I’ve always liked Janet Varney, who I knew almost exclusively from her work with Thrilling Adventure Hour, but once someone made the connection for me that she was one of the co-founders of SF Sketchfest, my admiration for her ratcheted up quite a few notches. So, she’s super funny, and likeable, and charming, and kind of a badass producer too? So cool! So this year, when I was perusing the schedule, and saw that she was doing a live podcast (The JV Club, it’s called) with Matt Nathanson, Rachel Dratch, and Jon Hamm? Hell yeah! I’d been trying to get to a Rachel Dratch appearance at Sketchfest for at least a year or two, and Jon Hamm is so fun when he’s in comedy mode (which I’d not yet seen live, either). I immediately put in my request and hoped I’d get to cover the show. Next thing I knew, there I was, at Brava Theater Center, last Saturday afternoon, with a great seat, just in time for the house lights to go down. Continue reading “SF Sketchfest Review: The JV Club w/Janet Varney and guests Rachel Dratch, Jon Hamm, and musical guest Matt Nathanson at Brava Theater Center, 1/28/17”
Some legendary figures defy easy categorization. When we talk about Nina Simone, the High Priestess of Soul, do we talk first about her prodigious piano playing? Or about her penetrating, arresting, smokey voice? The voice that demands that we pay attention, that we think, as well as feel? This is a voice of a revolution, one that challenges the listener. This is the bold voice of an activist, who does not have time for your shit. Listen! Her voice challenges us – it’s the expansive sound, the hard edges, the enunciation of every syllable, and the content. Simone sang relatively few ballads compared with other jazz singers of the day, choosing instead songs with a more political message that does not seek to comfort, but rather to undermine the listener’s comfort. Simone focused on uncomfortable songs. Some, like Lilac Wine, or Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out, are about loneliness and heartache. Others, like the standard Strange Fruit, or her own song, Mississippi Goddam, are political songs about the unjust murder of black people at the hands of white people in the South.