i n dy e a s t e n d . c o m
the Independent
June 14 2017
Arts & Entertainment
Musings With Nancy Atlas
Independent/Lisa Marie Mazzucco
By Bridget LeRoy
Nancy Atlas is on a roll, in more ways than one.
First off, she’s just dropped another CD, Cut and Run. Featuring the singer-songwriter’s raspy delivery on her artful originals – part rock-and-roll, part sea-shanty, 100 percent Long Island – with her solid bandmates of over 20 years, the album also offers up a sloweddown, sexy, soul-filled version of Dolly Parton’s “Jolene,” which is gaining attention and radio play.
FR EE
IN SP W EC HO TI LE ON H –C O AL USE LT OD AY
Second, on this Thursday at noon, Atlas has just finished an impassioned, high-energy two hours on the air with WPPB 88.3 FM’s Bonnie Grice during the Southampton NPR station’s quarterly fundraiser, and the team
met their goal, and then some. Only a week ago, lightning hit the station and fried the tower and expensive radio equipment, and Nancy offered to come and play an event for anyone who would call and donate the $15,000 to replace the lightning rod. It happened at 11:56, with just four minutes to spare. Grice and Atlas alternately screamed, cried, shouted profanities (not on the air, of course), and there were hugs all around.
Sitting outside the station moments later, admiring Atlas’s locally legendary ’69 Cadillac Eldorado Deville and a few rare moments of sun, Nancy is still juiced up. “I don’t think people realize
how much work this is,” she said honestly. “There’s no team here working on my behalf; it’s me. My days are so full, with so much. But I love it,” she said, smiling. “I love what I do. And I never did particularly well working for a boss. I used to think I wanted an agent, a manager; that it was a sign of success. But now I have really come to believe that I’m exactly where I am supposed to be. I get to do things the way I want them done, and that’s a beautiful thing.” Being a singer-songwriter, performing her own material, requires “a vulnerability,” she said. “Some of the songs are personal.” And painful. One of Cut and Run’s tracks, “Los Angelitos,” features the lyrics, “Lately the days all fall
around her, and her blue eyes hurt in the sun. She’s got an altar behind the washer, where she kneels to put the bottles when she’s done.” Another song, “The Tale of Johnny Lode,” tells the true story of a local fisherman who fell off a boat and spent 13 tortuous hours in the ocean. The recently-released book, A Speck in the Sea, which recounts the event in detail, begins with Atlas’s words, “The Ocean’s your mother, your bitch and your lover, and nobody gets to ride free.” There are light-hearted tunes as well, like the Calypso sounds of “Ookie Ookie,” which Atlas says almost didn’t make the cut “but the seagull noises made it a good lead-in after ‘Johnny Lode.’”
Continued On Page 78.
it crawls, flies or walks — if it bugs you we’ll make it disappear! Call today for a We’re experts about what bugs you... whether free, no-obligation, thorough, whole-house pest inspection to find out if you have any pests.*
TwinForksPestControl.com *NEW CUSTOMERS ONLY, THERE ARE A LIMITED NUMBER OF FREE PEST INSPECTIONS AVAILABLE, CALL SOON. SOUTHAMPTON 631–287–9020 | EAST HAMPTON 631–324–9020 | CUTCHOGUE 631–298–0500 19