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                                  It's a brand new year and it's not just the same old/same old wonderful performers returning. Sure, the greats are great – who wouldn't want to start January by running to another run of shows by the sensational Marilyn Maye at Metropolitan Room, singing some of her most requested numbers from the last few acts she's done that have won her award after award? Speaking of awards, as January winds down, excitement winds up for the annual Nightlife Awards show at The Town Hall (January 30), bringing back 2011's critics' picks to pick up their trophies and perform.

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The dog days of summer cannot stop cabaret.  The shows must go on….. and they do!!  Read on to learn how you can get in for free to an event by winning our contest.

With many cabaret choices, and limited exposure, what is a new-to-cabaret or semi-uninformed music-lover to do to decide what show to see?  My advice is always to go where they can be sampled!  When I was a kid, I discovered my new favorite breakfast cereals by sampling them in that Kellogg’s Variety Pak where you got a small box of each of several cereals along with the usual suspects of Corn Flakes and Rice Krispies.  The cabaret Variety Paks that pack a lot of entertainment include the variety shows where you can hear many singers in one night, often offering previews of their upcoming shows.  This Wednesday, August 3, at 6:30 PM is the free outdoor Tudor City Greens concert (see ad on our website’s home page). 

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                                                                                                             I’m smiling and tapping my foot while typing up this column because I am listening to Jennifer Grimm’s CD from back in 2008.  The singer-songwriter has a cozy, cool, smooth, retro sound and I am looking forward to seeing her again when she returns to Metropolitan Room on July 25. The recording has its own built-in two-drink minimum with two of its laidback numbers – there’s the infectious “Sasparilla” and then “We’ll sip a glass of lemonade,” goes the lyric to “Second Honeymoon”

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There IS life after the MAC Awards! (and Bistro Awards).  And plenty of life in the nightlife after the Nightlife Awards, at least here at NiteLifeExchange dot com where we find plenty of cabaret and entertainment to catch up on.  As the song says, “I like New York in June/ How about you?/ I like a Gershwin tune/ How about you?” A Gershwin tune like “Summertime” will inevitably appear on the horizon as summertime lurks, but it ain’t necessarily so important to wait for the official debut of summertime for that.  Feel free to sing it or any Gershwin or other Broadway tune at open mic like the newish The Follow Spot at the Iridium on Broadway near West 51 Street on a Tuesday night with Broadway-lovin’ pianist Fred Barton.  I even chanced to spot Mr. Follow Spot at another open mic this week, the long-running runaway success Cast Party at Birdland. 

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What is more theatrical than an awards show?  There’s that suspense of “Who will win?”  There’s the dramatic pause between the rattling off of nominees’ names and the envelope-opening and then the winner is announced.  The cast of characters is colorful and charismatic ---  the bright, new talents and the not-so-rusty ‘n’ dusty old-timers.  The “acting,” a cynic (not I!) might say, involves: winners acting humble and acting surprised and the other nominees; going home empty-handed and maybe feeling empty; acting gracious and gallant and grateful to have been nominated.  Add to this the scripting involved in fashioning the perfect acceptance speech. 

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Here we are in that awkward cabaret season between excuses --- in between “It’s too cold tonight to leave the house to go out for cabaret” and “It’s too warm and pretty a night to sit inside a dark cabaret room.”  Yes, it’s that time when spring should be here, but is determined to begin after its announced starting time – sort of like most cabaret shows --- and where winter’s cold has decided to stage an encore, just like cabaret shows.  Meanwhile, those taking off their ear muffs to fill their ears with music, the cabaret shows and open mics have been braving the cold and the cold realities of the economic hard times that make drawing an audience as familiar a tune as “Over the Rainbow” in a cabaret room.

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Coming soon to a cabaret near you as October ends: Who's Singing Who:  Valerie Lemon Sings Marvin Hamlisch... Gretchen Reinhagen Sings Janis Joplin....Grace Cosgrove Sings Laura Nyro..... Jen Brooks Sings Bette Midler.... Eddie Bruce Sings Anthony Newley..... Also in this column... October begins with a bang and a show you can win free admission to in our Contest (Read on).

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Forget about that old movie title song, “Never on a Sunday” that claimed Sunday was “a day of rest,” or the one from Flower Drum Song called “Sunday” that called it “Sunday, sweet Sunday, with nothing to do.”  There’s plenty to do.  This Sunday is the annual Broadway Flea Market where proceeds from all sales of theatre-related items go to Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.  You’ll find some cabaret faces selling you theatre and cabaret-related merchandise at the table run by MAC, the Manhattan Association of Cabarets and Clubs. 

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As you see the kids trotting back to school this month, can you remember those dear, dreaded days of buying new notebooks and pencils so you’d be ready for that inevitable first assignment?  It was, of course, a report on “How I Spent My Summer Vacation.”