Friday, September 12, 2008

Good day to you, and good evening to those of you not so comfortable in the light....

I hope I may entice you to attend, or if you are not in the New York
area personally, to invite some friends of yours to attend for
you..... I am singing at the Gershwin Hotel next Thursday September 18th.
Accompanying me shall be pianist Kenny Peagler and joining us as a
special guest will be the lovely Little Brooklyn, burlesque dancer
extroirdinaire from Starshine Burlesque! Here is a copy of the press
release:

STOP THE PRESSES, UGLY NY MODEL & JAZZ DIVA TO SING AT THE GERSHWIN!!

Phat Man Dee, international model, jazz diva, comedic burlesque superstar, sings her little heart out as accompanied by the talented hands of Kenny Peagler on the Gershwin’s grand piano. Special guest Starshine Burlesque’s very own Little Brooklyn!! The performance is brought to you by Neke Carson.

On September 18, 2008 join us at 8 p.m. at The Gershwin Hotel located at 7 E 27th St. between 5th and Madison Avenues. Phat Man Dee has appeared in the last year with the Neverwas Haul (San Francisco) the Mousetrap (San Francisco) , Cyclecide (San Francisco), Foxy Moxy’s
Cabaret Risqué (North Carolina) and Peekaboo Review (Philadelphia) . Over the last decade she could have been seen touring with Nice Jewish Girls Gone Bad (NYC) , Fat Bottomed Girls Burlesque (San Francisco), Bindlestiff Family Circus (NYC) and Chicken John’s Circus Ridiculous (San Francisco).

UGLY NY currently represents Phat Man Dee and her work has been seen internationally and on the Today show.

Of her performance, Nate Guidry of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette said she is a “…charismatic artist with a clear sense of musical purpose.” From WQED, Phillip Harris had this to say about the voice of Phat Man Dee, “Expressive and passionate, Phat Man Dee's sensual voice pulls
you in and takes you away to where the words no longer matter and you float along on pure emotion.”

Her accompanist Kenny Peagler is currently attending New England Conservatory of Music pursuing a graduate degree in music and spent much of last year touring Italy. He appeared on Mandee’s latest recording “Torch of Blue”.

Later that night I will be singing as a guest in the
late night cabaret and strumpet stylings of Starshine Burlesque at
Lucky Cheng's!










I would really appreciate anyone you could send my way, it will be a wonderful night of music and dance and the venue is incredible.

Love, kisses and sweet fleshy hundred mile per hour hugs!
Mandee

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

The fall of Woman.....


This is a poem I wrote, I am turning into a song. I spent the weekend in Windber, at the Grand Midway Hotel with Blair and Renee. There they told me a story of Becky, a young woman hung as a witch in the mid 1800's and buried in an unmarked grave in Snavley's cemetery. We went to the graveyard and it was overgrown, many kicked over headstones and some so worn down you could not read them , and we were of course, unable to locate the grave site of Becky. Becky's crime was studying herbology and the culture of the local Native Americans who once lived in central PA. She is guilty of such crimes of learning that ecchineacea and golden seal are good for the immune system and help to detoxify bodies and that raspberry leaf tea helps an overdue pregnant woman give birth. So, here is a poem I wrote, my voice teacher thinks it is distressingly applicable to the political climate we have today with the threat of Sara Pailn looming ahead, like a some horrific specter of puritanical death:
(image on right taken from flickr account : Freeparking and has a Creative Commons license)

"Hey pretty Becky with your long hair down,
Why do you hang around this small town?

You studied with the women, who heard stories from the land,
The whispering in the silence, ancestor spirits guiding man.

You learned which plants would heal us, you sang the chants and prayed,
Helped to birth the babies live and keep disease at bay.

You learned many secret things to find and share,
With the people of this town who just can't bear,

To see the ways of others, they think it's Satan's hand,
They'll kill you just to stop you, Your gifts scorned by the ropes of man.

So we sing of pretty Becky, she hangs with her long hair down,
Strangled but not voiceless, her story sung with my voice renowned.

