The band that is peforming for Parkerfest on Friday night got together last night at Parker HQ to rehearse. An incredible collection of musicians! We have: Christopher Pistorino (upright bass), Aya Kato (piano), Tom Abbott (clarinet), Sean Condron (banjo) and Bliss Blood & Cindy Ball (vocals). No drum kit, electric guitars, etc. In fact, the only thing electric will be the mics. All of the selections are jazz pop songs from the 1920s and 1930s. The music is going to knock you out on the Bathtub Gin Ball and Speakeasy Cruise. Tickets are still available, don't miss out.
Posted by Kevin Fitzpatrick on Wednesday, September 29, 2004 at 10:08 AM | Permalink  
![[PHOTO OF ALGONQUIN HOTEL EXTERIOR]](http://www.dorothyparker.com/images/gonk03.jpg) The Algonquin Hotel has completed $8 million dollars in renovations. We attended an event on Tuesday that showed off the gorgeous suites and guestrooms. The hotel also unveiled a new writer's table in the lobby. The addition of a wireless network in the lobby and second floor is now available. Read the press info here and see these amazing photos of the rooms. We were also thrilled to meet Nat Benchley, grandson of Robert, and Anthony Adams, son of Franklin P. Adams, and Anthony's son, Stephen. The hotel also hosted a great cocktail party that evening with Mediabistro.
Posted by Kevin Fitzpatrick on Thursday, September 23, 2004 at 5:17 PM | Permalink
![[Cindy Ball as Helen Kane]](http://www.dorothyparker.com/parkerfest/images/ball02.jpg) We are really excited about the live music for the Dorothy Parker Bathtub Gin Ball & Speakeasy Cruise. We have two incredible women who are performing on our 1930 yacht cruise around New York Harbor. Bliss Blood and the Cantonement Jazz Band ( visit site and hear music here) is now booked. She is joined by special guest Cindy Ball, who is going to do her famous Helen Kane show. Cindy sat down for a Parkerfest interview. She performs many of the songs that Helen Kane popularized (and Betty Boop swiped), such as "Dangerous Nan McGrew" and "I Wann Be Loved By You". "What I find so tragic," Ball says, "is that at the time Betty Boop was created, the whole world knew it was a cartoon version of Helen Kane, and yet Helen gave no permission, received no credit nor royalty. Eventually Betty's career became bigger than Helen's and Helen was ousted from the spotlight by a cartoon imitation of herself. So, it's my hope that Betty Boop fans come away with an appreciation for what Helen created and her contribution to Betty Boop, and also see Helen as a person, three-dimensional, a seperate entity from the cartoon character." ![[Bliss Blood]](http://www.dorothyparker.com/parkerfest/images/bliss04.jpg) Blood leads a band that really captures the 1920s and early 1930s. "Our band is an authentic 1920's jazz band, playing jazz, pop, and blues songs from the 20's and early '30s," she says in a DPSNY interview. "We try to re-create the raucous fun of the 20's, when jazz was the music of flaming youth." "We dress in glamourous evening clothes, suits and 20s style gowns, and play a wide selection of styles, from Bessie Smith and Ma Rainey blues tunes to "sweet" jazz tunes originally sung by Annette Hanshaw, Ruth Etting, Cliff Edwards, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Fats Waller, and Bing Crosby." Among the songs she's got lined up are: "I Wished on the Moon" "Six Feet of Papa" "The Way I Feel Today" "Trombone Cholly" Sail with us back in time!
Posted by Kevin Fitzpatrick on at 2:00 PM | Permalink
Word Smitten, a quarterly literary journal, has a nice story about Parkerfest and the DPNSY online. This is a must-visit site for all book lovers. It has interviews with writers and literary agents. They also give cash prizes in their annual fiction contest. Have a look at this great site. The printed edition is Parker-related in their upcoming issue. Julie Farin has a feature story on Marion Meade and "Bobbed Hair & Bathtub Gin" in the Autumn issue of WordSmitten Quarterly Journal (WSQJ), which is being printed now.
Posted by Kevin Fitzpatrick on Thursday, September 09, 2004 at 11:02 AM | Permalink
Parkerfest 2004 is Oct. 1-3 and tickets are on sale now. There is an international interest, with some winging in from the U.K. and Sweden for it. The schedule: The Dorothy Parker Bathtub Gin Ball & Speakeasy Cruise on Friday, Oct. 1. We are sailing on The Diplomat. This 135-foot yacht was launched in 1930 for the president of Standard Oil. It was quite the ship back then, even FDR was a passenger. The owners spent a half-million dollars to restore it. All the photos are here. Featuring live music by Bliss Blood and the Cantonement Jazz Band ( listen here). Joining them as special guest will be Cindy Ball, who is the reincarnation of Helen Kane, aka Betty Boop. She will boop-boop-be-do you with a special show. We are boarding at 7 and sailing at 8 at from Skyport Marina, East 23rd Street and the FDR Drive. (Note: it was previously announced that we'd depart at 9 from Pier 81, this is changed). About 25% of the tickets have been snapped up already, so don't wait to the last minute to book your passage on the cruise around Manhattan. We dock at 11 pm, a special secret post-party is also planned! Also, because Parkerfest is the same weekend as the New Yorker Festival and New York is Book Country book fair, we are holding the walking tour on Friday, Saturday and Sunday (noon at the Gonk. If you attend the jazz cruise, the walking tour is only $10). The walking tours begin and end at the Algonquin. We will walk through the Theatre District, Rockefeller Center, Times Square and Hell's Kitchen.
Posted by Kevin Fitzpatrick on Wednesday, September 01, 2004 at 9:10 AM | Permalink
We finally have message boards on the site. Now we can have a true online community. Two of the areas I'm most excited about are the Book Club and Hollywood Babylon forums. The book club is moderated by Chrissie, the DPSNY treasurer, and the first book on the list is Bobbed Hair and Bathtub Gin. The Hollywood forum is being run by a spitfire named "Mrs. K" who is the West Coast President. Not much is known about Mrs. K, except that she was raised by wolves and works in "the industry" out there. All Los Angeles Parkerphiles should be gravitating to her forum. Hopefully, the message boards will be a lively place to discuss all things related to Parker, the Round Table, and the time period and books we all enjoy so much. If you want to begin a Parker Society chapter in your area, here is the place to start.
Posted by Kevin Fitzpatrick on at 9:04 AM | Permalink | Comments
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