biddyblog

An Itty Biddy Is Born!!!

2009-03-17T17:27:00.001-04:00

Baby Mirabelle Struck was born yesterday evening, March 16th!!

She is the ultimate Itty Biddy - lil' baby daughter of Biddy pianist Deidre and her husband Ben.

You can send well-wishes to deidre@biddies4ever.com

Josephina's Ukulele

2009-01-01T17:17:00.002-05:00

Last night at Mechanic's Hall in Worcester, MA, I was lucky to meet a young lady named Josephina.

Josephina (& everyone else),

I mean it that ukulele is easy and fun!

If you want a nice, inexpensive one to start playing with, try this one

Click to check out the Makala Dolphin Ukulele

& please email us to stay in touch!!

leeann [at] biddies4ever.com

xoxo
Lee Ann

Happy New Year Biddy Buddies!

2008-12-31T08:14:00.001-05:00

Here's to a 2009 is waaaaaaay better than the pundits predict!!

We'll at least be starting it off with a bang....

Worcester, MA
MECHANIC'S HALL
FIRST NIGHT WORCESTER
Wednesday, December 31st
9:30 pm, one 45 min set
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!
Come up and say hi, we'll likely be prowling First Night afterward!

Joe's Pub tonight!

2008-12-22T12:18:00.004-05:00

Tonight at Joe's Pub we are having the annual Holiday Party and the release party for our CD "A Very Biddy Christmas!"

We'll be there of course

Deidre Rodman Struck - Piano, Melodica
Saskia Lane - Bass
Ila Cantor - Guitar
Lee Ann Westover - Vocals, Ukulele, Glockenspiel

but we'll have a backing band as well!!!

Curtis Fowlkes - Trombone
Michael Leonhart - Trumpet/Flugelhorn
Jay Rodriguez - Saxamaphone
Robert DiPietro - Drums

Gonna be awesome!!!

:) :)

NYC
JOE'S PUB
A VERY BIDDY CHRISTMAS
PART OF JOE'S PUB 10th ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION!
Monday, December 22nd
7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Lafayette below Astor Place
Click here for tickets and more info

"A Very Biddy Christmas" Now Available on iTunes!

2008-12-17T12:46:00.003-05:00

At noon EST, our holiday CD became available for purchase on the iTunes Music Store!

CLICK HERE to view "A Very Biddy Christmas" on iTunes, and see you Monday at the CD Release Party!

CLICK HERE to buy the album as a gift for a cherished Biddy Buddy

CLICK HERE to purchase a hard copy on CDBaby.com

New York, NY
JOE'S PUB
A VERY BIDDY CHRISTMAS
PART OF JOE'S PUB 10th ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION!
Monday, December 22nd
7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Lafayette below Astor Place
Click here for tickets and more info

A VERY BIDDY CHRISTMAS NOW ON SALE!

2008-11-19T14:24:00.004-05:00

"A Very Biddy Christmas"

The new Lascivious Biddies Holiday EP

Is now on sale at CDBABY.COM!!

http://cdbaby.com/cd/lasciviousbiddies5

A Very Biddy Baby

2008-11-18T09:18:00.004-05:00

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..

That's nothing compared to the love and hugs and squishes that will be foisted on the latest addition to the Biddy Family: A Baby Biddy! Deidre Rodman Struck is expecting!

There's a baby in there! -------------->
Have you ever seen a fancier maternity top, btw?!?
megshops.com

She's due in the Spring - feel free to send well wishes to her directly at deidre [at] biddies4ever.com

Baby Biddy took part in our new web series, "No Boundaries Girl." (below)

*Please don't be intimidated by our amazing acting skills and high production values.

NEW LASCIVIOUS BIDDIES HOLIDAY EP!

2008-11-12T11:42:00.003-05:00

We have copies of "A Very Biddy Christmas" in our possession!!!

We will have them for sale at all our shows this holiday season. As soon as CDBaby.com gets them on the site, we'll post a link.

As soon as iTunes has it, we'll post a link to that too!

P.S.: John you can totally hear a sample song at out Myspace...

A VERY BIDDY CHRISTMAS!

2008-10-20T13:17:00.002-04:00

Hey Biddy Buddies!

If you are subscribed to the Biddies Mailing list, you already know that we are putting out a Xmas EP this year. Should the universe allow it, we should have hard copies for sale by mid-November for all your gift giving needs!

Jot down in your books that The Biddies are going to get our holiday party on! For tourists and locals alike...come celebrate with us! There will be free cookies!

