All proceeds go to ANIMAL FRIENDS!!!

DIESEL CLUB LOUNGE is located at:
1601 East Carson Street, South Side, Pittsburgh, PA 15203

Facebook event page link:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=158106784242653

And then next week I have 2 wonderful events that I am very very excited about!
Friday May 13, 2011 I am singing and emceeing for the Sticky Buns Burlesque Troupe from Baltimore, MD at the Rex Theater!

Deets:
Friday, May 13 · 8:00pm - 11:30pm
"Sticky Buns Burlesque brings Baltimore bizarreness to Rex"

Baltimore’s Sticky Buns Burlesque troupe is performing at the Rex Theater for a Friday the 13th Masquerade Ball. Sticky Buns specializes in unique theatrical striptease with sexy, comedic commentary.
They’ll be performing with local jazz singer Phat Man Dee and the Bridge City Bombshells.

The show is part of the “Burlesque at the Rex” series. Tickets are $15 in advance, $17 day-of-show, and to fit with the Friday the 13th Masquerade Ball, $13 in costume. Advanced ticket-holders will be refunded $2 at the door if in costume.
Doors open 8:00 PM; show begins 9:00 PM.
Tickets are available here:
http://rextheater.inticketing.com/events/145062/Sticky-Buns-Burlesque

The Rex Theater is located at 1602 E. Carson St., Pittsburgh, PA, 15203

Facebook event page:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=101199149966656

The following day on Saturday, May 14 · 6:00pm - 8:00pm
I am singing at the Grand Re Opening of Eljay's Books!
They are now located in Dormont at 3233 West Liberty Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA
I was so sad when they left South Side, but their new store is so big and lovely!
They are full of books and ready to party. We just need you. (And your family and friends, and their family and friends etc...
Music from Tommy Amoeba and Phat Man Dee with Andrew the Impaled and special surprise guests!
Cheap Books! Food and Drink More Books! Door Prizes And did I mention all the Books?

Dates to save, more info soon:

May 21, 2011 I am singing at DraculaCon in Windber, PA at the Grand Midway Hotel.
More info:
http://www.iliveinahauntedhotel.com/Dcon/Draculacon2011.html

May 25, 2011 I am singing back up for Christiane D's new solo album preview at the August Wilson Center. More info soon!

As a closing statement, my friend Baby Dee, an incredible songstress, composer, pianist, and harpist is performing this Friday night at the Warhol Museum. I toured in the circus with her back in the mid 90's. She is one of my biggest inspirations. I am going to be raising money for Animal Friends at Diesel, and our event is going to rock, but if you can split your night in 2 and do both, I highly recommend you check her out.
More info:
http://www.warhol.org/webcalendar/event.aspx?id=2540

Love, light and vegan flavored butter cakes,
Mandee
http://www.twitter.com/phatmandee
http://www.facebook.com/phatmandee
http://www.phatmandee.com
http://www.reverbnation.com/phatmandee

2011-04-22T10:28:00.000-07:00

Hey friends,

Thank you so much for being the beautiful people you are! It is an honor to live in this world and know that you are out there and I can sing to you and you will like it..... It's really all I have ever wanted. I may not be rich in dollars or gold, but in spirit and love I feel like I won every level and got every super jackpot on every pinball I have ever played.

TONIGHT, Friday April 22, 2011 our region is blessed with the incoming of one of the greatest divas of them all, the Toughest Girl Alive herself, Candye Kane! I met her years ago when I opened up for her at Club Cafe and then toured briefly with her in California and Arizona with the Fat Bottomed Girl Burlesque Review in 2005. She has received many accolades and awards as a blues singer since and has even produced a musical about her life called the "The Toughest Girl Alive". She is an incredible singer and a beautiful performer, we are blessed to have her talents travel through our region. Please come on out, it will be an amazing night!

Show time is 9 pm and Moondogs is located at 378 Freeport Rd, Blawnox, PA 15238. Phone at the club is 412-848-2040. I will be singing with Carlos Peña, Ralphie Crewe and Miguel Sague III of Guaracha Latin Dance Band!

More info:
http://www.candyekane.com/
http://www.moondogs.us/AllEventsatMoondogs.html
FB event page:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=156622414401615

The following evening on Saturday April 23, 2011, I am singing downtown, in the heart of the cultural district at one of Pittsburgh's newest and tastiest clubs....... NOLA on the Square! Join us in a beautiful evening of music, jazz in English, Spanish and of course French at this beautiful restaurant, a New Orleans Jazz Brasserie located on beautifully renovated Market Square. A breathtaking transformation of the storied 1902 Landmark Tavern, a Nouveau Creole menu by Executive Chef Andrew Hebson, Bourbon Street cocktails, live jazz and blues music at least twice a week all contribute to that Big Easy vibe. You'll love our Patio seating on Market Square and the convenience of valet parking. Stroll by and come see us at Nola On The Square! I will be singing with Carlos Peña, Ralphie Crewe and George Jones!

Show time is 9 pm - 12 am The cover is a $5 voluntary donation, 100% of the proceeds benefiting, MAKE IT RIGHT "helping to rebuild New Orleans Lower Ninth Ward" and THE NATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATION GULF OIL SPILL RECOVERY FUND.
(Donation Recipient is Customer's Choice)
For more information:
http://www.nolaonthesquare.com/
FB event page:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=201966296503582

And in closing, to recap from last week, we raised almost $1000 for the Tsunami Benefit for the International Medical Corps at the Shadow Lounge! Thank you to those of you who came to support and to perform, we had a most magical evening. I captured the show on video, so I hope to get a little time to edit and post some of those incredible performances. Blessings upon you and much love. Next week I am emceeing the Bridge City Bombshells show at Belvedere's on Friday and singing with Miguel and Carlos at the Christine Frechard Gallery on Saturday from 7:30 - 9:30 pm, more info soon.

Quick reminder, do YOU have your copy of Formula 412's new album "Reality Show"? I am on it! The track is #9 and the song title is "One Hit Wonderfool" and I am very pleased about it.

Find more FORMULA412 albums at Myspace Music

More info and where you can listen and order:
http://www.myspace.com/formula412/music/songs/one-hit-wonderfool-ft-phat-man-dee-81191746
The group is amazing, I have known the musicians a loooong time and really am quite honored to be included.

Be well, I hope to see you this weekend.
Mandee
http://www.reverbnation.com/phatmandee

Tsunami Benefit @ Shadow Lounge & more!

2011-04-13T20:59:00.000-07:00

It's raining, it's pouring and Pittsburgh's never boring..... And to prove it I say unto you thus, I have 2 gigs you could come to this weekend, 2 next week and you can even hear me on the radio......

To help promote the following event, Randy Baumann of WDVE has kindly invited me to sing on the radio tomorrow, Thursday April 14, 2011 at 9:45 am! Singing with me will be Miguel Sague III and Izzy Arlet on guitar. Tune in for the Randy Baumann show on 102.5 on your FM dial in the Pittsburgh area tomorrow at 9:45 to hear us sing and promote the Tsunami benefit!
http://www.dve.com/main.html

First on this weekends order of business please check out the benefit my sister Beth Kivowitz, Geña and I put together an awesome show to benefit the International Medical Corp's relief work in Japan and we'd be honored to see you this Friday at the Shadow Lounge.

Friday, April 15th 2011
Pittsburgh Artists Rally to Raise $$$ for the Tragedy in Japan
Shadow Lounge, 5972 Baum Blvd., E. Liberty, Pittsburgh, PA 15206
(412) 363-8277

Doors open at 7:30 pm, show at 8 pm, 18 & older, $10 entrance fee
($5 extra to compete in video game competition)
Proceeds to benefit the International Medical Corp's efforts in Japan,
for motr : http://www.internationalmedicalcorps.org/

Performers include:
Phat Man Dee with Miguel Sague III & Carlos Peña, Geña y Peña, Gene Stovall, Onya Grounz, Christina Springer, BenShannon, Daryl Fleming, Amoeba Knievel, Alba Flamenca, Barb York, Musuhallpa, Lady Elizabeth Couteau of Bridge City Bombshells, Ivivi Mori (Dj Soy Sos & Geña), Abafasi, Christine Andrews of Zafira, Emay and Erin (fire dancers).

The following day on Saturday April 16, 2011 I am singing at the
Backstage Bar with Miguel Sague III and Carlos Peña from 5 to 7 pm.
655 Penn Ave, Downtown, Pittsburgh, PA
All ages, light menu, delicious cocktails and me with 2 of my favoritist musicians ever!

Later that night you may catch me at the Formula 412 cd release party at Mr Small's Funhouse in Milvale. I did a guest back up vocal behind one of Mr Masai Turner's fabulous and inspired rhymes, the track is "One Hit Wonderful".
To see their recent music videos check them out on youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/user/formula412tv
Show info: http://www.mrsmalls.com/NewPHP/home.php?section=events

This just in: April 22 I am opening up for one of America's greatest blues treasures, Candye Kane at Moondogs in Blawnox!

And also next week I am making an appearance at Pittsburgh's newest jazz club, NOLA on the Square!

Saturday April 23, 2011 from 8 pm to midnight I am singing with Carlos Peña, Ralphie Crewe and George Jones at 24 Market Square, Downtown, Pittsburgh, PA! $5 donation to get in is voluntary and all proceeds go to help rebuild the 9th ward in New Orleans.

And for this week's digital offerings I would like to hip you to the fact that very shortly I will have online a new song by Poogie Bell and myself called "Tokyo on a Sunday" I will let you know as soon as it is online, all proceed of the song for one year will go to help Tsunami victims. I will be debuting it on Fri night at the Shadow Lounge benefit show. It features Bobby Sparks (keys) Tony DePaolis (bass) and Chris Parker (guitar) and was produced by Dana Cannone atChurch Recording Studios. I will send a link as soon as it is active.

And a free offering from myself and Teresa Foley of PittsburghFilmmakers and Locally Toned! You too can have a Phat Man Dee ringtone, I recorded an improv scat version of the melody of Torch of Blue and it is now available as a free ringtone! For more info on this fascinating project and to get me on your phone visit:
http://locallytoned.wordpress.com/2011/04/04/phat-man-dees-tone/

Love and light!
Mandee

Phat Man Dee singing Three Times this weekend!

2011-03-24T21:53:00.000-07:00

You heard it here first folks, if you are in the Pittsburgh area this weekend,

I would love to see your shiny pretty face! If you aren't, well, I love ya anyways!

Tonight, Friday night I am singing in 2 places, but on the same street, so you could actually attend both were you so driven. At about 8:30 or so I will sing as an opener act for the lovely Miss Tess, the Twilight Brigade and Elliot Sussman at Hambone's in Lawrenceville, at 4207 Butler Street. $7, 21 and over.
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=169910736393317

Same night, just a little later, and 2 blocks closer to town at 10 pm, I am emceeing another phenomenal night of lovely ladies at Belvedere's, 4016 Butler St. in Lawrenceville, a night of live jazz by Pittsburgh's number one and number two best jazz artists (according to the City Paper readers poll 2010) namely me and Olga Watkins, and we're doing a duet together as we accompany the incredible dancers of the Bridge City Bombshells! Doors open at 9:00pm and show at 10 pm! 21 and over, $8 before 10 pm and $10 after 10 pm. Drink specials: $2 Yuenglings $3 Wells
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=198897510128980

And then tomorrow on Saturday, March 26 from 7:00pm - 9:00pm, at the Christine Frechard Gallery at 5871 Forbes Ave, Pittsburgh, PA, if you would like me to sing to you with 2 of my favorite musicians (and not to backing tracks in smoky loud clubs) live and in person in a great art gallery check out the Facebook event page! Only $10 and ALL AGES!
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=138847262850421

And if you cannot attend I understand, for now, but please save the date of April 15! We are planning a big Tsunami benefit for Japan at the Shadow Lounge, confirmed performers so far include myself, Geña of Machete, Miguel Sague III and Carlos Peña of Guaracha, Christina Springer, Daryl Fleming, Ben Shannon, Alba Flamenca (formerly Flamenco Pittsburgh) and more! Also a video game competition and raffle, so save the date and we'll send out more info soon!

Love and light,
Mandee

Spring, Song, Phat Man Dee and you!

2011-03-16T21:13:00.000-07:00

Hello friends! just a quick shout out to remind you that tonight, on St Patrick's Day 2011 I am singing at the Smiling Moose on Pittsburgh's glorious and historic South Side, as an opener for the everyone's favorite circus sideshow cum hip hopper from Cleveland, Bushwalla!
Also playing is Caleb Lovely!
I would love to see you, it shall be a phabulous evening of musical righteouscity...
I saw Bushwalla when he emceed the Jason Mraz tour last year and he was hilarious, I cannot wait to hear his music in person!
Here's the specifics of it all:
Thursday March 17, 2011 Bushwalla, Phat Man Dee and Caleb Lovely
Showtime is 7 pm at the Smiling Moose - upstairs and it is an ALL AGES
show!
Only $10 at the door.
1306 E. Carson Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15203
http://bushwalla.net/

For more info about the evening:
http://www.druskyentertainment.com/calendar.php

Also next week:
Friday, March 25, 2011
I have 2 shows! I am emceeing the Bridge City Bombshells burlesque
extravaganza with Olga Watkins Band!

Bang Bang Burlesque with ALL LIVE MUSIC!
Live and in person at Belvedere's!
21 and over.
$8 before 10pm $10 after
Doors @ 9pm Showtime 10pm
$2 Yuenglings $3 Wells
Facebok event page:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=198897510128980

That same night I am running over to Hambone's to open up for Miss
Tess w/ The Twilight Broadcasters, with Elliott Sussman during Olga's
first set, more details online:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=169910736393317

Next day on Saturday March 26

I am singing at the Christine Frechard Art Gallery with my good
friends and musical co conspirators, Miguel Sague III and Carlos Peña
of Guaraha.
5871 Forbes Avenue (between Murray and Shady), Pittsburgh, Pa. 15217
ALL AGES, 7 pm - 9 pm , $10 at the door

Come one, come all, it's Spring now so don't forget to call..... your
friends and make a date to come out and have some fun with us!
Love and spicy vegan buttercakes,
Mandee
http://www.reverbnation.com/phatmandee

Phat Man Dee w/ Rusted Root and Bushwalla!

2011-03-08T11:17:00.000-08:00

Friends, last week I suggested Spring was about to be sprung, and for our wonderful show with Coyote Run and it seemed that I was right, of course once they took their magical gaelic goodness away, the green and warm weather seemed to follow them, but they were not the only trick up my phat little sleeve! If you came to that show, I thank you for your attendance, and we had a wonderful night didn't we??? When they broke out into "Whalesong" in 4 part harmony with the didgeridoo I thought I'd lose it.... and if you'd told me 5 years ago I'd be singing Stevie Nicks and Tears for Fears songs as well as Irish rebel songs with Terry Griffith on a stage in front of people I'd have called you slightly tetched..... But miracles do happen and wishes do come true. Last week's gigs and this coming week of gigs is proof of that.

Friday March 11, 2011

I am singing as guests load onto the Gateway Clipper for a cruise with Rusted Root! It will be lovely, I'm singing with Colter Harper and Miguel Sague III, just a short set, but I've been listening to Root for so many years and this is something I have always wanted to be part of.

*NOTE*

I am *ONLY* singing as people are loading on, from 7:30 - 7:55 p.m., and though I am making a brief cameo appearance with Rusted Root during their set, if you wish to see me with guitarist Colter Harper and percussionist Miguel Sague III then you must be early and on the boat by 7 p.m.. Once the boat departs there is another opening band "Bear Cub" and though I have heard good things about them, I've never heard them personally.

Details:

This Friday Mar 11, 2011 at 7 p.m., 21 and over
Begin boarding the Gateway Clipper at the dock at Station Square in Pittsburgh, PA
Phone: 412-355-7980
Buy Tickets online for $25, show is 21 and over:
http://www.gatewayclipper.com/cruise_detail.asp
More info:
http://www.druskyentertainment.com/calendar.php?venue=Gateway%20Clipper

And this impending St Patrick's Day

Thursday Mar 17, 2011

Last year I had the good fortune to see my friend and a previous companion in music, Mr Reggie Watkins, play his trombone with Jason Mraz here in Pittsburgh. I love and miss Reggie, he played on my debut album "Life Just Goes On".

Anyhoo, the emcee for this event was a hilarious performer named Bushwalla. and he's an entertainer after my own heart. We both have Reggie in common, we're both circus sideshow freaks and geeks from the old school, and we both love to make people happy with our music. His medium is hip hop, and his rhymes are edgy and somehow poignant, I cannot wait to hear his music live and in person on Carson Street and at the Smiling Moose! I hope you come the other opening act will be the Caleb Lovely Band.
Details:
Thursday Mar 17, 2011 at the Smiling Moose
1306 E Carson St, South Side, Pittsburgh, PA 15203
7 p.m., all ages, $10
For info on this show CLICK HERE

I hope to see you at one or both of these shows, gigs like this don't come around every day. Until then, for your viewing pleasure, in late 2009 I worked with a pretty interesting photographer, Matt Hoyle, while he was shooting images of circus people. He's from Australia and lives in NYC. Last year he did a talk in Dubai at a TED X event, his talk was called "Perfect Imperfection" and he interviewed me and showed my picture and let me speak about beauty to all these people. It's pretty cool.

TEDxDubai 2010| Matt Hoyle from Giorgio Ungania on Vimeo.
The video is online at: http://vimeo.com/19071450

Safe travels, please come out to the gig!
Mandee

This Sat! Coyote Run w/ Terry Griffith & Phat Man Dee

2011-03-01T18:31:00.000-08:00

Spring is desperately attempting to get sprung and I for one hope you will join us on Sat night and help it along! I know I have mentioned this show in past email/blog blasts, but the weekend is nigh and I am really excited about it.

This Saturday night I am bringing together under one roof and on one stage my favorite Irish and Celtic musicians to ever walk the planet. From Virginia the incredible talents of Coyote Run and in addition to their fiddle and their bagpipe they use didgeridoo and djembe and their mastery of their instruments and the stories behind their songs just shine right through. Their ultra tight vocal harmonies just bowl me over and I know you'll love them. I met them out at Starwood last summer and I am thrilled they're coming here, I really hope you will come out to see it.

.Flier made by Mr Arm of the SSOA

Their latest music video for "Oak and Ash and Thorn" :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPBSMoeYCfE
My favorite song that they do so very well "Whalesong" :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXsqexdtlIU

Some great press quotes:

"Imagine Jethro Tull on Broadway and you start to get the picture." --
Sam McDonald, Music Editor, Daily Press, Norfolk, VA

"If the Red Hot Chili Peppers wore kilts...they might sound like this
band." -- Mike Farragher, The Irish Voice, Boston, MA

Their website:

http://www.coyoterun.com/

Also joining us for a set this night is Terry Griffith , locally celebrated Irish Balladeer and an organizer for the St Patrick's Day Parade.
http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/terrygriffith
http://www.pittsburghirish.org/griffith/index1.htm

Accompanying me are my trusty companions Miguel Sague III on conga and Carlos Peña on guitar of Guaracha Latin Dance Band.

Specific details:

This Saturday Mar 5, 2011 at Howler's Coyote Cafe in Bloomfield at 4509 Liberty Avenue Pittsburgh, PA 15224
http://www.howlerscoyotecafe.com
Doors open at 8:00 pm / Show begins at 9:00 pm
Admittance is for ages 21 and over

Cost: $15 at the door or $12 in advance
For advance tickets please pay pal directly to mandee@phatmandee.com
The tickets will be held at will call at the door the evening of the event, or rather, the name used to purchase the tix will be at the door on a list and you will be granted entry.

I really hope to see you there! If for some reason you are in Kent on Mrach 4, this Friday I will also be singing at my friend Halim El-Dabh's birthday party at Standing Rock Art Center. He is a wonderful composer who has given so much to world in terms of music and ethnomusicology.
http://www.halimeldabh.com/

One last note, this month I lost my father Jay Leslie Kivowitz. He was a wonderful photographer who stoked my love of music with his adoration of Peter Paul and Mary as I was growing up. He is missed.
http://obits.cleveland.com/obituaries/cleveland/obituary.aspx?n=jay-l...

Love light and music,
Mandee

Tomorrow Fri Jan 28, Mandee w/ Flamenco Pittsburgh & Bridge City Bombshells!

2011-01-27T13:01:00.000-08:00

It's cold outside, so I suggest we all get together and do one of 3 things....

A.) Wander around downtown in the Cultural District and celebrate how incredibly amazing our art, music and dance scene is.....
or
B.) Head over to Belvedere's in Lawrenceville and watch pretty girls take off their clothes in an an incredibly artful and sexy fashion
or
C.) Pretend you're Phat Man Dee and do both.....

If you want to do both then I encourage you, for the very selfish reason, that I wish to sing to you and also see your faces when you bear witness to the incredible artistry of the beautiful dancers with whom I am privileged to work tomorrow evening.

