I’ve looked forward all summer to “The Triple Goddess Twilight Revue: Celebrating the Music Of Laura Nyro,” scheduled as part of Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors’ 29th Annual Roots of American Music Festival. It was a raggedy sort of family affair that opened with Nyro’s brother, Jan Nigro, performing a sort of skiffle-band arrangement of “And When I Die” with his band, the Ebony Hillbillies.
A young performer named Kate Fletcher, who does a Nyro-centered cabaret act called “One Child Born,” sat down at the piano for a fairly whitebread version of “Stoney End.” Much was made of the presence at the concert of Gil Bianchini, who is indeed the “one child born” Laura Nyro left behind when she died. He came out at the tail end of Desmond Child and Rouge’s rendition of “Eli’s Comin’” to perform a rap — let’s just say Jaz-Z needn’t lose any sleep worrying about competition from Gil-T, as he calls himself. Still, what Laura Nyro fan wouldn’t be thrilled to see the kid in person? (I met him briefly at the opening night of the Vineyard Theatre’s wonderful revue, Eli’s Comin’, directed by Diane Paulus.)
“Without Laura Nyro, there would be no Desmond Child,” the singer-songwriter-producer intoned, when his group took the stage. A little pretentious, of course — I doubt if more than ten people in the audience even knew who Desmond Child is. He and his female trio Rouge made two terrific, now-forgotten albums around 1980, before Desmond wrote and produced a bunch of hit records (most notably Cher’s “If I Could Turn Back Time”). I personally was thrilled to see them get up onstage and tackle a tricky non-hit song, “Beads of Sweat” with a taste of “Nowhere to Run” before moving into the better-known “Eli’s Comin’.” Felix Cavaliere — now there’s a name we haven’t heard in years! His Nyro connection is that he produced the Christmas and the Beads of Sweat album, and here he sat down at the Hammond organ and plunked out a fun version of “Blowin’ Away,” from Nyro’s first album. Clearly, this concert was barely rehearsed or sound-checked, because we couldn’t hear the singers backing up Cavaliere at all — eventually, the mike levels got straightened out, a good thing because these were some terrific singers. See above, mixed in with DC&R, Abenaa, Charlotte Crossley and Ula Hedwig (famous and beloved by cult fans as two members of the trio known as Formerly the Harlettes, Bette Midler’s back-up singers), Lesley Miller, and Toni Wine (if that name rings a bell, it’s because she’s a Brill Building-era songwriter whose credits include “A Groovy Kind of Love,” “Sugar Sugar,” and “Knock Three Times”).
I suspect a big chunk of the crowd was there because they know Laura Nyro mostly for her Gonna Take a Miracle album, re-makes of mostly Motown oldies for which she was joined by the trio Labelle. Miss Pat was nowhere to be seen, but her bandmates Sarah Dash and Nona Hendryx came out to sing “I Met Him on a Sunday,” “You Really Got a Hold on Me,” “Monkey Time,” and “Dancin’ in the Streets.” It was painfully evident that there is no love lost between Dash and Hendryx — they mostly stood as far apart onstage as possible, and there was diva shade thrown, for those who had eyes to see.
Next up was Melba Moore, not the most obvious choice but apparently she did record some Nyro numbers early on, including “Time and Love,” which she sang here, followed by “Wedding Bell Blues.” Closing the show was someone else we haven’t heard from in a while, Melissa Manchester (below, at the curtain call hugging Gil, who’s just gotten a big lipstick kiss from Sarah Dash) but she did a good job channeling Laura, pounding the piano and singing “Save the Country” and “Stoned Soul Picnic.” On my way out of Damrosch Park, I ran into fellow fanatic Alan Filderman, who noted that the concert stuck pretty much to the upbeat hits and steered away from the slow torchy ballads. We both fondly recalled the memorial concert at the Beacon Theater in 1997, where Sandra Bernhard and Rickie Lee Jones represented that soulful extreme side of Laura Nyro with their renditions of “Lonely Women” and “Been on a Train.” I went home and watched for the first time someone’s shaky hand-held YouTube video of Nyro’s induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this year. Bette Midler gives a wonderful, touching, heartfelt testimonial to Nyro as a quintessential New York City songwriter: “And she was writing in the 1960s and 1970s, when New York City was a pit. A pit! Way worse than Cleveland ever was! Even if you couldn’t see it, she made you want to live there….”
August 12, 2012 at 10:41 pm
Thanks, nice write up, and great pix! Seems like everyone had a good time, as I’m sure Laura herself would want them too. Great so see our Beautiful Angel in the Dark receiving some much deserved, and long overdue recognition. I’m a bit disappointed that Patti LaBelle didn’t show up, and for that matter, Barbara Streisand, and especially, Marilyn McCoo certainly have benefited quite a lot from Laura’s Awesome Talent – they should have made it a point to be there for her, or at least commented on the occasion.
Ah well, such is the case when you’re the best kept secret in the Music Industry, as Laura has for far too long been. But I know there are People out there working to keep her Musical Legacy alive and well, and I am thankful to all of them.
