Thanks, Little Fox Theater!

Our Patois Records showcase was a fabulous event at a real gem of a venue: The Little Fox Theater in Redwood City. An intimate 200-seat Art Deco building next to the much larger Fox Theater, the Little Fox has great sound and sight lines, and a classy second level with pool tables for lounging or looking like an insouciant flapper girl. OK, there weren't any insouciant flappers there last week, but we had a full house and I met some lovely fans, including one who bought one of my autographed posters (in fact, the first person who has ever bought one, and it's all thanks to Sheryl's brilliant marketing for Patois!). He said he was my "number one fireman fan" and so of course I scrawled something about how "you can't put the fire out in my heart for latin jazz!" on the poster. He also said he liked my videos and thought I should post more of me playing my originals.

The band was smoking, with Murray Low on piano, David Belove on bass, Paul van Wageningen on drumset, Michael Spiro on percussion, Masaru Koga on flute/sax and Wayne "The Doctor" Wallace on bone. My fellow singer Kat Parra brought the house down with the tragic story of Alfonsina y el Mar as well as a gorgeous Sephardic song, and we all came together for a fun finale of El Manisero. At the end as we were improvising pregones I started urging the audience to stand up, singing "Andale, todos de pie para bailar" and "Vamos a gozar, a bailar mi gente" and moving my hands in a "stand up, everyone" gesture. A little voice in my head said "try English, Einstein." "Stand up, put your hands in the air, let's dance," I sang out and everyone got up and started boogeying.

All in all it was a great night and a promising launch for Patois performances. And it was also a wonderful work that BeasWa Productions (Matt Beasley and Wendy Waller) is doing with their Sunday night jazz series at the Little Fox. You've got to check out the great lineup they've got booked in the next few months: "Jazz with a Feelin'," on Jan. 27, featuring the Rick Vandivier Group (CD release celebration), Wendy Waller and Primary Colors with Nate Pruitt; and on Feb. 10, they'll present "Three Divas of Jazz," featuring Roberta Donnay, Juliet Green and Waller. Read this flattering piece written about their work as event producers recently in the Palo Alto Daily News. Not an easy job, I tell you--but they're doing amazing things!

Oh, and here's a little video of me checking my name out on the marquee...