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Music... This Week the L-Word is Lounge: Lea Delaria's New Album Anything But Standard By Jimi Wilson Cover courtesy of TelArc International Perhaps a loud, crass lesbian comedian is the last person you'd look to for lounge jazz. I mean, sure, there's Sandra Bernhard, but would't you rather spend an eternity in a chalk board-scratching factory than listen to a minute of Madonna's former fling caterwauling her way through a Johnny Mercer standard? I know I would. Lucky for us there's Lea Delaria, whose latest album, Double Standards, is helping to espablish the erstwhile funnywomyn as a singer with serious talent. Delaria, no caterwauler, gained national attention when she released Play It Cool, a surprisingly rich Broadway standards songbook. And while the comedian cum torch song engenue's her first solo music venture might not have surprised listeners with its choice of material -- after all, she did make a splash in Jordan Roth's The Rocky Horror Picture Show -- her latest offering is anything but, well... standard. Double Standards is indeed unexpected fare, and its novelty caberet- and lounge-style approach to such Alt-Rock staples as Soundgarden's "Black Hole Sun" and Jane's Addiction's "Been Caught Stealing" is sure to raise and eyebrow. But what really makes this a great album is its transcendence of kitsch. Some of the songs are, quite frankly, amazingly mature, mellow and, well -- jazzy. Delaria isn't content to dazzle us with her wit. Rather, she woos us with style, reinterpreted some of the tracks so fully into the jazz genre that you might not at first recognize them as covers. Accompanied by arranger/pianist Gil Goldstein, Delaria runs the gamut of siren song finesse easily drawing comparisons to the great Billie Holliday. But even if these comparisons are overblown, this is a great album, well worth multiple listens.

Brave News World is a general-interest magazine produced online by students in the course Online Journalism JRN 410 led by Professor Anthony Curtis, Department of Mass Communications, University of North Carolina at Pembroke. The cover, sections and pages were designed by students in the course and article topics were chosen and reported by the individual students who wrote them. We are eternally grateful to those agencies and institutions that have graciously provided images for this edition. Views expressed by individual writers in this magazine are not endorsed by the professor, the department, the university, or possibly anyone else. Your comments are welcomed by the professor who may be contacted at (910) 521-6616. Or you may e-mail the professor at acurtis@uncp.edu.