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| Eatertainment Shows |
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sayCHEESE!
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West Bank Cafe - Laurie
Beechman Theater
Produced by Divalicious, Inc.
Sponsored by the Artisanal Cheese Center and Diageo Chateau
& Estates Wine Company
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by Jennifer Needleman (jenn@brooklyneagle.net), published
online 03-19-2004 |
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| COBBLE HILL — Brooklynite Jackie Gordon,
as the phrase goes, is singing at two weddings. Er, I
mean, cooking at two weddings. Actually, it’s both. As
Brooklyn’s own singing chef, Gordon has designed her own
form of performance, which she calls “eatertainment.” |
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| Gordon is a trained cook, having worked
as head chef at countless restaurants throughout her career
on both sides of the globe — New York City and Melbourne,
Australia. She is also a world-class singer/performer,
and after years of being ‘Jackie of two trades,’ she decided
to merge her talents. “I create shows around food and
music,” said Gordon. |
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| Born in South Brooklyn, Gordon eventually
migrated to Australia where she designed her first food
and song show, called the Fried Chicken Theory According
to Jackie Gordon. It was a smash hit in Melbourne, unique
for being a dinner show “with actual good food.” |
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| “Australians love black American culture,”
said Gordon. “They just suck up culture from other places.”
The show was conceived when Gordon, working as a chef,
advertised an earlier dramatic work she created about
black American singers and their stuggle for racial equality,
called Black Pearls & Strange Fruit. The newspaper, confused
perhaps because Gordon had been known in the community
as a chef, printed a blurb that led readers to believe
that Black Pearls was somehow food-related. “I got all
these phone calls asking for tickets to the dinner show,”
said Gordon, who was involved in programs teaching the
local Australian community about black American food.
After the flood of phone calls, Gordon decided to take
the hint, and wrote, produced and starred in her first
work of “eatertainment” — educating the public about how
food and music are related through designing a menu, serving
dinner and singing during the meal |
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| “People who make soul music also love soul
food,” was the line of reasoning Gordon used to get people
in the door. Sponsored by Tabasco sauce, one of the most
widely-used soul-food condiments, the show took off, garnering
unexpected critical acclaim and doing good business at
the box office. Gordon was living between New York and
Australia, coming home yearly for visits but returning
to her life as the singing chef of Melbourne. She was
home in New York, however, during the terrorist blasts
of September 11, and after that trauma, Gordon felt she
needed to return. |
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| “You can’t live with your ass between two
seats,” she said. |
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| Now, Gordon is living back in South Brooklyn,
and is poised to take on her two realms of expertise at
once — fine cuisine and exuberant performance. |
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| Her upcoming show, Say Cheese, will feature
Gordon at the microphone as she belts out “cheese classics”
— ditties about the beauty and refinement of everybody’s
favorite churned foodstuff — cheese. Presented in conjunction
with the folks at the Artisanal Cheese Center in Manhattan,
Say Cheese will open at the West Bank Café in midtown,
and promises to be a “multi-sensory, multi-media, educational
and highly entertaining event.” During the show, audience
members will have the opportunity to taste high-end cheeses
from France, Italy, Holland, Spain, Portugal, Great Britain
and the U.S. |
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| “It will make going to buy cheese less of
a traumatic experience,” said Gordon with a laugh. |
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| Apparently, cheese is the new wine, according
to Artisanal Cheese expert and founder Terrance Brennan. |
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| “People are discovering and learning about
different tyupes of cheeses, and they’re treating it like
fine wine, offering a nice piece or a selection of cheese
as a gift, or serving a few special cheese when guests
come to visit…” |
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| For that special type of Foodie who loves
cheese best (let’s call them ‘Cheesies’), Say Cheese will
be a welcomed opportunity to glom up some delicious samples
(and let’s not forget the fancy wines) while bopping to
some cheese-related (not cheesy) melodies. For newbies,
the show will be like freshman year at Cheese University
— with a soundtrack. |
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| Gordon’s company, Divalicious, offers numerous
services, including corporate and private events, eatertainment
shows on demand and personal chef services. |
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| Look out for Gordon’s future projects,
which may include a show called “Maztoh Ball Memories”
in which she will explore the ethnic and cultural connections
brought into her life by the another branch of her family. |
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| Say Cheese will open on April 28th at the
West Bank Café — Laurie Beechman Theater, 407 W. 42nd
Street in Manhattan. The show will play on the following
dates: April 29th, May 5h, 75h, 12th, 13th, 19th, 20th,
26th and 27th, and June 2nd, 3rd, 9th and 10th. For more
information about Jackie Gordon, Say Cheese and Divalicious,
please visit www.divalicious.biz. |
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