Renee "Rai" Benson (vocals and nonsense), Meaghan Burke (cello/piano/vocals and incense)
Influences
peggy lee, nina simone, otis redding, talking heads, sarah vaughan, the old new amsterdam, brooklyn bridge, junior's cheesecake, williamsburg hipsters, empire state building, mass construction, light pollution, air pollution, noise pollution, soul pollution, fourbuck's on every corner, 11-year-old breakdancers doing a backflip on a moving 6, sick passengers on the train, people watching in union square in the spring, the bubble man in washington square park, the wall street continuum (did you know it reaches all the way to Houston Street now?), Flatbush, one night stands, central park when its dark, the H & M on 125th Street (gentrification everywhere), 2nd Avenue Deli, El Barrio, platanos, Lefferts Garden (part of Crown Heights), Step N Laundrymat "where laundrying is a pleasure," The Church in Fort Greene, Triple Dos Soul, "Big Bertha" in Prospect Park, gentrification everywhere, 24 hour transportation, dancing permits in bars, hardest working folks in any business
Sounds Like
...depends on who's listening. When you figure it out, email us and let us know your thoughts at cheatingonnewyork@gmail.com . We're serious.
Infidelity soup with a dash of caberet.
Two woman. One love. Many broken hearts.
******************************************************************************************
Renee "Rai" Benson hails straight from Brooklyn, New York where all things fantastical and all things jarring meet for a veggie patty. After graduating from NYU, Rai worked as an actress with various theatrical projects, but found that music was the sole of her feet. In 1999, she teamed up with Michael "Ionic" Furjanic and later with Neill "Sandford" Livingston to create the electro-soul musical team Force Theory. In 2006, Rai went solo and began searching for a compatible, unconventional and challenging way to incorporate music theatrically and theatrics musically. Most recently, she sailed through the Balkans on a tall ship performing the political circus theatre spectacle, Utopian Floes, in which she played a major role in the composition of the score. When she is not committing acts of adultery, Rai can be seen in the windows of the 9th District practicing the craft of belly dancing. Rai is excited and humbled to be performing with goddess Meaghan. May they continue to sip cheap bourbon from expensive tea cups 4eva.
******************************************************************************************
Meaghan "Dagmar" Burke spent most of her life orbiting New York (growing up in Ardsley, New York in the "Bestchester" and graduating from Yale in 2006), but was rudely ejected from its orbit before she even got in. Fortunately, she landed in Vienna, where she studies classical cello at the Konservatorium, which is really a cover for her job as a Dirndl-clad exotic dancer. She also teaches "English" to the poor misguided youth of Baden-bei-Wien, dabbles in professional narcolepsy, and enjoys testing the lower limits of the female vocal range. She is jazzed beyond belief to be working with stardust unicorn Renee, and to bring together her loves for cello, singing, composition, and theatre in one unavoidably bluesy extravaganza.
Thank you very much for Link Up & Sharing Your Music
Nice to meet you through cyberlink!
Keep up the Great Work!
Wishes you All the Best in 2009!
Enjoy your Weekend!
I just wanted to let you know that "The James Cottriall Band" will be playing at Replugged (7. Lerchenfelder Straße, 23) on Friday 21st August. It would be amazing if you could make it!
Online Now!