JOE'S PUB
A VERY BIDDY CHRISTMAS

NYC

Monday, December 22nd

7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Lafayette below Astor Place

Stay Tuned at Joe's Pub Website for tickets.

We don't have camels, but it'll be at least as much fun as the Radio City Christmas Spectacular!

THANK YOU

2008-09-23T08:37:00.001-04:00

Last night's show was a HUGE success for us on so many levels. Thank you for coming out in force, and for sending us so much great energy! It was also a thrill to do some more new material for you. We ARE working on our new record, in case you are wondering!
xoxo

BiddyCast_112: New Jingle, Mt. Gretna, Tina Fey (I luvs you)

2008-09-10T13:05:00.005-04:00

YAY!

We finally have another BiddyCast for you! This time with 2 new songs.

Enjoy!

xoxo
The Bids

LISTEN TO SHOW

SUBSCRIBE WITH ITUNES

2008-09-10T10:07:00.000-04:00

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

Winston-Salem Journal: Press for NC this weekend part II

2008-07-18T07:40:00.003-04:00

The Lascivious Biddies are having lots of fun, and so are their fans

By Ed Bumgardner | Journal Reporter | The Winston-Salem Journal

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."

Want to go?

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.

Mountain Times: Press for NC this weekend!

2008-07-18T07:38:00.000-04:00

Biddies from the City
Cocktail Pop Quartet the Lascivious Biddies at the Hayes Center July 21
From Mountain Times

By Jeff Eason

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.

Do you want to buy Lee Ann's Guitar? Black/Gold Les Paul Studio

2008-06-23T13:56:00.003-04:00

MORE PHOTOS HERE

I'll mail it anywhere if you paypal moi!

*MINT* LES PAUL STUDIO ELECTRIC GUITAR - Black gloss ("Ebony" )& Gold -
$1199

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

No scratches, no dings - MINT condition.

Guitar is dated 2007.

VIRTUALLY UNPLAYED
Black Gloss finish (Gibson calls it "Ebony")
Gold hardware
Rosewood fingerboard
Trapezoid perloid inlay in
fingerboard
Vintage-style tuners
Humbucking pickups
Hardshell case,
also like new. (Black faux lizard with white fur lining. Combo lock, gold
hardware.)
Original shipping carton included

ALL ORIGINAL, NO
MODIFICATIONS

I got this Les Paul Studio not even a year ago, and have
hardly played it since. It's a great guitar, just not my style.

Erm, if you are into that sort of thing, The Biddies would sign it with a silver paint pen - something like "[Your name here] certainly rawks harder than Lee Ann does on this thing!"

(retail is a bit over $1300 for this lil' guy. Black & Gold is Hot-t-t-t-t)

http://newyork.craigslist.org/que/msg/729576076.html

The Critics agree...

2008-06-02T10:55:00.002-04:00

Terry Teachout (Wall Street Journal theater critic, and old school critic of many other things on his blog) wrote about The Biddies' show at Joe's Pub last week...

To Joe's Pub in the evening to hear the Lascivious Biddies, whom I haven't seen on stage since they played at my wedding last October. After the show I meet the Biddies' new guitarist, Ila Cantor, about whom I've been hearing good things ever since she joined the band a few months ago, all of which turn out to be true. Back at home, I Google Ila and am sent to her MySpace page, where I listen to an original
composition for solo acoustic guitar called "Dance of the Chromozomes" that knocks me sideways.

Thanks Terry! We like her too!

:)

Time Out NY! Joe's Pub This Weekend ::May 24th :: 7 & 9pm

2008-05-22T11:39:00.002-04:00

PHOTO CAPTION:
NEW SENSATION The Lascivious Biddies break in recent recruit Ila Cantor, left, at Joe's Pub Sat 24.
Photograph: Michael Cogliantry

"Mixing angelic vocal harmonies, wordy humor, jazz chops and pop moxie, the Lascivious Biddies play sassy originals, savvy covers and what must surely be the sexiest paean to Mister Rogers ever (“Neighbor”). Tonight’s a big outing for the quartet, as it introduces a newish Biddy, guitarist Ila Cantor, and an album’s worth of fresh material. Ethan Lipton opens each set with his lighthearted tales of alienation and despair."

