WEST PLAYS FAVORITES, HINTS OF NEW DIRECTIONS

by Kathryn Ceceri

REVIEW

The Post Star, Glens Falls, NY

August 20, 2003

Saratoga Springs--It's only because Camille West messed up a few weeks ago at the Tang that I even ended up crowded into a stage-side table last weekend at Caffè Lena. After all, if anyone can forget the lyrics to TWO songs (her own lyrics, mind you) and still leave you feeling satisfied, she must be pretty damn good.

And though the program was largely the same--one much of the audience had probably heard before--there were still enough new material to make the evening worthwhile.

They were shoehorning them into the tiny Phila Street folk music Mecca Saturday night as West, a Queensbury folk singer who now tours the country as one of the Four Bitchin' Babes, played one of her rare local gigs on the stage where she got her start.

West writes the kind of songs that make an audience pause for the merest beat before shrieking with laughter. More than once throughout the show, you could see her stop to watch the rumble of laughter make its way around the room as the punchline sank in.

But it's not only her witty writing that makes audiences laugh. West packs so much animation into her delivery that on CD you can virtually "hear" her expressions. In person, it sometimes seems like the compact-sized middle-aged dynamo is going to land in your lap with enthusiasm.

As promised, West performed many of her big "hits," including "Viagra in the Waters," and the obligatory folksinger's sea shanty, a Gordon Lightfoot-inspired "she-shanty" called "The Nervous Wreck of Edna Fitzgerald." From the howls of delight, many were getting to hear these fan favorites for the first time.

She also reunited for several songs with local singer Eleanor Stanton, whose harmonies added another dimension to West's upbeat melodies.

But she also gave a tantalizing hint of new directions she might begin reaching for, now that she is moving away from the phase of her life she celebrated with the song "Suburban Mother from Hell."

An as-yet unrecorded song, "Say it in Italian," is sweet and romantic, with only the slightest humorous kicker at the end. It's one of several "lost" songs she recently recovered from the depths of an old computer hard drive.

Wes has said composing songs for the off-off-Broadway revue "Sex: The Musical" opened up her songwriting by allowing her to tell a story from the point of view of a character, not just herself.

That greater depth seems to be behind the somewhat different mood of her new song, "Synchronicity," from her as-yet-unrevealed play in progress. In it, she uses plain persuasion and gorgeous songwriting, not just a lightning-fast wit, to get her message across. It will be interesting to see where West goes from here.

Opening for West was the New York City-based jazzy-folk trio, Dave's True Story. Guitarist and songwriter Dave Cantor, vocalist Kelly Flint and bass player Jeff Eyrich set loose some interesting lines of their own, just as thought-provoking, with a humor more quirky than broad. The group can be heard on two Pottery Barn compilation CDs, and on the soundtrack of "Kissing Jessica Stein."

© 2003 Post Star Newspaper