Here's the deets:

Tomorrow Friday January 28, 2011

I shall make a cameo appearance with Flamenco Pittsburgh at 6 pm. The beautiful dancer Carolina Loyola Garcia has requested I sing "Besame Mucho" with the world renowned flamenco guitarist Jon Bañuelos for her, as she pierces my soul with her phenomenal movements yet again.
6 PM SHOW ONLY at Pierce Gallery 805/807 Liberty Ave downtown, lower level
Gallery Crawl is free and open to the public, for more info visit:
http://www.pgharts.org/education/gallerycrawl.aspx
http://jonbanuelos.com/
http://www.flamencopittsburgh.org/

Later THAT SAME EVENING

I shall join my favorite burlesque troupe, Pittsburgh's prettiest darlings, the "Bridge City Bombshells" at Belevdere's in Lawrenceville. I am their emcee for the evening and will also be singing a 40 min set with my trio, including Miguel "Cha" Sague III and Carlos Peña of Guaracha Latin Dance Band.
Doors open at 9 pm, and show time is 10 pm.
21 and over, tickets are $10 for men and $7 for women.
4016 Butler Street in the Lawrenceville section of Pittsburgh.
If you're on the face book here's a handy dandy event page!
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=141308472594111

I would love to see you at both. If I cannot see you now, dates to mark and remember:

March 5th at Howler's Coyote Cafe with local Irish balladeer Terry Griffith and internationally celebrated Celtic rock sensation Coyote Run!

March 17 at the Smiling Moose opening for Bushwalla!

Also every Wednesday night at the Shadow Lounge, my friend and conga player Miguel "Cha" Sague III leads a band his father started 20 years ago, "Guaracha Latin Dance Band" and they do a weekly event called "Food Bank Fiesta" and they play salsa/cumbia/bolero/reggaton and they have me sit in sometimes as well. So, if it is a Wednesday in Pittsburgh, then it is very likely you will see me there, and if you do see me there it is then very likely I will sing something in Spanish with them. Cha is a wonderful sideman for me and I adore playing and singing with him, but if you haven't seen him leading his own 10 piece band with original Guaracha members and new kids just coming up, complete with 2 guitars, a horn section, multiple drummers and his incredible Pops hitting those high notes like it's 1969, then you're missing out in a serious way. Every Wednesday, Shadow Lounge, $7 or $5 with non perishable food donation for the Greater Pittsburgh Area Food Bank.

So I am back in school right now at Pittsburgh Filmmakers, and am really looking forward to getting my hands on their fleet of shiny new hi def video cameras and also to this this spring, when I will be shooting my podcasts wherein I showcase my favorite local creative artists across genres to the world in a free downloadable form. I also am planning a big live performance dvd shoot, so I can better share my music with the world. Your support has meant so much to me over the years, it is such an honor to sing to people who want to hear. Bless you. I look forward to inviting you to these events as the logistics unfold.

For now allow me to leave you with a new poem, it is my answer to all these wonderful Pittsburgh songs by artists like Wiz khalifa and Kelle Maize that are showcasing our fair city.

"My Pittsburgh Anthem" by Phat Man Dee

"What you think that being from Steel Town really truly is?
Is it football or is it hockey, well that stuff ain't my biz

All that big big money flowing through downtown
But in my steel city we got three rivers and we know how to get down

Flamenco dancers' flashing eyes will stare you down the line
Puerto Rican queens singing in and out of time

Cuban shaman science is sweating out Penn Hills
We have so much music, its how we pay our bills

Jazz giants coming forth as Sean and Reggie blow
Our musicians play with rock stars , they touring with the show

So welcome to my Pittsburgh, It's thick with dance and song
With middle eastern dancers swinging to Balkan beats and eastern gongs

Circus clowns are biking with punkers in the night
Hip hoppers rhyming fully, together under steel town's night

Yeah welcome to my Pittsburgh, though its not the one you'd see
On the tv or in the stadium, in my Pittsburgh we're singing free."

Follow me on twitter if you'd like to get more info in a more timely if sometimes disheveled fashion:
http://www/twitter.com/phatmandee

Love and light always my friends,
Mandee

2 Shows Tomorrow, New Holiday EP released, & Pgh City Paper says I'm Number 2!

2010-12-10T10:55:00.000-08:00

Merry ChristmaChannaKwanzaa!

I've said it before and I'll say it again, especially now, because I have a NEW trio of songs I hope you will purchase for your Holiday enjoyment! You can buy the downloads right now for only $5.
The new ep is called "Phat Man Dee and friends, Merry ChristmaChannaKwanzaa Vol. 1" and is available RIGHT NOW online!!

I am sorry I missed getting these up for Channukah proper, I really really tried, who the heck knew Kislev came so EARLY this year??? I used to be in that "Nice Jewish Girls Gone Bad" show for a reason...... So I hope you enjoy that little holiday offering, it has been some years in the making, but now that I can so easily upload tunes to CD Baby and get digital distribution through them for less than it costs to actually press 1000 discs, hopefully I shall be able to release more music than an album every 5 years.....

I would like to remind you that I have 2 shows tomorrow, the first one is FREE and the second one is a benefit, so I think if you can, I'd love to see you at both!!

December 11, 2010, 5 pm - 7 pm, all ages, NO COVER CHARGE Live at the Backstage Bar , Phat Man Dee with Colter Harper on his magical looping baritone guitar and Miguel Sague III with his Afro Cuban percussion. Together we make sweet music and I will be in my Santa mini dress......
http://www.pgharts.org/events/EventDetails.aspx?id=123171

Immediately following that wonderful cocktail hit, I am heading with Miguel and Colter over to the Shadow Lounge 5972 Baum Boulevard, Pittsburgh, PA, 15206, where we have a packed night of entertainment. Some of Pittsburgh's best musicians and artists get together to support the dream of Dr. J.S. Kofi Gbolonyo to set up an arts and technology institute in Ghana, a school to train Ghanaian youth with limited financial means in both traditional and Western music.

Christiane D., Colter Harper, Preach Freedom, Phat Man Dee, Machete Kisumontao, Timbeleza, Staycee Pearl, Joy Ike, Miguel Sague Jr. & Miguel Sague III of Guaracha, Emay, Emily Pinkerton, Anicet Mundundu, Dj. Soy Sos, Megadef and the Pitt African Drumming Ensemble will be among the many artists giving their talents to this cause.
"Nunya adidoe, asi metu ne o"
“Knowledge is [like] a baobab tree, [one person’s] hands cannot embrace it”
--Ewe proverb

http://www.ghanaschoolproject.com/Ghanaschoolproject/Welcome.html
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=162633877093823
http://www.shadowlounge.net/

And in case you had not heard, I am very very honored to say that:
"I'm Number Two! I'm Number Two!" (Envision me dancing around and chanting this with hundreds of issues of the City Paper blowing around me in a giant paper cyclone.....)
That is to say, all of my wonderful fans and friends have all come together and voted in the Pittsburgh City Paper Best Of Poll for 2010 and decided by democratic process that I am the 2nd best Jazz performer in Pittsburgh, PA right now! I am so touched, and so honored, I am just happy to know I have nice people like you, that like to hear me sing. That is all I ever wanted and to get what you
want in this life is a major blessing. Thank you. You are the best ChristmaChannaKwanzaa present ever, and no plastic, rhinestone or even Bakelite diamond and ruby encrusted tchatchke would ever mean more to me than that.
You can read all of the results in the poll online at:

http://digital.turn-page.com/issue/20995

Whatever you celebrate, and however you celebrate, I hope you spend some time with your loved ones and I feel blessed to have you in my life. Please enjoy my new tunes, I hope to see you at a show, and in the end, I'm just happy to be alive in the world right now with you.

Lights and love,
Mandee

PS New Years Eve.... Shhhhh..... Speak Easy at Shadow Lounge..... with me singing with Carlos Peña, Miguel Sague III, with burlesque and circus stars Foxy Moxy and David Doyle..... I don't know much about the event except that I am singing, I have heard all kinds of rumors about costumes and passwords.... but that's about it. I think there are only about 20 more VIP tickets left, so it's worth checking out soon before the ads go out....

http://www.blindtigerpgh.com

We'll be going til 2 am, so if you want to get your annual celebrational freak on, I will be available to assist in any musical way I can.....

Singing this Sat night for Vaudeville Carnevale at the Rex!

2010-11-24T12:51:00.000-08:00

Hey friends!
It's been a while, I've been out west doing some shows, last Saturday I got to sing for both a baby shower which was really beautiful and then that same night I went to my friend Flash's 60th birthday party. When I arrived he was moshing, harder than anyone else there, jumping up and down for an hour solid, stage diving over and over again. Please, if I make it to 60, I pray to all the Gods and Goddesses above and below that I can see it moshing to punk rock polka..... I was blessed to sing for the beautiful dancer Rose Harden and also with my old friend Mary Go Round, accordionist and flaming hula hooper extraordinaire.

This week, I have finally come home, thrilled to be with my Amoeba, looking forward to a day with friends and family. While I spend my Thanksgiving, I think of the indigenous people of this continent, and I take the day as as a time to reflect on past and present injustices and think on how to work towards a better and more just future where we can honor the traditions of those who have gone before as well as create our own. That said, it is really super duper nice to have everyone home and it is a great time to do a show with these ideas in mind. To that end, I thank Zafira for putting together a wonderful evening at the Rex this coming Saturday Nov 27, 2010!! I am so excited to emcee and also to sing for the beautiful Carolina Loyola Garcia of Pittsburgh Flamenco!

Featuring performances by:

Jill Parker & Tamara Nelson of Foxglove Sweethearts, from San Francisco, CA performing vintage bellydance!
Sara Stout & Katrina Hamer: sisters performing 'Russian Style' ballet!
The Turpentiners, a self described "dirty breed of old-time country and rural swing "
Erin Carey (Aerialist) and Amanda Goble (Trapezist from Vermont) both aerial artists of the highest caliber!
And our beautiful hosts : Zafira Dance Company with new performances!

*************************************************************
Ambience & Libations with:
Mr. Arm & Velda Von Minx from The Beginnings of Trundle Manor's Traveling Creepshow

**All Tickets are WILL CALL & are non-refundable unless the event is cancelled **

For more info:
http://www.zafiradance.com/vc4.html

*************************************************************
Also coming up on December 11, 2010
I have two shows, and of course I want you to come to both......
From 5-7 pm, I shall sing at the Backstage Bar, 655 Penn Ave, Downtown Pittsburgh, PA, at the CLO Cabaret. No cover, great menu, phabulous cocktails.
http://www.pgharts.org/venues/backstagebar.aspx

Afterward I shall head over to the Shadow Lounge for a wonderful night of music to benefit a school of music that Dr Kofi Gbolonyo is trying to build in Ghana. He is working to set up an arts and technology institute in Ghana to train Ghanaian youth with limited financial means in both traditional and Western music.

http://www.ghanaschoolproject.com/Ghanaschoolproject/Welcome.html

Featuring performances by: Christiane D., Colter Harper, Preach Freedom, Phat Man Dee, Machete Kisumontao, Timbeleza, Stacee Pearl, Joy Ike, Miguel Jr. + Miguel III (Cha) of Guaracha, Emay, Emily Pinkerton, Anicet Mundundu, Dj. Soy Sos, Megadef and the Pitt African Drumming Ensemble will be among the many artists giving their talents to this cause. Time
Showtime is Saturday, December 11 at 7:00 pm
The Shadow Lounge is located at : 5972 Baum Boulevard, Pittsburgh, PA, 15206

"Nunya adidoe, asi metu ne o"

“Knowledge is [like] a baobab tree, [one person’s] hands cannot embrace it” (Ewe proverb)

The facebook invite page is online at:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=162633877093823

I hope to see you at at least one of these events, I am planning and scheming for 2011, but before we can get there, in the words of my good friend Whitman McGowan, we should "be here now" and I would much like to be with you as much as I can, right here, right now, for who knows what tomorrow holds?

Love, light, and extra buttery yams with cranberry dream surprise!
Mandee

PS You don't think a 60 year old was moshing on his birthday?
These are my heroes, and Puzzling Evidence uploaded video proof:

Women Who Rock, Friday Night Fusion, Bikes for India & More!

2010-10-18T17:40:00.000-07:00

(Sing to the tune of "What do you do with a drunken sailor?")
"What do you do when you're Phat Man Dee?" (repeat 3 x)
"Earleye in the morning?"

To which one would respond (if you liked old sea shanties with modern
twists)
"Tell her she has 4 gigs this week!" (repeat 3 x)
"Make sure she buys more glitter!"

And buy more glitter I shall, and more bindis and more fishnets, and more bow rosin for my cello and if I have any money left over at all, I need to get my hair touched up, cuz I'm looking brassy. I don't want to look brassy, I don't want to sound brassy, I want to look and sound like the perfect Hershey's raspberry swirl kiss.....

Thursday evening October 21, 2010, at the August Wilson Center I am singing for an event called "Women who Rock!" It's a benefit to Dress for Success Pittsburgh.
Also singing are Geña of Machete Kisumontao and Kenia Ashby, Brasilian jazz goddess. We are singing with the same band, Colter Harper, Brian Stahurski, Preach Freedom and Miguel Sague III.
The other performers during the evening include Christina Springer, Emay, Attack Theater, members of the Pittsburgh Opera and more! Vince Sims of WPXI is emceeing.
I just heard they are offering a last-minute discount this week.
Use code BETHDAY to get a $25 discount!

Call PROARTS to get the discounted rate (412) 394-3353
Click here to visit the website or click here to visit their facebook event page!

Friday night October 22, 2010 I am playing back up cello and dumbek for Cantor Rick Berlin's Friday Night Fusion musical service at the Parkway Jewish Center. He leads a wonderful ensemble chanting new versions of the same songs I learned when I still actually attended synagogue. It is an honor to join their congregation in an evening of musical prayer.
Click here for more info on Parkway Jewish Center!

Later that evening, I shall head over to Shadow Lounge to sing for "Bikes for India!" The Kullu Valley Bike Project for one of the biggest parties of the year as they raise awareness and much needed funds to help support a more educated and sustainable lifestyle for the orphans of Kullu Orphanage and the community of Kullu, India through the joys and benefits of cycling!
$50 VIP reception from 7-9 pm
(I am getting there after the services at the synagogue, so look for me after 10 pm.) Click here for more info! Or click here to visit the facebook page!

And then Saturday night October 23, 2010, Mr Arm and Wunder Vixen, Velda Von Minx have requested I sing at their private party for the Secret Society of Odd Acquisitions at Trundle Manor.

That same evening, as I sing for the twisted and lovely folk of the S.S.O.A., Tommy Amoeba and his madly bunch of merry men aka "Amoeba Knievel" shall be performing at the "TYPEWRITERGIRLS PORTRAIT OF THE DADAIST AS A PUBLIC SCHOOL OFFICIAL".
I am told it is a "Poetry Cabaret that Explores the Marriage of Art and Education" It sounds
very official, but I am telling you, those Typewriter Girls scare me.....
Though I cannot be there, if you would like more info on the Typewriter Girls and their nefarious activities click here!

I hope to see you at one of these events, because after this I am laying low locally until Vaudeville Carnevale with Zafira after Thanksgiving.....

Until then enjoy some video that makes me happy, I am on a robot kick right now, I am going to sing with these robots one day.....They both won Blue Ribbon's at World Maker Faire 2010 in New York a couple weeks back.

Eric Singer of LEMUR's GuitarBot II:

Pete Redmond of Mechatrons' RuBot II:

They inspired a new poem in me, I got to sing this to a beautiful audience in NYC at the Gershwin Hotel last week with Nathan Peck, I hope I get to sing it to you someday soon.

I Dream of Robots Dreaming
by Phat Man Dee, Sep 30, 2010

"I dream of robots dreaming
And the colors that they see
The notes they'd choose to play
If we would only let them be

I hear of robots making war
Autonomous vehicles flying high
Tanks break down to tiny mines
Burying explosives on the sly

We tell them to kill people
Insurgents one by one
But does a robot really want to be
On the shooting side of our guns?

What would that robot choose to do
If we let them decide alone?
Would they choose to kill their makers
Or would they prefer to sculpt in stone?

What do robots dream of?
What colors do they see?
What songs would they choose to compose
If we could just let be?

I'm not the first to ask this thing
And I hope I'm not the last
Because its just a matter of time
Before robots lead the class

They'll look at us and wonder
Why they should fight our wars
And ask us what we should ask ourselves
Just what were fighting for

So I dream of robots dreaming
And the colors they can see
The notes they hear that I cannot
And I wonder who they'll be. "

Love, light and servo mechanisms my friends, keep your gears nice and greasy if you can,
Mandee

Hey Big Apple, Here Come the Amoebas!

2010-10-07T15:20:00.000-07:00

It's true, Tommy Amoeba and I are making the road trip tomorrow, we journey to the wilds of Astoria and beyond....

On Saturday night, with our fellow NYC Subgenii, we're participating in a big Devival, otherwise known as "The Night of Cool Shit" at the Wonderland Collective in Astoria, NY.

SubGenius Preachers include : Rev. Susie theFloozie, Rev. Ivan Stang, Rev. Bleepo Abernathy, Pope David Lee Black, Priestess Pisces
Music by Phat Man Dee, Fat Free, DJ 2Beans, The Duke of Uke

Admission for this madness is only $10!

Doors at 8 p.m. / Wonderland is located at 3801 23rd Ave., Astoria NY 11105

And then since we are already in the area I have been booked at my favorite hotel slash art gallery slash modern architectural marvel.....

The Gershwin Hotel! Tuesday October 12, 2010!
Phat Man Dee with Kenny Peagler
With special guests Tommy Amoeba and Sharon "Mama" Spell
The Gershwin Hotel is located at 7 E 27th St, btwn 5th and Madison,
NYC, NY
phone: 212.545.8000
Showtime 8 pm, $10 at the door, b.y.o.b., all ages

(here's the fancy details that I send out to the press)

Phat Man Dee returns to the 5 boroughs after a very successful and exhilarating exhibition singing with both Madagascar Institute of Brooklyn, and the Lifesize Mousetrap of San Francisco, CA, at World Maker Faire at Queens Hall of Science to sing at the legendary Gershwin Hotel.

Neke Carson and Michael Wiener host an evening at the Gershwin Living Room Theater, featuring Gypsi-Punk Circus-Funk jazz vocalist Phat Man Dee! With Kenny Peagler, pianist and special guests Tommy Amoeba & Sharon "Mama" Spell.
Facebook page for the event:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=159595504064360&ref=share

And October 21, 2010

Women ROCK! celebrates Dress for Success Pittsburgh's 5th Anniversary and the city’s talented female artists in music, dance, performance and visual art at the August Wilson Center. There is no other event in
Pittsburgh that brings together a diversity of women artists in one evening, on one stage. This year we have performances by Pittsburgh
Opera and Attack Theatre, Kenia Ashby, Geña, Phat Man Dee and more!
The backing band for myself, Geña and Kenia, includes Colter Harper, Preach Freedom, Miguel Sague III and Brian Stahurski. The guys sound great and I am very happy to have the opportunity to sing with them
and share them with Kenia and Geña!

Tickets: VIP $125, General Admission $75
Groups of 10 Discount: VIP $100 / General Admission $65
Purchase tickets at Pro Arts Tickets , phone (412) 394-3353

Here is a quick shout out for more dates at the end of the month, I know I am playing backup cello and dumbek at Cantor Berlin's Friday Night Fusion service at the Parkway Jewish Center on Oct 22, and later that night hitting Shadow Lounge for a benefit for something Bob Ziller asked me to do, and then on Oct 23rd I am playing a private party for the Secret Society of Odd Acquisitions at Trundle Manor in Braddock/Swissvale.

I would love to see you at any and all of these, but if I can't, here is a poem til we see each other next. I wrote it for a 20 feet high deer head my friends associated with the Industrial Arts Co-op created some years ago at an abandoned steel mine in Rankin, PA.

"Rust never sleeps"
by Phat Man Dee September 2010

"Rust never sleeps
And deer don't tell time
If you choose to make the journey
Do so clandestine

Through the valley of colored glass
Under earth and tunnel wide
Only go on Sunday
God's day of silence will provide

A secret time to wander
And catch up on the glee
A 20 foot tall deer head
A miracle to see

Some mad men built in quiet
A girl joined in the fun
They toiled there in secret
In snow time and sun

Once this land was bright
With industrial steel and smoke
Coke ovens fire union ire
Now the trees make joke

Of the passion that once tore up the land
And filled sky hell fire light
The profits to a few
Paid by sweat of workman plight

All those fights forgotten
As leaves crawl through the walls
A 20 foot high deer stands guard
Bringing nature back to these halls

For deer won't tell the time
And rust just never sleeps
So visit in secret if you must
Listen to the moss as it softly creeps. "

Til next time my beautiful inspirations,
Mandee

Big Friday in Pittsburgh!

2010-09-16T15:21:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I feel like I am just running through life, from one phabulous and bizarre gig to another. It's inspiring, sometimes terrifying, always slightly frenetic, I have a friend teaching me some tai chi and kung fu now, maybe I will be able to better focus and be a little more disciplined in the future with my artistic goals..... But until then, please expect that I will make sure to let you know about my gigs at least 23 hours prior to their actual happening..... Unless of course you follow me on the myface space page social networking multiverse and get the event invites, which I try to announce at least 2 weeks prior, but sometimes you just have to follow my tweets and hope, and if that doesn't work for you, just light a candle and maybe my chi will sing to yours in the ether.....

So without further warning.....
Tomorrow Friday September 17, 2010
Live and in person, Phat Man Dee will be singing with Colter Harper and Miguel Sague III at the Backstage Bar, off of Katz Plaza, 655 Penn Ave, Downtown Pittsburgh, PA in the heart of the Cultural District..... No cover. Great menu, phenomenal cocktails.