This September marks the one year anniversary of the greatest Musical epiphany I’ve ever experienced – I grew up loving many of Laura’s songs, never dreaming that the hits on the radio I thought were perfect, actually, and amazingly, pale in comparison to the Author’s own stunning original recordings. All it took was hearing a few bars of Laura singing “Stoned Soul Picnic” on Youtube, and I was instantly captivated by her. I’ve since bought all her available albums several times over, for myself, and as gifts to Family, and Friends in an effort to let them hear the true greatness that the radio denied us for so long. Yea, I’m definitely in Laura’s Tribe now!
Thanks again for the wonderful read!
August 12, 2012 at 10:48 pm
thanks, Artamus — love your e-mail address! I would have been shocked if Patti L or Streisand showed up for what was, after all, a free concert in a roots music series. But I understand that La Streisand WILL be singing at Marvin Hamlisch’s funeral on Tuesday…wonder what she’ll sing…
August 12, 2012 at 11:36 pm
Yea, I’ve always loved that line from “Sweet Blindness”, I only wish I’d heard Laura’s vastly superior original a lot sooner! No offense to the 5th Dimension, they are fantastic, but no one, no matter how talented, can compete with Laura on her home turf!
For me, Laura is like a one Woman equivalent to the Beatles – lots of great Artists covered their songs, but none ever came close to doing them as well as the Fab Four did themselves – same thing with Laura. Her album cuts that didn’t get covered are just as astonishing. I can’t believe that back in the day, the Powers that be at FM radio didn’t put the entire album “Christmas and the Beads of Sweat” into heavy rotation! I guess they couldn’t be bothered to play the real deal, they were too busy playing other Artists that were inspired by Her – argh!
Sorry to hear about Marvin Hamlisch, another great loss for Music. I guess Barbara will probably sing “The Way We Were”, since She Starred in, and he scored that film.
I know the Triple Goddess Twilight Revue was kind of a smaller event, but dang it sure would have been something if instead of Sara Bareilles, Barbara had shown up at the RARHOF induction to sing “Stony End”.
August 13, 2012 at 5:13 pm
How wonderful. I am so glad to know about this tribute. Thank you.
August 20, 2012 at 6:37 am
Wonderful commentary on this concert, Don, thank you for all the detail you put into it. For me, listening to a Nyro recording (I never got to see her perform live) – hearing again that voice of hers is like taking an bullet train to the remote past, a past whose texture of protest and hope and intensity seems unimaginable to younger folks today, when the cultural gestalt is so different (and devoid of much in the way of hope). She and a few others (Dylan? Peter Paul & Mary? Joan Baez?) is so emblematic of that time that was so important and intense for so many of us, an era that some of us still carry around deeply inside our psyches like a hidden treasure, almost. Your post reminds me that LOTS of people still alive were touched by Nyro’s quirky genius, and were witnesses to That Time also!
August 20, 2012 at 11:27 am
thanks for your message, Cal! yes, Laura wore her political heart on her sleeve — I found her political songs kinda obvious and preachy, but they’re still powerful. It was fascinating to hear Melissa Manchester sit down and pound out “Save the Country.” I imagined if Laura were still alive today, she’d be out there stumping for Obama in her own quirky way. What I love most about her is the freedom she gave herself lyrically, emotionally, and vocally — that’s a legacy that has affected many many great (and not-so-great) singer-songwriters since then.
September 3, 2012 at 7:10 pm
Wow! Just heard about this on iTunes, of all places, in a review of the new Nona Hendryx cd, Mutatis Mutandis. Would have traveled from Boston to this if I knew about it. Glad to see Gil seems to be doing well and I did watch the RARHOF induction and actualy thought Sarah Bareilles did a terrific job on Stoney End and Bette’s tribute was heartfelt. It would have been nice to see that tribute given by Patti Labelle or someone more connected to her personally or musically. Elton John had talked about what a big influence she was on him on Elvis Costello’s interview show a few years ago. Again, it’s great that the tributes and music live on. I saw a Laura tribute show in Boston this year by a cabaret singer named Shepley Metcalf who did a wonderful job. Her jazzy interpretations gave me yet another insight into the breadth of interpretation that may be given to Laura’s rhythms and lyrics. One of her greatest “non-hits”, Upstairs By A Chinese Lamp, is a song that is particularly rich and rewording. The most amazing performance of a Laura Nyro song that is impossible to get is Sandra Bernhard’s rendition of “I Never Meant To Hurt You” in her film “Without You I’m Nothing” (available nowhere, I’m afraid.) Don, thanks for the great review of the event – almost as good as being there.
September 3, 2012 at 7:21 pm
Glad you enjoyed it, Stewart! I agree with you about “Upstairs by a Chinese Lamp,” and also about Sandra Bernhard, who sang “Lonely Women” at the memorial concert at the Beacon Theatre just after Laura died — she and Rickie Lee Jones were the two singers who truly channeled Laura musically and emotionally, pitch-perfect.
September 5, 2012 at 7:05 am
Thanks, Don. Let me know if you hear of any other Laura tributes. Or Labelle sitings (missed Nona Hendryx at House of Blues this summer) as I’d come down
to NYC for them.