Very happy to be perform in the Soop to Nuts festival in November 2024! I'm working with playwright Sharisse Zeroonian in her play "Glass Child" opposite Esme Mitchell. Tickets and info here.

The Interview was so happy to be included in Mom Film Festival's look back at the best of the last five years! Thanks to Tonya Mollineau for a wonderful panel discussion at Lincoln Center and a chance to spend an evening with director Inga Moren, writer Janet Guillet, and producer Adam Vazquez.

February 13, 2023—I'm online with "The Interview" director Inga Moren for the opening meet and greet at the Dam Short Film Festival. The filmmakers who couldn't be in Boulder City, NV tonight are gathered on the Discord platform for the kickoff—great to meet everyone!

Our third Australian laurel—what a great way to start the new year. Wonderful to be an official selection at Capricorn!

Our first California festival! Thanks Coronado Island.

We made it to the capital! Wish we could have been at the Canberra Short Film Festival screening.

Great to be a part of Naples International Film Festival!

Thanks Heart of Gold, for giving The Interview our Aussie debut!

Our first West Coast Festival: Port Townsend, Washington. Thanks so much for having The Interview!

The Interview was an official selection at Hell's Half Mile Film & Music Festival in Bay City, Michigan. Thanks Hell's Half Mile, for showing our short in a planetarium! Wish I could have been there. I love planetariums. Planetaria?

The Interview made its European debut at Busho (Budapest Short) film festival, screening at Puskin Cinema on September 2nd! In this still, costar Jeane Reveendran.

Director Inga Moren Tapias and I were so happy to be at The Women's Film Festival in Philadelphia for the world premiere of The Interview in August 2022! Here we are in a post-screening Q&A with Director of Programming, Suzi Nash.

"An interview between two women at opposite ends of their careers turns into a therapy session where we question: who is interviewing whom?"

I was delighted to reunite with director Inga Moren Tapias and writer Janet Guillet—and have the chance to meet and work with actor Jeane Reveendran in The Interview.

In what was truly a pandemic-era process, the actors were directed remotely and we did our own audio and camera set-ups...let's just fix it ALL in post! Spoiler alert: they actually did. Coming soon to a film festival near you.

Thrilled to do a weekend of professional development for voice teachers with such incredible singers and teachers with Jeannie LoVetri's Somatic Voicework at Baldwin-Wallace University.

Pretty | Dead celebrated our first acceptance at an Academy Award-qualifying festival: director Inga Moren, writers Valerie Peterson and Janet Guillet, script supervisor Mirella Napoli, and I went up to Harlem for the screening to celebrate.

Great to see Pretty | Dead recognized at Martha's Vineyard Film Festival

In our third festival of the year, we bring Carol Mortimer and her aspirational corpse-acting training program to Chicago on Saturday, July 20th. Tickets/schedule here.

We're on a roll! Tickets here

Pretty/Dead was delighted to hit Boston in May 2019 for our premiere. Big thanks to our fabulous team and the Women's Weekend Film Challenge.

Well after a good, long sabbatical away from the day-to-day hustle of audition life, a beautiful project came my way, and I can't say how grateful I am to my incredible #TeamReeses at the Women's Weekend Film Challenge for giving me the chance to play Carol in the mockumentary Pretty|Dead.

Click here for more.

photo by cinematographer Kristen Meloche

I've officially joined the roster for the New York division of the PN Agency! Many thanks to Sarah John and Roger King for their hard work for voice talent in three cities. It's especially fun for me to work with a Canadian company while I'm making my home south of the border.

With thanks to the PN Agency, who I met through Marla Kirban, I was one of the live announcers for the start corrals of the New York City Marathon 2017! Congrats to the 50,000 runners and to the incredible group that managed to organize that many people in the dark on Staten Island on November 5th.

Just because I didn't already have enough hats: I'm now writing cabaret reviews for The Bistro Awards. What a joy it is to sit back with a beer, tap my foot, and listen to other people's hard work. I'm not going to lie, it's not as hard as performing, but it's an honor to bring all these years of love and care to the task of "being there" with open ears for other artists.