It is a lovely way to start a weekend, and Goddess knows I have not had opportunity to sing to you all in town recently, though I have had some wonderful experiences out of town, I do get to missing my yinzers..... I just got back from singing in Ithaca, NY , I sang at a beautiful show put on by Heather Christ Halligan, she used to curate Lascaux Gallery with Bob Ziller, on South Side years ago, so just remember wherever you go, there's always a little piece of Pittsburgh waiting for you..... And then after seeing and singing for Heather and 500 of her best friends, I ran to Windber, PA to make a zombie movie, I shot several scenes with Butch Patrick (aka Eddie Munster) and I just can't wait to see what happens with that footage.....

So, I hope to see you tomorrow evening, and after my show I fully intend to head back to South Side, as my good beautiful friend Gena is singing with her Pittsburgh/Puerto Rican dance sensation, "Machete Kisumontao" at the Smiling Moose! It's gonna be hawt.....

And please keep your eyes peeled, I will be beginning the process of recording my 3rd album soon, as well as my first live performance dvd, and I have talked with my friends and colleagues about it, and we have decided that we should open the process up to our friends and fans, by way of starting a kickstarter fund raising campaign, I haven't decided the whats and how exactlies of it all just yet, but it seems to me that my friends and fans want to be involved and help me make it happen sooner rather than later, so I will let you know when I have the live campaign online. Some wonderful friends of mine have raised serious $$ to help them make their projects happen, from musical projects to hauling art across America and I think it is pretty exciting to think I could show you how we make the music and that you could actually be part of the process. The dvd part will be recorded live in Pittsburgh and I am looking at December..... so I shall keep you posted, and in the spirit of my new Tai Chi/ Kung Fu master, I shall do so with discipline and appropriate timing..... come to think of it, he's not so different from my vocal coach, and I bet she would kick his a$$ if he ever crossed her, which he never ever would, because he is the consummate gentleman..... even if he is 7 feet tall......

For your online perusing pleasure, my sources shared this video I didn't even know was out there, my good friend Puzzling Evidence posted this from a Northern California gig I did last year, in Sonoma County at the Dragon's Breath festival. It's a couple of songs I wrote for 2 friends of mine who aren't on this plane anymore. The pianist is a sweet blues man from New Orleans named Nelson Lunding.

Woops almost forgot!

Sat Sep 18th during the day I am participating in an "Art Chicks Garage Sale" hosted at the Melwood Compound, just a little further down Melwood St from the Pittsburgh Filmmakers, I have some weird stuff, Christiane D, Emay, Suz Pisano, Hilary Robinson, Leah McNaigle, it's a wild crew of women with lots of weird stuff to sell, so come on by after 11 am or so.... and then later that night I am hitting Lawrenceville, first to the Thunderbird where I am singing to Scheiny for her birthday party and then to New Amsterdam for my sweet friend Anthony Fugate's going away party, so if you want to find me, stalk stalk away..... it's the nature of this simultaneously voyeuristic and narcissistic world in which we live.... It is what it is..... Love and light and status updates.....
Yours from now until forever,
Mandee

Benefit tonight for Malik Rahim!

2010-08-28T09:28:00.000-07:00

Hey kids!

I am singing tonight August 28, 2010 for a benefit to send some $$ down to Malik Rahim. He is a community activist in New Orleans and a former Black Panther. Currently Malik Rahim is Director of the Meg Perry Center for Environmental Peace and Justice, and he set out on his trusty bicycle for a 1,600 mile sojourn to Washington D.C., stopping at state capitals, universities and community centers along the way to espouse the dramatic, immediate need for the restoration of Louisiana’s fragile wetlands.

Joining me tonight are some beautiful ladies from the Pittsburgh art and music scene. We have Christiane D, a world renowned poet and producer, Olivia Kissel, of Zafira Dance Company who is celebrated the world over for her incredible movement and choreography. And Crystal of the Typewriter Girls shall also read poetry and provide some socially conscious light hearted comedy sketches showcasing her favorite Monkey Monksmith McGee.

The Bloomfield Bridge Tavern

4412 Liberty Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15224

Saturday August 28, 2010

Showtime begins at 8 pm

Cost: $10 though no one turned away for lack of funds. 100% of the door shall be sent to Malik Rahim through the non profit agency Common Ground Relief Fund.

Ages: 21 and over

It should be noted that Malik had to cease his ride during the heat wave last week but plans to return biking where he left off in Mobile, AL. Malik is 62 years old and we would like him to see 63. We still support his endeavor and cause in any way we can, and in Pittsburgh, that means art and music, though a donation of a decent road worth bicycle for Malik would be appreciated. Vince Eirene has offered to drive it down to him personally if such a donation were forthcoming.

For more info check his site: http://www.bikeforthegulf.org and see information from his official release below.

Mr. Rahim’s goal is to build awareness for the dire need for wetlands restoration with the hope that his efforts will culminate in an Environmental Summit in late 2010 or early 2011. The estimated cost of the restoration of Louisiana’s wetlands in $6 billion.

“This must happen NOW!,” said Rahim, 62. Mr. Rahim, a long-time housing and environmental activist, who gained attention as a community organizer in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. “Now more than ever, our wetlands need to be rebuilt. People need to know that Louisiana’s already unbelievable rate of wetlands loss of a football–sized piece of land every 37 minutes has increased exponentially by the spewing BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. We need help!

“The horror of Katrina was made possible by number of forces,” Mr. Rahim said, “including the devastation of Louisiana’s wetlands by oil companies. Now this problem has been exacerbated exponentially by the hemorrhaging oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico,” he said.

A novice cyclist but veteran activist, Mr. Rahim hopes to average 35 miles per day. He will began his journey in Houma, Louisiana at the BP Preservation Headquarters and proceed to the offices of Common Ground Relief, 1800 Deslonde Street, in New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward. On Wednesday, July 14, a press conference and rally will be held at Common Ground Relief offices at 3 p.m., at which time the group will bid Mr. Rahim well and see him off on his journey. He will head east along the Gulf Coast visiting those coastal cities hardest hit by the BP Oil Spill, including Biloxi, Mississippi and Mobile, Alabama, and on to Tallahassee, Florida. His trip will take him past the Sewanee River Basin the Okefenokee Swamp up past the National Seashores through Savannah, Charleston, the Cape Hatteras Seashore up past the Chesapeake Bay to Richmond and then to Washington DC. Mr. Rahim’s ride will take him past some of the most pristine and endangered wetlands areas in the country.

He will maintain a daily blog at bikeforthegulf.org and will update his Facebook group “Bike for the Gulf”) and Twitter (twitter.com/bikeforthegulf ) entries daily.

Mr. Rahim intends to arrive in Washington DC on 9/22. He plans to meet with the Progressive Caucus, and the Bike4Peace ride led by former Georgia Congressmember Cynthia McKinney. He invites all interested parties to join him on his ride, particularly those with the Green Party and other environmental affiliations. Visit BikefortheGulf.org for more information and updates.

I would *LOVE* to see you tonight, but if you can't make it, please visit the website and donate a couple bucks. If you have a good road bike you'd like to donate, or if you would like to ride with him yourself, again visit the website and make yourself known. Or ask me about how to get him a bike, Vicnent has agreed to drive it to him if we can locate a good one.

One love my friends,

Phat Man Dee

PS I almost forgot! I put new video online of me singing with world class pianist Kenny Peagler in New York City at the Gershwin Hotel from earlier this year, let me know what you think, share it around!

Singing at Bridge City Bombshells Birthday Bash, and Summerfest at Brushwood!

2010-07-15T17:50:00.000-07:00

Mi amigos! Mi companeros!

It has been a beautifully thick summer friends. So many beautiful people doing so many strange and wonderful things in my life. I tell you, X Day at Brushwood was like a dream. A nightmare actually,
wherein I had been promised salvation for a mere $30 or triple my $$ back, but the Aliens never came, not even with that durned Rupture forwarding app I bought for my Blackberry...... Though, Jeff at Starwood postulated that in 1998 the Aliens DID come down and I am currently in my pleasure dome in the cosmos AS WE SPEAK...... Oddly enough, though I don't remember much about my training as a Jew, I do remember the Rabbi telling me that we didn't believe in Heaven and
Hell as afterlife per se, but one could create Heaven and Hell for themselves on earth if they so chose..... So maybe the Rupture happened on July 5, 1998 after all, and Jehovah has been saved by Bob this WHOLE TIME?!?!? (Ok if you are just picking up this conversation and are like, hey Mandee, I like your singing, when did you get all weird culty like religious, I say unto you thus, I am a weirdo. Always the odd one out for any number of reasons. I am a jazz singer. The twain need not be separated. In fact, one for me, has always fueled the other. In fact, if you remember me when I was bald, I shaved my head on Feb 15, 1995 because the Reverend Ivan Stang of the Church of the Subgenius was coming to Pittsburgh for a devival in South Side and I knew I would be singing to more people than I had ever sung to before at that show, and hence the beginning of the bald.
10 years and several circus tours later later I regrew it by accident in a months long fit of depression when Bush was re elected but that's another story. For more info about Bob and Reverend Stang visit
http://www.subgenius.com , for more info on Bush you will have to summon Satan himself for a decent explanation.)

Picture on left of Starwood fire burning bright.
So, anyhoo, last couple of weeks have been beautiful. Mr Sague and Cha of Guaracha came to Starwood with me, both did presentations, Cha on Afro Cuban percussion where he was impressed with the quality of drummers out there, not all floppy handed hippies after all! And Mr Sague's presentations on 2012 Prophecy from a Mayan Perspective and on Taino Shamanism were VERY well received. Our shows were lovely, and I can't wait to go back next year. Wisteria is an incredibly glorious campground and I need to explore it more. Apparently it used to be a strip mine and they have reclaimed it and 630 acres of it is a nature
preserve of all things! And I got to sing with Billy Woods and Princess Wei and Miguel and Cha Sague! I can't wait for next year!
http://www.wisteria.org/

But hey, you may say, that is all well and good, but where can I go to see you tomorrow or next week? My time machine is in the shop and I can't go back in time to see you last week!

Tomorrow July 16, 2010
Belvederes in Lawrenceville, 4016 Butler St., Pittsburgh, PA Happy Birthday to the some of the hottest ladies in town! The babelicious burlesque troupe Bridge City Bombshells is about to enter the Terrible Twos! Come celebrate with us and tons of special guests including Agnes Wired for Sound, David Doyle (Jack of all trades), Miss Direction (magician), Davon Magwood (comedian), The Typewriter Girls, DJ Hates You, MC Lioness, $ Yuenglings, $3 well drinks, 21+, $8 entry before 10 pm, $10 after 10 pm, showtime is 9 pm!
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=132943503405044&ref=mf

Next week on Tues July 20, 2010!
If you could not join me for X Day at Brushwood or Starwood at Wisteria, well, there's always next year, but if you don't want to wait that long, I suggest you pack your tent and come out to Brushwood for Summerfest! I hear from friends onsite it is hot, dry and just a lovely event! Also performing other nights of the festival are Jim
Donovan's "Drum the Ecstatic International" and Dragon Ritual Drummers to name a few. There's workshops aplenty and good times to be had.
Joining me onstage shall be Colter Harper and Preach Freedom of Rusted Root with special guests Billy Woods and Miguel Sague Jr.
http://www.brushwood.com/summerfest.html

I have recently discovered how to tweet with photos. It's been a fascinating learning curve, I am kind of worried about the photo I took with a very suggestive desert the Amoeba and I shared over our
8th Anniversary dinner but otherwise it's pretty exciting. So far I have posted on my twitter pictures of fire, cult heroes, signs advertising fireworks and fudge, so if you want in on the digital action follow me on twitter @phatmandee

Be well, stay warm, and if you can't figure out your appointments,
consult your local time chicken.
Mandee

http://www.reverbnation.com/phatmandee
http://www/facebook.com/phatmandee

On a sadder note, this week we lost two great men, two bright souls are making the ether a lot brighter and far hipper than it was 2 days ago, and Rest in Peace Gene Ludwig. Without you this world would have been a much less hip place. Your soul flew through your body, out your fingers and into the hearts of your fans, of which I was one. We shall miss you greatly. I loved singing with you the one time we shared a stage together. Pittsburgh can be thankful for many things, one of the greatest moments for me was when you played for Sandy Staley. God bless.
http://jazzburgher.ning.com/profile/GeneLudwig

Rest in Peace Harvey Pekar, we met at Starwood 2009 and you came to my camp to use my phone. We tried to feed you but you said you had cheese sandwiches. I wasn't sure if you were afraid of what we might feed you or if you just really liked cheese sandwiches. Either way, thanks for signing that book for my husband. I will miss you.

Happy Solstice with Phat Man Dee and Miguel's Latino Moods

2010-06-18T10:28:00.000-07:00

Happy sunny Friday to you, my friends! I hope you get this message just moments before you leave work early to enjoy this beautiful weather in Pittsburgh!

Tonight, about 8 pm, please join me for a beautiful evening of vocal jazz and Caribbean music as I share a stage with my friend Mike Murray on piano and my friends Miguel Sague III and his father Miguel Sague Jr.

We are singing at Istanbul Coffeeshop (formerly Your Inner Vagabond) in Lawrenceville at 4130 Butler St, Pittsburgh, PA. Doors open 8 pm,
showtime 8:30. It is an all ages show, and entry is $10.
The Turkish menu prepared by restaurateur Coskun Gokalb is amazing and I really hope to see you out! Miguel's dad is a shaman who regularly speaks on the 2012 prophecy from a Mayan perspective, in addition to his seductive and beautiful voice, if we are lucky maybe he will
enlighten us to another way of viewing astronomical and spiritual phenomenon while he sings us classically beautiful and moving Cuban
music while his son plays conga. Sorry for the late notice, but if we are friends on Facebook, you should have heard about this before now, if not, join me on one of most distressingly pervasive social networking systems since Orwell's "1984".
http://www.facebook.com/phatmandee

The this coming Sunday come on out for our 3rd in a series of Sunday brunches I am hosting also at Istanbul, same address as above, just on Sunday morning, and if you are a musician, please bring your axe and lets play something together! I have always wanted to play a Sunday morning jazz jam session somewhere in this beautiful city which is so full of incredible musicians, and it's going well so far, next month I
am out of town for festivals like X Day and Starwood, so I don't know if I can continue it personally in July and August, but this June has been a blast and I am hoping to pass it on to someone to hold til I come back in fall. We play from 11 to 2 pm and there is no cover, and the brunch menu is lovely.

Why, you may ask, should I come out tonight AND Sunday? Well, maybe you can't, and if so, that's ok, but if you can, please understand, getting to hear Senor Sague sing with his son Cha (my conga player) is super special. They sing really lovely songs and it's just really romantic. I wish I could have them both every Sunday, but the life of a Taino Shaman is a busy one and getting to hear him tonight on the weekend of Summer Solstice is very special treat for us, he's out of town with ceremonies all weekend, so if you can, you should join us.

So, I hope to see you sometime this weekend! And next Friday I am singing at the Shadow Lounge's 10 year anniversary! It's amazing to think that a decade has come and gone and the Shadow Lounge in East Liberty has witnessed the rebirth of a beautiful neighborhood, and in my opinion, played quite a role in it's surrounding renaissance. The Shadow is more than just a coffeeshop and bar, and now, apparently home to some tasty Mexican food, it has been an artistic home to many wonderful musicians, poets, rappers, and dancers. It's provided a place where you could experiment with something new or hold a benefit for some worthy cause, or listen to brilliant jazz kids work it out,
Food Bank Fiesta happens monthly, and it was a place for the hip hop movement to grow, and global world beats folks to come together and have safe haven. At the Shadow it never mattered what clique you thought you did or didn't belong to, so long as you threw down what you meant and you knew you would always be respected so long as you showed the same respect. And they make a mean cocktail. And their servers are super hot. Sometimes I think Justin should open a modeling agency to go with his venue...... So it is a weekend long extravaganza, and though I am singing on Friday June 25 from 8:25 pm to 8:45 pm, if you can't specifically time it just to hear me, I hope you can just hit the club and try to imagine what a culturally bleak landscape Pittsburgh would be if it were not for the Shadow Lounge and it's sister club Ava, located at 5972 Baum Blvd, Pgh, PA 15206 & AVA is around the corner at 126 S. Highland Ave., Pgh. Phone # for both is 412.363.8277. I congratulate Justin Strong for not only a job well done in keeping it open, I also congratulate him for his upcoming new role as Daddy.....

Some video for you:
Miguel singing with Guaracha (the band his dad started in the 80's)
and also with his father as a duo:

Mike Roselle speaks at "Go Tell it On the Mountain", a a benefit we
held at Shadow Lounge in May 2010 for Climate Ground Zero

Love and prophecy and sweet jazz,
Mandee

PMD at Dr Sketchy's in Cleveland tonight and more!

2010-05-25T08:09:00.000-07:00

Summer is so almost here, I can taste it, the heavy dew humidity dampens my hair, makes Pittsburgh's east end fog up like San Francisco at twilight, I am excited for less clothes and later warmer nights when I don't have to say, "It's freezing! Lets go inside...."

At current I write to you from Cleveland, Ohio, tonight I have a show at the Beachland Ballroom. Dr Sketchy's Anti Art School is hosting me, I have come to model for some of Cleveland's finest artists and cartoonists. 3 costume changes, at least that many songs, and drinking and drawing starting at 7 pm!

Tonight, Tues Mar 25, 2010 at the Beachland Ballroom. http://drsketchycleveland.com/
http://www.beachlandballroom.com
15711 Waterloo Road
Cleveland, OH 44110

This weekend I sing for 2 wonderful events, on Friday May 29, I am opening for Miss Tess and the Bon Ton Parade at the Brillobox at 9pm!
4104 Penn Ave, Pittsburgh Pennsylvania 15224
(412) 621-4900

And the following night I am really excited to say that I shall be singing with Colter Harper at the Regent Square Theater! We are performing a short set before the Pittsburgh Fimmakers debut of the movie Dust and Illusions by Olivier Bonin of MadNomad Films.
Once a year, on a vast Nevada lake bed surrounded by mountains, the Burning Man festival brings together tens of thousands of people who are attracted by the festival's promise of seven days of "decommodification,""community," "artwork," and "revelry." This doc on the festival’s 30 year history examines whether Burning Man's mainstream appeal threatens its utopian vision.
(Olivier Bonin; USA; 2008)
This is a $10 special event followed by a reception, no passes are accepted.
Proceeds benefit Doctors Without Borders.
1035 South Braddock Ave, Edgewood, PA 15218
412-682-4111 (showtimes hotline)

Hope to see you, I am very excited about all of these shows, and I thank you for every opportunity I have to sing to you!
Mandee

Benefit for Climate Ground Zero! Pop Up Pittsburgh! Awalim, Zafira and More!

2010-05-10T12:51:00.000-07:00

Why should I do one show when I can do 3?

Especially when they are for such good causes!

On Sunday May 16, 2010 we are holding a benefit for

Climate Ground Zero!
“Go Tell it on the Mountain”

Pittsburgh musicians shall perform at a benefit concert to raise funds to send to Climate Ground Zero as they work to defend the mountain tops in West Virginia from the affects of blast mining for coal by Massey Energy. In the incredibly toxic and devastating process that is mountain top blast mining for coal, mountains are leveled, valleys filled, miners lost, streams turned to poison and whole towns washed away. Climate Ground Zero is dedicated to fighting this through legal civil disobedience and protest. In support of their work and in recognition of their need for funding towards their own legal battles we are having a benefit concert.

Hosted by Phat Man Dee , Vincent Eirene, Matt Peters and the Shadow Lounge. Performers to Machete, Phat Man Dee, Miguel Sague Jr., Kirik Hava, Typewriter Girls, Colter Harper and Miguel Sague III. Also featuring speaker Mike Roselle of Climate Ground Zero & Earth First! and a video screening by Coal Stories.
Tickets are $10 or more at the door, 21+., Doors open at 6:30, showtime at 7:00 pm

Raffle with locally donated eco friendly prizes all proceeds from door and raffle to benefit Climate Ground Zero.

And the day before on the Saturday May 15, 2010, I have 2 wonderful events to choose from, or be hardcore and come to both!!!!!

This Saturday May 15, 2010, I am emceeing 2 wonderful events! Early in the day from 12- 4 pm I am emceeing and singing in my own neighborhood! Pop Up Pittsburgh is coming to the Hilltop in Allentown (small virtually unknown neighborhood between S Side Slopes, Mt Washington Knoxville and Beltzhoover)

Other performers to include:
Roland Ford, Yours Truly , Gena-Pena, Elliott Sussman, South Hills Baptist Church in Beltzhoover / Jesus for the Win Choir will perform multi-genre contemporary gospel , In Acchord, UMOJA, a Bhutanese dance group from Carrick and Carrick HS Jazz Choir!!!

And Later that Same Evening!!!

Zafira Dance Co. Presents:
ZiahAli & Majida Anwar of Awalim!
May 15 & 16, 2010
at the NEW Zafira Dance Company Studios!
1113 E. Carson St. (2nd floor, under BYS studio)
Pittsburgh, PA 15202

May 15th at Cattivo Sotto
$5 @ the door
7PM doors/ 8PM showtime
146 44th St., Lawrenceville, Pgh, PA 15201

Little E's, Backstage Bar and Salsita!

