http://www.nelliemckay.com/
Anybody have an opinion on her album? She's doing an in-store at Borders on 14th Street tomorrow.
Anybody have an opinion on her album? She's doing an in-store at Borders on 14th Street tomorrow.
Nellie McKay
Yeah, I'd f*ck her….
Originally posted by Groundskeeper's Willy:She'll be at Borders on 14th St…..try your luck, you never know. ;)
Yeah, I'd f*ck her….
Don't like "The Dog Song" from the website. But any instore can be interesting if you have the time to go by…
Interesting in-store. Like Randy Newman doing sarcastic show tunes about pop culture. Not really my bag, but entertaining.
She wanted to know where Groundskeeper Willy was, she was looking for a quick shag.
She looked more like a British Airways stewardess than a 19 yr old New York City girl.
She wanted to know where Groundskeeper Willy was, she was looking for a quick shag.
She looked more like a British Airways stewardess than a 19 yr old New York City girl.
Well the guy from the Post loved her; and go figure, no April Lavine references.
Nellie McKay: What a Pleasant Surprise
By Joe Heim
Special to The Washington Post
Friday, February 27, 2004; Page C02
Let Nellie McKay become a huge star. Let her find fame and fortune and fantabulous success. Because at just 19, this supremely gifted, charming and darkly funny New York oddball has all the makings of the first great singer-songwriter of the young century.
For a majestic 90 minutes at the Barns at Wolf Trap on Wednesday night, McKay sat alone at a grand piano and thoroughly entertained the audience – many of whom, it can be assumed, had no idea what was about to occur. There's no anticipating a force this tornadic or inspired. She is like Tori Amos if Amos had a sense of humor, or Ani DiFranco if DiFranco had an ounce of cleverness. So she is nothing like them at all.
She is a wordplaying fiend who can rhyme "Attila the Hun" with "cinnamon bun" and make it sound brilliant instead of ridiculous. She is simply a great original with a voice so remarkably expressive and lyrics so strange, funny, cutting and sublime, you wonder what universe spawned her.
"Liberace is a hero of mine," said McKay (rhymes with "rye") as she sat down at the piano. It was perhaps an explanation for her attire, a simple black dress topped by a spangly emerald bolero that might have been stolen from the late pianist's attic. With that, she played the first of many songs from her major label debut, "Get Away From Me" (the title's a cheeky jab at Norah Jones's "Come Away With Me").
On her hilarious stalker anthem, "Won't U Please B Nice," she declaims:
If you would sit
Oh so close to me
That would be nice
Like it's supposed to be
If you don't
I'll slit your throat
So won't you please be nice.
And from the mordant "Toto Dies":
Yeah, I'll have my coffee black
Hey look, we're bombing Iraq
I guess that's the only way
Oh, did I tell you we got Fifi spayed?
Categorizing McKay's bouncy and exuberant musical style is almost impossible: It's cabaret, it's Broadway, it's rap, it's Beat, it's folk, it's Tin Pan Alley, it's jazz, it's rock. It reminds you of everything, and it's like nothing you've ever heard. She sang songs in Japanese, Mandarin, Spanish and, yes, "American." ("Well, it really is its own language," she explained.) She sang in German and somehow made even that sound beautiful.
She's also a topical wiz with a twinkle in her eye. After the Japanese song, she explained that it was "about gay marriage," pause, "oh, and Jesus Christ's last days."
McKay's songs and patter are peppered with profanities (her album is stamped with a parental-advisory sticker), yet they are so cleverly used they sound less like gratuitous expletives than delightfully spicy bon mots. Though composed and self-assured, she fumbles about a bit as well. She even apologized in advance for the teenageyness of one her songs and told the crowd to blame it on the "youth and arrogance and inexperience of me."
But McKay isn't just simply funny or racy or peculiar. She combines bathos and humor, and can take a song like "I Wanna Get Married" and a line like "I wanna pack lunches for my Brady Bunches" and make them sound both tongue-in-cheek and sweetly heartfelt. Her channeling of Billie Holiday on a beautiful rendition of the jazz standard "Body and Soul" was more evidence of her wide-ranging gifts. Let her become a star.
Nellie McKay: What a Pleasant Surprise
By Joe Heim
Special to The Washington Post
Friday, February 27, 2004; Page C02
Let Nellie McKay become a huge star. Let her find fame and fortune and fantabulous success. Because at just 19, this supremely gifted, charming and darkly funny New York oddball has all the makings of the first great singer-songwriter of the young century.
For a majestic 90 minutes at the Barns at Wolf Trap on Wednesday night, McKay sat alone at a grand piano and thoroughly entertained the audience – many of whom, it can be assumed, had no idea what was about to occur. There's no anticipating a force this tornadic or inspired. She is like Tori Amos if Amos had a sense of humor, or Ani DiFranco if DiFranco had an ounce of cleverness. So she is nothing like them at all.
She is a wordplaying fiend who can rhyme "Attila the Hun" with "cinnamon bun" and make it sound brilliant instead of ridiculous. She is simply a great original with a voice so remarkably expressive and lyrics so strange, funny, cutting and sublime, you wonder what universe spawned her.
"Liberace is a hero of mine," said McKay (rhymes with "rye") as she sat down at the piano. It was perhaps an explanation for her attire, a simple black dress topped by a spangly emerald bolero that might have been stolen from the late pianist's attic. With that, she played the first of many songs from her major label debut, "Get Away From Me" (the title's a cheeky jab at Norah Jones's "Come Away With Me").
On her hilarious stalker anthem, "Won't U Please B Nice," she declaims:
If you would sit
Oh so close to me
That would be nice
Like it's supposed to be
If you don't
I'll slit your throat
So won't you please be nice.
