Welcome to the New 12th Gate Supper Club!
Oops, I mean Coffee House! On our small stage, we focus on folk music and occasionally jazz and blues. But tonight we pay tribute to a personality that frankly is much too large for our stage. Nevertheless, I thought it was proper to mark the passing of dancer, blues artist, movie actress, Broadway star and progressive activist Eartha Kitt. Kitt died this past Christmas day after a long fight with colon cancer.
Born outside of Columbia, South Carolina on January 17, 1927, Eartha began her career with the Katherine Dunham Company in New York City. She later appeared in movies, then Broadway shows. Our first video clip combines music and interviews and was shot in 1981 and produced bu Tom D’Antoni.
My first experience hearing Eartha Kitt perform live was in Chicago some twenty years ago. It is an evening that I have never forgotten. Some would call her hedonistic; others understood her edge and found in her music and performances a pure celebration of life in its ironic fullness. This is an early recording of I Want To Be Evil
Can’t be in the Christmas season without remembering Kitt’s hit Santa Baby. This clip was shot in 2006 at a performance in Washington DC. Please excuse the pictures of W.
These next two clips capture vintage performances of Eartha Kitt at her best. From the Gold Coast Jazz & Blues Festival in Melbourne shot in 1991. They speak for themselves!
Here’s the encore – Anything But Love
Finally, we close this celebration of the energy, hiumor and yes, “earthiness” of Eartha Kitt with Here’s to Life performed on the short lived Whoppie Goldberg show I’m not sure there could be a better tribute.
Links:
From Wiki
From Kitt’s official site