We say, Beware! All ye young women, who study secrets far and wide!
Beware the small minds of men, for they may call you, Satan's bride. "
by Phat Man Dee , copyright 2008
Do not reprint or repost without written permission of the author



With that in mind, this is an email I sent to <womensaynopalin@gmail.com>">

To whom it may concern, with regards to Sarah Palin,
I, as a woman living in America swear that I will ask for political asylum in another country if this bible thumping nut ends up helping to run the country. As a woman she offends me on a
cellular level. How dare she think she may lead our present and future generations on the teat of intolerance and sheer ignorance?
Our mothers and grandmothers fought and paid dearly, some with their lives, to defend the God and Goddess given rights of woman to exist equal to man. We are human and have the right to determine our own life paths. We are human and have the right to study what religion we deem best for ourselves and our family. I do not want need some over zealous theocratic self hating female shaped puppet telling me or my family what to do, think or say. If she ends up being Vice President than we may need to prepare for another couple hundred years of witch burning.... girls get your corsets and your wire hangers!!!!

Phat Man Dee

Why, Mandee, why may I ask did you scribe such a letter??? Well, I'll tell you. I am worried about the future of our nation. I pray every day that Barack Obama wins the election. I am horrified at the statements and actions of McCain and now his helpmeet in horror, Palin. I think they are 2 of the horsemen of the apocalypse and must be stopped at all costs. This is a letter I received from my voice teacher:

>Friends, compatriots, fellow-lamenters,
>
> We are writing to you because of the fury and dread we have
> felt since the
> announcement of Sarah Palin as the Vice-Presidential
> candidate for the
> Republican Party. We believe that this terrible decision
> has surpassed mere
> partisanship, and that it is a dangerous farce—on the
> part of a pandering
> and rudderless Presidential candidate—that has a real
> possibility of
> becoming fact.
>
> Perhaps like us, as American women, you share the fear of
> what Ms. Palin and
> her professed beliefs and proven record could lead to for
> ourselves and for
> our present or future daughters. To date, she is against
> sex education,
> birth control, the pro-choice platform, environmental
> protection,
> alternative energy development, freedom of speech (as mayor
> she wanted to
> ban books and attempted to fire the librarian who stood
> against her), gun
> control, the separation of church and state, and polar
> bears. To say nothing
> of her complete lack of real preparation to become the
> second-most-powerful
> person on the planet.
> We want to clarify that we are not against Sarah Palin as a
> woman, a mother,
> or, for that matter, a parent of a pregnant teenager, but
> solely as a rash,
> incompetent, and all together devastating choice for Vice
> President. Ms.
> Palin's political views are in every way a slap in the
> face to the
> accomplishments that our mothers and grandmothers and
> great-grandmothers so
> fiercely fought for, and that we've so demonstrably
> benefited from.
>
> *First and foremost, Ms. Palin does not represent us. She
> does not
> demonstrate or uphold our interests as American women. It
> is presumed that
> the inclusion of a woman on the Republican ticket could win
> over women
> voters. We want to disagree, publicly.*
>
> *Therefore, we invite you to reply here
> <womensaynopalin@gmail.com> with a
> short, succinct message about why you, as a woman living in
> this country, do
> not support this candidate as second-in-command for our
> nation.*
>
> Please include your name (last initial is fine), age, and
> place of
> residence.
>
> We will post your responses on a blog called "Women
> Against Sarah Palin,"
> which we intend to publicize as widely as possible. Please
> send us your
> reply at your earliest convenience—the greater the volume
> of responses we
> receive, the stronger our message will be.
>
> Thank you for your time and action.
>
> *VIVA!*
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Quinn Latimer and Lyra Kilston
> New York, NY
> womensaynopalin@gmail.com
>
> ***PLEASE FORWARD WIDELY!* If you send this to 20 women in
> the next hour,
> you could be blessed with a country that takes your
> concerns seriously.
> Stranger things have happened.

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

They are jailing journalists in America

Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! was arrested today attempting to cover the protesters that the mainstream media is trying so hard to ignore.
This is a part of an email I wrote to CNN and NBC News....

"....As newsmen you have a duty to cover this story, as newsmen you should be outraged. Please do not allow yourselves to kow tow to the republican party line, please assert your rights as an American and do your patriotic duty to show that journalists are being jailed for reporting in America. Today. Right now. If you don't stand up today, tomorrow it will be you."