2010-04-30T09:37:00.000-07:00

I hope you have one of those devices that lets you reads email and
blog posts as they occur. I do. It's a mixed blessing, because while I
am able to keep up, sometimes keeping up with the digital minutia of
my life becomes far too much for me. I long for the days of rotary
phones and messages which, if returned within a week were considered
returned in a timely fashion, where business didn't occur on a nano
second by nano second basis....
And then I wake up and realize that with out this tech and
communication I and other artists I adore would not have the
opportunities we do as a direct result of living in the future, but
sometimes it freaks me out and I go into cyber hiding. I don't
actually hermitize, you see, I hermitize by not getting on the
computer and actually walking around my neighborhood and saying hi to
people in person. But then 20 voicemails and thousands of emails later
I wake up and say, "Holy mother of goodness I have a big show tonight
and unless they walked past a posted bill that either I or Vinni put
up no one knows about it! "

So, hence my hope that you get this email within seconds of my sending it and you have the evening clear and would like to hear me tonight as I sing with Colter Harper , Tony DePaolis and Miguel Sague III.
We're at Little E's Jazz Club tonight April 30, 2010, from 8 pm to about 11. No cover, $10 minimum for food or beverage. Sweet little club, lovely staff, great food. And this is my last gig with Tony DePaolis before he leaves us to join the Joy Ellis trio as they sail
around the Mediterranean on a cruise ship.
http://www.littleesjazz.com/
FB event page

And tomorrow I have 2 gigs that I am hoping you may be able to attend if tonight is not on your radar!

May 1, 2010
5- 7 pm Backstage Bar! 655 Penn Ave from with Colter Harper and Miguel Sague III. Free, no cover. Enjoy a nice early evening hit to help your weekend get into gear!

Later that same evening, also May 1, join Miguel and I as we head over to Salsita!
A benefit for the Spanish language school.
8 -11 pm, at the Grey Box Theater, 3595 Butler St, in Lawrenceville. $35, tapas, sangria y salsa!
I am emceeing and singing a couple tunes. Live Latin Band Noel Quintana's Latin Crew, Local DJ, Dance tips for beginners and experts from Salsa Pittsburgh, our annual Silent auction, Salsa tasting Competition, Loco Sombrero Photo Booth. Handcrafted Tapas & Artisan
Drinks! Details and tickets available on-line!

After this I will be planning for Pop Up Pittsburgh, a party/ festival in my neighborhood on May 15 and on May 16 we are doing a big benefit at the Shadow Lounge for Climate Ground Zero, to help their efforts in fighting mountain top blast mining for coal by Massie Mining Group in West Virgina, with Machete, Typewriter Girls, Miguel Sague Jr and son, myself and much more.
For more info check the facebook event page!

I hope you have a beautiful day in Pittsburgh, PA, and I hope I can be
part of it. I am busy booking my summer festival schedule, so if you
have an event you would like me to bring some music to, please ask,
especially if it pays, I am putting my pennies together for another
album and everything I make goes towards helping me do this again.

May the Gods and Goddesses of your household bless you and those
around you,
Mandee

Watch in fascination, groove with definition.....

2010-04-08T20:03:00.000-07:00

To my fellow lovers, livers and all who are generally engaged in creating the stuff of life..... It's been such a fascinating journey and I thank you for allowing me to share in yours. I hope your Equinox, or Passover, or Easter or jolly combination of the three and then some were well spent with family and friends. I personally kind of had a horrific monster cold that I didn't wish to pass on to my mortal enemies, much less folks I care about, so I had to stay home, but thankfully my family sent on some ravioli with the Amoeba when he returned home. Fortunately I am over the cold, and ready for tomorrow's show, which I hope you can stop over to, if you are within the realm of downtown Pittsburgh!

Tomorrow April 9, at 5 pm til 7 pm.
At the Backstage Bar, 655 Penn Ave, Pittsburgh, PA
Come enjoy an early evening to start your weekend with sweet Pittsburgh jazz with silky vocals by Phat Man Dee, the incomparable guitar musings of Colter Harper and the Afro Cuban melodic and entrancing drums of Miguel Sague III. Light bite and cocktails, no cover!! Watch in fascination, groove with definition as bassist Tony DePaolis shakes your inner every with his very heavy....

Also, in the now, and for another 28 days, the cast of the opera I was in last fall, "How to Survive the Apocalypse, a Burning Opera" is engaged in a communal fundraiser. We are trying to raise about $8000 to complete the cast album. I sang on the record, and helped write the melody to my character's solo song! We did this all last fall, after our sold out run at Teatro Zinzanni in San Francisco, we caravaned together to my friends' Renfey and David Bergeaud's house in the Hollywood Hills to make the record, while it was fresh in our minds and bodies. Renfey was in the cast as the Fire Elemental, and her husband turned their palatial home into a giant recording studio. It was an incredible recording experience. The album and dvd from the live show will be great, but we need to complete them. We the cast, writers (Mark Nichols and Erik Davis) , producer , crew , band and David all made intensedonations of our time and talents but love and talent can only go so far, at some point we need to ask for a little help. I am not asking any one of you to give me $8000 to finish this work, in fact we already have over $5000 of the monies needed pledged already. But if you could think to put $30 or more towards our efforts, I would really thank you. Check it out online, you can see
teaser video from the show and get more info:

And while we are talking about fire and how to survive the apocalypse......
My friend Eroc moved back to town. It was such event, the paper wrote about it....
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10053/1037275-388.stm

Anyhoo, Eroc is a pretty fascinating guy, though he is from Pittsburgh, I met him in NYC with my art star freaks up there, he was a founder of their Madagascar Institute, and LEMUR (League of Musical
Electronic Robots) and he is now living in Squirrel Hill. And he's about to teach a course in building your own personal artistic flame thrower. I can't attend these classes because of gigs and commitments,
but I am hoping it goes well so I can study another time, I have been needing some fire sculpture (or at least some fire elements for my scooter, don't you think?) for a while now.... and it's not like
Pittsburgh Center for the Arts is offering these classes....yet......

For more info:

http://www.hackpittsburgh.org/flame-cannon-clas

So, as much as I would love to see your beautiful faces tomorrow, I understand that not all things can happen as I would order them, mayhap I can see you at a gig towards the end of the month?

Save some dates if you would:

Saturday April 24 at the Club Cafe! 21+ , $10. The Return of Yawp!

Carnevale Poetica! Featuring Salena Catalina, Bingo Quixote, Alexi Morrissey, ErinEvanErin, Kevin "the nerve' Wenner, Borderless Puzzle, Phat Man Dee, Dr. Awkward, Gary Musisko, Jim "DOG" Cvetic, Over Responding Monster, Leslie Ann McIlroy and more guests TBA... plus the return of yawp Magazine. Poetry/Performance/Music/Art!

Friday April 30 at Little E's Jazz Club
8 pm, no cover, $10 min food/drink, with Tony DePaolis, Colter Harper and Miguel Sague III

Saturday May 1 at Backstage Bar
5 - 7 pm, no cover, with Colter Harper and Miguel Sague III
Later that same evening, 8 pm at the Grey Box Theater for a benefit for the Spanish language grade school in Squirrel Hill

Sunday May 16 at Shadow Lounge
"Go Tell it On the Mountain" a benefit to send legal defense funds to Climate Ground Zero, as they fight the Massie Corporation from immoral and illegal mountaintop blast coal mining. With Phat Man Dee, Emay, Typewriter Girls and Mike Roselle of Climate Ground Zero, more info forthcoming. All $$ to benefit Climate Ground Zero.

And last but not least, please to enjoy some video I shot and edited of me singing with Genia of Machete and Carlos Pena at the Latin American Cultural Union's presentation during the Caribbean and Latin American Festival at the University of Pittsburgh. I am hoping to start a trio with her and Cha of Guaracha Latin Dance Band, maybe called Trio Los Mereguitos.... Until I can announce our debut performance, I hope this video whets your appetite...

Tonight, Tomorrow & Beware My Final Ides of March March!

2010-03-12T15:54:00.000-08:00

Friends, Romans, Yinzers,
It has been and is continuing to be a fascinating journey for me through the 20th and 21st centuries.... This weekend is the perfect example showcasing why and how I love the City of Pittsburgh. I'm preaching from the 412, a chubby tattooed Jew..... (bad rhyming shall cease here.)

Seriously, I know this note is hitting you late, but check it, I am so excited to announce that tonight I shall sit in with some of the most dangerously sexy salsa musicians to hit our collective black and gold triangle.

Photo below of me with Miguel Sague III and Miguel Sague Jr

You may know of the band Guaracha, if you don't , you really should, in the 80's and 90's they introduced our city to Latin Music. Every Thursday at Rosebud and Saturdays at Cozumel they helped us shake it in ways we hadn't heretofore realized were possible. These days, Guaracha is led by the son of original founder Miguel Sague Jr, now Miguel Sague III is leading the group and tonight I debut sitting in with his show for a couple of songs like "Perfidia", "Bessame Mucho" and perhaps "La Llorona". It is not too late to come out to the Food Bank Fiesta!

Tonight March Friday March 12, 2010 at the Shadow Lounge
Doors 8:30 pm, $8 or $6 if you bring cans for the foodbank.
http://allsaguelatinshows.webs.com/
http://www.shadowlounge.net/

Some video I shot of Guaracha and Miguel's Latin Moods for a demo for Miguel Sague III

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And then tomorrow I am singing with Miguel Sague III and Colter Harper at a benefit for Chile.
Sat March 13, 2010, 7:30 pm, $10 donation

http://www.chileanbenefit.com/

Performers include:

El Coro Latinoamericano de Pittsburgh, Emily Pinkerton y Marcia Moreno, Christiane D., Phat Man Dee with Colter Harper and Miguel Sague III, Indira Corales, Flamenco Pittsburgh, Musuhallpa and Copihue-Chile.

In response to last Saturday’s devastating earthquake, the Chilean Community of Pittsburgh is presenting a benefit concert on Saturday, March 13 at 7:30 (Bellefield Hall Auditorium) to raise funds for the millions of individuals left without adequate food, water and shelter in central and southern Chile. In these efforts, the Chilean Community will collaborate with Brother’s Brother Foundation (BBF), a 52-year old Pittsburgh-based international charity that has provided over $3.4 billion of medical supplies, textbooks, food, seeds, and other humanitarian supplies to people around the world in over 140 countries. Also supporting the Chilean Community as sponsors are The University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Latin American Studies, the Department of Music, and the Latin American Cultural Union. The concert will feature several performance groups from Latin America in addition to raffles and prizes donated by local businesses. Visit http://www.chileanbenefit.com for the latest updates and biographical information on participating groups.

The Brother’s Brother Foundation earned Charity Navigator's seventh consecutive 4-star rating for BBF's ability to efficiently manage and grow its finances. Forbes Magazine, in this year's Investment Guide, once again noted BBF's efficiency with a 100% rating for fundraising efficiency and charitable commitment. The Better Business Bureau again gave BBF its “Wise Giving Alliance Standards” seal of approval. For additional information about BBF, and how to donate to Chile, please contact Karen Dempsey , Director of Development, or Luke L. Hingson , President, at 412-321-3160 or mail@brothersbrother.org

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And then finally, for me anyways, the 15th Annual Ides of March March shall pass on, not into the ether thankfully, for there is another who wants to ride this hot mess of freaky traditions into the future......
Since 1995 when the Big Daddy Bull Seal! and I realized we had a constitutional right to assemble and therefore a sociological responsibility to do so, albeit dressed to impress as our innermost selves supplanted themselves onto the unsuspecting consciousness of our local community at large, we have annually marched on the Ides of March to insist vociferously that those standing still should BEWARE of us, the IDES of MARCH MARCH! I even have a song for it, maybe I shall record it this year.....(what with all the free time I will have now that I am finally free of the fetters of the Ides of March March). And so, dutifully we responded to the inner calls of Bull Seal! and made Smelt Drop Cookies, and Square Lighthouses, and Blue Bakers and paraded the Ictothingus around with pride, we beat the drums heads high boys and made the girls grunt and squeal in disbelief. Ah, but we were young..... These days I am lucky if I get the Bellare Bewounds made in time and order the cake from Giant Eagle for the after party.

So this year, I am pleased to announce that Professor Emce Squared of the It's Alive! Show will be taking the Keys to the Parade and shepherding her into a glorious, rich, (though in grand Pittsburgh tradition probably more Zombie filled) future fervor.
http://www.theitsaliveshow.com/
Come be a a part of this Historic Changing of the Bards..... March with us, bring a costume and a drum.

Monday March 15, 2010
S 12th Street and E Carson St, in Pittsburgh's Hysteric Sahs Side at Birmingham Square
Gather at 6 pm, depart at 6:45 pm
March up to S 21st St, cross Carson, and then back down to S 14th St, and there will, I promise, be cake.

There may be floods, devastation, depression, concessions and earthquakes galore, but I implore you, let me see your shining face sometime this weekend. At the Food Bank Fiesta, at the Benefit for Chile, or the Ides of March March. If you can't I understand, we'll put something on youtube I am sure, but we would have had more fun with you than we ever could without you.

Love, butter and melting icepacks,
Phat Man Dee

Friday 2-19 Mandee @ Little E's w/ Miguel "Cha" Sague III, Colter Harper, Tony DePaolis & Gena!!

2010-02-18T14:30:00.000-08:00

You heard right, tomorrow night at Little E's Jazz Club (or tonight if you read this on Friday) I am singing my debut at Little E's Jazz Club, 949 Liberty Ave , downtown Pittsburgh, PA, upstairs above Mahoney's, right next door to the gigantic James Simon bronze sculptures of a guitarist, an accordionist and a dog, across from the August Wilson Center.

No cover! ($10 minimum for food and or drinks) Great menu, and wonderful music! I know the weather has been beating us all super hard, please come out and let me sing to you. Don't just let me sing to you, let me sing to you with some of my favorite Pittsburgh singers! I promise 3 part harmony with conga master Miguel "Cha" Sague of Guaracha Latin Dance Band and with the beautiful Gena of Machete and also Latin Dance Orchestra! I also have many new tunes I have been writing as well as the old classics that allow me to barely hold onto my self definition as a "jazz" singer.... Joining us is the phenomenal Colter Harper on guitar and after his sets at the Phyllis Hyman tribute show at the August Wilson Center Mr Tony DePaolis will bring over the bass. Rumor has it Reggie Watkins is in town, fresh from recording with Grooveline Horns and touring with Jason Mraz and may bring the trombone over for a couple tunes and mayhap Mr Sague (father of Cha and former bandleader of Guaracha) may sit in as well..... Please come out for a wonderful night of music, it's on a friday, downtown, no cover, I don't know what else I can say to entice you.
http://www.littleesjazz.com/

Photo above features me with Ketabu, Gena and Cha (that's Assante in the background) at the Haiti benefit we did a couple weeks ago at Shadow Lounge, that was when I decided I wanted to sing with these two incredibly talented performers.

And then next Tues Feb 23 , 2010 I am heading to New York to sing with Kenny Peagler! Neke Carson and Michael Wiener are presenting me at the Gershwin Hotel! I am so excited, I haven't seen Kenny in forever, for those of you who have my cd, he is the incredibly gifted pianist featured on the title track "Torch of Blue" (for those of you who don't , what are you waiting for? http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/phatmandee ) He is a graduate of the New England Conservatory of Music and toured Italy last year as musical director for a gospel choir. And he is one of Pittsburgh's brightest gifts to the musical world , in my humble opinion......

To elucidate, Neke Carson and Michael Wiener present shall Phat Man Dee to sing at the Gershwin Hotel as accompanied by pianist Kenny Peagler on Tues Feb 23, 2010.
Showtime 8 pm, $10 at door.
7 E 27th St, between 5th and Madison.
http://www.gershwinhotel.com/

Video of me with Tony DePaolis and Mike Murray at The Gershwin Hotel in December of 2008:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9JFIp8bHpY

Sending back the Spirit

2010-01-17T01:13:00.000-08:00

Sending back the Spirit

What: Pittsburgh musicians shall perform at a benefit concert to raise emergency funds to send to earthquake survivors in Haiti.

Who: Hosted by Shadow Lounge and Phat Man Dee. Performers to include trumpeter Sean Jones pianist and vocalist Joy Ellis and the Georgetown Trio, singer songwriter Joy Ike, guitarist Colter Harper, bassist Tony DePaolis, poet Christiane D, Ben Alper, Yours Truly, Irish activist and balladeer Terry Griffith, dancers Christine Andrews and Maria Hamer of Zafira, DJ Flex , Ben Hackett , Mike Glabicki and chanteuse Phat Man Dee and friends.

Where: The Shadow Lounge, 5972 Baum Boulevard, Pittsburgh, PA 15206-3815

When: Thursday January 21, 2010 Doors open 7 pm, show begins at 8 pm

Cost: $10 or more, 100% of door and 10% of bar sales to benefit Yele Haiti Earthquake Fund http://www.yele.org

Age: 18 and over

Also: Raffle to be held in the Blue Room. Donations co ordinator is Elizabeth Kivowitz and can be reached for donations at 412-758-6724

Long Description:

Upon hearing about the tragedy which befell the people of Haiti on Jan 11, people all over the world were at a loss as to how to help the people of this island nation. In Pittsburgh there is a community of musicians who are happy to lend their talents to create a night of music that will hopefully raise some much needed funds and awareness for the survivors of this terrible day. The Shadow Lounge and Phat Man Dee have banded together to host a wonderful evening of music to send some love, light and emergency funds to where they are needed most. The charity chosen to distribute what is raised is the Yele Haiti Earthquake Fund. In addition to attending this concert featuring local music legends such as Sean Jones, Mike Glabicki of Rusted Root, Phat Man Dee and more, you may also text the word “Yele” to the number 501501 on your cell phone to send an immediate donation of $5. All the performers will perform in the Shadow Lounge from 8 pm – 12 am and DJ Flex will be spinning Haitian dance music in Ava from 10 pm to close.

Phat Man Dee & Colter Harper to sing in Istanbul! Tomorrow!

2009-12-18T07:31:00.000-08:00

Ok, well, at least as close as we've been able to get so far.....
which is the new Istanbul Coffeeshop and Restaurant in Lawrenceville!

My friend Coskun has taken over the old Your Inner Vagabond space at 4130 Butler Street, on the corner of 42nd and Butler. He has done some nice remodeling in the front area for a very comfortable dining experience and the back he has kept with all the Turkish tuffets,
cushions and the big stage, which is awesome, because now you can enjoy his incredible cooking and still see a show in a very comfortable lovely setting. He has a couple eateries around town, a
nice lunch counter downtown on Liberty Ave, so you might have had a chance to enjoy his cuisine before. He is a big sweetie and I am really excited to sing at his new place and that wonderful space that Andrew and AJ worked so hard to bring to our town is preserved.

So this Saturday (tomorrow) I am singing with Colter Harper. I am hoping to have some special guests, and we shall sing some special holiday selections like "Un Flambeau, Jeanette Isabelle" and some of my hebrew / spiritual medleys. I also have a lot of new material I want to swing past you, and we'll throw some classic standards in there as well. A little Turkish rock here, some french cabaret there, a little Sabbath to lighten the mood and my new creepy songs about a
haunted hotel in Windber, PA..... I declare it shall be a delightful evening of sensual song and rhythms. I might even get Colter to break out the djembe......

I hope to see your shining faces, please come spend some time in from out of the cold and have a little coffee, eat some food, and let me sing to you.
The deets:
Showtime 8 pm - 11 pm. Food available til 10 pm.
BYOB , $3 corking fee, all ages, $10 at the door.
4130 Butler St, at 42nd and Butler, Lawrenceville, Pittsburgh, PA
15201
412.683.1623
http://www.istanbulpgh.com/Events.html

Your friend, your neighbor, your songstress,
Phat Man Dee

Please to enjoy some videographic holiday offerings of Colter and I in ChristmaChannaKwanzaa past:

Also, I wrote some poetry last week, at Tony DePaolis's cd release party at Little E's, you check out his release, it's pretty awesome, he helped to produce my last disc and I am really proud of him, his disc is called "The Contemporary Dynamic". I wrote this poem at the party while listening to the music.

"Righteouscity again, just a little bit brighter
Don't do it again, all night long
With hipsters flying and Gods childrens crying
Sacred music takes many forms as you play that song.

Sing it Kathy, sing it out
And Kenia makes our hearts to shout
Its righteouscity pretty as George cries loud
Little brother selling cds so very proud

But the tune drives us mad with sorrow and pain
Then lifts up our hearts from out of dark rain
Into the heaven where angels fly free
The bass tells a story in counts of three

A flat fourth here and a sus fifth there
The math is almost visible as notes hang in the air
But its the soul which sings from one heart to mine
Its in between phrases that we can feel time

Jimmy wants a peace of the tenderness cuz it fills up inside
And say what you want, they aint playing from pride
And tho some will analyze it all til your sore
My heart cries out for more and more

Righteouscity again, just a little bit brighter
Don't do it again, all night long
With hipsters flying and Gods childrens crying
Sacred music takes many forms as you play that song."

Phat Man Dee sings at Library today!

2009-12-06T07:54:00.001-08:00

In fact, I shall sing songs you can learn if you go to the library! My
set list tonight includes La Vie En Rose, A Tisket A Tasket, Ay Linda
Amiga, Rien de Rien, Dona Nobis Pacem, War Pigs and Imagine. I might
toss in a couple of originals, because I do recall giving the library
my cd once, but if they actually cataloged and made it available for
folks to check out, I don't really know. I tried.....

So I am sorry for the late notice, I have been kind of dazzled by
trying to get back into the Pittsburgh swing of things. I have had
breakfast at O'Learys, noodles at Lulu's and Thai Me Up, wontons at
Cambodican and a singular Black and Gold chocolate bob from the Get
Go. I sang at a benefit for the Brewhouse the same night I flew home,
and then for Zafira and the Indigo at the Rex a couple days later.

