Monthly Granny’s Bluemers show and BLUES JAM OPEN MIC

January 22, 2018 — Leave a comment

Musicians “jam” all the time. It is a way for them to learn from each other, network and even as has been done over and again, create a new art form. The Blues has a long tradition of people getting together to just play and sing all sorts of songs and ideas. I had been away singing last summer at a Blues week at August Heritage in West Virginia. I had been part of “jams” before but not like these! We would play for hours starting the moment we woke up and some of us it seemed never slept. I would go to sleep at 4 or 5 AM listening to blues coming from all corners of the place and wake up at 9 hearing it still going on. I loved it so much that I wanted to find a way to recreate that here a little in NYC. Granny’s Blue-Mers is set to perform on a monthly basis now and I wanted to not only allow folks to come up and hear our funny, dirty songs but also to bring an instrument or their voice and play! Dan Furman is on piano and Adam Weingarten on Drums (that’s a loose term with The Blue-Mers, more like he’s playing washbasin, boxes and metal objects like would have been in the old days) and Mario Claudio on back up vocals. I am hoping that some amazing artists show up and bring their ideas, music and instruments! Acoustic only!

They can expect to sign up to perform as a leader of a song if they wish or they can just play along with the crowd! I will be MCing and singing my songs all through the night.

I think its going to be great and a wonderful new tradition for NYC blues artists. If I can help to bring people together the way I experienced it in WV I will be so very happy.

Granny’s Blue-Mers and the BLUES JaM!

January 15, 2018 — Leave a comment

REV. MARY’S BLUES JAM

PLAY. MEET. SING. DRINK. PLAY. NETWORK. SING. SOCIALIZE. PLAY. LEARN. SING. EXPERIMENT OR JUST HANG-OUT AND HAVE A HOT TIME! BRING YOUR VOICE … BRING YOUR INSTRUMENTS (acoustic only please) … BRING YOUR FRIENDS … BRING YOUR BLUES!!

Sunday night is the new hot night and the Upper west Side is the new hot spot thanks to Mary Elizabeth Micari and Rev. Mary’s Blues Jam at the The West End Lounge, 955 West End Avenue (at 107th Street), NYC.

Starting Sunday, February 18, Rev. Mary will host a monthly jam session with singers and acoustic musicians at the famed cabaret spot near Manhattan School of Music and Columbia University.

All acoustic musicians and singers are invited to come down and take to the stage and join singers Rev. Mary and Papa Sugar-Cane (singer/actor Mario Claudio) for a three hour jam session. Audiences are invited to come and hear and even sing-along. Sign-up starts at 7:30 p.m. The event is 8:00 – 11:00 p.m.

The Blues Jam is an acoustic blues open-mic featuring Rev. Mary as Emcee. The evening is open to all blues musicians and singers. Granny’s Blue-Mers will also be performing throughout the evening. Pianist Dan Furman and drummer Adam Weingarten will also be on hand.

REV. MARY’S BLUES JAM featuring Granny’s Blue-Mers will begin at the West End Lounge, one Sunday a month, starting Sunday, February 18 from 8:00 – 11:00 p.m.

$10 Admission for Musicians (20% Off Food/Drink for Musicians)

$15 General Admission w/2-drink minimumiconsquareCB0EA281-C35E-5A2F-0F912F434EC0B3B0

Musicians “jam” all the time. It is a way for them to learn from each other, network and even as has been done over and again, create a new art form. The Blues has a long tradition of people getting together to just play and sing all sorts of songs and ideas. I had been away singing last summer at a Blues week at August Heritage in West Virginia. I had been part of “jams” before but not like these! We would play for hours starting the moment we woke up and some of us it seemed never slept. I would go to sleep at 4 or 5 AM listening to blues coming from all corners of the place and wake up at 9 hearing it still going on. I loved it so much that I wanted to find a way to recreate that here a little in NYC. Granny’s Blue-Mers is set to perform on a monthly basis now and I wanted to not only allow folks to come up and hear our funny, dirty songs but also to bring an instrument or their voice and play! Dan Furman is on piano and Adam Weingarten on Drums (that’s a loose term with The Blue-Mers, more like he’s playing washbasin, boxes and metal objects like would have been in the old days) and Mario Claudio on back up vocals. I am hoping that some amazing artists show up and bring their ideas, music and instruments! Acoustic only!

