Saturday, October 19, 2024 at Kleinhans Music Hall

By Frank Housh

Our story begins three decades ago in the misty forests of the Pacific Northwest with singing, sexagenarian triplets born in the Panama Canal Zone, a referendum seeking to strip LGBT people of their basic civil rights, and Pee-wee’s Playhouse Christmas Special.

Perhaps I should explain. 

While certainly the most vulgar and psychotic, Trump’s fascist demonization of the LGBTQ community is merely the GOP’s most recent iteration of hateful fearmongering targeting a vulnerable group of Americans.

In 1994, a far-right group called the Oregon Citizen Alliance sponsored Oregon Ballot Measure 13 which sought to counter the ominous, degenerate, and wholly made-up “gay agenda.” 

Prop 13 sought to amend the Oregon Constitution to memorialize a “second class citizen” category for LGBTQ people, similar to that of freed slaves under southern “Jim Crow” laws. If passed, gay people could be legally fired for being (or merely appearing) gay and restaurants, landlords, and others would be free to post “No Gays Allowed” notices. 

As Election Day 1994 approached, Portland musician and activist Thomas Lauderdale (quite wisely) brought his “Vote No on Prop 13” message to voter-rich nursing and retirement homes, accompanied by The Del Rubio Triplets, interpreters of American song since the 1940s. 

The Del Rubios had updated their repertoire with the times; Lauderdale saw them on Pee-wee’s Playhouse Christmas Special (25:00-26:25), following a career resurgence generated by their cover of Devo’s “Whip It” amid the 1980s elevation of kitsch and camp. 

At one such political event Lauderdale, stuck without an opening act, took the piano and along with a singer and bongo player, created Pink Martini.

For the record, Prop 13 was defeated by Oregon voters in 1994 by a vote of 630,628 against and 592,746 votes in favor. Well done, Beaver State. Well done.

In its 30 years Pink Martini has released a dozen albums comprising an eclectic mix of original and multi-lingual songs (“Sympathique” is a working-class anthem in France), suffused with Caribbean-inflected rhythms. Although I am loathe to contribute to musical tribalism by affixing labels to art, Pink Martini may be generally classified as “lounge music.”

Lounge music is the sound of an early to mid 20th Century American, escapist aesthetic which fetishized the tropical and the exotic. Pink Martini incorporates lounge’s rhythms such as the mambo, the samba, and the bossa nova in a sort of nostalgic, jazzy mélange. 

Pink Martini’s style leans toward the cinematic, and Saturday’s performance included several songs made famous by Old Hollywood such as Amando Mio (1946), Ich dich lieber (1964), and Destino (1945 & 2003). 

The concert opened with a rousing interpretation of Ravel’s “Bolero” and continued its world tour with “Amado Mio,” “Sympathique,” “Ich dich lieber,” “Cante e Dance,” and “¿Donde Estas Yolanda?” which included an impromptu dance competition in the aisles. 

Lauderdale was a charming Master of Ceremonies, telling stories and introducing the band at a frenetic pace. Singer China Forbes was the gracious star who shared the spotlight with the band and singers Edna Vazquez and Timothy Nishimoto. The singers’ shakers and blocks, when added to Pink Martini’s three percussionists, helped create the band’s signature polyrhythmic foundation.

The BPO was ably conducted by Ron Spigelman but didn’t seem to have much to do. It was largely consigned doubling the harmonies; that said, the BPO brass section added a beautiful fanfare during the wistful Splendor in the Grass. 

Kleinhans wasn’t sold out, but the lower orchestra was mostly filled with devoted fans. Pink Martini did right by them Saturday night with a two hour, globe-trotting, note-perfect performance.

Frank Housh is The Buffalo Hive’s Managing Editor.