This weekend, Wharton Center audiences will be treated to the song stylings of five-time Grammy-nominated vocalist/pianist Michael Feinstein and Pink Martini’s powerhouse Storm Large. Their Shaken & Stirred tour, arriving in East Lansing October 12th, features song selections from the Great American Songbook. Click here for additional show information and tickets.
Storm Large — musician, actor, playwright, and author — is a musical force of nature, best known for her appearance on CBS’s “Rock Star: Supernova,” musical memoir “Crazy Enough,” and performing with Pink Martini. I spoke with Storm about her career, working with Michael Feinstein, and how music connects us all.
STEFANIE POHL: I have been reading your memoir “Crazy Enough” and I need to tell you that I am enjoying your writing so much. You are a beautiful writer.
STORM LARGE: Wow. I was barely educated. I’m super flattered that you like my writing style. I have horrible dyslexia, and ADD. Writing that book was so hard to do. I’m so glad you’re enjoying it so far. That means a lot.
POHL: This year marked the 10th anniversary of your “Crazy Enough” one-woman show based on your life. What was it like revisiting the show for your special engagement in Portland?
LARGE: I did it with a chip on my shoulder with myself, to see if I could do it again. It almost killed me 10 years ago. I was really anemic, my hair was falling out, because I was doing eight shows a week for almost six months without a break. It put me in the hospital at the end. As soon as I wrapped the show, I was horribly f—ed up. I had a really horrible breakup right at the beginning of the show, and was homeless for most of the show, crashing at friends’ houses and staying at hotels. It was pretty intense. There was all of this stuff going on, so I said I wanted to do the show again, 10 years later, and attempt to do it where I am in control of it. I’m in control of the story, it’s not killing me. I did it in hopes that I would get past some of that stuff. It’s an ongoing thing. I’m a lot further along than I was 10 years ago in terms of my emotional and mental health. I’m a much stronger storyteller and performer now.
POHL: How do you like to approach performing and possibly reworking a classic song?
LARGE: I don’t set out to change things or alter them, especially if the song has been done perfectly before. I’m so emotional that I respond emotionally to something, for whatever reason. What ends up happening is I try to find the emotional honesty of what it was about that song that moved me. Usually it’s a turn of phrase or a harmony, the way something gets put together in certain songs. Sometimes I think, “this is such a romantic song,” even if it’s a hardcore, punk rock song. Like Bad Brains’ “Sacred Love.” It’s a punk rock song with lots of electric guitar sounds and metal-sounding. When I was a kid, when I first heard it, I thought it was the sexiest thing I’d heard in my life. I thought it was the most romantic thing ever that a punk rock lead singer of one of the best bands in the world was so in love with his girlfriend that he sang a love song to her over the phone from jail. I was like that is literally the hottest thing I’ve ever heard in my life, hands down. So I turned it into sort of a “you give me fever” vibe, because that’s what it feels like to me. I convey it that way. Not setting out to change it in any way, because the Bad Brains are a perfect band in my opinion.
POHL: Who are some of your musical heroes?
LARGE: Miriam Makeba. I love John Denver, The Beatles, The Kinks. The Kinks were probably my first favorite band of all time. Foreigner, old 80s rock. Aerosmith, Public Enemy, old hip-hop. Run DMC. Bad Brains, The Pixies. Bad Brains, The Pixies, and The Kinks are probably the holy trinity of my favorite bands of all time.
POHL: How did you meet Michael Feinstein, and what would you say it is about the artists and songs from your show Shaken & Stirred that remain timeless?
LARGE: I did “Crazy Enough” in Australia at a cabaret festival and then did a small tour of the show. That was the first time Michael Feinstein ever saw me. Someone came up and said he was in the audience, and I was like “oh f—. There goes my chance of ever performing at his club.” Because it’s a very dirty show; it’s very sexual and very raw. But he loved it and loved me, and we have become very good friends. He doesn’t like the kind of music that I like, but he sees the value. He loves me and knows that I can find emotional honesty in a heavy metal song, and a Cole Porter song, and a punk rock song, and a hip-hop song, and Irving Berlin. These are all crazy different artists from crazy different walks of life, but the human heart always fears the same, feels the same, wants the same. We have different languages and accents and approaches, but at the end of the day, we want to belong somewhere. We want to be loved. We want to be a part of something. Whether we’re singing through the payphone in jail, we want to be loved. Whether we’re crooning about a woman, even though we’re gay and only love men, we want to be loved. There are a lot of stories out there, but the human heart speaks in a very simple language.
POHL: What has your experience been like in getting to know and work with Michael?
LARGE: I just love watching him, because he’s such a miracle. He’s so good, because he feels everything like I feel everything. So into every word. He doesn’t do it in the show, but I was at a party with him one time and I watched him do the Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Cowardly Lion bits from “The Wizard of Oz” all as one piece. He did it all by himself on the piano, and I cried. I watched him and wept, because it took on a completely different emotional honesty and vulnerability. I was already in love with him and fell more in love with him in that moment, just because of his incredible courage to be that vulnerable. He’s just so f—ing good. A lot of it is me going, “I can’t believe that you let me hang out with you.” I’m always in awe that he loves me like he does.
POHL: Are there any rituals or must-haves for when you’re on the road?
LARGE: Really just water and tea. If I feel a little dry, I need to eat something greasy to keep my voice moist. The only ritual I have is a gratitude ritual, telling myself thank you. Thank you to the universe, thank you to God, thank you to the people who love me and help keep me alive, thank you to Michael. Whenever I’m in an airplane and we land safely, I always give great thanks because of all of the bad things that could go wrong. Gratitude is my go-to ritual. F— man, I’m in Washington D.C. right now, and s— is it intense here. You can only imagine how crazy everyone is feeling. It’s easy to get very caught up in the stress and fear. I’m so sensitive that I pick up on it. Much better to keep yourself together and keep yourself kind. Treat yourself and others around you with kindness. There is a common heart in all of us.
POHL: Thank goodness for people like you and Michael in the arts, who give us a night of not looking at Twitter or the news and provide us with a break.
LARGE: It’s really healing, especially now, for people to sit in the dark on a date or with their friends and be surrounded by sound and light. Some stories might touch on the political atmosphere, but when I touch on the political atmosphere, it’s just to say, “let’s remember our humanity. We’re all here in the dark together, right now.” We are hoping for the same things in our families and loved ones, even if we call our God by a different name. They didn’t come to get yelled at and be reminded of what kind of s— awaits them outside. They want to come in and feel good, and I think hearts and minds are one in the dark. Not everybody — I’ll go ahead and exclude the Nazis. The Nazis don’t come to my show.
Don’t miss Storm Large and Michael Feinstein when they perform at the Wharton Center this Saturday, October 12th, 2019. Click here for show and ticket information.
I love Storm Large! Her voice is just amazing and then I read her book and fell in love!