My first few reviews are already up on the site Chicago Jazz Singer Tammy McCann, NPR Broadcaster Ari Shapiro, and Fyvush Finkel's sons Ian & Elliot Finkel. My author page is here.

Looking forward to working with The Construction Company Dance Portfolio at the annual APAP Conference at the NY Hilton.

I'm delighted to be a guest singer at Movement in C's annual Appetizer performance at Brooklyn Music School Auditorium (right behind BAM Opera House 126 St. Felix St. Atlantic-Barclays Stop) Friday, October 7th and Saturday October 8th, 2016 at 7:30 PM. I'll be working with a great jazz guitarist and BMS faculty Rafael Rosa.

Tickets are $10 in advance at Brown Paper Tickets
or $20 cash at the door.

Photo credit: Eric Bandiero

I'm delighted to be working with v/o talent and engineer Steve Tichnor on a series of internal videos for Standard & Poors - we just did a marathon session in the studio about punctuation — get those Oxford Commas out — and I'm gearing up to narrate a piece about jargon. Thanks to www.marlakirbanvoiceover.com for the gig!

It's always a joy to work with The Construction Company Artists in the madness of the annual APAP conference. Thanks to all for the inspiration!

Delighted to be joining the gals on the first night of their annual choreographer's showcase. I'll be singing a few standards with the wonderful Ray Naccari on piano.

Appetizer: An Evening of Sampling
Hosted by Movement in C's Artistic Directors Salma Allam & Cathy Richards

Two evenings of dance
Thurs, Sept 17th @ 7:30 PM w/guest singer Penelope Thomas
Fri, Sept 18th @ 7:30 PM

Brooklyn Music School Playhouse (right behind BAM)
126 St. Felix Street map

Tickets $20 at the door, $10 online (www.movementinc.org)
Performances made possible by The Brooklyn Music School.

I'm auditioning. Vaguely considering how an anthropologist would study actor holding room behaviour...sort of a 'triple threats in the mist' kind of thing. Does the ability to use a flatiron qualify as tool usage?

Just did my Commercial Voiceover Demo- many thanks to Marla Kirban and the wonderful team at Gramercy Post. You can listen by clicking here!

Salma Allam and Cathy Richards, the lovely ladies at Movement in C, have their annual choreographer's festival tonight: Appetizer. Looking forward to singing 'Will You Love Me Tomorrow' with Ray Naccari on piano. Thanks to Norma Garbo for the coaching!

Brooklyn Music School Playhouse
126 St. Felix Street (behind BAM)
Fri Sept 19, 2014 7:30 PM
tickets $20 at the door
$10 with the lovedance code

Performances of Korde Tuttle's short play 'Beautiful Mess' directed by Lana Russell are June 8 - June 16, 2014 at multiple venues in NYC as part of AROUND THE BLOCK. Cast: Lewis Feemster, Skyler Gallun, Marisol Miranda, Penelope Thomas. Assistant Director, Andy Scott. I play Rosalind, eccentric and enthusiastic East Village art maven.

Click here to get tickets!

*SUNDAY, JUNE 8th 7:30 PM
The Back Room at Jimmy's No.43
43 E 7th St, New York, NY 10003
Subway: N,R to 8th Street NYU or 6 to Astor Place

*MONDAY, JUNE 9th 9:30 PM
The Back Room at Jimmy's No.43
43 E 7th St, New York, NY 10003
Subway: N,R to 8th Street NYU or 6 to Astor Place

TUESDAY, JUNE 10th 7:30 PM
La Maison d'Art Gallery
259 W 132nd St, New York, NY 10030
Subway: B/C or 2/3 to 135th St.

SUNDAY, JUNE 15th 7:00 PM
Alewife NYC
5-14 51st Ave, Long Island City, Queens
Subway: 7 to Vernon Blvd.-Jackson Ave or G to 21st St.

