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

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!!

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????

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....

I am such a bad bad bloggart.....

And I am ok with that. I hope you are I have alot of respect and not a little awe for folks who can maintain a web connection for years at a stretch and can document all the odd and wonderful things around them, I am sure that with enough lightweight technological gee-gaws and thing-a-magigs and whack-a-doodles I too could twitter to you day and night with the ease of simply thinking it onto the web for all too see, a brain cam is months away, I am sure of it.... That said I have seen some beautiful places and made some wonderful music over the last month and a half, I do really wish I had a way to share it with you. Hopefully I can replace my stolen camera sometime soon, but I did do a couple of radio interviews, I am hoping to get at least one that I think was recorded uploaded as a podcast, if I am successful I will post a link. I worked with some great musicians, my friend Chris Campbell and Blake Moore put together a great group of musicians for me to work with at our gigs.

But for better or worse, though it was hard coming home from the gorgeous weather in Northern California, I am so happy to be back with my dear Amoeba and my 25 year old zombie undead beagle, Lucy the Dog. I have a lot of great gigs this month and I hope you can check them out!!

Saturday November 29, 2008
I am singing at Zafira's Vaudeville Carnevale!!

The show will be great featuring performances by:

Mezmer Society NC (luscious cabaret & balkan ruckus)
Mavi of Romka in DC(haunting Kali dance)
Mizz. Phat Mandee, with her Phabulous voice
Mr. Buddy Nutt PA, the one man band- will be bringing back his musical saw
Mab, Just Mab DC, Highly entertaining sideshow girl!
Zafira PA, our hostesses with mostesses (with some NEW! performances for our fellow Yinzers)

Vending, Ambience & Libations with:

Mr. Arm of the Secret Society of Odd Acquisitions PA, (house-of-wonders sculpture and photography)

The Rex Theater's Bar & Lounge

Father Dunn and his treasure chest of jewels and wonders of the world.... you'll want to buy it all!
Your Inner Vagabond PA, with tasty complimentary goodies!

And the following week......

December 4 , 2008 , with Marsha Mellow!!

Ladies, gentlemen, and everyone in between, come on down to the basement and let me sing you to the stars in Pittsburgh's very own Pegasus. Be there baby and let's drink til it just don't hurt no more....

Other gigs on my whirlwind homecoming tour include a trip to NYC!!

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

I think that's enough for now, but please save the dates:

December 11, 2008
cityLIVE!
MULTINGUAL HOLIDAY SING-A-LONG
Presented by no wall productions, the Heinz Family Foundation and the New Hazlett Theater
December 11, 2008 at 6:30 pm a multi lingual sing a long ... AND HOLIDAY SPECTACULAR
With Phat Man Dee and the ChristmasChannakwanzaa Tones, Colter Harper, Tony DePaolis and Jacob Yoffee. You will not want to miss this one, kids. Show your love. Show up! It's FREE!!

December 13, 2008 at CLO Cabaret's Backstage Bar at Theater Square. (It's also FREE!!)
5 - 7:30 pm , with Colter Harper and Tony DePaolis.

December 31, 2008 at First Night, downtown Pittsburgh, more info to follow.

Very Imortant aNd Urgent MEssage

So I have been on retreat in California, composing works for my next project, and I am sorry I have been out of touch, but I just got this email from my friend the Reverend Ivan Stang of the Church of the Subgenius, and I thought I would share:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear American

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I need to ask you to support an urgent secret business relationship
with a transfer of funds of great magnitude.

I am Ministry of the Treasury of the Republic of America. My country
has had crisis that has caused the need for large transfer of funds of
800 billion dollars US. If you would assist me in this transfer, it
would be most profitable to you.

I am working with Mr. Phil Gramm, lobbyist for UBS, who will be my
replacement as Ministry of the Treasury in January. As a Senator, you
may know him as the leader of the American banking deregulation
movement in the 1990s. This transaction is 100% safe.

This is a matter of great urgency. We need a blank check. We need the
funds as quickly as possible. We cannot directly transfer these funds
in the names of our close friends because we are constantly under
surveillance. My family lawyer advised me that I should look for a
reliable and trustworthy person who will act as a next of kin so the
funds can be transferred.

Please reply with all of your bank account, IRA and college fund
account numbers and those of your children and grandchildren to
wallstreetbail...@treasury.gov so that we may transfer your commission
for this transaction. After I receive that information, I will respond
with detailed information about safeguards that will be used to
protect the funds.


Yours Faithfully,

Minister of Treasury Paulson
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Special thanks to secret author Rev. Giles
http://www.subgenius.com/

On this grey , grey morning in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania , I write to
you hoping that your inner light is burning bright and hot like your
own personal sun of inspiration and faith. I am so excited about my
show tomorrow night. For those of you in the area I hope you may
attend and for those out of town, I have recently uploaded a brand new
track to my myspace page that I hope you will enjoy and send me some
feedback on it.

Come on out Thursday October 2, 2008 to see me sing some of my newest
compositions! We have special guest stars from Peek-A-Boo Burlesque
from Philadelphia, PA, Ginger Leigh and Lulu Lollipop!! Brother
Strawberry will be on hand twisting dirty party balloons. Showtime
10:30 pm, age requirement is 18 + , cover charge is less than $5 at
the door.
Pegasus Lounge , 818 Liberty Ave, Pittsburgh, PA
For more info and details.....
http://www.pitt-pegasus.com

This is my last local Pittsburgh appearance til late November, then I
am off to Californee!! For those of you who came to the NYC shows,
yinz rawk n'at!!! We had a good time, didn't we???? Don't worry, we
shall do it again as soon as we can, I do love NYC, I mean, it's not
Pittsburgh, but then, like my Rabbi said about the Christians, no
one's perfect....

And again, if you can't make it, it's cool, I know you would if you
could, but please do check the one new track I uploaded to my myspace
page, it is called "Mr Fix It Man". Since making new friends with
those crazy artists in Windber @ Grand Midway Haunted Hotel and their
electric shock of generous inspiration helped me write 15 new songs
over the last month or so and I recorded 11 of them with Mike Murray
(on rhodes) and Tony DePaolis (on bass) at Church Recording Studios
with Dana Cannone last Thursday. I am still definitely work shopping
the tunes, they are not ready for general release, but I do want some
feedback from my friends and this is one of my favorites.....
http://www.myspace.com/phatmandee
or also here:
http://jazzburgher.ning.com/profile/PhatManDee

Thanks for tuning in, also remember, I do have a blog :
http://phatmandee.blogspot.com

Keep me informed of your own events, if I can't be there, know I wish
I could, and when I can I will attend.
Stay warm and dry, and don't fret over the economy overly much, we
have each other, and we still have our songs. Whatever happens, let us
have faith in a brighter tomorrow and may we be thankful for what we
do have and pray that those in the world who are not so fortunate, let
us work so that they may know peace and a full belly sooner rather
than later.

Happy New Year everybody!! Eat some apples and honey for me Schmosie!
Mandee