The Pillow Project Second Saturdays w/ Phat Man Dee
May 22, 2013 from 6pm to 7pmPhat Man Dee & the Cultural District @ Tables on the Green
May 24, 2013 from 7pm to 10pm
Pittsburgh's Own Regional Notables of Jazz
PITTSBURGH JAZZ
Roger Humphries
From Blakey to Brown, Como to Costa, Eckstine to Eldridge, Galbraith to Garner, Harris to Hines, Horne to Hyman, Jamal to Jefferson, Kelly to Klook; Mancini to Marmarosa, May to Mitchell, Negri to Nestico, Parlan to Ponder, Reed to Ruther, Strayhorn to Sullivan, Turk to Turrentine, Wade to Williams… the forthcoming publication Treasury of Pittsburgh Jazz Connections by Dr. Nelson Harrison and Dr. Ralph Proctor, Jr. will document the legacy of one of the world’s greatest jazz capitals.
Do you want to know who Dizzy Gillespie idolized? Did you ever wonder who inspired Kenny Clarke and Art Blakey? Who was the pianist that mentored Monk, Bud Powell, Tad Dameron, Elmo Hope, Sarah Vaughan and Mel Torme? Who was Art Tatum’s idol and Nat Cole’s mentor? What musical quartet pioneered the concept adopted later by the Modern Jazz Quartet? Were you ever curious to know who taught saxophone to Stanley Turrentine or who taught piano to Ahmad Jamal? What community music school trained Robert McFerrin, Sr. for his history-making debut with the Metropolitan Opera? What virtually unknown pianist was a significant influence on young John Coltrane, Shirley Scott, McCoy Tyner, Bobby Timmons and Ray Bryant when he moved to Philadelphia from Pittsburgh in the 1940s? Would you be surprised to know that Erroll Garner attended classes at the Julliard School of Music in New York and was at the top of his class in writing and arranging proficiency?
Some answers can be gleaned from the postings on the Pittsburgh Jazz Network.
For almost 100 years the Pittsburgh region has been a metacenter of jazz originality that is second to no other in the history of jazz. One of the best kept secrets in jazz folklore, the Pittsburgh Jazz Legacy has heretofore remained mythical. We have dubbed it “the greatest story never told” since it has not been represented in writing before now in such a way as to be accessible to anyone seeking to know more about it. When it was happening, little did we know how priceless the memories would become when the times were gone.
Today jazz is still king in Pittsburgh, with events, performances and activities happening all the time. The Pittsburgh Jazz Network is dedicated to celebrating and showcasing the places, artists and fans that carry on the legacy of Pittsburgh's jazz heritage.
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Phat Man Dee
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Phat Man Dee posted a blog postBurlesque, Jazz & the Return of the Bong Show, a benefit for Pgh NORML!
Oh friends.... what a fascinating, tumultuous and looooong winter it has been.... I'm happy to say I finally believe we may have actually reached the other side. The warm winds blow with the sweet tantalizing promise of beautiful music, graceful dancers and hilarious escapades. I don't trust the wind to deliver these things all by itself, so I have committed myself to helping make them reality.…See More
Phat Man Dee's blog post was featuredSecond Line Saturdays w/ Phat Man Dee & the Cultural District!
There was a galactic and planetary shift of consciousness last December. On the 21st we aligned with our solar system, the galaxy and the universe....whether or not you spent the solstice hiding in a bunker with a gross of rations and water purification tablets, in prayer with drums and chanting to the moon or madly purchasing gifts to prove to your loved ones that you really do care (I myself did a little of each, Ilike to keep my bases covered), whatever happened for you or for me, I am…See More
Phat Man Dee posted a blog postSecond Line Saturdays w/ Phat Man Dee & the Cultural District!
There was a galactic and planetary shift of consciousness last December. On the 21st we aligned with our solar system, the galaxy and the universe....whether or not you spent the solstice hiding in a bunker with a gross of rations and water purification tablets, in prayer with drums and chanting to the moon or madly purchasing gifts to prove to your loved ones that you really do care (I myself did a little of each, Ilike to keep my bases covered), whatever happened for you or for me, I am…See More
Phat Man Dee's blog post was featuredGhost Stories and Gospel!
