Engerman Grooves at Crepe de Paris

No stranger to the Seattle cabaret scene, Engerman presented his first-ever one-man cabaret show, "Engerman Grooves," at Seattle's premiere cabaret venue, the Crepe de Paris, a French restaurant, bar and cabaret in the heart of downtown. He played to enthusiastic audiences over two weekends.


"It was only four performances, but I learned a lot. About half the tunes were from Maquette [his recent Hondo Mesa Records release], and the others were ones I'm considering for the next HMR album. It was terrific to get such strong response. Many of the tunes were from shows I'd written as far back as 1977. Shows like "Ronnie Bwana, Jungle Guide," "The Ballad of Mary Reade," and "The Big Bad Wolf (and How He Got That Way)." Greg Palmer, who wrote the book and lyrics for "The Big Bad Wolf" even revised the lyrics to one of the songs expressly for the cabaret show.


"There were some songs that I did mainly because I thought they'd work well in the cabaret setting, but wasn't sure they'd word on a recording. I was pleasantly surprised to change my mind and now believe they'll record well, too. The production also kicked me in the butt to finish some tunes that were half-baked, and try them out fresh on the audiences."