Careful – I bite!

Ricky York bites!

Ricky York is anti-Valentine’s Day. I know this because on February 13th I went (yet again!) to Statlers Bar in Boystown to watch my friend sing. After announcing a couple of months ago that her singing career had come to a close and that she was throwing in the towel, she nevertheless decided to make a comeback on this one special occasion; the night before Valentine’s Day.

Ricky hates all things shmaltzy and Valentine’s Day is of particular anathema to this Village Diva. And the owner of Statlers bar obviously knows this, as he invited her to take the stage that eve to belt out a repertoire of appropriately depressing tunes for yet another rapt audience.

With her sidekick, Anne Marie, at the piano (and what a pianist she is, too!), Ricky proceeded to entertain us all with hits such as:

• “Crying” by Roy Orbison
• “It’s Too Late” by Carole King
• “You’ve Lost That Lovin‘ Feelin” by The Righteous Brothers
• “Crazy” by Patsy Cline
• “D.I.V.O.R.C.E.”  by Tammy Wynette
• “End of the World” by Skeeter Davis
• “You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me” by Dusty Springfield
• “All By Myself” by Eric Carmen

And then there was my favourite of the evening, “I Will Survive” by Gloria Gaynor. Although in this rendition Ricky added a uniquely Ukrainian accent to this popular song, so that it would’ve been better billed as “I Vill Surrrvaive!”, sung with a no-nonsense Eastern European attitude. You certainly  wouldn’t want to meet her down a dark alley at night, after watching that performance!

The place wasn’t packed, which actually made for a more enjoyable evening. It was at just the right capacity, with room to wander if needed, while still having enough people inside to make it seem like a good event, which is was. It was obvious Ricky was enjoying herself. There was lots of tongue-in-cheek interaction between her and Anne Marie, as well as (more importantly) Ricky and the very receptive audience. The pre-Valentine’s Day party goers seemed to revel in the genre of the music and lyrics, the content of which was so atypical of the usual songs you’d normally hear around this holiday.

And Ricky wasn’t holding back on the comments she made to a lovestruck couple in the audience, who were gazing a bit too deeply into each other’s eyes. Besides telling them in no uncertain terms that their behaviour was making her feel sick and that she wanted to vomit, she also had a go at them for the oh-my-god-it’s-so-obvious discrepancy in their age. Poor things.

Now I know how a deer feels, when it’s caught in the headlights.

Ricky belts out the tunes as Anne Marie plays piano