[Dixielandjazz] Updating the Andrews/Boswell Sisters: The Puppini Sisters! (resent - sorry if you get it twice...)

[David Richoux]

MIA resent - sorry if you eventually get it twice...

Missed this concert in Seattle - they do some great adaptations of  
newer songs, not just the classics...
(their website is http://www.thepuppinisisters.com/ )

Dave Richoux
====================================
Pardon me boy, do you like to jive?

By Misha Berson
Seattle Times arts critic

Too bad the Andrew Sisters never got around to covering Blondie's  
"Heart of Glass."

No matter. The British retro-glam singing trio the Puppini Sisters  
are taking up the slack, and then some.

In the musical spirit of the Andrews, the Puppinis (related to one  
another only in spirit) warbled "Heart of Glass" in tight, bright, up- 
tempo harmony during their Triple Door gig Monday.

They also gave Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive" a similar treatment.  
And they turned Kate Bush's "Wuthering Heights" into a weirdly-jaunty  
(if semi-comprehensible) trio tune. (You can see how it wound up on  
somebody's "worst covers ever" list.)

True, the Puppinis more faithfully covered retro-romps of the Andrew  
Sisters and Boswell Sisters, including "Bei Mir Bist Du Schon" and  
"The Heebie Jeebies."

But the gals put their own screwball spin on the whole set. They have  
the good voices and musical savvy to pull off pinpoint harmonies and  
Manhattan Transfer-style scatting. And they are utterly irresistible  
clowns.

Mingling bawdiness à la Bette Midler (who earlier resurrected the  
Andrews' "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy") with the mock-refinement of  
madcap British comic Beatrice Lillie, the Puppini dames swan around  
the stage in smashing pastel satin cocktail frocks.

They sashay, slink, wink and strike come-hither poses in the manner  
of New Burlesque. And they toss in some eye-rolling, we-know-we're- 
nuts double takes.

Kate Mullins is the resident statuesque blonde, and the chief ironist  
and quipper. Lanky, flame-haired Stephanie O'Brien is a glamour puss  
of the Rita Hayworth school who also plays a mean jazz violin riff.  
The excitable little brunette (who formed the group in 2004) is  
Marcella Puppini, who doubles on vocals and accordion.

Backed by three enthusiastic male sidemen dressed to cart around  
furniture, the Puppini gals ripped through a set at the Triple Door  
that made the Big Band-era fans happy — any set with a well-sung  
"Jeepers Creepers," "Mr. Sandman" and "Java Jive" will do that.

Their more gimmicky (and brave) transposition of '30s girl-group  
harmonies on '80s pop hits varied from utterly inspired ("I Will  
Survive," a dirge that becomes a bounce), to absurd (the Smiths'  
"Panic"), to playfully wacko (the Bangles' "Walk Like an Egyptian,"  
with plenty of snake-arm moves).

The highly enjoyable set included two witty odes, penned by the  
Puppinis themselves and recorded on their second disc ("The Rise &  
Fall of Ruby Woo," which followed their debut album "Betcha Bottom  
Dollar").

"Jilted Again" is a crying-in-your-cocktail tune, par excellence. And  
who can't relate to "Why Aren't I a Millionaire?" It's not often a  
song considers the indignity of eating Pop-Tarts when you crave caviar.