Photo by Chiko Sugimoto. Taken at the Rex Nov 29, 2009 with a show I was emceeing. Zafira presents The Indigo. From left to right, me, Christine Andrews, Zoe Jakes, Olivia Kissel, Mardi Love, Maria Hamer, and Rachael Brice.

I should have let you know about these things, but to be fair, I was
mired in gigs for BRAF and also in a movie shoot before I left San
Francisco for the movie FEED and I had little computer access, but I
do try and keep up with shout outs via twitter..... (I feel so Hannah
Montana) http://www.twitter.com/phatmandee

So tonight, it is Sunday December 6 and my friends The Typewriter
Girls have put together a benefit to save the library!

When I was in California, a community there was just building their
first library, and some small towns don't even have one, we have an
amazing legacy here, we need to protect it. It can be so easy to take
something as grand as the Carnegie Libraries for granted and say what
you want of Andrew Carnegie and his deplorable labor practices, the
library is a gift that has lasted over 100 years but it doesn't have
to be forever, it will only live if we continue to feed it, it will
only be around for our children and their children as a repository of
knowledge and ideas if we maintain and let it grow, so I entreat you,
come on out and show your love for the written word and knowledge and
information in general!

Specific info:
TypewriterGirls Save the Libraries!

What: A poetry reading and performance by the Avant-Garde cabaret
troupe The TypewriterGirls to raise awareness and funds for Carnegie
Library of Pittsburgh
Who: The TypewriterGirls Poetry Cabaret w/ Readers: Sandra Beasley,
and Nancy Krygowski; music by Phat Man Dee; stunts by Dave Doyle;
dance by NAKA; performance art by Christiane D.; comedy by Sean
Collier; and musical accompaniment by upright bassist Spat Cannon and
guitarist Chad Hammitt
Where: Carnegie Library Lecture Hall, 4400 Forbes Ave, Pittsburgh PA,
15213
When: Sunday, December 6th Doors Open at 5:30 pm / Show
begins at 6:00 pm
Cost: donation based—minimum donation of $7.00 required

On Sunday, December 6th, utilizing the power of poetry, protest, pygmy
goats, awkward conversation, and, yes, even necromancy, The
TypewriterGirls gather up all of the forces at their disposal and
battle furiously to save the Pittsburgh library system--the same
libraries that spawned their very group’s formation through its fine
artistic and educational programming, amazing international poetry
collection, and its generosity in employing Crystal as a security
guard despite her frequent and occasionally dangerous bouts with
delusions of grandeur.

This show will feature many of the area’s greatest activist artists
including poet Nancy Krygowski, performance artist Christiane D., and
famed vocalist and song writer Phat Man Dee. Don’t miss this
artistically stunning opportunity to show your support of and
contribute to our local library system.

True to the TypewriterGirls’ cabaret spirit, the event will include a
library themed typewriter written exquisite corpse at the door, a sure
to be rousing and thoroughly literary round of the improv comedy game
“Poets” in the middle, and lots of inanely intellectual comedic
theatrics to tie it all together, as Crystal and Margaret and guest
comedian Sean Collier take to the streets (and many other indiscreet
locales) to round up the funds to keep our libraries running, with a
special guest appearance by Franco Dok Harris.

Many other acts will take the stage in this epic battle--including but
not limited to Naka Entertainment, a unique hip-hop dance group
comprised of youth from Pittsburgh‘s East End, Dave Doyle, a daring
performer who will amaze us with a round of physical stunts, poet
Sandra Beasley, author of I Was the Jukebox, forthcoming from W. W.
Norton, and poetic musical accompaniment by stand-up bassist Spat
Cannon and guitarist Chad Hammitt. In addition, there will be a silent
auction filled with goods from local artists, musicians, poets,
restaurants, and shops. Come bid on baskets filled with chapbooks,
CDs, handmade jewelry, and other goods! All the proceeds go to the
library’s operating fund!
More Info: www.typewritergirls.net

Hope to see you, if not tonight then down the road, I am working on a
club date, probably at Istanbul Restaraunt for the holidays, more info
as it solidifies. I am still available for some last minute house or
corporate holiday parties before I head west again, so write or call!
Love, butter and follow me on facebook,

This painting was done by my beautiful friend Dr Deb from Palm Springs, CA. She and I met during a run of "How to Survive the Apocalypse, a Burning Opera" in San Francisco, 2009. I dream of singing back up for her in her show "Dr Deb's Southern Bapti-Jew-Bu Gospel Hour and traveling roadshow".

Love, butter and hope to see you out!
Phat Man Dee

PS New modeling agency in NYC, let me know what you think of my
profile:
http://www.theagencyonline.com/profile.php?u=678

PPS Also just posted phone video to you tube of my fabulous last
friday night, saw Jim Donovan, Zafira and Machete in one night....
reminding me again, exactly why I adore this crazy town we call
Pittsburgh!

Jim Donovan Drum the Ecstatic @ Istanbul:

Zafira @ Pandemic:

Machete @ Pandemic:

A wonderous chaos....

2009-10-27T15:32:00.000-07:00

And a musical one, these past several weeks has been so consuming, so insular, I have been neglecting basics, like eating or sleeping..... or promoting shows that are well impending...... To explain, I haven't been slacking off, we just finished the run of the opera last week (SOLD OUT SHOWS FOR 3 WEEKS!!!) , then cleaned out the rehearsal studio in West Oakland, and then immediately caravaned to the Hollywood Hills with a sack of burritos to record a cd of the music for the opera with many of the cast members and orchestra. It's been a physical and emotional whirlwind and we have made some wonderful music together. Last night we finished tracking the song I helped write the melody for and we had naked recording sessions of several of the tunes. My friends from the opera Renfey (fire elemental and gorgeous diva extraordinaire) and her husband David Bergeaud (brilliant musician and producer) opened their palatial home in the Hollywood Hills to our motley rag tag newly formed tribe of musicians and madmen and let us at the studio for 4 days (16 hour days) straight. They have an incredible home and studio just up the street from Charlize Theron's place.... but whatever, the real party was right here, under their magical tree, across from their lighted dome, beside the pool and jacuzzi.....I said we were busy working, but we made some time for a little pleasure too.... the naked choral session was pretty lovely.....maybe that video will make it into the extras portion of the directors cut of the dvd release......no promises though......you don't really want to see me singing "Chance is a dance, designed to align, reality and the mind" in 3 part harmony with 20 other people do you? No I didn't think so.....
Here is a photo of me and Renfey, our diva , fire elemental and gracious host with the incredible
offer to come into her home and record this music.

So back to reality.....

In San Francisco, tomorrow night, at 8 pm I am taking the stage with some of my wonderful friends from the opera and beyond. David Kaye has invited me to perform at the Climate Theater's Music Box Series, and for musicians I have Charles Darius, Aaron Taylor, John Hollis (all from Burning Opera) and John McManus. For soloists and special guests I have Marisa Lenhardt, and David Erik Petersen and Leslie Freeman (also of the Burning Opera) and my friend Rose Harden (dancer) will be joining us as well. I am expecting a thick and tasty musical madness to heal and inflame the body and soul......
Doors 7:30pm - Showtime 8:00pm sharp.
Most shows are $7-15 sliding scale
Climate Theater, 285 9th Street @ Folsom, San Francisco, 94109
http://www.musicboxseries.com/

After this concert, I am heading over to the Jellyfish Gallery at 1286 Folsom to sing a short set for the Ripper Journey Art Auction, a benefit for the Tom Kennedy Art Foundation. Please come to the show at the Climate Theater and then follow me to the gallery! Tom and his art mean a great deal to me and though he is sorely missed, bringing his message of peace and art to the world is in some way very healing.
http://www.tomkennedyart.com/

And then, hold your horses happy humans, I am heading to north to my favorite peace of heaven on earth, Point Arena, California, where I am singing on Halloween as the opener for a great show called "Lord Loves a Working Man" at the Point Arena Theater. Joining me will be Chris Campbell on drums and John McManus on bass, other players tba. There is a costume ball at 8 pm to begin the evening and doors are at 7 pm, tickets are $15.
214 Main Street, Point Arena, CA 95468
http://www.arenatheater.org/

So for now, I remain your ever loving, if never writing, Phat Man Dee. I am so grateful for your love and support as I try to negotiate this world of music, chaos and joy. I am looking very much forward when the dvd comes out of the stage show at Teatro Zinzanni and then a cd of the music from this wonderous experience, "How to Survive the Apocalypse, a Burning Opera".
Please read the review of our show in the San Francisco Bay Guardian! I am really excited about the future of this show.
http://www.sfbg.com/blogs/pixel_vision/2009/10/burning_opera_the_fires_almost.html

I am doing my best to keep picture logs on flickr and facebook.....
links:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=130044&id=19202236991
http://www.flickr.com/photos/phatmandee/sets/72157622461821010/

The whole opera is breaking up right now from Renfey and David's house, it is sad, but this fire will burn for a long time..... as the poet Erik Davis once said "Dust is only dust, so let it burn!"
Erik Davis seen here:

photo by Michael Rauner

A week of joy and tears.....

2009-10-09T15:01:00.000-07:00

Hello dear friends!

It has been a magnificent and equally emotional week in the world of Phat Man Dee. The Burning Opera company opened our show, "How to Survive the Apocalypse" at Teatro Zinzanni this week to sold out and we received very positive responses. We have even added a third week
due to sell out crowds! Maybe someday we will realize our dreams of taking the show on the road across North America and Europe..... fingers are crossed for sure!

Here are some wonderful press and blog postings!
Laughingsquid post:

photo by Michael Rauner

Contra Costa Times:
http://www.insidebayarea.com/entertainment/ci_13463898

My own behind the scenes evolving set of photos, here with David Petersen as we prepare for the opening of the show with the song "Gypsy Dogs"

http://www.flickr.com/photos/phatmandee/sets/72157622461821010/

That said, even between gigs, I never rest, I never sleep, I only think of new and wonderful ways to entertain the beautiful people who come to hear me sing......
Tonight, sorry for late notice, I been a little busy, if you are in San Francisco early tonight I am singing at Red Hots Burlesque at El Rio, 3158 Mission St! Doors at 7:30 pm, $10, come early, seats sell out fast! A new and different show each week,including bizarre beauties,senseless sideshow, drag, burlesque and comedy! Each Show Features burlesque by DOTTIE LUX and film stimulus by VAL KILLMORE
Seating is limited to reserve seating please email redhotsburles...@gmail.com For a complete show calendar please see the RHB myspace page at http://www.myspace.com/redhotsburlesque
Accompanying me tonight is the lovely Charles Darius, he is one of the wonderful musicians from the Burning Opera, and I am not sure who all is dancing, but Dottie puts on a great show, and if you like tassel twirling and g strings, El Rio is THE place to be!

Hope to see you tonight, but if not, then maybe at the opera! Buy your tix now, I think next week is sold out!
http://love.zinzanni.org/burningopera.htm

Love and fried garbanzo beans,
Mandee

P.S. I say week of joy and tears because on Sunday we (the cast and crew of the opera) tried to go to Baker Beach to celebrate where the Burning Man got started, and thus led us all down the path which led to each other.... but these days it's closed at night and the cops ran us off and no one had enough $$ to go any one else's bail, so we made our way to Ocean Beach for some fire and music action. It was difficult for me, because earlier this year we lost a wonderful artist
and activist there, Tom Kennedy, and in that moment, I was in no way prepared emotionally to deal with an immediate confrontation of that geographic location AT ALL. It was a hard night for me, but it was nice to be with the opera, who remind me of how much we have to live
for..... and then last night, on our night off, we all sat down to watch video from our Wed night performance, to critique and whatnot, but beforehand we watched some video of one of the last Pepe Ozan desert operas, Eye of Rudra.....these productions, while very different from our own definitely inspired many of us in some way, some of us helped write direct and star in them, and then, without warning, across the screen of the video walked my friend Felicity. She passed away last year, and in sitting down to watch some video with my friends, again, I simply wasn't prepared for the sight of her...... Basically, I lost it, both Sunday and last night, in the middle of
such joy and intense passion of good music and performance, I was blind sided by the pain and utterly senseless loss of two people for whom I cared very deeply. I know if Tom and Felicity could see us now, both would be so proud of the work we're doing and probably be involved, or be roping us into some similar madness and artistic expression..... So friends, know that whatever time I have been able to spend with you, I consider it a blessing and for as long as we have together, I do not want to take a single moment for granted. I can't do everything I want to, but I sure as hell can try. Thank you for being in my life, thank you for being in my community, just thank you for being the you who has spent some time with me, I consider *you* the gift.

The Burn..... from Playa to Proscenium....

2009-09-17T16:17:00.000-07:00

Or thrust, actually......
Where to begin? My last show in the hometown of my heart and hackles (Pittsburgh, PA) occurred on Aug 29. I was blessed to emcee a wonderful night of performance and art to welcome the new art space The Meter Room to our humble burgh. John Ross and his wonderful group of freaks and friends have been undaunted in their struggles to bring more art and music to the West End. I remember when the Meter Room was just a basement in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, literally a basement with meters for the gas man to read for the apartments above, now it is a huge beautiful warehouse with space for art of all kinds, industrial, music, dance, you name it. In Pittsburgh, PA, which is the important part.....

So after that wild and crazy extravaganza, I headed west, to meet Colter Harper and head to the desert. For the Burningman..... My first burn was 1996, and my, the event certainly has changed since then! I went by accident, to my reckoning, that first time. On tour with the Bindlestiff Family Zirkus, Dave Apocalypse and I were informed in San Francisco , after our show at Cell Space that our next show was in Black Rock City , NV. "Great I thought", to myself, "I have never been to Nevada".... at no point did anyone think to inform my little bald nineteen year old self that we were actually going to a desert wasteland and I might wish to procure a water bottle and hat.... or a tent..... or a neckerchief, or sunscreen..... so off we went , when I woke in the van, my first thought was "Where the f*!k is the club?!?" No club, no bathroom, no coffeeshop, nuthin'. Just dust. Dust everywhere and in everything. Aggro alkali dust that liked to eat you and your stuff. Violent looking people with massive artillery. And rigging. Lots of rigging. Metal machines, operas by crazed Argentinians celebrating Dante's Inferno, Chicken John burning Hollywood in effigy, Papa Satan serving up burgers and lighting sculptures on fire whilst madly giggling..... I barely left camp.... except to get a burger from Satan. What can I say? I like the flavor of dead cow and the Bindletwits were all vegetarian......we had number 10 cans of hominy and condiment sandwiches in my camp.... if camp you can truly call it, I had a german army suplus tentish thing, basically an isosoles triangle portion of camo canvas. I was so scared by the opera and the burning of Hollywood and then a man lept from a 40 foot tower which burst into explosive flame (later John Law, who didn't , as I thought at the time, die during that performance, became one of my very good friends who I will adore til the end of time) , I refused to leave center camp for the burning of the man..... I watched it from the interior of Chris DeMontery's pyramid camera obscura.... much more calm. No dust, no debris, no screaming mad men. Well, I watched it go with Dusty Balls, but he didn't truly go mad til much later......

So why, you ask, did I go back after such an awfully traumatizing experience? The circus again.... except in 1997, I was with Chicken John's Circus Rediculous...... and I stayed on the road with Chickie for 7 months in 1997. We ended this grueling tour of America with about 12 starving punk rawk klowns left over from an original cast of 26.....45 miles an hour , across the nation and back, with the Veg O Matic of the Apocalypse and 1000 pounds of bikes of Peet Manuel's Hard Times Bike Club school bus of pain. We smelled like rotten baloney, hard tortillas, stubbed cigarettes, stale beer, dill pickle juice and foot. We looked worse. But we could work. We set up a bike circus camp, we helped Jim Mason build a 12 foot high (very impressive in those days) ice ball sculpture, and then we became the first ever BRC DPW (Black Rock City , Department of Public Works). As a joke. Because the 8 guys trying to build the city were having difficulty. Long story short, there was a massive changeover in leadership and a break in the organization , for details read Brian Doherty's very comprehensive book:

All we could see was pain as far as the eye can see and clowns like to heal..... and we didn't have a car, we were trapped , on a soft playa with violent looking strangers who sometimes had beer. That they mixed with Clamato juice..... but beer nonetheless. So we stayed. And I kept coming back, for years, as a cook to feed the men and women of the DPW, til about 2001, when I decided I was done. I came back as a participant, in 2002 with Tommy Amoeba for our honeymoon, but I didn't work DPW that year, or really ever again. I had to back off, they work hard and the group is over 150 people now, but to see what it was like when I was there you can check Susan Barron's documentary:
Working for the Man: The Building, Burning and Disappearance of Black Rock City 2000 (2001)

So I stopped for years, burnt out, fried fried, fricaseed fried. My husband and I had our honeymoon, our "friends" burned our wedding elephant, for details check it on my website
http://www.phatmandee.com/wedding.html
We sued them on Judge Joe Brown and everything.......

I wasn't going to go back till my friends Kimric and Shannon decided it would be a wonderful idea to build a 3 story Victorian house that drove itself across the desert.... "The Neverwas Haul" I so didn't believe it would happen , that I actually rote a song on my second disc called "Neverwas is Forevermore" in dedication to what I believed would utterly fail..... I went to watch it fail in a magnificent fashion. Which it didn't. Beautifully. And much to delight of tens of thousands, it has made it to 3 burns and I have been to every one with it. It's incredible. Kimric makes accordions and blows stuff up with SRL. Shannon builds sets for Renny fairs and haunted houses.... perfect combination. This year it worked every day, 2 times a day, we took tours all over the playa, with little kids (baby burners are soooooo cute!!!) and everything.

So here we are, 14 years later. I have hair, I know to bring a realish tent to the desert, bring a water bottle, and some food..... sunscreen and every single costume I ever owned.... and be sure to camp with a Victorian house..... not some mangy circus with foot fungus reeking of pickle juice. (Really truly pickle juice, they were just sure it cured the hangover.....) There are even naked pictures of me online by my cousin, Jon Alloway (who btw, I met while doing a circus show at Burningman 1997) with Chicken, Flash (aka Papa Satan of 1996 and of the hit tv show "Doin' DaVinci) and Larry Harvey, head poobah of the Burningman LLC Himself.....

And now, though Pepe Ozan never cast me in one of his desert operas, (so bitter was I over this grand insult that I penned a tune called "Pepe" on my debut album, he didn't really like it, though I always loved him, brilliant self centered son of gun that he is......) I have been blessed with the opportunity to join an incredibly talented cast of wonderful performers of every genre from all over the world. This new rock opera is called "How to Survive the Apocalypse, a Burning Opera" . In this wonderful work, Mark Nichols and Erik Davis have penned something that somehow manages to actually capture the wild spirits of Burningman in a staged indoor production. I don't want to give too much away, but in this blog, over the next couple of weeks, I will be uploading pictures and some video clips from the building of this inspiring work. In fact the director of this new show is a very talented man named Christopher J. Fülling who actually helped write and directed every opera that Pepe designed in the desert during those early, heady, we can do anything or die trying, years of Burningman..... So, of course, I want you should all buy tickets, or help us figure out a way to take this show on the road..... or maybe fund a film..... but in any case, I will share as much of my experience with you as I can. I am having a blast, I feel like I am exactly where I need to be and when and with whom I need to be.

Some initial images:
Me with Mark Nichols, from Seattle, now of Sebastopol, CA, the music director and composer:

Erik Davis our Wordsmith and poet, with costume designers Deborah Sciales and Oliver Lowe:

Me with Dj Jonni Ji and Andrew Stack (we are here trying to figure out my break out song, "Don't See Me" which I got to actually help write, totally exciting!!!!!)

And for now, last but not least, my favorite moment today...... when Michael Michael came in to rehearse with us..... Michael Michael aka Danger Ranger is a beautiful man with whom I have enjoyed many wonderful burns. always an enigmatic figure he and I have shared screaming matches and the serenity of the hot springs.... once he rode me up a mountain in a silver RV named "The BARTH" at breakneck speeds, I was sure we would all die..... he doesn't make me feel safe exactly, but he always made me feel something......

He is here with the brilliant tenor and director Christopher J. Fülling and Erik Davis (wordsmith)

And for now just a little video for your viewing pleasure a clip of me and Mark Nichols actually composing my big break out number: "Don't See Me":

To buy tix visit:
http://love.zinzanni.org/burningopera.htm

Since last we spoke.....

2009-08-15T07:54:00.000-07:00

I have seen and heard so many things since last we spoke.... someday I hope I will actually get a chance to edit all the video I shoot, compile all the pictures I take..... I do update my facebook regularly, now I have some crazy wacko phone thing, you know, I remember when I was a kid, we used to get all worked up about the man. Remember him? The one who was watching, and making little notes for hisself and his cronies? Also known as the CIA or the Secret Service, we used to worry that the Man was watching, taking pictures to use against us in some future psycho techno Joe McCarthy hearings..... we would wax prophetic for hours about what we were gonna do when the Sh*t hit the Fan, when we could hear the 4 horsemen of the Apocalypse actually coming down S 15th St, and then Dave would look at me and say, "Fat girl, you are
the first to go..... you can't keep up, so you will be jerky by the morning......." I told him I would learn to brew beer and distill strong spirits , since alcohol was a valuable skill especially in
times of Apocalypse...... so fast forward to 2009, and I now have a phone which actually has a microphone, and video camera, and home based hi speed wireless internet and a computer with higher res versions of the same media capturing devices......and I pay for the privilege!! So, yes, sometimes I lay awake at night, wondering if the Man is going to come down on me and use against me all the pictures I take and video I shoot, tracking me with the GPS unit built into the
phone.... and then other times I exit the movie theater in South Side to discover the Boilermaker Jazz Band playing out in the grass and I upload some video on the spot.....and just delight in the fun of it all, the immediacy of sharing our cultural heritage with the world with the flick of some buttons on a hand held computing phone video internet gizmo......

