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The Lascivious Biddies, an all female cocktail pop quartet based in New York City, have earned a reputation for having an energetic and tightly woven live show, full of laughter, expert musicianship and a dash of sentimentality.
At SXSW 2005 the Biddies made a splash with the media and fans alike. "If the Donnas are rock's answer to girl power, then the Lascivious Biddies are jazz's answer to female singularity." (The Austin American-Statesman).
The Washington Post calls them "Manhattan's Hippest Girl Group." According to Time Out New York, the Biddies' second album, Get Lucky, overflows with "angelic vocal harmonies, wordy humor, jazz chops and pop moxie."
CBS Evening News confirms: "The Lascivious Biddies could teach us all a thing or two."
posted by Lee Ann at 2:24 PM
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Our CDs are our babies, true. We put so much work into them, and invest so much love into the recording process...and the writing...and the design..There's a baby in there! -------------->She's due in the Spring - feel free to send well wishes to her directly at deidre [at] biddies4ever.com
Have you ever seen a fancier maternity top, btw?!?
megshops.com
posted by Lee Ann at 9:18 AM
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posted by Lee Ann at 11:42 AM
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posted by Lee Ann at 8:37 AM
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YAY!
Labels: BiddyCast
posted by Lee Ann at 1:05 PM
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JOIN THE LASCIVIOUS BIDDIES
AT THIS VERY SPECIAL MANHATTAN SHOW:
Monday, September 22nd, 7:30 pm
We've spent the summer working on new material we'll debut at the Zipper!
Special guest performers!
For tickets: www.thezipperfactory.com or call 212.352.3101
For dinner and drinks:
The Zipper Factory Tavern: 212.695.4600
336 W. 37th street in Manhattan between 8th & 9th Avenues
The Zipper Factory is quickly becoming one of NYC's most popular live music venues. Right on the premises, you'll find a delicious gastropub for dinner before the show:
FROM THE NY MAGAZINE RESTAURANT GUIDE: "Two words no gastronome ever likes to see in close proximity: dinner and theater. That could be changed by veteran chef Larry Kolar who gives the space adjacent to the Zipper Theatre (which recently housed his short-lived Pan-Latin restaurant Camino Sur) another shot with a gastropubby concept and menu. In the old-world spirit of the neighborhood, Kolar is curing and smoking his own charcuterie meats and making sauerkraut and sausages, all of which you can wash down with buckets of beer served at any one of the three Zipper bars."
***
For those of you not in NYC, here are some of The Lascivious Biddies' upcoming tour dates. More all the time at www.BiddiesMusic.com
NORFOLK, CT
THE NORFOLK LIBRARY
Saturday, November 15th
Time TBA
Concord, NH
GOVERNOR'S HALL
CAPITOL CENTER FOR THE ARTS
Wednesday, December 3rd
7:00 pm
Castleton, VT
SPOTLIGHT CAFE
CAPITOL CENTER FOR THE ARTS
Wednesday, December 4th
7:00 pm, 9:00 pm
Sellersville, PA
SELLERSVILLE THEATER
A VERY BIDDY CHRISTMAS
Friday, December 12th
Time TBA
Worcester, MA
MECHANIC'S HALL
FIRST NIGHT WORCESTER
Wednesday, December 31st
posted by Lee Ann at 10:07 AM
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Published: July 17, 2008
Since forming in 2000, The Lascivious Biddies, an all-female quartet from New York, has been steadfastly touring, recording and otherwise tirelessly promoting the band's highly entertaining mix of jazz, pop and cabaret, cut through and through with smart humor.
The group has released a concert DVD, Live In New York City; three albums or EPs -- Biddy-Luxe!, Get Lucky and Love You Mean It -- and is working on a holiday CD for release this Christmas. As good as the group is on disc -- and it's very, very good -- it is the Biddies' live concerts -- more shows, in the theatrical sense, than conventional concerts -- where the group's music really comes alive.
It's an experience to be relished with eyes and ears open wide.
"There's a lot to take in," said Lee Ann Westover, the group's singer and sensory provocateur. "There are the songs, the humor, the musicianship -- we can really play and sing, even if I do say so myself, and I do," she said, laughing. "The object is for the people who come to see us to have as good a time as we are having, and we are having a good time. That's the reason we have been doing this for so long."
But things are changing for the Biddies: Westover; pianist Deidre Rodman Struck; bassist Saskia Lane (who also tours with singer-songwriter Dan Zanes and is recording with Ziggy Marley) and new guitarist Ila Canter, who replaced founding guitarist Amanda Monaco last year.
Monaco, a skilled jazz musician, had grown tired of life as a Biddy, and her lack of enthusiasm was beginning to spread into a general malaise for the band. Monaco, who has multiple sclerosis, eventually decided to pursue her own music, a decision, that while sad for everybody, proved beneficial for all parties.
"Amanda's illness really had nothing to do with her leaving, outside of the fact that she knew that she could wake up one day and all of a sudden by unable to play," Westover said. "So it's hard to blame a musician for wanting to follow her heart before it's too late.
"The parting was amicable, but it was like losing a limb. We had been sisters a long time. Initially, we didn't know what to do. So we took a minute to think who we are and where we want to go."
Westover, Struck and Lane all decided that they had spent too much time, and had too much fun, not to continue. A search for a new guitarist began, and went on, and on, and on.
