The Waitresses
Most mornings between 1 and 4, this coed group can be found on the stage of Manhattan's Mudd Club, Ritz or Peppermint Lounge, playing to jumping throngs. Now out-of-towners and the nonnocturnal can try a helping of the Waitresses' sassy, gum-in-cheek tableside manner. Patty Donahue, in '50s party dresses, is both blase and hip as she sings the feminist-tinged lyrics of the group's male guitarist and songwriter, Chris Butler. Butler also writes about asexual personal concerns ("Why do I chase the faces that always reject me?") and nearly always salts his compositions with humor. In I Know What Boys Like, Donahue taunts, "I got my cat moves/That so upset them/Zippers and buttons/Fun to frustrate them." No Guilt, a bouncing number with a tropical ska beat and honking sax, is the story of a jilted girl who "fixed the toilet so it doesn't always run...learned the reason for a three-pronged outlet...got 100 on my driver's test...done a lot since you've been gone." The only disappointment is that the Waitresses' other material so far doesn't measure up to those two tasty appetizers.
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