Laurel says:
"I’m just a harmless vocalist"

There is nothing to be afraid of. All the stories you've heard are true, but they occurred before I sculpted my talents into appropriate petri dishes, allowing them to bloom independently.

Although confused about what I do and why, I keep moving and have performed all over the world, from Bangkok to St. Barths, Amsterdam to Berlin. I play theaters, night clubs, jazz clubs and performance art venues, never shirking from the special combination of comedy, jazz, improv., audience involvement, interviews, lectures, prayers, dance and socio-political banter.

The Critics say:

Casey has a rich alto voice and great showmanship. Laurel is an attractive, sharp, off-beat and charming theatrical artist. -- Providence Journal

Even though Casey has been performing for 25 years, nobody can come up with a good description of her act. -- Boston Globe

Best impersonation of Lenny Bruce. She pushes social satire to the brink and beyond. -- Providence Phoenix

Visit Laurel's Literary Site:

Laurel Casey: the Hurting Truth

Xaque Gruber's documentary helps explain why some critics find Laurel hard to describe.

Attention Chinese Restaurants!

It has been a couple of months since my performance of Vermont Folk Music. As you know, I reinterpreted such songs as Blowin In The Wind in an effort to reveal the Far Eastern roots that have for so long been overlooked by my fellow Vermonters. I feel a deep connection to this music and look forward to contacting every Chinese restaurant in the D.C. area this coming month so that I can continue to be an Ambassador of a new Vermont product: Maple Syrup laced with soy sauce.

Provocateur

Laurel Casey revels as a provocateur.

Even though Casey, 49, has been performing for 25 years, nobody can come up with a good description of her act, which plays Fridays at Il Bico Restaurant in Kenmore Square. Rope-thin in a floor-length black dress and matching gloves, she “wraps a song around the listener like a silk sheet,” as one reviewer said. Yet she’s just as likely to skewer anybody who happens to be sitting in the same zip code.

Casey nearly lost this gig the Friday before, when a customer came in for a taste of Trenette al Pesto and was shocked - shocked! - by the language in her show.

“It was just so vulgar,” the customer said to the club’s owner after the show about Casey’s use of the “S” word. She was dining with important friends from Italy and Beacon Hill. “Our kind of people will not tolerate that,” she said. “Vulgarissima!” said the Italians.
What the customer didn’t realize was that she had seen one of the tamest shows of Casey’s career. After all, Casey is a performer who has vacuumed someone’s feet while she was eating, and gotten naked on stage.

How To Talk Club Owners During a Recession

Remind them that entertainment was the only business besides bootlegging that continued to thrive during the Great Depression. The worse things get, the more people want to drink and forget their troubles. Instead of cutting entertainment, club owners should consider replacing fresh vegetables with canned peas, corn and carrots. Customers can obtain fresh garden greenery from other sources, such as their neighbors garden. They can certainly stay home and continue to watch porn videos and listen to their i-tunes, but as their life savings evaporate and their homes foreclose, virtual entertainment is not enough, especially when you’re electricity is disconnected. Better to wander into a club, order a triple and stare at a person worse of than you are- the entertainer on stage. Read more »

Laurel says:"I’m just a harmless vocalist"