And from the mordant "Toto Dies":
Yeah, I'll have my coffee black
Hey look, we're bombing Iraq
I guess that's the only way
Oh, did I tell you we got Fifi spayed?
Categorizing McKay's bouncy and exuberant musical style is almost impossible: It's cabaret, it's Broadway, it's rap, it's Beat, it's folk, it's Tin Pan Alley, it's jazz, it's rock. It reminds you of everything, and it's like nothing you've ever heard. She sang songs in Japanese, Mandarin, Spanish and, yes, "American." ("Well, it really is its own language," she explained.) She sang in German and somehow made even that sound beautiful.
She's also a topical wiz with a twinkle in her eye. After the Japanese song, she explained that it was "about gay marriage," pause, "oh, and Jesus Christ's last days."
McKay's songs and patter are peppered with profanities (her album is stamped with a parental-advisory sticker), yet they are so cleverly used they sound less like gratuitous expletives than delightfully spicy bon mots. Though composed and self-assured, she fumbles about a bit as well. She even apologized in advance for the teenageyness of one her songs and told the crowd to blame it on the "youth and arrogance and inexperience of me."
But McKay isn't just simply funny or racy or peculiar. She combines bathos and humor, and can take a song like "I Wanna Get Married" and a line like "I wanna pack lunches for my Brady Bunches" and make them sound both tongue-in-cheek and sweetly heartfelt. Her channeling of Billie Holiday on a beautiful rendition of the jazz standard "Body and Soul" was more evidence of her wide-ranging gifts. Let her become a star.
The Washington Post also liked Mamma Mia…
Good song writing and interesting song arrangements. Don't care much for her vocals, however.
So did my boss.
Said he took Estelle and the kids to see it, and then they stopped by Cheesecake Factory for some dessert.
Said he took Estelle and the kids to see it, and then they stopped by Cheesecake Factory for some dessert.
Originally posted by mankie:
The Washington Post also liked Mamma Mia…
Originally posted by Rutherford J. Balls:Shite, looks like this here Willy has missed out on a good shag once agian!
She wanted to know where Groundskeeper Willy was, she was looking for a quick shag.
i heard her on npr either this morning or yesterday. i didn't want to like her but i had to appreciate her – she's only 19!!! kinda like old school ani difranco.
The explicit version of her album is #2 on the Amazon sales charts, behind Norah Jones.
The clean version is #189.
The clean version is #189.
Joe Heim gave her a solid endorsement in the Post. Although, I wish she'd tweak her sortof frightening look a bit…
I passed by around 2:00 for my usual lunch break and saw the poster for it. Oh well.
Originally posted by debaser:This here Willy would also give her a SOLID endowment, er, I mean endorsement!
Joe Heim gave her a solid endorsement in the Post.
I have the sinking feeling that – just as with Norah Jones – we will be subjected to Rhetterford's incessant reminders that he discovered Nellie McKay before anyone else.
Not true. I learned about her on the Robbie Fulks' chatboard. The board I go to when I want to learn about new music.
This board is reserved for immature babies whining about how annoying other immature babies are, or far talking about pissing on people's legs. :p
This board is reserved for immature babies whining about how annoying other immature babies are, or far talking about pissing on people's legs. :p
Originally posted by ggwâ?¢:
I have the sinking feeling that – just as with Norah Jones – we will be subjected to Rhetterford's incessant reminders that he discovered Nellie McKay before anyone else.
Originally posted by Rutherford J. Balls:Yeah. That Robbie Fulks chatboard is all about new music:
Not true. I learned about her on the Robbie Fulks' chatboard. The board I go to when I want to learn about new music.
Originally posted by Henry Dark:
I've got a vintage erotica picture book I picked up in Italy of pictures taken back in the early twentieth century of priests fucking nuns. I wonder if they are authentic?
Originally posted by Henry Dark:
And I've just gotta day…those nuns has some nice hairy packets. No trimming going on back in those days, nosireebob.
haha.
I said I read it to learn of new music. Never said I actually contribute. I steal the knowledge from there, then post here and paint myself as some sort of musical hipster. You could say it's my own pitchfork, except you're the only only other dork here who has ever bothered to look at that board….that way I don't have to worry about people accusing me of getting all my scoops from something as obvious as pitchfork.
I said I read it to learn of new music. Never said I actually contribute. I steal the knowledge from there, then post here and paint myself as some sort of musical hipster. You could say it's my own pitchfork, except you're the only only other dork here who has ever bothered to look at that board….that way I don't have to worry about people accusing me of getting all my scoops from something as obvious as pitchfork.
Originally posted by Rutherford J. Balls:So she was on the Today Show on Friday. She's like Tori Amos, if Tori Amos were retarded (and I mean that literally; she is so "quirky" and "oddball" she comes off to me as if she has a medical condition). Awful, awful; I found it painful to watch her – she has this odd affect and manner.
Well the guy from the Post loved her; and go figure, no April Lavine references.
Nellie McKay: What a Pleasant Surprise
By Joe Heim
Special to The Washington Post
Friday, February 27, 2004; Page C02
Let Nellie McKay become a huge star. Let her find fame and fortune and fantabulous success. Because at just 19, this supremely gifted, charming and darkly funny New York oddball has all the makings of the first great singer-songwriter of the young century.
She is like Tori Amos if Amos had a sense of humor, or Ani DiFranco if DiFranco had an ounce of cleverness. So she is nothing like them at all.
But what do I know; she was playing Wolf Trap. 'Course, I'm pretty indiscriminate in my taste.