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Lee Williams - Special to The Oregonian Banjo to belly dancing Once a month, Miz Kitty opens her parlour doors and invites the public in to catch her discoveries, local talent she presents vaudeville-style: live, one microphone and no five-second delay. The show, a consistent sellout, is a flashback to simpler days and unplugged nights, with plenty of banjo picking, tap dancing, you name it. "I always wanted a show from the 'teens and '20s," Miz Kitty (aka Lisa Marsicek) said before her April edition earlier this month, admitting a lifelong infatuation with the entertainment era before television and movies dominated pop culture. Marsicek, who also works at a music store, has been hosting the show for two years. The acts she showcases are "99.99 percent local," she said proudly. Her adorably bawdy, alter-emcee ego (this night garbed in a devil's-red bustier, stars-and-stripes skirt and a single, pink feathered headdress) also claimed access to the dreaded giant vaudeville-hook, used to pull bombing acts offstage. But this month was all laughs and applause, no boos, no hook. "This is kind of a neat opportunity for us to go back to our acoustic roots," said Meredith Cushing, one-half of the harmonic Gypsy Moths, just before strumming into Bob Dylan's "Tangled up in Blue" with her fellow guitarist and vocalist, Raina Rose. The Moths' sweet and folksy opening vibe was then quickly spun into a sensuous swirl by belly-dancer Tamara Kahn, a multiscarved, midriff-baring, sequined slow-motion Tasmanian Deviltress whose seductive gyrations hushed the crowd. "We don't have any CDs for sale, but we will pass out earplugs," said John O'Shea, banjo picker for the bluegrass band the Poison Oakies, but the plugs weren't offered or needed -- the band's tunes kept the audience's toes tapping from start to finish. Bluegrass gave way to the fast kicks and thunderous stomps of the 11-member tap-troupe the Skylark Tappers, who slunk on-stage in leg chains and prison stripes and tapped a bit to "Jailhouse Rock." After intermission, Miz Kitty presented Lyle Ritz, maestro of the ukulele, who proceeded to reinvent the underappreciated instrument for all ears. Ritz, a nimble-fingered plucker who favors Duke Ellington, touched notes on the short-strings and brushed every heart this evening; his rendition of The Duke's "Satin Doll" brought tears to a few faces. Virtuoso junk-band the Kitchen Syncopators closed out the night with a stunning set of snappy railroad and ragtime tunes, all produced with just a guitar and some housewares. Next month, expect an all-new cast of performers. "I've been doing this show for two years, and no repeat acts," Miz Kitty said. "There's so much talent around." Reprinted from the entertainment section of OregonLive.com Back to Miz Kitty's Parlour |