World Is Watching

Cindy Peress occupies one of the foremost places amongst the blues and rock singers. Her songs written from the live itself, the lyrics honest and full of real feeling combined with top class blues and rock sounds and her unique voice - the world is watching Amsterdam: Holland is supposed to be rainv and very windy in February but the twelve days I spent there this month were unseasonably bright, dry and crisp. I can't say the events that ensued were quite the same to mv dismay Actually the opening of this paragraph is way to try to describe the state of affairs your correspondent found himself in. Blue, blue, blue... might be a better description. So, meeting Cindy Peress in the Egg Cream, (a very cool little organic restaurant) while recovering from most recent "crash & burn," was a strange bit of F. Scott. Cindy is a fierce, uninhibited and opinionated amazon of a woman, to be sure. With an aura as com-pelling as any in some time, she lite me up like a light bulb and gurnered my attention. The musical journey that ensued turned what was beginning to be a dreary musical visit to Amsterdam into a rare and wondertul visit to what, as I have ascribed to before, is one of my favourite cities in the world. Later, I would make the acquaintence of a band called „Men with no Heads" at the Bamboo Bar in the Leidse plein, met with fav singer Saskia Van Orly and very perceptive publishing manager, Yvonne Ellenbaas. But the real highlight and heartstopping talent is Cindv Peress; .mil her just released „The world is watching" CD on Shamrock Records. For all Peress' bluntness and lack of social grace at times, she is one of the truly exceptionally unheralded talents in Europe today, and a world-class singer-songwriter-guitarist in general. Mixtures of influence and reminescence include Aretha Franklin, k.d . Lang, Bonnie Raitt, Robert Cray, Julia Fordham, Lisa Stansfield, Ry Cooder and Charlie Mingus fill this debut release by the artist. Peress, who has been a resident of Amsterdam since 1979, is no newcomer to the club scene in Europe; and has developed her art the hard way and true way of talking it to the masses for years. Having ventured to mention such heralded names as the above, I must also state that Ms. Peress is no copy, nor overly derivative, but an artist in a long line versus some concoction of industry and media. I have not vet had the chance to see and hear Cindy Peress perform live as of yet, but in fact she is a legendary for her live performance in Northern Europe. This is not hard to understand based on my observations of her humanity, forthrightness and charisma. If you're in Europe, look her up and pick up the CD. It is a treat. A privilege.