MONDAY, JUNE 16th 7:00 PM
Lot 45
411 Troutman St, Brooklyn, NY 11237
Subway: L to Jefferson Street

The commercial we shot this fall just came out! Click here to watch the very silly "Pizza Butt" spot with me, Brad Thomason and Barbara Malley.

Saturday, November 23 2013, our UCB 101 Improv Class with Dave Siegel hits the stage at 4 PM. $5. UCB East is 153 East 3rd Street (between avenues A and B).

Just shot a commercial for this online gift-giving site...a day of talking about gratitude in Orient, NY. Nice gig!

Just shot a very silly promo commercial for Disney XD; we had a riotous time on the set. I'll let you know when it comes out.

And with that comic inspiration, I'm heading over to Upright Citizens Brigade for a course to get my improv on! Also: scheduling gigs with various music projects, auditioning, and generally getting things up to running speed for the fall.

Thanks to Salma Allam & Cathy Richards of Movement in C, who have included Certain Days as part of Appetizer - An Evening of Sampling at the Brooklyn Music School Playhouse. Saturday June 29, 2013, 8:00 PM.
Tickets are $10 in advance - click here!

1,2,3,4,5 Trains to Atlantic/Barclays, exit at Hanson Pl. Entrance to BMS auditorium is a few steps away from the BAM Opera House stage door.

This year is the twentieth anniversary of Public Energy's festival of new dance and performance, EMERGENCY. Bill Kimball has invited me back to Peterborough, where I lived from 1993-2003, to add a short work to the mix. Whoa! I'm (sort of) dancing again!

Certain Days is a dance-theatre piece set in 1955.
The Market Hall
140 Charlotte Street Peterborough, Ontario, Canada
Wed May 8 at 7 PM
Thur May 9 at 9 PM
Tickets

Rehearsing with a female vocal trio, working on a series of concerts to back (and front!) current versions of several original doo-wop groups. Details about upcoming gigs to follow.

Put it in your calendars! I'm joining FauveMuseum and the other great projects on Phosphorescent Records in a concert of Tom Doncourt's work.

About the show:
"Every so often a person's perspective of the world shifts just a little. Time folds, points of focus soften and move, sounds rush in from the background. The information from heightened emotional awareness is what inspires our work. Recording, examining and reproducing the "shift" makes the thread from which Phosphorescent Records is woven.

By incorporating elements of "portable theater" with the mysterious powers of music we hope to part the curtain and invite the audience "in between". One of the prominent instruments in our psychedelic tool box is the 50 year old and very rare Chamberlin keyboard. It is a tape replay device using audio recordings as the sound source. Harry Chamberlin had members of the Lawrence Welk orchestra sit for him in his home studio for the making of the original masters used. This and other vintage instruments lend an old movie soundtrack quality to Phosphorescent Records arrangements."

Thu, Mar 21 at 7 pm
Leonard Nimoy Thalia at Symphony Space
2537 Broadway at 95th Street

$16; Members, Students $15; Seniors $14; Children $5; Day of Show $18
Click here for tickets

NY Madness this month features playwright Robert Askins. I'm looking forward to performing in artistic director Cecilia Copeland's piece.

Sunday, March 17th at 8pm!
at Ensemble Studio Theatre
549 West 52nd Street

RESERVE TICKETS NOW
Free/$5 Suggested Donation.

The Theme will be announced
one week before the event.
NYM brings together a slamming roster
of artists to create an evening of new plays
based on a Theme selected by the Featured
Guest Playwright. The collective works by
all the writers form a kaleidoscope of that
cultural moment. The plays are presented
hot off the press, fully staged, script in
hand and…ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN IN A MADNESS!

Check out my lead vocals on Tom Doncourt/Fauve Museum's new album LOST HALLWAYS with Phosphorescent Records! Psychedelic goodness.

Salma's mom strikes again. Click here for information about our December shows. Dec 14 & 21 at Brooklyn Music School.

