Okay, I've had enough fun on this blog at Seattle's expense that I feel it's time to give back to the place that has provided me with such a wealth of material. Let's focus on Patti Summers.
Patti, seen above in 2001, is, in my estimation, as good as Seattle ever got. Squirreled away in the bowels of the Pike Place Market (or "Pike's Place Market" as the fleece-clad locals are wont to say), Patti Summers' Cabaret was an urban Shangri-La. A David-Lynchian otherworld, filled with white lacquered chairs and stucco walls painted with Mediterranean vistas complete with painted window frames out of which one was supposedly gazing.
Patti's visage hung, commanding, at the entrance up until the club's demise in the early aughts. The picture was of Patti in her prime, perhaps in the late 1970s, however by the new millenium Patti was a tired husk of an entertainer: bloated, short-tempered and going through the motions.
Patti's cabaret had offered a full menu at one time, but toward the end there were only pizzas, frozen pizzas, heated up by Patti herself between sets of jazz vocal standards. There were three varieties: cheese, pepperoni and half-cheese-half-pepperoni ringing in at $9, $10 and $9.50 respectively. Drinks were $7 and were the domain of Patti's bass-playing husband Gary Steele who would hustle around the room taking orders while Patti threw the pizzas in. Soda was $3.50.
Most came for the irony, though some visited Patti in earnest. Perhaps they remembered her from the 70s when she was more Streisand-like. Patti herself was not interested in irony and was deadly serious about her operation. She frequently snapped at her customers and at the band. I think she lived in the back of the restaurant.
In the fall of 2001, Patti and Gary wrote a couple of 9-11-themed songs and even put out a two-song CD (it cost $10). My friend Paul bought the CD for me; it was he who introduced me to Patti's club and he knew how much I loved these two songs, us having heard them live many times. And so I leave you with Patti Summers' opus: the poignant and nuanced "Something Just Happened," perhaps the most amazing song about 9-11 ever (but only because Elton John hasn't yet written one to the tune of Candle In The Wind).
CLICK TO LISTEN:
Something Just Happened by Patti Summers (c. 2001 Summers/Steele)
"Freedom is golden and some people broke the rules..." -Patti Summers
2 comments:
Nice "pro-Seattle" entry! We miss Patti too. Tired of the verbal abuse between sets, we stopped going a few years ago. I read somewhere that the bar eventually closed down, and is now occupied by a can-can joint. I'd like to think Gary and Patti moved to Florida and are enjoying shuffleboard on the beach, but they're probably living in poverty in Everett.
yes, no doubt Patti was a great talent, but she was rude to her customers and employees alike.
I was both, for a minute, and she was definitely one of the most dishonest people I have ever worked for. I'll leave it at that.
Yes "bloated and cranky" is an apt description. Everett,, in a trailer park! Perhaps she can blast her neighbors with her old 8 tracks. Hopefully the Can Can people "can can!!!!" And got rid of the nasty cockroaches that ran across her 20$ pizzas.
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