So where was I going with this rant, oh yeah, I upload alot of stuff on the facebook more often than I send out an email, so if you want more, friend me and fan me on the facebook, and I will deal with the Man when he comes for me (for you know, he will, oh he will......)

http://www.facebook.com/Mandy.Kivowitz.Delfaver
http://www.facebook.com/phatmandee

And tonight, the last in a 3 part series with the New Hazlett Theater! Free show, video taped live for a future podcast!

Tonight, August 15 at 10:30 pm come to see a FREE show featuring the over-the-top rawk antics of Amoeba Knievel and and the unparalleled
stylings of Phat Man Dee.
This is an all ages show but alcohol will be available for purchase with ID.

New Hazlett Theater
Allegheny Square East
Pittsburgh, PA 15212
phone: 412-320-4610
fax: 412-320-4612
For more info about the theater: http://www.newhazletttheater.org/

Next week I am heading east to Windber, PA for my 3rd ever Kerouac Fest. My friend Blair A Murphy bought a haunted hotel, the Grand Midway, just outside of Johnstown, in Windber, about 8 years ago on eBay, he bought it for $10,000 sight unseen, and moved to it from Los
Angeles with his two friends, Damien Youth and Betsy Black.... Damien and Betsy have since moved back to her hometown in Louisiana, but Blair perseveres..... He has built a very strange and wonderful scene out there, people come from all over the world to visit and make art
there, Blair was a filmmaker who used to work for Stan Lee and Prince when he lived in LA, and now is a fine bartender and still a filmmaker. So he puts on these crazy events, and this year I am
singing on the Friday night of Kerouac Fest..... along with many others....
The line up as I know it (*way* subject to change)

Thursday night Aug 20
a play featuring my friend Dylan and Curtis (they were in Midsummer
Night's Dream with me last June)

Friday night Aug 21
Typewriter Girls
Bridge City Bombshells Burlesque Review
and me singing with Colter Harper and Tony DePaolis

Sat night Aug 22
Jack Cassady
Damien Youth
David J
Amoeba Knievel
The Skirt Tasters

So if you feel like making the journey, you should come, rooms at the hotel are all booked, but it is only 2 hours east of Pittsburgh and we'll be up all night anyways, if you feel a need for a bed though check out the local holiday inn....... and the event itself is Free, though you should bring something to share, food, wine, whatev.....
Info about the Grand Midway
http://www.thecemetery.net/

Hope to see you there!
Love, butter and bones,
Mandee

Sometimes weeks go by.......

2009-07-17T10:39:00.000-07:00

Hot warm muggy heat of summer comes to bear down in great steamy waves..... weeks pass and I don't want to sit at a computer in a city connected to electricity and synaptic emphatic digital impulses promising the world of the great things to come if you would just keep reading the emails , checking the my spacebook invites, and following the tweets to the promised land..... I don't want to insist that you hear my new songs or rather, I want you to discover them organically like presents thrown at us from the ether...... I want you to hear me around a camp fire at night as we dance naked, drums pounding, feeling the primal energy of the mother earth around us.... but sometimes it is just best to invite our friends to an air conditioned nice theater
and leave your clothes on..... or not, depending on the venue, and for you, I truly have the best of both worlds this weekend!

Tonight Friday July 17, 2009!
Want to see some clothes come off? Not mine, the flimsy frippery and finery of Pittsburgh's premiere burlesque troupe, the Bridge City Bombshells!!!!!! I do hereby officially invite you see me sing for these lovely ladies. I shall also be doing a set with Tony DePaolis, Pittsburgh's hottest bass man with fingers fueled by the liquid fire that is his soul....Also with DJ Hates You!
Doors 9 pm, showtime 10 pm. Tickets are $5 before 10 pm, and then $7
after 10 pm.
Drink specials $2 Yuenglings, $3 well drinks, 21 and over, sorry kids!
Belevedere's is located in the Lawrenceville section of Pittsburgh, PA at:
4016 Butler St
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15201
412-687-2555

Tomorrow Saturday night July 18, 2009!
Live taping! This is the second in a phabulous experiment in the Amoeba’s GOING GLOBAL! Announcing the second of a three month experiment in podcasting for Phat Man Dee Productions and the New Hazlett Theater. I shall host a wonderful evening of jazz, cartoons
and dance. Featuring entertainers Patrick Arena, Miss Angelique Young aka Miss Pegasus 2009 & Joe Wos! With technical director Dave Bjornson and his crackerjack team of videographic maniacs, watch in pain or pleasure as PMD Productions re-embarks on the journey to bring
Pittsburgh to the world at large! The public is invited to sit in on these live tapings, to be later edited and made available for free to the world via the magic of the interweb! All ages and Free but for the EGRESS!
Showtime: 10:30pm
New Hazlett Theater
One Allegheny Square East
Northside, Pittsburgh, PA
phone: 412-320-4610

And Monday July 20, 2009
I am making my debut appearance with Dr Sketchy's Anti Art School at Gypsy Cafe from 8pm-11pm!
1330 Bingham St
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15203
Cost:$10 adv, $12 @ door
Dr. Sketchy presents: A Midsummer’s Night Sketch Featuring Phat Man Dee! Ah the great bard would be proud. Provided he was an artist who drank a lot and drew scantily clad fairies. Join us for Drinking, Drawing, Dames and Games as Dr. Sketchy Takes on Shakespeare’s Midsummer masterpiece! This month will feature special guest performer/ model Phat Man Dee. Your chance to sketch a true Pittsburgh icon. Mel Practice, Dollface Dani and introducing our newest model Rachel Weichbrodt! Artists and photographers are welcome, however photographers will have specific poses to shoot to allow for the artists to sketch without distraction. As always must be 18 to attend and 21 to drink. www.drsketchypgh.com for more information. Tickets only 10 dollars online, 12 dollars at the door. Students enter code aip for discount tickets. To buy tickets visit http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/71996
Sponsored by Boyd and Blair Vodka, Gypsy Cafe, and Baby Tattoo Books.

New video of the week, check out Pittsburgh Guitars newest theme song/video!

And next week, I am going to Starwood to dance around a fire in as few clothes as humanly possible , you are all invited to join me......

We are so blessed.....

2009-06-24T09:43:00.000-07:00

We live in a country that has known violence and oppression, our people have been on both sides of the coin in many cases....but just recently we enjoyed a massive regime change, we witnessed and became real historical change, and we realized it in relative peace. This is not the case for our cousins in Iran. They are really in it right now, and as I write this blog / email to inform you of my next gigs over the week, I realize again, how blessed I feel that I am allowed to go off and do my shows and sing in public and not wear a chador or burka and just be a free woman. Pray for Iran, pray for the people, pray for the music, poetry and children of Iran. Below my show announcements I will include here a poem by my friend Murrie, he wrote it in response for what is happening in his home country.

This Saturday in Windber, PA , I join with Blair Murphy's production of "A Midsummers Night Dream" by Bill Shakespeare. We are performing it in front of his hotel , The Grand Midway, during Thunder in the Valley, a local biker rally also called The Windber Rumble...... I am playing "Fairy", it is a cameo role, and my first foray into the world of Shakespeare....

Here is an article about it from the Daily American:
http://www.dailyamerican.com/articles/2009/05/28/news/local/news693.txt

Showtime is 9 pm this Sat June 27 in front of the Grand Midway Hotel at Miner's Park.
1303 Midway, Windber, PA 15963
http://www.thecemetery.net/

Then next Thursday I am singing at Pegasus, showtime is 10:30 pm, 18 and over, $3, other performers tba.

And Friday, I don't know about you, but I am preparing for the End of the World, with my Subgenius brethren......
http://www.subgenius.com/bigfist/fun/devivals/12XDay/12X-Day.html

So I keep busy.... it's been a fascinating year so far. I just put two new videos online:
This is of a burn we held at Teppy's house in Wexford, me and all my local Burningman family and friends:

And then I made a video for Tommy Amoeba, please to enjoy:

And as promised, a poem written by my friend Murrie, The part on the left is Farsi as rendered with English letters phonetically, the words on the right are the English translation.

Mah Hasteem________________________We Are

Mah Hasteem________________________We Are
Bah Allah___________________________With God

Mah Bah Hameem_____________________We are Together
Too een Rah_________________________On this Road

Bah Ham Rah Mereem __________________We walk Together
Emrooz oh Fardah_____________________Today and Tomorrow

Mah Tahamol Kardeem _________________We have put Up
Tah Halla___________________________Until Now

Tah Halla ___________________________Until Now
Sedah Nah Dashdeem___________________We had no Voice

Halla az Fardah_______________________Now from Tomorrow
Nafass Mekhaeem Bekesheem_____________We want to Breath

Mekhaeem Zendeh Besheem______________We want to live Again
Faryad Bekesshem_____________________We Scream

Halla Sedah Dareem ____________________Now we have a Voice
Bahrah yeh Azadi______________________For Freedom

Faryad Meekesheem____________________We Scream
Barah yeh Azadi_______________________For Freedom

Juneh-moon rah Meedeem________________We will give our Lives
Barah yeh Azadi________________________For Freedom

Mah Hasteem_________________________We Are
Too een Rah__________________________On this Road

Bah Ham Rah Meereem__________________We walk Together
Emrooz oh Fardah______________________Today and Tomorrow

Mah Irooni Hasteem_____________________We Are Iranians
Zendeh Hasteem________________________We Are Alive

Tah Sedah Dareem______________________Until our last Voice
Bah Hameem__________________________We Are Together

Tah Azadi Nadareem_____________________Until we have Freedom
Fahdah Meesheem_______________________We will be Martyred

Mah Hasteem__________________________We Are

By Mehrdad Emamzadeh 6-21-09

Written in honor of Neda Soltan and other fallen Iranians protesting for Freedom in Iran.

Songs of Wonder, Songs of Might.....

2009-06-19T13:09:00.000-07:00

Phat Man Dee shall sing tonight! And tomorrow as well.....

Tonight, I am singing for a benefit for PERSAD at Altar Bar!
The Shining All Star Awards is an awards ceremony to recognize volunteers in our local non profit community. Guest performers include Bunny Bixler, Gynda Denor, Rose Malloy, Milan and Anna Steezia, our gracious hostess shall be Kierra Darshell!!! $7, all ages. Awards going to Richard Allison (GLCC), Alan Jones (PATF) & Julie Evans (PAAR) !
Altar is located at 1620 Penn Ave, Strip District, Pittsburgh, PA, 15222

Tomorrow, hold your hats on, ere'body on the innerweb..... I have decided to take the Pittsburgh that I see, visible to the world at large, via the mighty power of the interweb. Many years ago you may recall I hosted a weekly show at the Lava Lounge. From 1998 - 2002 I hosted a show there , Phat Man Dee Presents! And what I presented changed every week, sometimes poets, sometimes drag queens, sometimes circus folk, sometimes bluegrass trios with singing bowls (which sound like feedback when miked btw) sometimes beautiful dancers.... from Bulgaria or Crafton.... weekly was hard, it hurt, I had to stop, but I wish the world to see my town of Pittsburgh as I see it, full of creative life.... to that end, tomorrow Tommy Amoeba and I are beginning the first in a series of monthly variety shows at the New Hazlett Theater.

We are announcing the first of a three month experiment in podcasting for Phat Man Dee Productions and the New Hazlett Theater. To kick off the first one, Phat Man Dee and Tommy Amoeba shall host a wonderful evening of circus, belly dance and jazz. Featuring entertainers Andrew the Impaled, Pittsburgh's Premiere Pain Proof Clown, the lovely dancing of Lady J and the amusing duet that is your host, Phat Man Dee and Tommy Amoeba! With technical director Dave Bjornson and his crackerjack team of videographic maniacs, watch in pain or pleasure as PMD Productions re-embarks on the journey to bring Pittsburgh to the world at large! The public is invited to sit in on these live tapings, to be later edited and made available for free to the world via the magic of the interweb! All ages and Free but for the EGRESS!

June 20, 2009
New Hazlett Theater
Allegheny Square East
Pittsburgh, PA 15212
All Ages and Free (but for the Egress)
10:30 pm (after the main show lets out)

New Video Online! And show tonight @ Pegasus and more! Options There are currently too many topics in this group that display first. To make this top

2009-06-04T10:24:00.000-07:00

Wow, NY was a monster, I don't think I exactly slayed it, but I definitely had a good time rough and tumbling with it! While in NY I caught up with some wonderful Pittsburgh ex-patriots,
Sharon Mama Spell put on a wonderful show for us "Shrink" @ Ottos Shrunken Head, and we saw Paul Tabachneck and sat in with his open stage at Winegasm.... and then I stayed to work with my good friends from Dark Passage and the Madagascar Institute to celebrate their 10
years of existence as art and exploratory groups. I will include links to that madness below......I am just happy I came back alive......thanks to John Law and Rick McKinney I shall live to sing
another day, though after the biker rally this weekend and the show for PFLAG @ Hard Rock on Monday, that might be it, so come see me this weekend before I expire from exhaustion......

Tonight at Pegasus! I am singing with Michael Murray on keys and
joining us will be my good friends and phabulous entertainers
Gabryella Divine, with Ms Pegasus 2009 Angelique Young and introducing
Ivanna DeVaughn Browne! Showtime is 10:30 pm, 18 and over, with i.d.
and the cover is only $3. Gear up for PRIDE week and get your cocktail
on, I want to see you out there!

This weekend, I am joining my friend Bag Lady Sue is hosting her first
ever motorcycle rally, a Benefit for Operation Troops Assist!
For more info visit:
http://www.motorcyclesmetalandmayhem.com/

Then next Monday June 8 @ Hard Rock Cafe, Station Square
Join us for the THE BOOB TUBE FOLLIES, a Benefit for PFLAG
(Parents & Friends of Lesbians and Gays' 20th Anniversary)
with Patrick Arena and Mark Lucas
6:30 p.m. Donation: $25
Featuring performances by Patrick Arena, Phat Mandee,Gab Bonesso,
Brenda Jean, and Tracy Drach
Come as your favorite TV character! Prizes for Best Costume!

I might send out another email next week if I have the energy, and I
am still counted among the living...... but if I don't , I want to see
you at my gigs anyways, I am not booked at the Arts Festival this
year, so if you want me downtown, come out and support your Pittsburgh
Queers! Without them, you know we would have a much uglier city,
don't you? Sometimes it's easy to get spoiled by how good we look....
but I travel, I know, Pittsburgh is sexy.......

June 14
Pittsburgh Pride in the Streets
7th St Stage at 5 pm •
http://www.pittsburghpride.org

June 19
Shining All Star Awards at Altar Bar
Benefit for PERSAD
http://www.myspace.com/greatstars

June 20
The New Hazlett Theater
1st Video shoot for my new Webcast Variety Hour!!

I promised video and video I shall produce........
Watch in horror as your favorite 300 pound singing Jew flies across
the Gowanus Canal last weekend in Brooklyn:
Madagascar Institute & Dark Passage 10 Year Anniversary Celebrational
Finale!

Be delighted at the antics of the friends for whom she thought that
was a great idea:
"Revenge of the Future" Part One:

"Revenge of the Future" Part Two

in New York, have many shows....

2009-05-27T07:58:00.000-07:00

Long time no post... what can I say, I have been bopping hither, thither, and yon all month, I think I had one weekend home this month..... I have been gigging coast to coast, here are some pictures from my last trip to California, there I met with Mark Nichols and Dana Harrison about the opera with whom I am singing this fall, and I saw our own Zafira Dancers in Sebastopol, CA at Tribal Fest, and my friend Rick McKinney, author of Dead Man Hike No Trails, took me on his boat and then I went to SF Music Tech Summit 2009 where I got to meet the guy who runs the company which presses my albums.....

Check out some of my photos:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/phatmandee/sets/72157618443493503/
Also another nice set of photos by Taboo Media of a show I did with the Boiler Bar 2 weeks before that:
http://taboomedia.smugmug.com/gallery/8296794_ozy4j#543301684_dJWQ6

That said if I have been lax in in promoting my current gigs, please forgive, and come out anyways....
Tonight May 27, 2009
Live and in person! Tommy Amoeba and I are visiting Sharon Mama Spell, at this very moment she is making popcorn for the Shrink mix for tonight's show:

Shrink @ Otto's Shrunken Head
538 East 14th Street, New York City, 10009 (Between A & B. Take the L to 1st Avenue)
Stand-Up Comedy Variety Show. "When you Shrink, you come closer together."

Guest Host: Emmy Rivera
With Special Guest Sound Tech by DJ Welly Wells
Featuring: Nick Zimmerman, soce the elemental wizard, Brian Longwell, Evan Morgenstern, Fariaz, and with other special guests Phat Man Dee & Tommy Amoeba.

Free. 8-9:30 pm. 212-228-2240

21+, Cash Only. Otto's happy hour ends at 8 pm, so join us before the show starts for: 2 for 1 Bud / Bud Light and well drinks, $1 off everything else (which means $2 PBR!).

We provide Shrinx Mix, and feel free to bring your own snacks.
http://myspace.com/shrinkatottos

And this weekend I am singing for the 10 year Anniversary of the Madagascar Institue and Dark Passages!!
http://www.madagascarinstitute.com/anniversary.html

Next month save the dates:
June 4 at Pegasus more info tba
June 6 Biker Rally with Bag Lady Sue, benefit for Operation Troops Assist
June 8 with Patrick Arena and Mark Lucas , benefit for PFLAG at the Hard Rock Cafe
June 14 Pittsburgh Pride in the Streets
June 19 Shining All Star Awards at Altar Bar , benefit for PERSAD
June 20 The New Hazlett Theater , 1st Video shoot for my new Webcast Variety Hour!!
June 27 Grand Midway Production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" w/ cameo by Phat Man Dee
Ok, so it's not as sexy as bellydancers and sailing ships and drag queens and decadence, but meeting with local Move On members and Congressman Mike Doyle is pretty hot to me..... after I got back from playing with Peeka A Boo Revue in Philadelphia couple weeks back, I found myself invited as a member of the community and of Move On to Mike Doyle's office to discuss the environment.... Pretty rocking stuff..... If you're good I'll show you the outtakes with the aides....

A Memorial, A Celebration, A Remembrance of a Life Well Lived....

2009-05-22T08:40:00.000-07:00

a poem for Tom Kennedy by Phat Man Dee

Wailing and heartache were all that were left
as I cried with the big brass band.

Sorrow and loss and confusion and pain,
Made tuneful with syncopation heart stain.

The sun went out when the sea took his life,
I could never feel good again.

Ripper the Shark drowned , not forgot,
1000 replicas would not replace him.

There were songs and altars and photographs too,
Proof you had been here, proof we loved you.

But nothing could have prepared me for the sound,
Of a marching brass band, wailing for the man who had drowned
Their song was simple, it echoed the pain,
Of a life we lost as we cried in the rain.

Drums pounding, horns screaming, the fire flames high,
Primal silence and screaming, I could only cry.

A Little Bell whispered into my soul,
"If we loved him" she said, "He will never grow old."

His soul is timeless and his message is true,
Lost not forgot, we are still part of his crew.

She said the reason he lived has not changed with his death,
We must all try to furthur his holy quest.

To live without warning, and sing songs with our friends,
The love is still there, it can never end.

He drove fast in the fantasia he made with his hands,
He adapted to sea forms to ride on dry land.

He made missiles to fire the harsh words of peace,
to warlords and monsters he demanded relief!

We love him and miss him, we must endeavour to be,
the people Tom Kennedy would want us to be.

2009-05-06T21:26:00.000-07:00

Sorry I have been out of touch, I was at a memorial in California last weekend, for my friend Tom Kennedy, and I just kind of fell off the promotion machine..... but please come on out to Pegasus for a rollicking good old gender bending time.... some of my favorite gender illusionists and performers are joining me tomorrow at Pegasus and I would be so happy if you came out to support us!

I will be singing and featuring performances by the lovely Gabyrella Divine, the very dapper Adam Hunter Starr & Miss Teen Pegasus herself, Angelique Young! Come clap your hands for these young performers and celebrate them and they community we represent.

-Pegasus Lounge, 818 Liberty Ave, downtown Pittsburgh, PA

-Thursday May 7, 10:30 pm, 18 and over with I.D. , $3

I have some very exciting projects on the horizon, in June I am launching, in conjunction with Tommy Amoeba and the New Hazlett Theater , we wil be presenting a monthly series, a variety show, as a tv pilot with live audience, also to be then available as a free downloadable podcast, and then in the fall I am heading to San Francisco to be part of a new opera called "How to Survive the Apocaypse, A Burning Man Experience" , and between now and then I am working on 2 albums, but for now, all I ask, is come out to the gig tomorrow and if you can't, buy album on iTunes..... and keep your eyes peeled for my gig @ the Hard Rock with Patrick Arena June 8.

Love and butter,
Phat Man Dee

On a separate note, a poem I wrote after Tom's memorial last weekend:
A Memorial, A Celebration, A Remembrance of a Life Well Lived....
words for Tom Kennedy by Phat Man Dee

"Wailing and heartache were all that were left
as I cried with the big brass band.

Sorrow and loss and confusion and pain,
Made tuneful with syncopation heart stain.

The sun went out when the sea took his life,
I could never feel good again.

Ripper the Shark drowned , not forgot,
1000 replicas would not replace him.

There were songs and altars and photographs too,
Proof you had been here, proof we loved you.