Thanks for all your kickstarter contributions! Movement in C/S.A.D.T. have surpassed their fundraising goals

So happy to be playing Gail in Sharon Talbot's short play TRUE LOVE at the Estogenius 2012 Xtended Reading Series. Thursday, November 29 at 3:00PM. TBG Theatre 312 W. 36th St., NY. Free admission.

Tom Doncourt has just launched the Phosphorescent Records website, which features the new FauveMuseum album LOST HALLWAYS. Check out my lead vocals.

What a blessing! After Rob and I got married on October 6th at The Players Club, we headed off for a week of honeymoon in Kauai. It is magical here. Love and thanks to you, wonderful husband!

Thanks also to the folks playing last night in Princeville: Rick Avallone, Tony Rodarate, Trey and Sara for inviting me up to scat with them in How High the Moon! This is the first time I've had a chance to do that song when said moon was over Bali Hai.

Getting ready to work on my third commercial of the year...two day shoot in NJ in a great lingerie store July 15 & 16. Looking forward to it!

A magical year of scene study with Deena Levy ended with a showcase. I'm happy to have worked with Mike Sharits. Click here for a video of the scene!

Saturday June 23, 8 PM
Sunday June 24, 8 PM

Workshop Theatre Mainstage
312 West 36th Street, 4th Floor, NY
Tickets $20 - brownpapertickets.com
Reservations: 1-800-838-3006

Just finished shooting STALLED, Gilli Glatt's 1960s thriller about murder and betrayal in an elevator. We spent week and a half on location, and on a gorgeously reproduced version of the elevator (original wood panels, anyone?) under the supervision of AD and Art Director Ali Glatt on a soundstage at NYU. Cast and crew ate a record number of oreos. Cast: Lauren Sowa, Justin Osterthaler, Penelope Thomas, Caralyn Stone. Stunt Coordinator Turner Smith. DOP Paul Ellington.

Just did a fun overnight as a jazz club guest on this Swedish film about singer Monica Zetterlund, who worked with jazz greats including Bill Evans and Tommy Flanaghan. Hair, makeup, and wardrobe were stellar - here's the look they put together for me. The musicians were really outstanding as well, playing "What is this Thing Called Love" and "I'm A Fool To Want You" for hours.

I have a part as a cantankerous musical director in the video component of Michou Szabo's live dance piece.

THE WILD HEART - THE MILL MICHOU SZABO
Thursday April 26-Sat April 28
Gavin Brown's Enterprise
620 Greenwich St, New York City
Timeout New York Listing
Facebook Event Page

Thanks to Steve Ryan, I have a small spot as a randomly seductive mom in his fundraising trailer for his Meatloaf-impersonating character,THE LEGENDARY POT ROAST. Help Pot Roast go to Vegas and give them some gravy on Indiegogo.

Auditions, callbacks, scene study class with Deena, filmed a mock reality-show segment for choreographer and Cunningham Studio friend Michou Szabo, prepping another track for Fauve Museum...lots of adventures here; as magical and uncertain as ever.

Angela Liao and I are in a 30-second commercial spot for The Huntington Learning Center, directed by Greg Slagle of Kinetiscope. Check it out!

Movement in C Presents
Salma Allam Dance Theater
BAMBOO STICKS
a dance theater piece about limbo

Saturday, January 28th
8:00 PM
Brooklyn Music School
126 Saint Felix Street between Hanson Place and Lafayette Avenue (in the BAM Cultural District.)

$10 in advance, $15 at the door.
SalmaAllamDanceTheater@gmail.com

Written, Choreographed & Directed by: Salma Allam
Performed by: Salma Allam, Rachel Monahan, Cathy Richards, Penelope Thomas, Therese Whelan.

Association of Performing Arts Presenters conference from January 6-10! One of my favourite, exhausting, and exhaustive events of the year.

We've started rehearsals for Salma Allam's new piece, and it's great to be working with her actors and dancers again twice a week in Tribeca.

Just filmed a commercial with Kinetiscope that will air in several states in early 2012...look out!