Hey friends! What an emotional and charged week we are having! I don't know about you, but I for one am quite concerned about the future of our nation and the world in general.... but the show must go on!I wanted to remind you of some wonderful events happening in the next couple weeks, I would love to see your beautiful faces at one of our shows.…See More
Phat Man Dee posted a blog postGhost Stories and Gospel!
Hey friends! What an emotional and charged week we are having! I don't know about you, but I for one am quite concerned about the future of our nation and the world in general.... but the show must go on!I wanted to remind you of some wonderful events happening in the next couple weeks, I would love to see your beautiful faces at one of our shows.…See More
Profile Information
- Favorite website
- http://laughingsquid.com/
- Pittsburgh Connection
- I live here.
- Favorite Pittsburgh musicians/performers
- Gerald "Shotgun" Haymon, Chizmo Charles, Gene Ludwig, Sandy Staley, Colter Harper, Tony DePaolis, Mike Murray, Kenny Peagler, Nelson Harrison, James Johnson III, Dave Throckmorton, Ben Opie, Paul Cosentino, Reggie Watkins, Gene Stovall, Sonji, Christiane D, John Purse, Sam Pace, Darryl Fleming, BC, Tommy Amoeba, Zafira Bellydance Company, Ishtar, Nick Ragheb
- Favorite Jazz Radio or media station
- http://www.shoutingfire.org
- Favorite Pittsburgh Jazz Venue
- Ava Lounge
- About Me:
- Phat Man Dee has a voice and a stage presence that rings clear as a bell. Her soulful delivery and heart ripping phrasing make the story of the song come through her body like a mountain rising to meet the sea. She is as comfortable floating in the air singing to the swells as she is through a megaphone in the Mermaid Parade or the Ides of March March.
She has toured and appeared with The Madagascar Institute of Brooklyn, NY, Candye Kane, the Goddess Perlman's Nice Jewish Girls Gone Bad, the Fat Bottomed Girls Burlesque Review, Chicken John's Circus Ridiculous, Wolgemut, Jazz Mandolin Project, the Bindlestiff Family Roadshow, The Bull Seal! Collective, SEEMEN, the Flaming Lotus Girls and Heavy Pedal Cyclecide.
Though Phat Man Dee was somewhat recently nominated "One to Watch" in the pop music category of Pittsburgh Magazine's Harry Schwalb Awards, Mandy L. Kivowitz was born in 1975 to schoolteacher and a railroad man in Youngstown, OH. She studied music, classical cello and voice, theatre and dance all through childhood and into her brief college career at Allegheny College in Meadeville, PA. She left college to join the circus as Mistah Sistah Phat Man Dee , a half man half woman vaudeville act singing love songs to herself , eating glass, tap dancing, and playing cello while traveling with several variety acts cross country. Since then she has been blessed to work with some of the finest players Pittsburgh's rich musical community has to offer. Working to create an alternate reality for her audience utilizing her friends, be they musicians, poets, belly dancers, fire eaters, painters or circus geeks, Phat Man Dee puts on a show in which the visual texture is as important as the quality and intensity of the music.
Televsion and broadcast appearances include FUSE TV, KDKA Morning Show, WTAE Evening News, CSPAN, Judge Joe Brown (Fox), On Q (WQED), Lynn Cullen's Talk Show (WPTT).
She has appeared at the Improv as an opener for Caroline Rhea (NBC), Joe's Pub (NYC), Cabaret @ Theater Square, Exotic Erotic Ball (SF, CA), NYC Burlesque Fest, the Derby (LA, CA) , Rosemary's Billygoat's Odditoriom (LA, CA)the Andy Warhol Museum and the Great American Music Hall. Her best singing was performed at the Point Arena Lighthouse, and she ever longs for a return. She does love a parade, and to date, parades love her.