They can expect to sign up to perform as a leader of a song if they wish or they can just play along with the crowd! I will be MCing and singing my songs all through the night.

I think its going to be great and a wonderful new tradition for NYC blues artists. If I can help to bring people together the way I experienced it in WV I will be so very happy.

 

Granny’s Blue-Mers and the BLUES JaM!

January 15, 2018 — Leave a comment

REV. MARY’S BLUES JAM

PLAY. MEET. SING. DRINK. PLAY. NETWORK. SING. SOCIALIZE. PLAY. LEARN. SING. EXPERIMENT OR JUST HANG-OUT AND HAVE A HOT TIME! BRING YOUR VOICE … BRING YOUR INSTRUMENTS (acoustic only please) … BRING YOUR FRIENDS … BRING YOUR BLUES!!

Sunday night is the new hot night and the Upper west Side is the new hot spot thanks to Mary Elizabeth Micari and Rev. Mary’s Blues Jam at the The West End Lounge, 955 West End Avenue (at 107th Street), NYC.

Starting Sunday, February 18, Rev. Mary will host a monthly jam session with singers and acoustic musicians at the famed cabaret spot near Manhattan School of Music and Columbia University.

All acoustic musicians and singers are invited to come down and take to the stage and join singers Rev. Mary and Papa Sugar-Cane (singer/actor Mario Claudio) for a three hour jam session. Audiences are invited to come and hear and even sing-along. Sign-up starts at 7:30 p.m. The event is 8:00 – 11:00 p.m.

The Blues Jam is an acoustic blues open-mic featuring Rev. Mary as Emcee. The evening is open to all blues musicians and singers. Granny’s Blue-Mers will also be performing throughout the evening. Pianist Dan Furman and drummer Adam Weingarten will also be on hand.

REV. MARY’S BLUES JAM featuring Granny’s Blue-Mers will begin at the West End Lounge, one Sunday a month, starting Sunday, February 18 from 8:00 – 11:00 p.m.

$10 Admission for Musicians (20% Off Food/Drink for Musicians)

$15 General Admission w/2-drink minimumiconsquareCB0EA281-C35E-5A2F-0F912F434EC0B3B0

Musicians “jam” all the time. It is a way for them to learn from each other, network and even as has been done over and again, create a new art form. The Blues has a long tradition of people getting together to just play and sing all sorts of songs and ideas. I had been away singing last summer at a Blues week at August Heritage in West Virginia. I had been part of “jams” before but not like these! We would play for hours starting the moment we woke up and some of us it seemed never slept. I would go to sleep at 4 or 5 AM listening to blues coming from all corners of the place and wake up at 9 hearing it still going on. I loved it so much that I wanted to find a way to recreate that here a little in NYC. Granny’s Blue-Mers is set to perform on a monthly basis now and I wanted to not only allow folks to come up and hear our funny, dirty songs but also to bring an instrument or their voice and play! Dan Furman is on piano and Adam Weingarten on Drums (that’s a loose term with The Blue-Mers, more like he’s playing washbasin, boxes and metal objects like would have been in the old days) and Mario Claudio on back up vocals. I am hoping that some amazing artists show up and bring their ideas, music and instruments! Acoustic only!

They can expect to sign up to perform as a leader of a song if they wish or they can just play along with the crowd! I will be MCing and singing my songs all through the night.

I think its going to be great and a wonderful new tradition for NYC blues artists. If I can help to bring people together the way I experienced it in WV I will be so very happy.

 

You Gotta See Mama….you REALLY DO!

November 2, 2017 — Leave a comment

 

 

 

 
 

Reverend Mary &

Granny’s Blue-Mers

Return!

November 17th in NYC

More funny dirty songs

from 1910-1950

Hokum, Vaudeville, Dirty Blues, Ragtime, Barrel-House and Rock and Blues!

 

 

 

 
 

For Press reservations or questions call: 646-338-5472

 

 
 

After a wonderful show at the Duplex last month we return to fill The West End Lounge 955 West End Avenue NYC with laughter and old time blues, vaudeville, barrel house and ragtime.

Songs written and performed by wonderful women like Bessie Smith, Mae West, Ida Cox and Sophie Tucker.  Songs full of wonderfully written double entendre and sexual innuedno. 