United Airlines Excess Baggage Fee & Boris the Cat

2008-05-08T10:18:00.004-04:00

Yesterday evening, The Lascivious Biddies flew out of LaGuardia to Denver on United. We have an unweildy merch bag that needed to be checked. As you know, United now charges $25 for the second checked bag. Here's what you may NOT know:

United Premier members (25,000 miles plus) don't have to pay the fee! Lucky for us, Saskia (our bassist) is Premier (in more ways than one), so she checked it for us (thank you Sas). I had already paid the $25 dollar fee and sent the bag down the conveyer, so you missed a rather comic moment of us yelling "STOP THE BAG! I'm so sorry...PLEASE STOP IT!" We took the receipt for my paid bag down to an actual agent (agents don't work with the rabble anymore - I feel impressed that the dude kept it together to check my I.D.). Said actual agent was pleasant and helpful while refunding the fee to our card.

My friend is moving to London. She has an excedingly rad cat named Boris who needs a home..can you help her? At least look at the cute photo http://mycatboris.blogspot.com/

Lee Ann

Great Press in Colorado! New voices and new songs

2008-05-02T15:57:00.003-04:00

The Reporter-Herald
Loveland, CO :: 5/2/2008

N.Y. quartet blends cabaret, jazz
By Glenn BurnSilver

What do you get when you take a country music singer who likes jazz, a classically trained upright bass player, a Latin-infused guitar virtuoso and a quirky melodica and piano player and swirl them together in the big blender of New York City influence?

A tall, cool drink of cocktail pop, compliments of the Lascivious Biddies. This female-foursome takes a jazz meets cabaret meets pop music approach to songwriting, penning ditties with a dose of humor wrapped up in excellent musicianship and the occasional four-part harmonies.

And nothing is off limits for these biddies, who sing about everything from men and relationships, life in and out of the Big Apple, but also buying shoes.

“One time, we found this shop,” begins Deidre Rodman with a laugh. “We came out with eight pairs of shoes. We actually have a song about (buying shoes), so that made for a good intro that night.”

As for the cocktail pop title, Rodman proudly states no other band holds that designation.

“It took us years to come up with that,” she says. “We all wear cocktail dresses on stage, so there is a glamorous side to it. We blend some pop with jazz, cabaret and four-part harmonies. There’s just so much going on that cocktail pop wraps it all up.”

An Idaho native, Rodman arrived in New York in 1997 after earning a master’s degree in jazz studies from the University of North Texas. Lead singer Lee Ann Westover also relocated from Texas some years earlier and happened into her life as a singer, albeit with a country swing outfit. Upright bassist Saskia Lane came from San Francisco to study at the Juilliard School, while Ila Cantor is the solo New York native, though much of her guitar education was picked up in Barcelona, Spain.

The original intent of this combo was to form a Go-Go’s cover band. However, the obvious limited potential of such a move led the band to focus on their own writings and talents.
“No, that never really happened,” Rodman says with another laugh. “We still do one song, but we realized we wanted to do so much more than that.”

And that idea of always doing more sticks with the Biddies. While early on the band generally sang as one and always shared the stage together, now the singing and playing are broken up into various combinations, with duos and trios filling the space.

“We’re growing as a band, so we have some different ideas now,” Rodman says. “We’ve started mixing it up. We don’t all need to sing and play at the same time.”

The instrumentation has changed a little as well.

“I play the melodica, then (Westover) got a glockenspiel, which added a nice sound, and now’s there’s a ukulele in the band,” she says. “We joke that soon we’ll have to start traveling with a tuba and string section.

“But it’s been a really organic process,” she adds. “The growth has been really nice, and I think people will appreciate (the variety). ... It’s so much fun.”

All contents Copyright © 2008 Daily Reporter-Herald. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed for any commercial purpose.

Lee Ann Finally Has A Myspace Page!!!

2008-04-25T20:36:00.001-04:00

Wonder of wonders! Miracle of miracles!

Be her friend, dang it.

http://www.myspace.com/thewestover

There's a fresh new MP3 up there!

Almost Heaven, West Virginia's Blennerhassett Hotel in Parkersburg

2008-04-05T09:26:00.004-04:00

READ THIS POST WITH PHOTOS AT THETINYGUIDE.COM

It's always a bit of a crap shoot to go on the road with a The Lascivious Biddies. Our agent books the shows in no particular pattern, often in a small theater in a small to mid-size town. We New Yorkers relish the chance to breathe fresh air, wander sleepy streets and fill our eyes with green. This time around, we're landed in Parkersburg, WV.

