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Pittsburgh City Paper, Volume
12 > Issue 49 > December 4 thru December 11 , 2002 "I met my husband the old-fashioned way,” says Sharon “Mama” Spell on her debut cabaret album, “on the Internet. We were both good at typing with one hand.” Whether she’s speaking, with her Mississippi-bred Southern belle accent, or singing, often at least a little bit off-key, Mama has the kind of dry-vermouth delivery that makes her cabaret act both hilarious and off-kilter. When she demands that “everybody cha-cha” or tells “The Best Pollock Joke” it’s as though she were telling a small child: “Don’t knock over that glass of milk, Sunshine, and clean your plate [smile, wag finger, cut to commercial].” Sharon “Mama” Spell has performed her bizarre monkey-and-pony show around the Pittsburgh area for more than four years: cabaret that’s half dedicated showmanship, half campy send-up (and usually half in the bag). For Stories with No Morals, Spell hand-picked a group of 30 fans and friends and turned Uptown’s small Plus/Minus recording studio into a café, complete with small, candle-lit tables and cocktails to record her show live. Half of Stories with No Morals consists of Mama kickin’ it on the Casio CTK-631 to hot li’l jammies like Limp Bizkit’s “Nookie” and “Radar Love,” all sung in a gin-soaked, wavering alto -- imagine a very, very cheap casino in Vegas. No, make that Reno. The other half of the show is Mama telling stories about herself: Her cat named “Ass” (“My Ass has fleas! My Ass doesn’t like strangers!”), her and her husband’s inability to go a week without “having relations,” and a lot about her hometown of Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Mama’s cabaret -- and Stories with No Morals -- works because Mama can come across as sincere as one of the Bush’s first ladies, or a Reagan-era anti-drug commercial. And almost as funny. Because the fact is, Mama’s really, really funny -- like a cross between June Cleaver, Liz Taylor and Absolutely Fabulous. Will Stories with No Morals stand up to repeated listening? That depends on your intake of Gordon’s. But for at least one beautiful night, this disc is as smart, outrageous and funny as one could ask for. Mama Spell CD release show is at 8 p.m. Sat., Dec. 7, at the Quiet Storm, Friendship. 412-661-9355. |