Watch the disturbing video:


Do something about it:
http://act.credoaction.com/campaign/dont_arrest_journalists/?r_by=796-891265-k7f1dIx&rc=paste

This is really upsetting to me, right now, my dear friend Tom Kennedy and his wife Heydeen are there right now protesting, with their giant art missile rocket car, and I am so afraid for them, I had hoped to join them, but just couldn't afford the airfare to the convention from Pittsburgh at present, and my gig schedule was too crazy, and now I am just praying for their safety.

Be outraged. Do something. Do we or do we not have a free press? What does it mean to be an American? To me it means something altogether different than the reality so obviously presented me this day. When November comes, I am voting for Obama (I have known that for some time, of course. ) I already knew I didn't want another Republican president of any gender, but if this is a taste of the police state we are heading for, than if we do somehow manage to vote in Mccain, I am requesting asylum somewhere civilized.... I can't say I didn't know that we as a nation had long since gone beyond the pale.... but arresting journalists at the convention, or anywhere in this country for that matter??? I mean, how much more black and white can this be?!?? The writing has been on the wall ever since Reagan took office, but this isn't writing, it's giant neon slogans screaming the impending doom of another police state. If you are a patriotic person, you will know in your heart what is right and what is wrong.

There , I am off the soapbox for now....

Monday, September 1, 2008

I'm opening for Alex Skolnick and debuting at Pegasus!! Same night!

But first, as promised, the stunning photography of Mr Adam Blai, a sometime artist in residence at the afore mentioned haunted hotel in Windber, PA
Don't ask me how he did it, I couldn't explain, but it was weird. Used here with permission of Adam Blai, any unauthorized use and reproduction will result in terrible karma and prosecution.

So I write to you on this Labor Day, hoping that you won't actually read it until tomorrow morning, I hope today you are spending time with your friends, and family. I hope today you are safely evacuated away from the effects of the gulf storm Gustav, I hope today you are happily stuck in traffic trying to leave Burning Man and wondering just how in the world you are going to get all that dust out of your hopefully rental van....
Today I hope you are not in an unjust war, and for those of you in this world who are not where I would wish you to be, know that in my personal never ending drive towards success and
my career as a musician and entertainer, I am not unaware of the world around me and my prayers and thoughts are with you constantly and I hope to sing to you personally someday, sooner , not later.

Now for those of you who ARE in Pittsburgh, PA this Thursday September 4, 2008, you best to come out and support your girl!! In fact buy a cd, and send it to someone in the army and tell them to get home safely. I'll even give a military discount if you promise to send it
overseas to one of our girls or boys and tell them to get home soon.

Details:
Phat Man Dee opens for for Alex Skolnick Trio!!
Alex Skolnick is a heavy metal guitar god from Testament, and has a jazz trio and he is backed by hometown jazz heroes Nate Peck (yes my old bassist) and Matt Zebroski. I am so excited to finally open for these guys (accompanied by Colter Harper) , Alex is a truly talented
musician, and hearing all those heavy metal classics rendered in jazz and now with his new original compositions , it's a sweet evening of music and I truly hope you can be there.
Specifical and logistical information:
Thursday September 4, 2008
Doors at 6 pm, show time 7 pm sharp!!!
(I am only doing a 20 min set, so don't be late!!)
http://clubcafelive.com/HTML/calendar.php

Later that same night, after the men of the Skolnick Trio have gotten us all hot and bothered, let's head down to 818 Liberty Ave and celebrate like we only can, where else but Pegasus Lounge!!!
http://www.pittpegasus.com/
I will be singing in between dj's and hanging out, I am so thrilled to have a venue for me to debut my newer club mixes I have been working on. Get your testosterone pumping and find me at Peg's and join me for an evening of debauchery until they shut the bar down around us.

Thursday September 4..... be there, and if you can't be there, you better post some super hot pictures the next day.... otherwise I may lose all respect.

Stay warm, have a great day today and I hope to see you Thursday.
Love, kisses, and may you get warm sticky jazz all over you and may it never ever come off....
Mandee
http://www.phatmandee.com/

PS Save the date and tell your friends:
Sep 18 at the Gershwin Hotel with Kenny Peagler and and Little Brooklyn in NYC!