FauveMuseum's new album will also be released in early 2012, and we have plans to play live again this winter.

Open class for Deena Levy's scene study course will be next week, and I have the pleasure of playing a closeted entertainment attorney in Cathy Celicia's Anything for You opposite Casey Hildebrand.

Having a great time recording Tom Doncourt's FauveMuseum material for the second album. We've been working at Studio 853 and enjoying the old-school ambiance and great staff.

Concert Video: Click Here!

Tuesday October 4th, 7:30 PM

at TheaterLab NYC
137 West 14th Street MAP

Psychedelic, progressive , orchestral, alternative? All of the above!
Original! Arrangements created largely by Chamberlin tape manipulating keyboard.
Tom Doncourt - composition and keyboards.
Penelope Thomas - vocals.

Bob Klein opening. Wine and cheese reception.

$10

Art Angel has just put up a podcast in which I read Anne & Currie's work. Click here to hear the podcast.

"Based in London but working across Britain and beyond, Artangel commissions and produces exceptional projects by outstanding contemporary artists. Over the past two decades, the projects have materialised in a range of different sites and situations and in countless forms of media."

Anne Carson’s poem Cage a Swallow Can’t You But You Can’t Swallow a Cage, was written with Bob Currie during their residency in honour of Roni Horn. Music: Sigur Rós member Kjartan Sveinsson composed a musical response to the poem, which was performed at the Church of St Paul the Apostle in New York last year, by The Hilliard Ensemble. A clip from this performance, courtesy of Q2, introduces the piece.

Additional performers: Michael Clemow and Penelope Thomas.

I am so happy to be joining Rupert Wates and Friends at the Indy Fringe Festival for performances of Joe's Cafe.
Featuring Rupert Wates, Stacey Lorin and Penelope Thomas.

Indianapolis Theatre Fringe Festival @ IndyFringe Theater
719 E St Clair St., Indianapolis, IN 46202 (United States) -Map
317-721-9458

Saturday, August 20, 2011
Set: 10:30 PM

Sunday, August 21, 2011
Set: 4:30 PM

Monday, August 22, 2011
Set: 7:30 PM

Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Set: 6:00 PM

Friday, August 26, 2011
Set: 9:00 PM

Saturday, August 27, 2011
Set: 3:00 PM

Movement in C Presents
ROSES ON THE FLOOR
Friday, July 29th, 2011
8:00 PM
Salmagundi Art Club
47 Fifth Avenue between 11th & 12th Map
$10 cash only
Reservations: SalmaAllamDanceTheater@gmail.com

Performed by: Salma Allam, Rachel Monahan, Cathy Richards, Penelope Thomas.

More auditions (oy! the stories I could tell you! sharing nervous hallways with hip hop dancers and babies trying to be cast in diaper commercials!), learning material for performances in July, August, and September, and an open class doing a scene with Peggy Choi as the finale of a great five months of scene study with Rachel C Smith at Deena Levy Theatre Studio.

It's a month of various exciting tidbits:

- just finished presenting a scene from David Rabe's Hurlyburly with the fantastic Brett Coady in Rachel C Smith's acting class at Dena Levy Theatre Studios. This marks the first time I've ever thrown pistachios in someone's face.

- looks like I have a singing gig in the Indianapolis Fringe Festival at the end of August...details to follow!

- one of the recording projects I did last year may have some live shows in NYC; I'll keep you posted on that one, too

- cattle calls for musical theatre with mascara, hope, spanx and long waits. One day I will write a bluegrass song about said cattle calls.

I am so happy to be singing for Legros Cultural Arts again this year to celebrate Support Women Artists Now or SWAN Day.

I'm singing 2 songs at this event...

Thursday, March 31, 2011
Women in Arts Networking Event
Shetler Studios
6:30pm
244 West 54th Street
Penthouse #1
Guest Speaker: Janet Foster-Casting Director, Charm Peake-Entertainment, Renee Myvett, Esq.
and more....
Donation: $15.00
Refreshments will be served.