 

 

 
 

CHECK OUT OUR NEWEST REVIEW IN CABARET SCENES MAGAZINE:

http://cabaretscenes.org/2017/10/30/rev-mary-one-hour-mama/

 

 
 

 

 

NEW SHOW NOVEMBER 17 West End Lounge!

October 25, 2017 — Image — Leave a comment

Once again Rev. Mary and Granny’s Blue-Mers brings in a show you will NEVER forget.  The West End Lounge 955 West End Ave, New York, NY 10025!  November 17th from 9-11!! Two hours of dirty, funny, hokum, vaudeville blues, ragtime, barrel house and rock from back in the day! All songs before 1950 and all done by women!

Tickets here:

BROWN PAPER TICKETS

 

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Cabaret Legend, Richard Holbrook at GRANNY’S BLUE-MERS holbrook“Life is a cabaret when Richard Holbrook was onj-hand to review REV. MARY & GRANNY’S BLUE-MERS’ latest show: ONE-HOUR MAMA

October 18, 2017 — Leave a comment

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Last Saturday night at The Duplex, I was treated to a thoroughly delightful evening of low-down, dirty blues. It was a show called “Rev. Mary in One Hour MAMA featuring Granny’s Blue-mers” and it has been touring the Metropolitan area with rising success. It stars the fantastic singer-actress-comedienne Mary Elizabeth Micari as “Rev. Mary”, a sort of unique Red Hot Mama who is also an expert interpreter of dirty blues and vintage songs with enough innuendo to easily fill the Duplex stage that years ago would definitely have been classified as “filthy” by the censors. As portrayed by Ms. Micari, who is outrageously gowned with a curly white wig, “Rev. Mary” is a combination of Sophie Tucker, Mae West, with a little bit of Bette Midler and Sharon McNight thrown in. The show focuses on empowerment of women, especially African American women from the turn of the century through the Second World War. At this time, African American women had to face not only racial discrimination but also sexism. Through Ms. Micari’s songs and patter, we learn the names of several female African American blues singers who fought this double prejudice by interpreting their songs in an aggressive manner and gradually creating their identities as down and dirty “Red Hot Mamas”. With the exception of Bessie Smith, many of these women’s names may very well be unfamiliar to today’s audiences like Virginia Liston, Julia Lee, Memphis Minnie, Lil Johnson, and Victoria Spivey. But no matter. Mary Elizabeth Micari brings these women back to life with their songs through her sterling performance. She is absolutely superb. Ms. Micari has found the perfect vehicle to utilize her great talents. She is so wickedly suggestive that she can not only belt her bawdy songs but she can growl, purr, as well as conjure up a perfect soprano tone and still convey the songs meanings and undertones. And as “Rev.Mary”, she succeeds in playfully flirting with the audience and bringing them with her on this raucous musical ride. (She even plays the washboard!!) And they, in turn, respond with much deserved laughter and cheers. Among the songs are “One Hour Mama”, “The Empty Bed Blues”, “Do Your Duty”, “Down In The Alley, “Sugar In My Bowl”, and “You Gotta See Mama.”

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Ms. Micari is surrounded by an A-list roster of musicians and performers who make up “Rev. Mary’s Granny’s Blue-mers” – Rachel Kaufman on piano and harmonica; Andrew Beall on percussion; Singer Lauren Elder who also plays guitar and sings two songs – “You’ve Got The Right Key But The Wrong Keyhole” and “Stavin Chain”; and singer Mario Claudio, who along with Ms. Elder provides Ms. Micari with superb vocal backup. Director Jay Michaels deserves kudos for not only recreating an important period of history that has been largely overlooked but also for producing this marvelous showcase for Mary Elizabeth Micari. Ms. Micari literally brings this show to tremendous heights. I was completely blown away. This show not only needs to be performed again but also deserves a long run in a cabaret venue. I am thrilled to report that “Rev. Mary in One Hour MAMA” will be reprised on Friday, November 17, 2017 at 9:00 P.M. at The West End Lounge located at 955 West End Avenue (between 106th & 107th Street) in Manhattan. For more information, email JMAE.EVENTS@gmail.com or JayMichaelsArts.com. Please Go and See This Show Next Month!! It is fabulous and a magnificent tour-de-force for Mary Elizabeth Micari!! Bravo to her, Jay Michaels, and the entire company for this outstanding artistic achievement. And also a great round of applause to Thomas Honeck and his staff at The Duplex for their warm welcome and hospitality.