One evening will burn forever in the mind of Phat Man Dee, and that was her appearance with the Pittsburgh Opera wherein she sang an entire set of french cabaret love songs at the Benedum Center swinging aloft from a floral swing. (Though the night Circus Rediculous almost burned down the camp site at the Lafayette, Lousiana Festivale Internationale, in a misguided and unfortunate attempt to play flaming soccer ball with the misprinted tour shirts and the Veg-O-Matic of the Apocalypse burns nearly as bright.)
She recently celebrated her wedding anniversary with Tommy Amoeba, her husband of 5 years. They were wed on a pink elephant in Pittsburgh, PA's historic South Side on July 11. 2002.
The most frighteneing thing she ever did in her whole life was sing Lush Life by Billy Strayhorn at the Kelly Strayhorn Theater on July 18, 2008. That was terrifying. Like walking through fire....
- Website:
- http://www.phatmandee.com
- Artist or Fan
- artist
Phat Man Dee's Photos
Phat Man Dee's Videos
Phat Man Dee's Blog
Burlesque, Jazz & the Return of the Bong Show, a benefit for Pgh NORML!
Posted on April 6, 2013 at 2:12am 0 Comments 0 Likes
Oh friends.... what a fascinating, tumultuous and looooong winter it has been.... I'm happy to say I finally believe we may have actually reached the other side. The warm winds blow with the sweet tantalizing promise of beautiful music, graceful dancers and hilarious escapades. I don't trust the wind to deliver these things all by itself, so I have committed myself to helping make them reality.…
Second Line Saturdays w/ Phat Man Dee & the Cultural District!
Posted on January 11, 2013 at 12:00am 0 Comments 0 Likes
There was a galactic and planetary shift of consciousness last December.
On the 21st we aligned with our solar system, the galaxy and the
universe....whether or not you spent the solstice hiding in a bunker
with a gross of rations and water purification tablets, in prayer with
drums and chanting to the moon or madly purchasing gifts to prove to
your loved ones that you really do care (I myself did a little of each, I
like to keep my bases covered), whatever…
and the autumn weather turns the leaves to flame.....
Posted on September 14, 2012 at 7:47pm 0 Comments 0 Likes
but we have no time for the waiting game.....
Hello my beauties,
Just a quick line to let you know I am headed to Cleveland, Ohio tomorrow September 15, 2012, to sing with a new troupe whose company I very much enjoy. Kabarett Vulgare is a young group of performers in whom I have found some like minded defenders of the weird, the mad sexy and bizarre. Kabarett Vulgare also includes Macabre Noir, Deville D'Eggs, Nick Noir & Penny de la Poison. Together we've create a…
Phat Man Dee & Tommy Amoeba are gonna be on the tv!!
Posted on June 18, 2012 at 4:25am 0 Comments 0 Likes
Summer Solstice 2012 is proving to be a wildly thick weekend for me and the Amoeba, set your dvrs kids, cuz we're going to be on the Cooking Channel as characters in the upcoming episode of "The Culinary Adventures of Baron Ambrosia"!!! The episode is entitled "The Stomach Rumble of Baltimore, MD" and features a very special guest in the form of the one and…
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Thanks for the feedback and for being an active member. We are supposed to be leaders in the jazz community as were our predecessors. Please help us recruit new members. We lose an occasional few along the way but we are growing steadily and gaining respect in all corners of the globe.
I am a Pittsburgh native and local youth arts advocate attempting to expose young up and coming artists to the heart and soul of pure Pittsburgh music culture and traditions as they meet and learn from some of the local Music Masters. If you are interested in hosting a Wednesday night once a month or every other month I would be humbled and honored to make this happen.
Respectfully,
Kent Bey
412.657.3327
kbey7@royaltribemusic.com
SPIN ON ELLSWORTH. AUG.29TH, I WILL BE AT THE
PENN CENTER (OUTDOORS, GOD WILLING) IN
MONROEVILLE FROM 11:30 AM - 1:30 PM. IF IT IS TOO
HOT THOUGH, I WILL HAVE TO CANCEL... WILL LET YOU
KNOW. MY E-MAIL IS : sstaley2@verizon.net
-George
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