Barbra Lica in Ancaster

You've probably never heard of Barbra Lica.  A month ago I hadn't either.

Three weeks ago, on a Saturday morning, I was driving and happened to be on the Jazz station when they played a nice version of "Young At Heart", the old Frank Sinatra hit.  I didn't recognize the singer, but I waited for the DJ to announce it.  He said the name, but because I had never heard of her it went right out of my head.  When I got home I checked the radio station's website to see if they listed the songs they played.

Sure enough, there it was.  Young at Heart, by Barbra Lica.  So I checked out her website, and listened to a few more samples of her work, and liked what I heard.  There was a link to a record company, and you could order her CD for $20.

At first thought that was a little pricey for someone I had never heard of, but it was just twenty, including tax, shipping and everything so I ordered one.

I saw on her website that she was one of Peter Appleyard's Sophisticated Ladies.  I checked my album and found that I already had a track by her, "Satin Doll".

Six days later, when the CD appeared in my mailbox I had totally forgotten about it.  But I was just on my way out so I took it with me and listened to it in the car.

I quite enjoyed it, even more than I had expected.  When it finished I let it play again.

Barbra herself wrote six songs on the thirteen song CD, most with Colin Story, and one, in the running for best song on the CD, by herself (That's What I Do, the title song).  And the songs she covers are not the same old, Great American Songbook songs.

She does a nice version of "Vienna", the Billy Joel song.  If it was not for Christian Borle's version in Smash! (the TV series) I would have never heard the song by anyone other than Billy Joel.  But considering Barbra's CD has been out for a year, I guess she did it first so I'll give her credit for that.  She also does "Quiet Nights", "P.S. I Love You" (not the Beatles' song, the Johnny Mercer/Gordon Jenkins one), "But Not For Me", a surprisingly nice and different version of "You Are My Sunshine", and "Pretend".  And of course, the aforementioned "Young At Heart".

I looked at her website again and discovered she was scheduled to play a free concert at Fieldcote in Ancaster in a couple of weeks.  I had nothing on the agenda for that day and I thought just maybe I'd go.

I couldn't convince my wife or daughter to go with me.  If it was a little closer, then probably but neither seemed sufficiently interested so when the day came I went by myself.  I left about three, knowing that traffic could be a little busy on summer weekends.  Well, no problems this time.  I had allowed myself plenty of time for supper first, and made my way to the Hamilton Hooters first.

You've probably read my earlier post about the Whitby Hooters closing down, so you already know that I love Hooters.  It was nice going again but, just like the Downtown Toronto Hooters, it wasn't the same.  The food was great, but the girls didn't know me, and pretty much ignored me except for the usual waitress things.  Anyway, I sat there for more than an hour, drinking Diet Pepsi and using their free internet.  Just before six I left for Fieldcote.

Good thing I did.  There were already quite a few people there.  Not so much for Barbra, but just for a free concert, from what I could tell.  No one around me seemed to have any idea what they were about to hear, from the comments around me.  "I hope she's not an opera singer" was among the things I heard.  Fieldcote seems like a nice place, but it had been hit hard by a storm a few days earlier.  Lots of old trees were down.

First the band came out and did an instrumental.  Four pieces--drums, bass, piano, and a horn player who switched, mostly between a saxophone and a flute.  Then Barbra was introduced.  Except for a couple of pictures this was the first time I saw her.  She's a tiny thing, but was wearing four-inch heels so she looked about the regular size.  Very pretty, and very blonde.  It was hard to take pictures, as she was too easy to over-expose.  But I took lots and many of them came out very well, especially later in the evening as the sun began to go down.  Her legs are very muscular, and she mentioned that she's a runner, in training for a marathon.

She did a ninety minute show so she sang a lot more than what is on her one and only album.  She talked quite a bit between songs, possibly because most of the audience didn't really know her or her music.  She pointed out her father who was there to videotape the show for "the YouTube", as she called it.  I also "videotaped" three of the songs with my Blackberry Playbook, with surprisingly good quality.  Being outdoors, and not being too loud helped I think.

At the end of the show she went over to the side where they were selling her CD and signing it for people. She wrote on mine "To Michael--U rawk my sox!" which made my wife ask what on earth she meant by that.  I admitted that I really had no idea, but she was writing weird and unusual things on everybody's CDs.  I showed Barbra my camera and said I'd love to get a picture with her, but I didn't have my usual photographer with me (my daughter).  She said, no problem and handed the camera to the woman selling her CDs, and she took the picture below.

Anyway, Barbra Lica (Lee-ka, not Like-ah) is a cutie and a very talented singer.  Check her out if she plays anywhere near you, and buy her CD.  You won't be disappointed if you like this kind of music at all!

Michael