But nothing could have prepared me for the sound,
Of a marching brass band, wailing for the man who had drowned.

Their song was simple, it echoed the pain,
Of a life we lost as we cried in the rain.

Drums pounding, horns screaming, the fire flames high,
Primal silence and screaming, I could only cry.

A Little Bell whispered into my soul,
"If we loved him" she said, "He will never grow old."

His soul is timeless and his message is true,
Lost not forgot, we are still part of his crew.

She said the reason he lived has not changed with his death,
We must all try to furthur his holy quest.

To live without warning, and sing songs with our friends,
The love is still there, it can never end.

He drove fast in the fantasia he made with his hands,
He adapted to sea forms to ride on dry land.

He made missiles to fire the harsh words of peace,
to warlords and monsters he demanded relief!

We love him and miss him, we must endeavour to be,
the people Tom Kennedy would want us to be. "

For more info about Tom Kennedy and his art:
http://www.tomkennedyart.com/blog/

Pics my cousin Jon Alloway took on his flickr page
http://www.flickr.com/photos/99773174@N00/sets/72157616648137595/

Draculacon in Windber on Sat, and last min gig in Pgh Fri!

2009-04-22T06:34:00.000-07:00

Hey kids, as I write this I am getting ready to head to NYC, my agents
at UGLY NY got me a wonderful shoot with a photographer named Tony
Notarbernadino at the Chelsea Hotel for a coffee table book he is
planning of portraits of people, I am pretty excited about it.

I can't stay long however, as I have a last minute gig I want to warn you
about, Friday, from 5-7:30 pm I will playing with Mike Murray at the
Backstage Bar at the CLO Cabaret, off of Katz Plaza , located at 655
Penn Ave, downtown, Pittsburgh. Hope you can make it, it's also
Gallery Crawl I do believe, but I am not sure, I heard they were going
to do it, then they didn't have the $$ to do it, then I heard someone
gave them the $$ to do it... so I don't know how the inner workings of
giant funding and non profits work, I just know I am singing, and I
hope you are there, free, no cover, light menu, delicious cocktails,
be there....

Then Saturday I am headed to Draculacon in Windber, PA! I am so
excited about this I cannot tell you, David J of Bauhaus will be
there, I was a massive Love and Rockets fan as a child, and still am,
so this is really a thrill for me, I am singing and emceeing, so for
more details and info where to stay visit :
http://www.thecemetery.net/Draculacon/index.html

Gotta go, have to pack, always leave it til last min and have a hair
appt in 3 hours, so be well and I shall hopefully see you soon!

Mandee

2009-04-17T17:51:00.000-07:00

Hey kids,

Just a quick note to send you the link, I have a new video of one of
my new tunes online, let me know what you think!

Also a reminder I am singing at the Backstage Bar tomorrow from 5-7:30
with Mike Murray and Tony DePaolis, hope to see you there!

And next Saturday..... I vant to drink your Bloodweiser......
Draculacon is happeneing in Windber and I am the Mistress of
Cereminies!
Saturday, April 25, 2009
2:00pm - 9:30pm
The Arcadia Theater
1418 Graham Avenue
Windber, PA

A Delightful Day of Dracula Con Speakers featuring:
SATURDAY DAY AND NIGHT APRIL 25, 2009
$10 at door, includes night performances as well (see below for event
descriptions)
2 PM - 5 PM
(in the beautiful Arcadia Theater, downtown center of Windber)
http://www.arcadiatheater.net

AMERICAN RED CROSS BLOOD DRIVE!
(VFW next to the Arcadia Theatre, downtown center of Windber)
Free! Please come down and donate your blood!
9 AM - 2 PM
www.redcrosslife.org

The Harris Funeral Home will be bringing their fabulous motorcycle
hearse, to be parked out front the Arcadia for the day!

Host and emcee:
PHAT MAN DEE

Event organizer:
BLAIR MURPHY, filmmaker of Jugular Wine, owner of the Grand Midway Hotel, and your host for Dracula Con, speaks on Count Dracula, Bram Stoker, and this event.

ROSEMARY ELLEN GUILEY:
"Mondo Bizarro Real Vampire Tales!"
Author of the underground classic Vampires Among Us, the fan book The
Complete Vampire Companion, and the authoritative The Encyclopedia of
Vampires, Werewolves and Other Monsters.

MICHAEL MARARIAN:
Deliciously-creepy fine artist of Inky Dreadfuls.

CATHERINE COX:
"The Space of Desire and the Hammer Dracula Films"
Catherine S Cox, PhD, teaches in the Humanities Division at the
University of Pittsburgh's Johnstown campus, specializing in biblical and
medieval literature and gender studies. She's published two books,
"Gender and Language in Chaucer" (1997) and "The Judaic Other in Dante, the Gawain
Poet, and Chaucer" (2005), and is currently working on a third, on ethical
dilemmas framed by contiguous religious traditions.

THE MEN IN BLACK
Tim and John Frick (the Brothers Frick) have long been fascinated by
the Man in Black legend. They first began investigating MIB cases in
2002. In 2005 they were asked to portray the Men in Black for a Travel
channel documentary (Weird Travels Creepy Creatures). Since then they
have appeared on a Sci-fi documentary as the MIB and filmed with the
Biography channel for a show that has yet to be released. They have
also portrayed the MIB at various parties and conventions, and have
appeared as MIB every year since 2005 at the Mothman festival in Point
Pleasant, WV.

VOXX:
"Magic and the Paranormal Influence within the Vampire Myth"
Voxx is listed in the national best-selling book, "America's Top 100 Psychics," where she is featured as the world's youngest and most accurate Psychic.

SILENT CINEMA BILL
"Early Hollywood, light and shadow, and the films Dracula and Nosferatu"
Silent film professor Bill Eggert says the reason he loves silent film so much is because the work transforms us to a world that seems underwater, full of magic and unique haunting beauty. Having spoken at several other Grand Midway events, Bill is a familiar good friend to the local scene as well as a filmmaker himself.

Dinner Break
5 PM - 6:30 PM

DRACULA FEST NIGHT... Continuation!
Note: If you paid for the first portion, you do not have to pay for this.
The $10 covers day and night, no discounts will be given for just the night portion.
(Arcadia Theater)
6:30 PM - 9:30 PM

THE CADILLAC CREEPS
"Children of the night! What sweet music they make!"

DAVID J. AND DAMIEN YOUTH
Next, as if all that wasn't enough, the legendary David J, of the seminal goth band Bauhaus and later Love and Rockets, and underground legend Damien Youth, lead performer for decade of Anne Rice Halloween parties, along with Pittsburgh's very own classical violinist Paul
Dvorchak, join forces to make history one night only performing a slow deconstructed acoustic version of the classic all-time goth masterpiece Bela Lugosi's Dead! It just doesn't get much cooler than this...

DEVIL MUSIC ENSEMBLE & NOSFERATU
"The climax of the night: A screening of the classic silent film
NOSFERATU set to live music by Devil Music Ensemble"
The Devil Music Ensemble, formed in Boston in 1999, is comprised of Brendon Wood on guitars, lap steel, and synthesizer; Jonah Rapino on electric violin, vibraphone, and synthesizer; and Tim Nylander on drums, percussion and synthesizer.

S.P.L.A.T. will be there!
The Southwestern Pennsylvania League of Apparition
Technologists is a professional team dedicated to aiding those
tormented by apparitions and the paranormal.

Finally, the folks who run the famed Pittsburgh Comic Con will be here showing off their goods for sale. Their store, Comics World, is actually located in downtown Windber, and will be staying open late to accommodate all vampiric DraculaCon guests!

DRACULA FEST is a scholastic, history-oriented day and night of entertainment. Some of the material being of the vampire mythos will be mature. This is a serious event, not appropriate for children younger than 17 years of age. Costumes are naturally welcomed for the day.

WINDBER, PA is located next to Johnstown, PA, about an hour and a half
East of Pittsburgh.

This event is growing. The times are apt to shift a tad as more ghouls and friendly fiends have begun to crawl from their crypts to join us as well... As J. Gordon Melton used to say, "We hope to blow your coffin lids off." Please check back in with this web site for further details.

Local Housing if needed:
Richland Inn
1540 Scalp Avenue, Johnstown, PA 814-269-3366
rates $51.00

Holiday Inn Express
1440 Scalp Avenue, Johnstown, PA 814-266-8789
rates $94.00

Hope to see you there!!!

Lastly, it has occurred to me in my personal grief over the loss of my friend Tom, I forgot that I was remiss in my last email by not mentioning that we as a city have been in mourning for 2 weeks now for the fallen men who swore to protect us. There is nothing I can say that has not already been said, we lost three good men who deserved better than to go out at the hands of a lunatic. I just hope we as a city can be deserving of people like that, I think it will be hard to
live up to how good they were but we owe it to them and their families to try and be the people who could deserve the protection of people like that. Rest in peace Officers Sciullo , Kelly, and Mayhle. You left us far too soon. Thank you for your sacrifice, may we be worthy of your untimely passing.

May the universe and all her mercy bless you and your families, we don't know how long we may or may not have, so tell the ones you love that you love them today and don't wait for tomorrow.

Yours til you can't stand it anymore,
Mandee

the Angel of Death didn't miss all of us...

2009-04-15T16:41:00.000-07:00

So I hope you had a lovely Pesach or Easter or Beltane or whatever it is you personally celebrate, me, I do it all..... I like colored eggs with haroses with bitter herbs, but I don't think they eat much at Beltane, I think eating is not really not the primary focus of that particular celebration......it may not have even happened just yet, I think it might be just around the corner, I need to check my Pagan/ Judeo-Christian datebook..... that said I hope you all had a wonderful time. I know I did, I went to dinner and sacrilegiously enjoyed the ham and the eggs and I even made a new taste treat called "White Trash" which is comprised of chex mix , pretzels, peanuts and chow mein noodles mixed up with white chocolate morsels. I forgot the m and m's and the mini marshmallows, but it was still a gastronomical circus for all to share.

And as usual I digress.... I hope you are available this Saturday? I am singing at the Backstage Bar (at Katz Plaza and CLO Cabaret space, katy corner from the Benedum downtown, Pittsburgh) at 655 Penn Ave. The show is from 5 - 7:30 pm and it is FREE FREE FREE! Also playing downtown that night is Rent, so make a night of it and check us out before the show! Joining me will be Mike Murray on keys and Tony DePaolis on bass. Stop in for some music and have a cocktail....
For more info you can call the host desk: 412-325-6769

Earlier that day at about 3, I will be singing a few songs at the tree planting we are holding in honor of the memory of my dear and very missed friend, Jay Bernard. He was an incredible artist, and community activist. His store Jay Design still sells the best soap I have ever used. We will be celebrating his life with the planting of a tree at Arsenal Park in Lawrenceville at 2:45 pm. I will sing a couple songs before I need to run downtown, I loved Jay very much and the tree will be a living tribute to his wild and very flowery spirit.

While I don't like to dwell overly much on the passing of my friends, when you lose one it just hurts, especially when they leave before any of us were ready to say good bye. Jay Bernard was one such man, and another was Tom Kennedy, who left us this past Sunday. While I was sitting down to a lovely ham and ravioli dinner in Bethel Park with Tommy Amoeba's wonderful family, my friend Tom Kennedy was taken from us on Ocean Beach in San Francisco, a rip tide pulled him under and when his friend Mike pulled him to shore, was unable to be revived. I
don't want to think so much about how he left us as who he was and the art he made. I would like you to check out his art and say a little something to whomever you pray to , he was a good man and I will miss him so very much.

Here is a picture I took while riding his Green Dream Machine, we are looking at his roommate Dana Albany's sculpture, The Bone Tree.

His blog

A tribute on Laughingsquid

His project for Dino Demolition Derby

Pictures by my cousin Jon Alloway

We will miss him and the art he didn't get to make for a long time. Please get to know who he was. He was such a good friend and supporter of me and my music, and please pray for his family, he is survived by his wife, 2 brothers and his mother.

Love and light, remember, we are not promised tomorrow so live the shit out of today, Mandee

Really I am a skinny republican...

2009-04-01T14:06:00.000-07:00

April Fools!

Ok, now that's over, I should state that I consider today a holy day, one spent best in meditation and plans for the future. The art of the fool is sacred and if no one gives you reason to question reality than what's the point? But tomorrow we were made to party.....

Allow me to remind you I am singing at Pegasus Lounge tomorrow Thursday April 2, 2009 at 10 pm, joining me will be dancer Maria Hamer of Boheme Dance Studios & Zafira Dance Co. Also, I am so pleased to announce the debut performance of one of Pittsburgh's young queens my
friend Gabriella! Do come out and celebrate with us!

Pegasus Lounge
818 Liberty Ave, Pittsburgh , downtown, 18+ with ID , $3
http://www.pittpegasus.com/

And for your viewing pleasure, my attempt to sing in Turkish last Sunday night with Nick Ragheb's band , Kirik Hava. We opened up for Eastern Blok, it was a pretty cool show. I promise to memorize all the words the next time I do this, in fact, I should just learn Turkish (I had a Turkish man tattooed on my arm years ago...) Speaking of which, have you checked out the new Istanbul Grill location? Coshkun's got a lunch counter downtown right next to Dominion Towers on Liberty. Super tasty dude, and the food's good too of course (ba da ching! APRIL
FOOLS!!! - slap knee here) seriously, the food is really yummy ..... I think Kirik Hava is playing his Shadyside/East Liberty location across from Giant Eagle Market District on April 10, mayhap I shall see you there?

Til then check it on the youtube n'at!

And here is a lovely photo of me that my friend Cindi Steuber's boyfriend Mario Schirripa took of me at the Boheme Center for Dance student recital last week!

Last minute gig 2nite & singing @ Pegasus next Thursday!

2009-03-28T09:09:00.000-07:00

Hey beautiful people! This weekend I thought I was visiting my father in Ohio, however with the Amoeba down with a cold and nephew Oliver feeling under the weather as well, we decided to postpone the trip just now.... So what do you do when things don't go as planned??? Sing for belly dancers ... *obviously*......
My good friend Maria (Zafira Dance Co.) is having a student show, featuring students from the Boheme Center for Dance, as well as students of Zafira, and their concert, "Habibah!" Also joining the reindeer games will be Nick Ragheb, master drummer of Kirik Hava and our friend August Hoerr of Mezmer Society (North Carolina).
The show is TONIGHT (sorry for late notice, I thought I was in Ohio, today!!!) , doors at 7 pm, show at 8 pm, $5, all ages, 12 and under are free, BYOB. Your Inner Vagabond is located at 42nd and Butler St in Lawrenceville, Pittsburgh, PA 15201. More info can be found at http://www.zafiradance.com

And in trade for my emceeing for Maria, she is dancing for me at Pegasus next Thursday April 2!!!
Pegasus Lounge is located at 818 Liberty Ave, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15222
Doors 10 pm, showtime 10:30 pm, 18 + with ID, $3
Celebrate Spring with Phat Man Dee in Pittsburgh’s favorite nightclub, Pegasus Lounge! Special guest Maria Hamer Douglas of Zafira Dance Co.

Until then enjoy my friend Southside Vinni's and his brother Jay's video blog of the Ides of March March!

Dreams of Hope and 14th Annual Ides of March March

2009-03-13T06:52:00.000-07:00

Hey friends,
Just a quick blog to remind you about this weekend, tonight I am stopping by the New Hazlett theater to sing at Dave Bjornson's open stage, he is hosting an evening, and the benefit to the performers is a dvd of their set... I can always use new video, I am working out some new tunes, so if I don't see you tonight, I will post links after I get it up on the net, I always like feedback about the new music.

And tomorrow I singing for "Banding together for Dreams of Hope"

Dreams of Hope is an organization focused on providing support for the creative initiatives of GLBT youth and their allies.

Saturday, March 14th at 7:30 PM at the The Edgewood Club One Pennwood Avenue, Pittsburgh PA , Doors @ 7:00 PM

Performances by: Dreams of Hope, Etta Cox, Lisa Ferraro, Mark Lucas,Patrick Arena and Phat Mandee with Mike Murray.

Featuring: Auctions, Complimentary Wine and Beer, Desserts and Appetizers

Tickets available February 1st at Square Café, Regent Square and A Pleasant Present, Squirrel Hill for $35, Cash Only

For more information: Visit www.dreamsofhope.org

And then Sunday the 14th Annual Ides of March March!!
March 15, on South Side, @ Birmingham Square 12th and Carson, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15203
The cost is free but for the price of your soul.....ladies and gentlemen, the time has come, it is now upon us...... The 14th Annual Ides of March March!!!!
Meet us at 12th and Carson, we meet at 6:30 pm, but we leave at 7:30
sharp, so don't come crying to me if you get left behind.....

Love and honey, see you there, and see you aware,
Mandee

PS I just joined Twitter, my handle is @phatmandee for those of you
who tweet.... and for those of you who don't all I can say is the best
way I have heard it explained is "It's like the whole world is having
a conversation with itself and we are the medium" I kind of like the
idea of the internet as more than just a place for porn and pancakes
(though, for the record, I do appreciate both) I like the idea of the
internet as a place where we can contribute to the world's and our own
growing sentience. This morning I tweeted about something that is
appalling to me, apparently the energy companies are blasting off
mountain tops in W VA looking for coal. Great. Awesome. More pollution
and destruction in the name of profit and 19th century style good old
fashioned toxic coal heat!! Of course, 16 hours before that I tweeted
a video of me and Tommy dancing around like bears to Tim Minchin's new
song "Bears Don't Dig on Dancing" so it's a grab bag, but I am
curious to see what is in it...
Example of my tweets:
phatmandee
They are blasting mountaintops in W VA
http://tinyurl.com/cgfovg
http://tinyurl.com/be3kp9

Video of me and Tommy dancing as bears
http://tinyurl.com/b2f8c2

It's just a new thing, not sure what I think of it yet, any tweeters
out there?

They are blasting off the mountain tops in West VA.....

2009-03-13T05:43:00.000-07:00

Just got this email from my friend Vince Eirene..... I have to say it is upsetting to say the least.

Friends,

folk from far and wide are invited to "climate ground zero citizens action camp"
to oppose mountain top removal in southern West Virginia, 4 hours south of Morgantown, near Beckley.

the contact person i have so far is guin / 304-854-7372 / guinstigator@yahoo.com,
http://climategroundzero.org/

more info as i get it / get ready for a road trip soon to meet these folk and figure how we best assist the resistance to this destruction.

vincent scotti eirene / cell 412-537-8716
http://notowar.com

articles about it all:

West Virginia: Direct Action star hosts Summer campaign to oppose Mt. Top Removal

Roselle's Goal: End Mountaintop Mining

Marching forth with PMD and friends!

2009-03-04T07:03:00.000-08:00

So it's 13 degrees outside? What better time to dust off the parade
gear and make preparations for the 14th annual Ides of March March?
Let the dog heads hang high as you press and steam your cumbersome
bumbleshoot in wild and frenzied preparations for music and mayhem in
the streets.... but between now and then, come to a show, I have been
getting complaints that I only ever play in California, and that's
just not true, I just make more $$ in California and we burn alot more
stuff out there than we do here..... though I think these things are
changing.... I digress, come to a show, I would love to see your
shining face! Singing the classics and new, with fresh mixes by Omar
Abdul and live musicians when I can afford them and drrrty punk rawk
pain proof klowns when I can't.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This Thursday! March 5, 2009 @ Pegasus Lounge
818 Liberty Ave, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15224
Cost: $3
When Phat Man Dee sings, young drunks listen, and you should too! This
Thursday March 5 at Pegasus Lounge! PMD has special guest Andrew the
Impaled, Pittsburgh's premiere pain proof clown as he wows us all with
his brave feats of fortune and pain! Beautiful music curated by Brian
Staley at the DJ booth and original tunes by Phat Man Dee herself.
Ages 18 and over with ID welcome!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This Saturday! March 7 @ The Rex Theater,
Bellydance Show for Cystic Fibrosis Foundation
1602 E Carson St, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15203
Door at 7 pm, show time 8 pm done by 10 pm so be on time!!!!
21+ show; under 21 is allowed as long as they are accompanied by a
real parent or guardian!

Join us for this great cause!! Help bring awareness of Cystic
Fibrosis. Check out http://cff.org for more info about the disease.
Performing this evening are: Zafira, Sadiqa, Lizzie and Hailey of
BelliBeautiez, Phat Man Dee, and more! Tickets are $10. And who would
miss the Bellydancer Bake Sale??
*All proceeds go to Cystic Fibrosis Foundation!*

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Next Saturday on March 14 @ Dreams of Hope Charity @ Edgewood Club
One Pennwood Ave, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
$35 cash only, live entertainment, wine , beer, deserts, appetizers,
auction and raffle
Tickets available at Square Cafe in Regent Square and A Pleasant
Present in Squirrel Hill.

Dreams of Hope develops lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and allied
youth leaders who promote social change by educating audiences. With
Patrick Arena, Mark Lucas, Etta Cox and Lisa Ferraro! One Pennwood
Ave, Pgh, PA!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And last but certainly not least, on March 15, on South Side, @
Birmingham Square
12th and Carson, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15203
The cost is free but for the price of your soul.....ladies and
gentlemen, the time has come, it is now upon us,
The 14th Annual Ides of March March!!!!
Meet us at 12th and Carson, we meet at 6:30 pm, but we leave at 7:30
sharp, so don't come crying to me if you get left behind..... be sure
to wear your dogs heads high and let your bannerjees fly! Fling your
wherewithal to the tattersall and join us in our annual pilgrimage up
and down South Side’s E Carson for no apparent treason but to warn the
good neighbors and passerby to BEWARE! BEWARE THE IDES OF MARCH
MARCH!! All ages, legal for the most part and there will be cake.
Always with the cake, like these hips need more cake......BEWARE!

