| Transcript |
August 20,1982 / Montrose Voice 21
Montrose Live
Zelda Rose
Appearing First
Time in Houston
By Lyt Harris
Contrary to what one might believe at first
thought, Zelda Rose is not a female
impressionist who lives deep in the heart
of Montrose and appears on Sundays at
the Copa.
In reality, Zelda resembles Mama Cass
Elliot ofthe original Mamas and Poppas.
Wearing a long, flowing maroon gown
interspersed with patches of glitter, Zelda
was seated at a stageside table for this
pre-show interview.
"It was made by my mother," Zelda
commented proudly about the gown. "Do
you like it?"
Seated with Zelda was Corey Fleming,
her youthful accompanist. She and Corey
have been a team for about a year and she
describes her style as "a combination of
blues, torch and pop."
Born and raised in New Orleans, Zelda
has been singing professionally for five
years, appearing at such well-known
French Quarter spots as Chelsea's on
Bourbon, the Bourbon Pub, and most
recently at the Old Absenthe House Bar.
Zelda was "discovered" by Rascals bigwig Les Blair on a recent trip to the Crescent City. After hearing her perform at the
Old Absenthe House Bar, he was able to
convince her to bring her act to Houston.
"I didn't need much convincing at that
point," Zelda exclaimed. "I was ready for
something new—a change of pace."
Her only other out-of-town appearance
was two years ago when she performed at
Verelli's in Povincetown and at the Pied
Piper on Cap Cod Bay.
When not on stage, Zelda iB employed by
the Hyatt Regency in New Orleans as a
PBX operator. She is also a housewife and
is quidk to mention that her husband is
most supportive of her career.
Zelda'B first set at Rascals on opening
night began with "Rocket Man" by Elton
John; followed by "Empty Bed Blues,"
recorded by Bette Midler; "Duncan," an
American folk ballad by Paul Simon; and
"Come in from the Rain" by Malissa
Manchester.
Zelda's voice has the power and range of
an opera singer. She has the ability to use
this great power when necessary, but can
adapt very easily to soft and mellow selections. She has a commanding stage presence, but at times enjoys coming down off
stage to sing and mingle with the
audience.
She has great stamina—her first set
lasted an incredible one hour and 35 minutes! "I've gone on for over three hours
before," commented Zelda when asked
about the length of her set.
Between songs, she enjoys keeping a
running dialogue going with her audience,
giving her a great rapport with her admirers and putting everyone at ease. When
someone in the audience yelled, "Take it
off," Zelda quipped, "No, I don't do that
anymore—I'm an artiste!"
Regarding Zelda's style, she perfers to
sing most songs more slowly and with
more emphasis on each word and note
than one would normally hear the songs
sung. Sometimes you find yourself trying
to speed up her delivery, but then you realize that many of those songB that you've
heard rushed through on a three-minute
recording by a popular entertainer now
take on a new and special meaning when
performed at this slower pace.
Unfortunately, people who prefer fast-
paced, active and lively preformances
might tend to get bored with Zelda, as
most of her selections have the same slow,
meloncholy pace.
In order to broaden her appeal, Zelda
might be wise to mix with her selections
with a few more lively and upbeat
numbers just to keep her sets moving at a
faster pace.
Corey Fleming and Zelda Rose now on stage at Rascals
the song Rebecca sang lead and looked
much like a fashionable amazon blessed
with a voice of slick silk. The group dis-
But whatever your personal taste, Zelda
Rose is a great discovery and definitely a
welcome addition to the Montrose cabaret
scene.
The Flirts at
Numbers
By Nick Fede
The three gorgeous Manhattanites called
The Flirts sang to a packed and enthusiastic crowd on August 15 at Numbers, 300
Westheimer.
The group, garbed in matching flours-
cent yellow, orange and lime Bkirts that
were split daringly in back, began with
their newest dance hit "Juke Box"—a tune
that was rousing as an opener and had the
crowd clapping along. After that number,
lead singer/choreographer Andrea Del-
Conte welcomed the crowd with "Alright
Texas!"
Before starting their next number, the
statesque beauty Rebecca Sullivan dedicated the song "Passion" "to all you sexy
Texans out there." While singing passionately, Andrea slowly stepped down offstage to coyly croon at some crowd
members who were seated on the steps.
Throughout the tune Andrea sang while
making good crowd eye contact but
Rebecca and third member Holly Kerr
cruised the crowd with looks of steel indifference. Andrea adopted a defiant cross-
legged stance when singing the song's
chorus.
The group stood with their backs to the
crowd and singly, then in unison shimmied their shoulders before whirling
around to sing "Calling All Boys." During
coed wildly during the instrumental
which delighted the crowd who responded
with whoops and cries.
Singing their newest release, "We Just
Want To Dance," the group offered flattened palms toward the audience in a
plead to which the crowd responded by
dancing along with them.
After that song, the group sang the
monster hit "Boy Crazy" while rolling
their eyes in wide delight one minute, followed by gripping their heads in frustration the next.
Encores can be boring if they are a
reprise of songs already sung, but the
group managed to get most ofthe crowd
clapping along at a steady rate as they
sang "Passion." During the encore, the
trio's skirts glowed under the lighting like
a 1968 blacklight poster, while lasers
rapidly shot the song's title on the wall.
The group was formed eight months ago
and their producer Bobby Orlando writes
all of their material in addition to having
written for other entertaniners including
"Native Love" for Divine.
"We initially were a recording (studio)
group that went on to performing," said
Andrea in a post-show interview. She said
that the group's "concept was to perform
originally but indicated that they waited
to see how their record releases were publi-
cally received."
When asked to describe the group's
sound and hits she said, "They're all
dance oriented." When asked if she had
been taken out sight-seeing while here she
said, "I've been in the South three or four
days, and seen lots of airports, motels and
highways."
When it was suggested that the group is
reminiscent of a 60s type singing trio in
both dress and choreography Bhe said, at
one point we were (jokingly) called The
Shangri-La's.
Andrea's musical background was
shaped by performing with numerous rock
bands, while Rebecca modeled professionally and Holly was one of the lead dancers
in "Hallelujah Hollywood" at the MGM
Grand in Las Vegas. When asked how it
feels to perform with the group in comparison to Vegas, Holly replied, "It's different
and a little more intimate."
The group has a new album "10 Cents A
Dance" that has been released on the "O"
label. Andrea said, "I like to see faces, it
stirs something up inside of me. I think
most disco groups are too distant from the
audience, they're afraid."
When asked if she ever personally experienced a fear ofthe crowd by referring to a
crowd member dressed in leopard and
posed in a cat-like kneel as if ready to
pounce on the stage steps she replied, "No,
most audiences won't."
Rebecca continued saying "they (the
crowd) want to be close but they won't hurt
you."
When the group was asked if any
member longed to sing lead consistently
except Andrea, she replied, "What's different about our group is that we all sing."
She pondered for a moment then said,
"We're not like the Supremes."
The Flirts
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