Once, there was a little phat girl, and she had a very big dream!

[Phat Man Dee]

Right now....in a land known as Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, there sits, at her 12 year old desktop imac, a little phat girl who has dreamed of singing in Europe for the past 25 years. Since the birth of her dream, she has studied and made music with Pittsburgh jazz greats, ballet orchestra cellists, vocal teachers of great renown, medieval German bagpipers, Afro Cuban dance bands, Puerto Rican bomba bands, Egyptian classical and electronic composers, Middle Eastern master percussionists, Afro Latin master percussionists, gospel choirs, punk rock circus side show bands, heavy metal mavens, social justice singers, SubGenius spiritualists, hip hop producers, flamenca guitaristas, burgeoning rock operas about Burning Man, complaint choirs, I even led a Pan Spiritual Multi Lingual choir at Sankofa last year and we backed them all up with my jazz band, the Cultural District!!! I give thanks every day for the AMAZING power of the Lord, the Lady and Bob.... I am a pan spiritualist, I love God and the Goddess in all their forms and I feel blessed by everything every day. I was alienated as a child, felt bullied (was bullied) for being fat, weird, Jewish.... you name it.... small town, middle of Pennsylvania.... you know.... and as I grew I have come to understand we are ALL made to feel "less than" for some reason or another. Some friends of mine, it's because they're Black and we live in an inherently racist world with a ton of work left to do, some beautiful new friends of mine in Puerto Rico apparently STILL don't have the right to vote cuz of some CRAZY OLD racist laws on the books, some for religious, sexual orientation or economic bias, there are so many reasons for people to hate you in this world.... BUT I DIGRESS..... As an adult, I have turned the hurt and shame of being me around into joyous celebration of self and those around me through my music and art and it has allowed me to see the beauty of everyone else, I love language, culture, music, the flavor of a people can be heard in their songs and I want to sing with them ....

Here is example of the kind of videos I would make in Europe, on bridges.... this one I am on the Smithfield Street Bridge, down the street from my house:

As of this posting I am 22 hours from my deadline, at 10 AM EDT (Eastern Daylight Time) tomorrow, my kickstarter campaign expires and if I don't get it all, I get nothing.... I am so close to this that I can hear the accordions in Rome and the jazz trumpeters in Belgium..... and the bridges are singing in my mind's ear..... I just added some amazing last minute rewards.... music listening sessions with my bassist/producer/arranger Tony DePaolis, you can choose ANY RECORD YOU LIKE from his massive and seriously eclectic catalogue of vinyl (this comes with a wonderful souvenir of the session), glass figurines by Ed Pinto accompanied by my poetry, a photo shoot with me as co model and stylist with photographer Erica Dilcer, Saturday morning cartoon watching parties with Tommy Amoeba and I in our home with overly sugared cereal, laser printed clutch zippered wallets by Suz Pisano, Phat Man Dee jewelry by Angela Rocco..... or go whole hog and book my band for a special event, private party, wedding, Bas Mitzvah band.... (though if it's for a Bas Mitzvah, it won't really be "whole hog", I can keep it kosher...) you can see some pictures and look at the updates here:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/402781557/help-phat-man-dee-get-outta-tahn-and-document-the/posts/1163720

Please help me make this reality. I love living in a world with you. We're all weirdoes and freaks and artists and we need to support each other. Every little bit counts, and if you don't have a couple bucks to send....share a link to someone who might. If you already have, thank you, from the bottom of my heart. I can't wait to post the videos we will be making across Europe.....I have $1557 left to raise from my budget of $16,200, that means FOURTEEN THOUSAND FOUR HUNDRED AND FORTY THREE DOLLARS has been raised by wonderful people who want to see me sing in Europe..... THAT IS AMAZING!!!!  Still need a little bit more to toss me over the edge.... 

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/402781557/help-phat-man-dee-get-outta-tahn-and-document-the

One love, I am ever grateful for the love and support we share together in this mad mad world we call home....

Mandee

PS The 20th Annual Ides of March March is this Sunday March 15, 2015, we meet at 12th and Carson, South Side, Birmingham Square, Pittsburgh, PA Fly your freak flag high and put on the dog! Bring a drum and beat the gong soundly!