Click here for details and the EventBrite invitation.
March 24, 2011

This evening was a blast! Click here to see an excerpt of La Vie en Rose from the performance.

Women in Music
Club Groove
7:00pm
125 Macdougal Street Map
New York, New York Subway: ACE BDF to West 4th
Featured Vocalists: Noreen Crayton, Flor Bromley, Penelope Thomas with pianist Veronica Garcia-Melendez, Greta Herron,
Cover: $15.00

Friday, March 11 · 8:00pm - 9:30pm
Salmagundi Club 47 Fifth Avenue (between 11th and 12th streets)Map

Movement in C Presents
Salma Allam Dance Theater
THINGS MY MOTHER TAUGHT ME: A DAUGHTER'S JOURNEY

See Salma unravel her mother's legacy one tarot card at a time. For those of you who didn't get a chance to join us in the fall, we're performing the piece again with new elements (you thought that polar bears and astrology were a perplexing combination: wait 'til you see the bellydance and Scientology) and would love to see you.

$10 (cash only). Reservations: SalmaAllamDanceTheater@gmail.com

Featuring Salma Allam, Rachel Monahan & Penelope Thomas.

Click here for the facebook event page

I cannot fully describe or highly enough recommend Deena Levy's 'More Than Acting' Workshop, co-taught by Rachel C. Smith and Chris Santangelo.

The most-excellent Salma Allam was my first connection, and then I learned that a friend from high school in Toronto made a documentary about Deena and her work. With all those ringing Canadian endorsements I thought that it might be a sign from the muses. True! This has been a sustained inspiration: just started a 5-month scene-study class with Rachel C. Smith.

Vocal director and composer Shellen Lubin got Cynthia Enfield and I together to record some backing vocals for Steven Chera today at Shelter Island Sound with producer Steve Addabbo. We had a productive afternoon of ooooos and ahhhhhhs.

Just finished shooting this short film by Kelley Dunlap and Andrew Soltys. I played Aimee, the mom of a fourteen year-old Lily, played by Kathryn McNamara, and the daughter of Joyce, played by Sharon Talbot, with Matthew Minor as Lily's cousin Mike. Thanks to all for a great experience on NYU Soundstage A and for the cupcakes.

Salma Allam Dance Theatre
Things My Mother Taught Me: A Daughter's Journey
See Salma unravel her mother's legacy one tarot card at a time in an engaging new work of dance theatre.

Friday, November 5
8:00 PM
Salmagundi American Art Club
47 Fifth Avenue (between 11 and 12th Streets) MAP

$10 (cash only)
RSVP to reserve tickets: SalmaAllamDanceTheatre@gmail.com

Performed by Salma Allam, Ljuba Castot, Rachel Monahan, Penelope Thomas.

Go to the event page on facebook - log into FB before clicking here.

Floanne & Friends - Come Celebrate a Decade of Me in NYC
I'm joining the celebration as a guest vocalist to open Flo's set of beautiful French songs.

Flûte Gramercy
40 East 20th Street, New York City
Tel. 212.529.7870
2-drink minimum.

Click here to see the Event on Facebook

Visit Floanne's website

It's a time of re-grouping, re-considering, re-imagining. I'm keeping most of these updates simple and just listing events, but today, I'm feeling bloggish and philosophical.

Seeing and hearing other people perform has been great: Laurie Anderson in Philly last weekend; Cynthia Enfield rocking out her readings of the Sarah Bernhardt piece written by Tony Marando; Floanne Ankah's evening of French Cabaret...all beautiful reminders that artists are alive and kicking in the raging, smoggy heat and the slow slow economy.

There are some REALLY interesting possibilities for projects in the fall and winter. Stay tuned...

Voice-over assessments at both The Edge Studios and Marla Kirban have been promising, but moving in the direction of focusing on that is officially on pause for the summer. Delivering copy about fried chicken and peanut butter and the hefty cost of producing a demo have inspired me to trust that I really do like 'art' and want to put resources toward that -- as challenging and perpetually uncertain as that is.