From The Blennerhassett Hotel's genial general manager, Cecil Childress, I learned that Parkersburg was once was home to the first seriously profitable oil field in the USA. As a result, the town is full of Industrialist palaces like said hotel, the town hall and an old Carnegie Library that now the gargantuan and labyrinthine Trans Allegheny Used Book Store.------->

Trans Allegheny Books 725 Green St 304-422-4499

The Blennerhassett Hotel sits a few short blocks from the Little Kanawha River and is the source of the old downtown’s gentle pulse. In one short afternoon in the pine-paneled library (in front of a warm fire) we saw a slew of locals dropping in for a Starbucks, heard about the hotel’s benevolent ghost and met the Mayor. Our guest rooms were spotless and comfortable. Each comes furnished with all the necessary amenities, and a few extra treats. Beyond the shampoo and soap, (remember girls love this stuff) I also was treated to a tiny sewing kit, a shoe polish rag, and a little box containing two cotton balls and two cotton swabs. You may think that it’s such a small thing to note on a hotel review, but those details are the difference between a hotel set up to suck the dollars out of one’s wallet and those set up to make one happy and comfortable.

In the evening, the lobby restaurant Spats – widely reputed to be the best fine dining in town – fills up with a well-heeled crowd. On a West Virginia scale it ain’t cheap to eat there, and our musician’s budget kept us away, but word on the street is that it‘s worth every penny. The Biddies stuck to the bar. Deidre said the burger is one of the best she’s had ($8.50) and Saskia and I hit the $3 Blue Moon pints pretty hard. In Parkersburg, the price is middle-of-the-road, but in New York, we’d easily pay double – so it only makes sense that we’d stock up?

Every single person we met at the hotel was really lovely, the décor is lovely, there is complimentary valet parking, there is a WINE SHOP (omg!!!) in the lobby…what more could one want? The Blennerhassett Hotel is most definitely secure as the best hotel we have ever stayed in…ever…on the road. Rah Rah Sis Boom Ba! Number One! It’s magic!

Blennerhassett Hotel Fourth and Market Street, 304-422-3131 or 800-678-8946

Dining options are slim around Parkersburg. Two of the best are those mentioned a few paragraphs up. We spotted two sub shops on Market Street, but were eventually pulled in as repeat customers by The Crystal Café and Cham’s Lebanese Restaurant.

The Crystal Café sits just a block up from the hotel. We hit it in the mornings for $4 plates of pancakes, eggs, toast, English muffins and delicious hot sandwiches. Service is super friendly, and we were charmed by the mugs on the walls. Seems like each regular (Captain Jimmy?) has one to drink coffee out of every morning. Saskia says their poached eggs are superb. I would say the same for the-everything-else.

Crystal Cafe 402 Market St 304-428-5680

Another three or so blocks up the road, Sas and I found Cham’s Lebanese restaurant. Brother and sister Rizcallah and Cham whip up excellent Lebanese home cooking for office workers at the lunch hour, and all manner of townsfolk at night. Rizcallah and Cham have 100% of their heart invested in the place. On entering, you are an honored guest and friend before anything else. Even without such service, though, the food would still haunt my dreams. It will, in fact. Saskia and I sampled a deliciously gamey Kafta sandwich (spiced beef and hummus), Shishkatouk (mustardy chicken kebab with garlic sauce on a pita), Fatoush (greens, toasted pita, tomato, parsley with a tangy vinaigrette), Turkish coffee (cardamom spiced) and baklava. Ooooooooohhhhh baklava. Rizcallah sells the usual honey mixture in the plain version, but in the crispy birds nest version, he’s splashed in a little orange blossom, which chases the sweet buttah flavor with a delicate, subtle floral scent. Everything we ate was wonderful, but the baklava crosses over in to the divine.

Cham's Lebanese Restaurant 610 Market Street 304-428-2730

Thank you Parkersburg! Thank you (amazing, beautiful, perfectly restored back to its 1920s grandeur) Smoot Theater! Thank you Red Hats! Thank you Parkersburg Catholic and Warren High Schools! Thank you Blennerhassett Hotel! Cross your fingers with us that we’ll be able to pass your way again before too long…we’ll miss you in the meanwhile!

xoxo
Lee Ann

Todd Londagin Tonight in NYC!

2008-03-31T10:18:00.003-04:00

Looking for a fancy way to celebrate being in one of the world's great cities? Take it uptown to Feinstein's's at the Regency tonight to see Todd Londagin!

