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Veronica Klaus has been a force to be reckoned with since she first moved to San Francisco on a stormy New Year's Eve in 1986. Since then Klaus has invented and re-invented herself many times over-from fronting her Heart and Sour Review singing big band soul to intimate cabaret with a trio-and recorded a GLAMA Award-nominated album of original material, All I Want. She has played countless SF venues, including the prestigious home of jazz, blues, and notable chanteuses, The Plush Room. Many of us have fond memories of "Puttin' on the Titz," her infamous fund-raiser for, well, you know…her tits!
Her latest album, Live At The Lodge, is a rich tapestry of songs that give us a glimpse of a complex entertainer and her journey. Klaus always takes center stage, but also is more than willing to play the role of "the girl singer in the band," allowing her tight 12-piece orchestra to bust out jazzy jams on standards like the opener, "Fever." Klaus adds some clever additional verses to "Fever" that strike a chord with the LGBT community, including references to Liberace with his chauffeur and Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas.
"Come To Mama," covered by the likes of Ann Peebles, Etta James and Janis Joplin, gets new life from Klaus. She serves up several torchy ballad: Nona Hendryx's sexy "You Turn Me On," Phoebe Snow's "Something Real," "I Can't Wait To Get Off Work" by the Bay Area's Tom Waits, and the stand-out "Dark End of the Street," a James Carr chestnut.
The fabulous Mark Weigle duets on "Angel From Montgomery," a touching Prine classic that is a perfect lead-in to Carol King's "Way Over Yonder." A true gem is Klaus' befitting cover of Gloria Gaynor's quintessential "I Will Survive." As it does on the whole set, Tammy Hall's polished piano work adds an unmistakable professional shine. The beautifully penned Klaus original "Black Diamond Days," from her All I Want album, closes and holds its own nicely with all the standards.
Live At The Lodge is a live concert recording that was produced as a benefit for the Rainbow World Fund, an LGBT non-profit agency, and the CARE Haitian Relief Campaign. CDs are available through www.veronicaklaus.com
--Sam Labelle, Magazine 99, May 2005
"You just can't force this jewel of a girl into a square setting." Veronica Klaus belts on "Black Diamond Days," an original tune charting her journey" from that old coal town to a Golden Coast." The song is an emotional high point on Live at the Lodge, recorded in 2004 at an SF benefit concert. Though live, preferably in an intimate cabaret setting, is the ideal way to catch Klaus's act, Live at the Lodge still captures her strengths.
Backed by a talented ensemble that includes pianist Tammy L. Hall, she answers the crowd's appreciative hoots with her sassy spin on "Fever." Her versatile vocals spice up familiar torch songs: "Dark End of the Street"), Klaus is unafraid of straying from the standards; her takes on Bill Withers ("Use Me") Carole King ("Way Over Yonder"), and especially Tom Waits ("I Can't Wait to Get Off Work") are inspired, as is her stripped-down duet with Mark Weigle on John Prine's "Angel from Montgomery."
--Cheryl Eddy, SFBay Guardian, May 11, 2005
