Wesla Whitfield - 25 Years at the Plush Room


Twenty-Five Years at the Empire Plush Room
This winter run of 2004, opening December 8th marks twenty-five years of performance at the Empire Plush Room. In conjunction with her release of "In My Life", the latest Whitfield/Greensill collaborative recording effort, this musical celebration of the same title will be a musical retrospective of the twenty-five years spent making music in one of the most glorious performance venues in the world. Come share the journey through story and song, back in time and on into the future.
	Hide Show 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 First Previous Pause or Play Next Last 1979 1980 04 1981 05 1982 1983 07 1984 08 1985 1986 10 1987 11 1988 12 1990 13 1993 14 1995 15 1996 16 1999 17 2004
On New Years Eve, 1979 the Empire Plush Room experienced its eagerly awaited reopening. Rescued from long neglect and sad days as a flophouse cafeteria and card room, the magic of this glorious space reappeared. Pam Books was the headliner for the occasion, and the room manager, Gary Menger invited me to fill in during intermission as a means of promoting my own upcoming debut in a few days. New Years Eve is no time to find a last minute accompanist, and I was ultimately faced with playing for myself. My part of the evening went pretty much unnoticed as I had no microphone, could not be seen in the dark corner where I was performing and… oh dear, it was a most inauspicious beginning. On the following Wednesday, January 2 things went a great deal better. Television and press had blessed me with pre-opening attention, and the room filled with a warm group of standing room only fans. Favorable reviews followed, and thus I began what has become a twenty-five year love affair with the Empire Plush Room. Singing beneath her stained glass Mariner’s Compass has become at least an annual event, and has provided a basis for me to establish a national and now international career. I’ve performed in hundreds of rooms, concert halls and such. And I know, beyond any doubt that the Empire Plush Room is the very best place anywhere to make music.