Todd is an amazing performer who grew up an itinerant street performer, but now resembles more of a tap-dancing Harry Connick with a handsome baby face.

I know that sounds weird, but it's not. It's awesome.

He plays with some of the best: Mike Hashim, Peter Smith, Dave Berger...came up in The Flying Neutrinos, entertained at Jerry Seinfeld's Y2K New Year's Party.

Just be smaht go see him tonight!!! We love him and you will too!

www.toddlondagin.com/

PURCHASE TICKETS HERE
Todd Londagin
At Feinstein's
Monday, Mar 31, 8:30PM
540 Park Avenue
New York, NY 10021

BiddyCast_111: February will kill you

2008-03-20T13:19:00.003-04:00

Fresh Cheese Curds in Marshfield, WI----->

In this episode, we share a couple of songs you have never heard us do ever before ever ever.

1) "February Song"
It doesn't even have a title yet! Debuted at The University of Wisconsin in Marshfield, WI

2) "Mad World"
A typically kooky Biddi-fied version of the Tears for Fears hit

SEE OUR UPCOMING SHOWS

LISTEN TO THIS BIDDYCAST

BiddyCast_110: Meet Ila Cantor

2008-03-17T09:43:00.002-04:00

Thank you for staying tuned! We promise more episodes are forthcoming.

In this episode, we introduce you to Ila Cantor, the new guitar player for The Lascivious Biddies. Hear her talk! Hear her play! Hear the other three torture her!

We just played in Marshfield, WI. This is the recap.

Thank you for a great show, cheese curds and delicious local beer, Wisconsin.
Wisconsin Ale! Spotted Cow! Fat Squirrel!

SONG: Temporary

LISTEN HERE

Saskia and the bass.

Recent Press! The Bergen County Record:

2008-03-07T11:25:00.006-05:00

Glocks, triangles, stand-up bass & sweet vocals Friday, March 7, 2008 BY IAN SPELLING SPECIAL TO THE BERGEN RECORD
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The Lascivious Biddies -- a steadily rising, all-female New York City quartet -- write and perform songs so offbeat, so unique and so encompassing of other music categories that they had to come up with their own name for what they do: cocktail pop.

"Our music is a real mix of genres," lead singer Lee Ann Westover says by telephone from her Manhattan apartment. "It has a lot of the storytelling aspects of cabaret and the chops of jazz musicians, but also the songs are pop formatted, so you get a lot of fun choruses.

"It has a slightly retro connotation, too, which you get when you come to a Biddies show. There's a little bit of that '50s and '60s fun."

She adds, "We spent years and years -- literally five years -- trying to come up with a term, and we finally settled on cocktail pop. I think often what happens is people will say, 'Cocktail pop. Cool. Wait, what is that?' I think it hits people on a gut level, and it's a fun way to tell people what we do. Hopefully they like it even if they can't tell you what it is."

The band -- Westover on lead vocals, glockenspiel and triangle; Saskia Lane on double bass and vocals; Deidre Rodman Struck on piano, melodica and vocals; and Ila Cantor on guitar and vocals -- formed in 2001. They started on a whim, thinking they might give it a go as a Go-Go's cover band.

They quickly developed their own sound, though, and to date have released the albums "Biddiluxe" and "Get Lucky," as well as the EP "Love You Mean It." They've become road warriors and, thanks to their Web site, blogs and podcasts, have cultivated a fervent fan base.

"We used to just tour up and down the East Coast, and in the past year and a half or so we've started going out all over the country and we've signed up with a great manager who's been sending us all over creation," Westover says. "So things have really amped up a lot for us. It's been wonderful to see the country this way."

The Biddies' current tour will bring them to Paramus tonight for a show at Bergen Community College. Westover promises that the evening will be a typical Biddies blast.

"Our Jersey shows have always been a good time," she says. "We're going to play new material people haven't heard yet because we've been doing a lot of writing for an album we're working on."

As a band, they're on the way up, but they still play the occasional wedding, and each Biddie works a side project or two. Westover, for example, writes a blog, interviews bands for a few downtown Manhattan papers and dabbles in design.

"Am I making a living as a Biddie?" Westover asks, repeating a question posed to her. "I always say it depends on the month and the economy. Talk to me now and I'll be like, 'Yeah, it's fabulous,' but come August I might be hustling another couple of dollars.

"But, in general, we're doing pretty well," she adds. "One of the good things about having an agent is we've really been able to take it from being an expensive hobby to being what we do."