Duffy

Went to the Phoenix on August 2nd to see Duffy (http://www.iamduffy.com/index2.html) with my wife, my two daughters and my brother and his wife. Duffy came onstage without much introduction at 8:30, and pretty much blew us away with her powerful voice, a cross between Lulu ("To Sir with Love" Lulu, that is) and Dusty Springfield and maybe Petula Clark. When you're in a smaller venue like this, you really feel the bass just sort of pounding you in the chest and right down to your hips...very cool. She only has the one cd, so she sang most of it and added a couple of covers and a "b-side" song to flesh out the show. Great 60's vibe to her music. The show was an hour long, but felt way too short, 'cause we were having such fun listening to the music, and also having a few drinks (very civilized place to see a band, the Phoenix!) Duffy looked very cute in her "K-Mart-style" red & white polka-dot skort-suit thing. Can't dance worth a damn, but knows it, and jokes about it...kind of endearing herself to the crowd while doing so. She comes across as very sweet in her limited stage banter. She's new and unpolished at the moment. It'll be interesting to see how her career turns out - will she be the "Dave Clark Five or Herman's Hermits" to Amy Winehouse's Brit-export gold-standard-bearers the Beatles/Stones, or will she just turn out to be a "Freddy and the Dreamers or Peter & Gordon"? Very good show, with many of my very favourite people to share the experience! Then we went on to a bar across the street from Maple Leaf Gardens, where we met even more of my favourite people (Erin and Tracy and Jay and Luke) for some beer and snacks.