Nellie McKay

I met Nellie McKay (here's where I tried adding 'CHANGE THE WORLD' from her CD 'GET AWAY FROM ME,' didn't work but you can hear some of her stuff here: http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=6012827)  a few years ago at a X-Mas/birthday party thrown by one of my old bookstore friends. His birthday falls around X-Mas time and instead of getting presents, he gives letters from the USPS from children asking for gifts from Santa. (He's children's book author/illustrator Nick Bruel http://www.nickbruel.com/.)

Anyway, Nellie showed up toward the end of the party, and she was the sweetest kid, brightened up the room. I had no idea how young she was (she must've just turned 18) but she made me very curious, and apparently I made her curious too. To this day I don't know why. It may have been my cane. It may have been my silly soprano speaking voice, which erroneously makes people think I can sing. It could've been the British connection. Or it could've been my friendship with Nick & with my bookstore boss, an early American punk rocker from Wisconsin, famous in the East Village for bands like 'Triple Forbidden Taboo' –- here's where I tried adding a song from a newer band called Scorpio Thunderbolt. If life were fair, and Gather perfect, you could've heard 'Brick' from my ITunes library. Oh well. 

Anyway, Nellie has a new album coming out soon: Obligatory Villages, released by her own record label, Hungry Mouse. And she's going to be on Craig Ferguson's Late Late Show on July 30th.

http://www.pastemagazine.com/action/article/4547/news/music/nellie_mckay_announces_obligatory_release