I'm wrapping up ten months of music theory classes with bassist Mark Wade at the Singer's Forum...ready to go back into technique classes and use all that knowledge on my feet. Tom Doncourt and FauveMuseum are back in rehearsal, working on new material, and Tom tells me they'll need vocals again any minute now.

As I slowly recoup from the back injury, I'm celebrating the two-year+ anniversary by slowly getting moving again. Occasional floor barre with broken ballerinas, eight splendid minutes of cardio at a time, and a new option of back-injury-specific yoga are all very humbling, very sore, and sometimes inspiring as well. I'm hoping to re-emerge as a double-threat before menopause.

Dance writer and all-round variety performer, David Vaughan, and Merce's favourite class pianist, Pat Richter, traditionally perform a few songs together at the Merce Cunningham Studio Faculty Concert. I joined some of the women in the Company as last minute walk-on for their rendition of Maurice Chevalier's "The Love Parade." It was my first time in a love parade.

Saturday June 12th
8:30 pm
Merce Cunningham Studio
55 Bethune Street

Salma Allam just premiered a new trio,Bound By Love, and re-mounted her winter work Eternal Bleeding with dancers Jenny Levy and Kara Walsh. I'm honoured to have read and sometimes sung her text for both pieces.

Friday, May 28, 2010
Salmagundi Art Club
47 Fifth Avenue (between 11th and 12 Streets)Map
Tickets $10
Reservations: Email Salma Allam Dance Theater

Tuesday, April 6 at 7:30
Featuring: Anne Carson & Daniel Mendelsohn
Curated by Bianca Stone & Adam Fitzgerald
QT - Queer Text Literary Series

Dixon Place
161A Chrystie Street, between Rivington and Delancey
Map

I joined Anne, Currie, and special guests in a reading of excerpts from Anne's new translation of Antigone: Antigonik Usually their special guests are rock stars, but this time we had Lili Taylor and several amazing writers, translators, and broadcasters in the group.

Many thanks to Chantal Legros for organizing such a lovely evening in support of SWAN Day (Support Women in the Arts Now) with vocalists Teresa Nash, Lynn Sherr, Aminah Cole, and me on Tuesday, March 23 at Houndstooth Pub, 520 8th Avenue.

Amiah opened the evening with a lovely rendition of My Funny Valentine; Teresa did two songs from the musical she's toured over the past few seasons, Hot Mamas, and finished with great covers of three R&B classics (making those insanely high notes in Loving You actually sound like they were in good hands); I sang Mean to Me, Cry Me a River, Wouldn't It Be Loverly, Ne Me Quitte Pas, and Bye Bye Blackbird and had one of those nights where I was just so happy to have the chance to make music; and Lynn Sher closed the evening by performing five original songs: House on a Hill, Kaleidoscope, Done With Danny Boy, The Night They Drove Ole Dixie Down, and Double Down.

For more information about Legros Cultural Arts, visit their website

January 29 & 30, 2010

We just finished a performance at Salmagundi Art Club featuring Satisfaction by Cathy Richards and Eternal Bleeding by Salma Allam.

This was Salma's debut as a choreographer, and the 40 minute piece dealt with the loss of her grandmother. I was honoured to read (and sometimes sing) the the text she wrote. It's always a joy to work with dancers: Salma, Jenny Levy, and Kara Walsh were fantastic.
It made me miss the exhilaration of moving, but I never miss the exhaustion.

The Whitney, November 2009
for Roni Horne

Anne Carson, Currie, Kjartan Sveinsson, Olaf Arnalds...and me. Yes, if world-class poets, Icelandic rock stars, and the most sociable and sweet guy about-town (I'll let you figure out who's who from that list) want me to perform with them at a major art venue, I will.
Check out photos of the event on The Whitney website
Everything about this process was fantastic. As I did preliminary research about the text -- looking up the names of obscure Scandinavian fish so I could say them with conviction -- I had a moment of gratitude. Cold, salt-water gratitude.