"We finally found Ila (Canter) at the last second," Westover said. "It has proved to be a great fit, and has helped us grow. It has helped heighten our expectations and it has deepened our songwriting. It has gotten a little more personal.... The humor remains intact -- that is part of being a Biddy -- but it may have a gotten a little more dark and snarky and world-wise."
Westover laughed. "Not that we still don't love the life we have. It's great. It's just that we've realized that there can be a dark cloud that can temporarily shade the brightest sun."
For the first time, the Biddies are being represented by a major booking agency. The group is now flying to concerts to shows all across the country, and instead of playing tiny clubs -- the band played Speakeasy Jazz in Winston-Salem several times -- the Biddies are finding a new home playing larger theatres and amphitheatres.
"I miss playing Winston-Salem, and I hope we get booked back there again," Westover said. "At the same time, it is amazing to be able to do what we do all over the country. It's so civilized. " She laughed. "Now we have health insurance, and we can pay our bills.
"Well, some of our bills, anyway."
The Lascivious Biddies will perform at 7:30 p.m. Monday the Hayes Performing Arts Center in Blowing Rock. Tickets are $20, $26. Visit www.brcac.org or call 828-295-9627.
posted by Lee Ann at 7:40 AM
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Biddies from the City
Cocktail Pop Quartet the Lascivious Biddies at the Hayes Center July 21
From Mountain Times
|
Deidre Rodman, Ila Cantor, Lee Ann Westover and Saskia Lane make up the fab four known collectively as The Lascivious Biddies. |
The Washington Post has called them “Manhattan’s Hippest Girl Group” and their music has been featured on the CBS Evening News, The Food Network and the Discovery Channel. They have even starred in their own commercial for Chili’s Restaurants. Now they are coming to the High Country.
They are New York City’s super-smooth female cocktail pop quartet The Lascivious Biddies. And they are performing at the Hayes Center in Blowing Rock on Monday, July 21st at 8 p.m. Tickets are on sale now.
Formed eight years ago, the Lascivious Biddies specialize in original pop-jazz songs that showcase their songwriting, special brand of humor and soaring three and four-part vocal harmonies. The band includes Deidre Rodman on keyboards and melodica, Ila Cantor on guitar, Lee Ann Westover on lead vocals and glockenspiel, and Saskia Lane on double bass. All four band-members sing.
The Biddies are known for their tight ensemble playing and playful banter with the audience between songs. This past year the band has been working steadily, playing at theaters and festivals throughout the country as well as maintaining a regular gig at Jones’ Pub in New York City.
“I think this is a really good time for the Biddies,” said Deidre Rodman. “It used to be a problem because we didn’t have a drummer…people thought that would keep us from getting booked or getting airplay. Now I think people really like that we cut across a lot of genres. We tell people that our setlist is like the weather in the South. If you don’t like it wait five minutes and you’ll have something different.”
That diversity of sound used to be hurdle in gaining an audience, but today’s music lovers are sophisticated enough to expect their favorite artists to branch out into new territory. The New York scene is particularly vibrant these days with Broadway-esque songwriter Nellie McKay and retro soul shakers The Sweet Divines, joining the Biddies among the leading female-dominated acts in town.
“We used to tell people that we were a jazz-pop-lounge-cabaret quartet, which is quite a mouthful,” said Rodman. “Then I read the phrase ‘cocktail pop’ in a magazine and thought, ‘That’s perfect!’ It sums up in two words what we’re all about when people ask us what kind of music we play.”
So far, the Lascivious Biddies have released an EP and two full-length albums: Get Lucky from 2004 and last year’s Love You Mean It. The band has also released a DVD of live performances and are planning to film Monday’s show in Blowing Rock with the help of a western North Carolina video company. The videos continue a trend that the Biddies helped develop on the Internet when they began posting free videos on their website in the early 2000s.
“We started pod-casting years ago when it first came out,” said Rodman. “We got some stories in the press for that. We believe that giving away music to your fans can only help spread the word about what we do.”
It’s not only the group’s fans who are spreading the word about the Biddies’ uniquely cool vibe. Time Out NY called them “The cast of Sex and the City transformed into a modern jazz quartet,” and the CBS Evening News raved, “The Lascivious Biddies could teach us all a thing or two.”
Music lovers who see the Lascivious Biddies today might be surprised to learn that they started out as an 80s cover band.
“We originally formed as a Go-Go’s cover band,” said Rodman. “Then as we started getting together and playing, we realized that our hearts were more with the original material we were writing. We still play one Go-Go’s tune, ‘Head Over Heels,’ but we do it with a distinctive bossa nova beat. All of our cover tunes are done in our own style.
“As for our original songs, we write a lot of songs about the characters, some that are fictional and some based on our own experiences.”
Rodman added that for the first time this year, the band has begun writing collaboratively, with the individual members contributing to each other’s songs in terms of vocal harmony parts and arrangements.
“It’s taken us eight years to fee brave enough to write together,” said Rodman. “I feel like we are reinventing ourselves.”
Tickets
Tickets for the Lascivious Biddies show at the Mariam and Robert Hayes Performing Arts Center in Blowing Rock are $20 and $26. They may be purchased by calling (828) 295-9627 or by visiting www.hayescenter.org.
posted by Lee Ann at 7:38 AM
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