nu shooz

last month, at a met opera HD movie broadcast, i met a woman named valerie day. really nice, pretty lady. she seemed interested to learn that i was also a DJ at the jazz station in town. it was a brief conversation; i actually spoke more with her mom, a former opera singer.

it wasn't until i got back to the station a few days later that i was told about valerie's celebrity. she is one half of "nu shooz", a band who had a number one hit back in the 1980s:



after a little investigation i found out that the band had reformed within the last couple of years as the "nu shooz orchestra", and they were actually performing last night at the coolest jazz club in town, jimmy mak's. i asked around, and most people told me that i should definitely go; nu shooz are legendary in the portland area. so i went.

their current sound is a mix of white-boy jazz, funk and, uh, a little 'mission impossible'. (seriously, that's what they played as valerie introduced the band.) i found myself alternately horrified, wanting to run away, and fascinated. the music just wasn't really my thing, not the kind of jazz i tend towards. listen to how they're performing their big hit these days. they did a great arrangement of mancini's "charade" and a very uptempo version of "spring can really hang you up the most," but the bulk of the evening was just stuff that didn't strike my fancy at all.

the reason i stayed as long as i did (the whole show!) was because of one of the cello players. (there were 10 people on stage, including a flute, trumpet & trombone.) this guy, skip von kuske, is seemingly everywhere at once. he's in the portland cello project, the vagabond opera, classical revolution, and now this. i'm not sure he ever sleeps.

also, he was far and away the hippest looking person in the club. i guess the risk of showing up at a show put on by a band famous in the 1980s is that you get a lot of middle-aged boobs in the audience. (i got hit on by one cable-knit-sweater-wearing one.) i pretty much entertained myself the whole night watching skip. and the brass players, who were having fun telling jokes to each other on stage while they weren't playing. after the show, in fact, i walked up to skip and introduced myself. "i think you're following me around," i said, and told him who i was.

that was the highlight of the night. still, i'm glad i went. that club is *so* great. i took my mom there back in september, and i enjoy the vibe a lot.