Last Night’s Show: Christine Ebersole at Birdland

Last Night’s Show: Christine Ebersole and Small Talk with Christine Ebersole

(where were you)

Last night Christine Ebersole and Billy Stritch celebrated the release of their second collaborative CD, “Sunday in New York” at Birdland.  The duo began the evening with some new material, which was certainly a treat for their regular concert go-ers, paired with their standard comedic banter, which even for the regular concert go-ers, like us, never seems to be tired.  A highlight from the start of the show was Ebersole’s rendition of the Bette Midler classic “Big Noise from Winnetka” (which is coincidentally Ebersole’s hometown).  She encouraged the audience to sing along, claiming to not be familiar with the words, but stepped up her game by not only delivering the lyrics with sass and style, but by adding her infamous “nose trumpet” to the end of the tune.  Also featured were Tom Hubbard on bass and Tony Tedesco on drums, both adding sensational rhythm to the piece.

The rest of the evening was dedicated to the songs of “Sunday in New York”.  Vocal standouts were Ebersole on “Surrey with a Fringe on Top” and “What’ll I Do?”, Stritch on “Give Me the Simple Life/Tea for Two”, and the pair duet-ing on the uptempo and jaunty medley of Nat King Cole’s classics “Hit that Jive, Jack/Errand Girl for Rhythm”.  The evening concluded with a sentimental version of Harbung and Arlen’s “Right as the Rain” and, what we think will be a classic ballad, the always-touching “Will You?” from Grey Gardens. Upon taking the stage for their encore, Ebersole was particularly moved by the response of the audience and revealed to them how honored she felt to be able to sing and share her gift in a time when our country is facing trouble.  The pair gave an emotional encore of the Sondheim classic “Not While I’m Around”.

After the show we had the chance to speak with Ebersole.  Being that Ebersole is equally known for her political opinions as her impressive talent, we decided to ask her what advice she had for young people to consider going into the presidential election. Ebersole shared her thoughts on the current political climate.

“I’m reading this book right now called The Creature from Jekyll Island: A Second Look at the Federal Reserve, which is about the creation of the Federal Reserve. It was done completely in secret. It’s not federal. It’s not reserved. It’s a private banking cartel, and it has nothing to do with the United States government. It’s a way that bankers set up the banking system- an economic system- to keep us in slavery. And what they did- and it’s all on purpose- nothings an accident. They want you to have this perception that they’re just a bunch of bumbling idiots, and they don’t know what they’re doing, and George Bush can’t even finish a sentence, and ‘what a bunch of bumbling idiots’, and it’s so not that. It’s not that at all. It’s absolutely completely and utterly successful. It’s an institution that has failed the people. ”

- Christine Ebersole

Christine’s recommended viewing/reading:
-9/11 Mysteries
-America: Freedom to Fascism
-Youtube: The Council on Foreign Relations

For more information on Christine, visit her website www.christineebersole.com and for further reading on her political philosophy visit her blog www.christineebersole.com/blog. To purchase her cd, visit:

Sunday In New York

Commentary by Jaimie Geddes.

Interview by Jaimie Geddes and Victoria Myers

Photos by Victoria Myers