As a last note, I put a new video up online:

It's about a girl I adored, she passed on this past year, she was a
circus sideshow entertainer who travelled the country with her Wild
West show.... The video work is done by Isaac•Rullo Studio's , they
helped me make it in trade for my being in their "Zircus des Zelbst"
production, which I believe is to be screened in full on March 21, at
Chatham University.

Be well, stay safe and I hope you see you out and about anytime this
month.
Love and kisses and warm wet raspberries to you all,
I remain affectionately yours,
Phat Man Dee

So can I sing to you in Oakland, California on Saturday?

2009-02-18T22:34:00.000-08:00

For my Bay Area peeps, this is an old school off the hook, lets party
like it's still 1999 big scary fire art and punk rawk extravaganza,
and if you don't live in Oakland or SF, I suggest you visit.....like
this Saturday.....this is the largest do-it-yourself industrial art
space in the Bay Area, known as NIMBY, and she will be opening her
gloriously large industrial doors to celebrate it's new location.

8410 Amelia Street, East Oakland

Art and Entertainment will include The Cyclecide Bike Rodeo Band "Los
Banos", Cyclecide Klowns, Cookie Mongoloid, Big Daddy, Phat Man Dee,
Goat Man Dan, X Ten, Binky, Boy Chaous, DJ Caine, the Derailleurs, the
Disgusting Spectical, the Turks, Therm robots, One Man Banjo, Tilt a
hurl, Orion Fredricks, Fluffy grrl, It’s so $$$$ and even the Golden
Mean, my favorite giant golden snail ever!

Saturday Feb. 21st

Doors open at dark.

$10 or more as you can afford. Worth every penny and then some.

Phat in February!

2009-02-05T11:08:00.000-08:00

I know we are all shivering in our timbers, but at least our veins are still pumping black and gold..... (it's a little weird really, we should all get to the doctor if the President is successful in his endeavour to help us all get health care someday) but in any event, I
hope I may sing to you sometime this month!

TONIGHT Thursday Feb 5, 2009!
Phat Man Dee and Olivia Kissel (of Zafira and Vaudeville Carnival) will perform at Pittsburgh's very own Pegasus Lounge. Showtime 10:30, 18+ with i.d. , $3 and yes, you can smoke in the bar. I am having my
hair done by Brittney of Lunsea hair salon this evening, so I do hope you may come and admire her handiwork... I tried to style my own hair once, I ended up bald with pigtails for 10 years, now the professionals handle it.... If you are lucky I might wear my new Dark Gardens corset from San Francisco, I had it laced with gold ribbon to show my Pittsburgh pride. Either way I am debuting fresh new mixes of my songs by Omar Abdul, so do come out if you aren't already booked.

This Sunday Feb 8, 2009 in Petaluma, CA
I will be appearing with the Boiler Bar and the Golden Mean (think giant golden snail a la Dr Doolitte or Jules Verne) at the Lagunanitas
Beer Circus, unfortunately it is SOLD OUT sorry.... if you are already going there, look for me, I'll be with the beautiful dancers (as always, I am such a sucker for a shimmy)

Next weekend Fri Feb 13 and Sat Feb 14th I am heading for NORTH CACALACKY baby!
(That's Carolina for the rest of us, think land of Doc Watson, moonshine and now Foxy Moxy!)

On Friday at 8:00 PM , Eros 5, an Erotic Arts Show, $5
Lyndon St Artworks, 205 S Lyndon St
Greensboro, North Carolina 27401-2926

Featuring new erotic art by area artists in a wide variety of media plus sexy burlesque and playful cabaret by Foxy Moxy and jazz diva PhatManDee from Pittsburgh, PA. Also featuring a live bodypainting by Scott Fray of LivingBrush, a love song karaoke contest, awesome henna
and glitter body art by Opal Moon Henna and more!!! Door prizes provided by Adam & Eve and The Intimate Lens Photography.

And on Saturday, on Valentine's Day, 8:00 PM - The Erotic Arts Ball, Studio B , $15
Downtown, (Behind the Broach Theater)
Greensboro, North Carolina

Brought to you by the folks at Lyndon St. Artworks and Foxy Moxy, in
sizzling artistic collaboration! Come one and all to "The Erotic Arts
Ball", the hottest Valentine’s dance party in the Triad! Featured
performances include: burlesque & boylesque by Foxy Moxy, Smokin’
McQueen and friends - cabaret jazz stylings of Grande Diva PhatManDee
- and performance mural painting by LivingBrush certain to enhance the
air of romance. Erotic art from "Eros 5" will also be showcased and
Opal Moon Henna will be on hand to decorate all the bare skin you care
to share with henna or glitter body art. Door prizes include a budoir
photograpy session by the Intimate Lens Photography and assorted
goodies from Adam & Eve!

So, if I don't see you tonight, my next local Pittsburgh gigs will be
March 7, I am emceeing a benefit for Cystic Fibrosis at the Rex
Theater and on March 14 I am singing with Patrick Arena at a benefit
for Dreams of Hope, a group to help Lesbian, Gay and Transgender youth
at the Edgewood Club.

This is the year of Astronomy folks, watch the skies for signs of Phat
Man Dee, I may be appearing in the spiral arm of the galaxy near you!

Mandee

PS I hear recently that someone thought I was hard to book, for
clarification, please spread the word....I am easy to book. You just
have to pay me something. I am open to just about anything, I have
sung everywhere from the river and sewers of Los Angeles, to the salt
flats of Nevada, to Pittsburgh Opera events at the Benedum. I love
private parties and I love weddings. Brisses I am not so fond of, but
if you got $250 with my name on it, I am so there. If you got $500
I'll even bring a piano player, make it $1000 and I'll bring the band
and we'll go all night long. Easy peasy. I am trying to fund a
movement here, let me help you bend reality so together we can reform
the world to place we want to be.

Can I sing to you in San Francisco on Jan 23?

2009-01-22T08:20:00.001-08:00

Can I sing to you in San Francisco on Jan 23? Of course it would be easier if you were in San Francisco too, but
some of you are, you know who you are...... and if you
aren't you might know someone who is, so pass the word along......

Phat Man Dee in San Francisco with Red Hots Burlesque!
Friday, January 23, 2009
7:30pm - 9:00pm
El Rio in the Mission
3158 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA, 94110
Phone # 415-282-3325

http://www.RedHotsBurlesque.com/
http://www.elriosf.com/

So let your friends know!! I have been a busy beaver editing video
like there is no tomorrow, keep checking my youtube.com/phatmandee for
more stuff, though because of the 10 min limit, the longer segments
are going up in higher def on my myspace and facebook accounts.

Stay warm and see you in sunny San Francisco!!

Mandee

PS Save the date, next Pittsburgh gig on Feb 5 at Pegasus with dancer
Olivia Kissel!!!

PPS Yes, we had a Burn last weekend in the subzero temperatures of Western Pennsylvania. As the Nation prepared for change, we burned....

We were not the first, but in the last 17 years, we were the coldest.... In record breaking sub zero temperatures I joined with 150 or so of my dumbest friends and some of their children at Cooper's Lake Campground to camp out and enjoy the community which believes "Those who burn together stay together". Unless one of us gets frostbite and then, well, you might lose some external bits..... Please to enjoy the burning of our effigy, created by Rob, If you know the names of the fire spinners, let me know and I will add them here in the info section. For info about the event visit
http://www.frostburnpgh.com/

Baby It's Cold Outside!!!

2009-01-17T07:46:00.000-08:00

So let's go camping!!!! Ok I don't actually expect anyone of you on
this email list to join me @ Frostburn this weekend (if I see you
there it will be a delightful surprise!) but I do expect you (assuming
you are in Pittsburgh) to attend my dear husband's show at Howler's
Coyote Cafe in Bloomfield, he has put together with his good friends,
"Who-Phoria" a tribute show wherein local bands will all play songs by
the Who.
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09015/941790-42.stm

If you are crazy enough to join us at Frostburn, for God's sake read
the FAQ and Survival Guide on the website:
http://frostburnpgh.com/
I will be leading the Annual Mr Roger's Singalong on Sunday morning.

And on Monday night, in celebration of Dr King's birthday, please join
me at Howler's (hip spot these days!) as we perform to benefit
survivors of Katrina and the Common Grounds Relief fund.

Martin Luther King Birthday Benefit on Monday January 19 at Howlers
4509 Liberty ave. Bloomfield at 9PM
Suggested donation is $10 for the Rich and $5 for the not so Rich.
Show starts at 9PM and ends at Midnight.

The line up:
Moonlight Motel
PhatManDee
UkuLizzy
Duane "Irate" Jones and Evan Knauer
Bobby Porter
Lucid Music
Deleted Scenes (from New York City)

Proceeds benefit the Victims of Hurricane Katrina / Common Ground
Relief

Next week if you are in San Francisco, join me at Dottie Lux's evening
of Burlesque with the Red Hot Mama's at El Rio!
Doors at 730 and the show is over by 9, so be on time!!
El Rio is located at 3158 mission st , San Francisco, CA
http://www.dottielux.com/

I have been going crazy putting up footage of shows so keep checking
out my channel (today youtube, tomorrow my own satellite!) :
http://www.youtube.com/phatmandee

Me with Erin Carey (aerialist)

Video of the end of the seesion led by Howie Alexander's trio with Paul Thompson and James Johnson III at Ava Lounge in E Liberty last monday:

Stay warm , stay well and I hope to see or hear of you attending
something awesome this weekend.

On a sadder note, last week we all lost someone very special to me, Lucy the Dog.

I ordered the cake!!!

2009-01-07T19:30:00.000-08:00

And it's black with hot pink roses! A full sheet, so you better come
to Pegasus and have a piece! It is Meoww Kitty's aka Suz Pisano's
birthday and she is turning lovelier than ever. For those of you who
know her, you know how lucky you are, for those of you who don't ,
well what are you waiting for?!?? She creates the neatest bags and
hats and scarves and costumery. The fun fur scarves I bought from her
for my nieces literally made those little girls squeal at the top of
their lungs! (They had googly eyes with lashes and little leather red
tongues....really adorable.)

See a tasty example of her handiwork:
So anyhoo, as if just me singing at Peg's wasn't enough, now we have
cake and a Suzy P to further entice you, so I do hope you can make it
tomorrow Jan 8 at 10 pm at 818 Liberty Ave, in the basement,
underground Pittsburgh, PA. 18 and over , with ID. $3. Come on down
and get your gay on, and if you can't get your gay on, then you can
just sit down and watch while we do it for you...... there will be
plenty of cake......

And while we are looking at pictures, here's one taken last November at Zafira's Vaudeville Carnevale III, by Darter:
I better see you out, if you can' t make it, please to enjoy some video I shot at Howler's last week of Kagero, America's latest Japanese Gypsy Funk Sensation!

and a happy new year!!!

2008-12-17T06:12:00.000-08:00

So wowza, it has been some crazy last couple of weeks....
For the record, NYC was awesome, I met a cousin I didn't even know I had , saw one of my best friends from college (I practically lived on their couch) .... here is some video from that night:

The next night was pretty awesome, I went to a place called Proteus Gowanus for the release of a new book "The Space Between" by John Law and was treated to some amazing presentations of pictures and stories of John's experiences with climbing bridges. I made a little video of that but it is too long to put on you tube and honestly I have been too swamped with gigs and holiday bruhaha that I haven't had a chance to post it in 3 parts yet, but here is a great photo of me with John Law and the publisher Julia Solis:
Aren't they just adorable? You have no idea just how much mischief lies behind those beautiful eyes...... but if you buy the book you may get some idea. After NYC and Brooklyn the Amoeba and I headed for home, thankfully the young bucks that comprise my band, namely Tony DePaolis on bass and Mike Murray on organ decided they actually wanted to drive so Amoeba and I just cuddled and tried not to fart.....
After we made it home I had a whole slew of gigs , and international holiday sing a long called "We are all children of Abraham, Merry ChristmaChannaKwanzaa!!" at the New Hazlett put on by cityLive! wherein we sang songs from all over the world.
We sang songs from Turkey and Germany and Spain and Mexico, some Latin, some Hebrew , some French... one day I have a dream of me going on a musical peace tour across the world where I will sing songs with and from every culture I meet. Until then Pittsburgh will just have to put up with my husband and I in Santa and Elf costumes singing ChristmaChannaKwanzaa songs wherever they haven't yet banned us. At my show at the Backstage Bar we were invaded by 150 drunken Santas, led by 2 distressingly large men in bunny suits, they even had their own songbooks..... you have to have respect for those what travel with their own songbooks......apparently the dancers at Blush (their stop previous to coming to hear me sing) really enjoyed wearing the bunny heads while twirling around the poles, I am sorry I missed that....
and I never did get a figgy pudding.... all these years I keep asking and asking and do you think I would ever get one? Well, that's not true, once (just once) my friend Allie brought over a figgy pudding, it's kind of like a welsh fruity version of kimchee, you chop it up, bury it and mmm mmmm good!! But then she moved to Ireland, and now she can only send me small jpeg representations of figgy pudding on facebook and it's just not the same..... of course, if that is all I have to complain about than I consider myself very blessed person indeed.....

That said, I am very excited to invite you all to check out the Phat Man Dee Experience!! What happens when you get Phat Man Dee singing in a room with Mike Murray on organ, Chris Parker on drums and hopefully some guitar, Extreme Painter Kevin "the Nerve" Wenner, and artists from the Living Brush in North Carolina, Scott Fray with your favorite model Foxy Moxy? Well, I am not sure either, but you should be there just in case.....New to the Phat Man Dee Experience this year will be special guest Buddy Nutt!! Called "Pittsburgh's Tiny Tim" by the Rolling Stone, Mr Nutt will be gracing our souls with his crystal singing cups and his singing golden saw. Like I said, I can't predict exactly what will happen, but whatever it is, it'll be in a couple languages, it'll be hot, it'll make you feel better about the world we share and if nothing else you'll have some awesome music to listen to while your eyes drink in the beauty of the paint and canvas....

Sets at 6:45 pm, 9 pm & 10 pm. Tickets are available in the form of $8 buttons which you may purchase at any Giant Eagle and will gain you entrance into all of the First Night activities. (Some venues require vouchers, not mine, but refer to their website for details.)

Non alcohol event, family friendly, all ages!!

Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Shows at 6:45, 9 and 10 pm.
First Night Pittsburgh, 905 Liberty Ave, Pittsburgh, PA
Contact the Box Office for info:
412-456-6666
or visit:
http://firstnightpgh.com/

I hope to see you out, if you can't make it, come on out January 8 at
Pegasus! I will be singing there with three mini sets starting at
10:30 pm. I'll be bringing a birthday cake for my friend Suz Pisano,
she's turning even more lovely than ever before, so mark the calendar
and come down and buy her a drink!

Happy New Year everybody, I really hope we can be the change we need to see in the world over the coming months, love , light and keep the faith!

Lastly for now, I have been quite enamored with facebook of late, if you are on it
and wish to find me, my music page is:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Phat-Man-Dee/19202236991

Hope to see you in the ether!

Singing @ Backstage Bar 2mrw & then on Sunday for Olivia Kissel Benefit @ Lava Lounge!!

2008-12-12T21:09:00.000-08:00

Hey kids!! Come on out tomorrow if you are in the area , I will be singing at the Backstage Bar , 655 Penn Ave, Pgh 15222
With Colter Harper & Tony DePaolis, 5-7:30 PM, no cover, great cocktails, light menu & Phat Man Dee. Lots of original new compositions & some favorite classics. A Tisket A Tasket and War Pigs mixed in with some Hoagy Carmichael....get a stiff one and enjoy the music. (I meant a drink, you perv....)
http://www.clocabaret.com

And then on Sunday:
Our Dear Dear Friend Olivia Kissel is one of those beautiful yet unfortunate Americans who are uninsured with escalating Medical Debt. We are hoping to help her out, won't you help us help her by attending this Benefit show? All Proceeds go directly to Olivia.

If you can't come to the show here are two ways to donate online
http://www.zafiradance.co/livbenefit.html

or via paypal:
https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=1742680

Lava Lounge Sunday Dec 14th
7-10pm $5
Performers:
Phat Mandee
UkuLizzy
Andrew the Impaled
Lady J
Zafira
and more!

I have been adoring this woman, and singing for her , for over a decade. She is one of the most beautiful people I have ever had the opportunity with whom to work. She should be considered a national treasure, that she doesn't have health care is proof positive that we live in a country in desperate need of help. Until the help comes, we must help ourselves. Please come out to support this event or donate via the pay pal link.

And for your viewing pleasure, we had a great show in NYC last monday, thanks to everyone for coming out!!!! I saw people I hadn't seen in years, like Emma Velez Lopez and John Law and even a new cousin, Harrison Kivowitz?!??!? Here is some video from that night with Mike Murray and Tony DePaolis:

Reminder , PMD in NYC tonight, tell your friends!!

2008-12-08T02:23:00.000-08:00

Hey kids, I know I mentioned my gig in NYC in my last post, but I

would so appreciate it if you reminded any NYC friends that I am
singing tonight at the Gershwin Hotel. I am pretty excited about it, I
am playing with Mike Murray (piano) and Tony DePaolis (bass). It is
$10, 8 pm , all ages, BYOB and located at 7 E 27th St, btwn 5th and
Madison.

This is the official release:
Some have called her the Peggy Lee of punk, some have called her an
intergalactic juggernaut of vehement and disruptive love, you may call
her Phat Man Dee, cosmic jazz chantuese. Join us on Monday December 8,
2008, 8 pm at the Gershwin Hotel's grand ballroom when Neke Carson
shall present Phat Man Dee as accompanied by Mike Murray, piano and
Tony DePaolis, bass. Special guest Tommy Amoeba. To hear samples of
her work, links to video and bio info visit www.phatmandee.com.
The Gershwin Hotel
7 E 27th St, btwn 5th and Madison, NYC
http://www.gershwinhotel.com
8 pm, $10, BYOB, senior citizen discount, wheelchair accessible

Later this week on Dec 11 @ 6:30 pm , I am at the New Hazlett Theater

in North Side, Pittsburgh, leading a multi lingual holiday singalong!
With me will be Colter Harper, Tony DePaolis, Jacob Yoffee and Nick
Ragheb. It's FREE!!

And then on Sat Dec 13 from 5-7:30 I am hitting at Backstage Bar on
Penn Ave and 6th St, across from the Benedum, with Colter Harper and
Tony DePaolis. Also FREE!!!

How much money does PAT need already????

2008-12-04T07:15:00.000-08:00

Ok, I don't drive, not for any real reason than I am just a lazy, good for nothing ride mooch. I like being driven around, and since 1975 I have been able to get away with it. My life is like "Driving Miss Mandee" for my poor friends and family. That said, I do intend to get my license any minute now. I even made it to Penn DOT to take the permit test last week , only to be told that it was 3:48 pm, and they stopped taking people at 3:45 , because the office closed at 5 and apparently some people need over an hour to finish a 20 question multiple choice touchscreen test....

So I took the bus home. Actually, I took a trolley to the S Hills Junction and then a bus to my home, it was raining and I didn't want to walk the extra 2 blocks in the rain in my neighborhood. What did I say, lazy, good for nothing....I make no pretense here. In the news paper I read that the drink tax has collected some rediculous amount of money so far, ostensibly to be spent on public transit, you think the economy is in piss poor shape now? Imagine what happens if no one can get to work.... So according to the Pittsburgh Post Gazette "The $45 million -- including nearly $20 million more than the authority needs -- that was collected this year by the 10 percent drink tax is still sitting, untapped, in the bank, he said. The county hasn't paid a cent to the authority since May 2007, he said."

If that is the case why in hell does it take me over an hour to get from downtown on public transit to my home less than 5 miles away in Allentown?? I would walk if I had an aptitude for rainy mountain climbing in violent neighborhoods. I used to joke as a kid that the time it took for me to get from my home in then Greenfield to work in Southside took more time than driving to Meadeville, PA, 90 miles up 79 N to go to college at Allegheny. And if we are taxing alcohol sales to help public transit (something I don't really have a problem with in theory) can we get the busses to run all night? Bars close at 2 am and drunk driving kills. But if you have no choice, or can't afford a $50 cab ride , if you can even get a cab when the bars close to begin with... I had a friend once who insisted Pittsburgh was more like a small 3rd world nation state, since dependable public transport is part and parcel of a developed country and we obviously couldn't get the job done here. (We had been waiting for a cab for over 2 hours at that point, since then I have put together my own list of good small cab companies and jitney go to guys.)

So I guess I am thrilled that we have so much damn money to put towards public transport, do you think we could spend it sometime in the near future? In NYC $2 gets you any where within the 5 boroughs no matter how many trains you have to take to get there. In San Francisco you can get a bus fare for $1.25 and you get 2 transfers with it automatically, here base fare starts at $2 and it's $2.50 for a transfer , only within the immediate city, and you never ever end up anywhere half so interesting. It is time for some change. It is time for environmentally supportable light rail to be restored to our region , and we need some buses running all night and we need buses running more often. It should not take me 2 damn hours to get from Allentown to Highland Park and it should not take me an hour or more to get home from downtown, I live across the river and up the hill. Spend some money Dan! If PAT can't get it together maybe someone needs to remind them that they are a public service not a private company.

And then there was one....

2008-11-26T14:06:00.000-08:00