“The lessons Flather learned are universal, so even if you’re not interested in the arts or fashion industry, readers will find themselves being able to relate to her trials and tribulations...If you’re looking for a heartwarming and inspirational memoir to keep you motivated when the winter blues hit, you’ll enjoy Flather's entertaining novel.” - Amanda Ferris
Natalie Loves Beauty Natalie J.
“MEG FLATHER BACK AT METROPOLITAN ROOM, NYC, WITH NEW SHOW -- “HOME SHOPPING DIVA” – SUN., NOV. 1, 4 PM & SAT., DEC. 12, 9:30 PM NEW YORK, Fall 2009 – Meg Flather (www.megflather.com), known to millions as one of home shopping television’s most popular on-air personalities, returns to New York’s Metropolitan Room (34 West 22 Street in Manhattan) with a brand new show. Flather will appear in “Home Shopping Diva...songs of love, loss, & lipstick” at the Metropolitan Room Sunday, November 1 at 4 pm and Saturday, December 12, at 9:30 pm. Call 212-206-0440 for reservations. There is a $15 cover charge and two-drink minimum. “Home Shopping Diva...songs of love, loss, & lipstick” is inspired by Flather’s second career as a popular cosmetics salesperson on domestic and international home shopping TV channels. But Flather, who has appeared on QVC, Shop NBC, HSN, TVSN ( Australia ), and The Shopping Channel ( Canada ), has enjoyed a life-long parallel career as an acclaimed singer and songwriter. With more than two decades writing and performing, Flather boasts five albums, all of which are commercially available via www.amazon.com and www.theorchard.com. A member of ASCAP her original compositions are published by Margaret Hall Music. Laced with humorous snippets of her life story, including a childhood spent in the Philippines where her father was a director for the US Peace Corps during the Kennedy Administration, “Home Shopping Diva” celebrates Flather’s life behind the cosmetic counters of New York City (“I think I worked at every department store in New York,” she says). That experience, together with her training as a performer on stage and television (Flather was a regular comic actor on Conan O’Brien’s New York TV show for NBC) made her what she is today: One of television’s top cosmetic hawkers beloved by millions of women. In addition to hommage to the great female singers and composers who inspired her musical career, Flather’s “Home Shopping Diva” includes some comedy songs as well as sendups of the home shopping TV phenomenon and heartfelt snippets of her work advising women seeking the lost luster of their youth. As a singer and songwriter, Flather is a two-time Backstage Bistro Award-winner. Her original music is heard in the soundtracks of theatrical films, including one that bowed at the Cannes Film Festival, as well in as the Off-Broadway play, “Acts of Love,” and “A Secret Best Not Kept,” a multi-media project to prevent teen suicide. She has also performed as a special guest at the Tribeca and Vermont Film Festivals. As a comedic actor Flather has been seen on NBC’s “Late Night with Conan O’Brien” and the syndicated “Rosie O’Donnell Show.” Her band includes pianist Paul Greenwood, drummer John Mettam, and bass player Jamie Rogers.”
— Meg Flather - HOME SHOPPING DIVA
“Contact: Meg Flather (megflather@verizon.net) FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Flather Nearly Flawless At Don't Tell Mama by Andrew Martin (http://www.NiteLifeExchange.com)It's sometimes hard to believe that cabaret vocalist Meg Flather has kept audiences entranced for nearly a quarter of a century, in all manner of clubs from the smallest to the most prestigious, and in her latest show, Home Shopping Diva at Don't Tell Mama, she herself drives the point home by exclaiming, "I feel like my mother gave birth to me on this stage!" And for the most part, she once again manages to score gigantically as in almost every other club appearance she's made since 1986. Detailing her career path from Clinique countergirl to Bergdorf Goodman sales pro to hawking cosmetics on home shopping channels in America, Canada and Australia, Flather weaves a brilliantly-rich musical tale as always.The tone for the evening is set with a hypnotic vocal entrance between Flather and masterful musical director Paul Greenwood on Burt Bacharach's "Say A Little Prayer For You," for which percussionist John Mettam must also be awarded kudos. From there, a lesson on exfoliation in punctuated with "Keep Young And Beautiful," giving way to a heartfelt rendition of John Denver's "Leavin' On A Jet Plane," as only Flather could possibly deliver. Her voice has surprisingly begun to adopt more vibrato than her longtime fans have heard in previous outings, but true to form, it's never a showy distraction employed strictly for the sake of attention. By the time she lays into John Kroner and Gary Gardner's "Soliloquy At 5 AM At The Holiday Inn On I-90," she's firmly hit her stride. This is also ably aided by the bass of Jamie Rogers, who just happens to be her husband. "Love At The Five And Dime" provides a textbook example of everything cabaret performance is cracked up to be, and she achieves a truly 'oooh, wow!' moment with Matraca Berg's "Back When We Were Beautiful."If there is a downside, it's with her self-composed "Stalking Kathie Lee," which comes right on the heels of wonderful anecdotes of the various female celebrities she had to serve at Bergdorf's (including a certain Ms. Streisand). The lyrics don't so much float by on a gentle caress as is customary for Flather, but rather zing past the audience like an out-of-control express train. In fairness, the song was originally composed by the lady to be sung solely with accompaniment on acoustic guitar as opposed to a musical combo, and proves endlessly catchy as a melody nonetheless. However, she more than makes up for this scant indiscretion with "Hush, Hush, Hush" (a tribute to all the friends she lost in the health crisis) and a scrumptious rending of "I Will Wait For You." The evening winds up with a version of "Love Is All That Matters" which can't be described as anything less than heaven-sent. In addition, Marc Geller has turned in a top-drawer job as director, and Bobby Kneeland's technical direction is simply superb from the first moment to the last.Audiences have another chance to catch Meg Flather in Home Shopping Diva on Friday, April 16th, at Don't Tell Mama (343 West 46th Street), and this may well be their last opportunity before she begins a run of a brand-new show in May. Towards that end, this writer simply could not more strongly urge audiences to attend.” - Flather Nearly Flawless At Don't Tell Mama
— NiteLifeExchange.com
“MEG FLATHER brings “HOME SHOPPING DIVA” – to Don’t Tell Mama NEW YORK, Winter 2010 – Meg Flather, known to millions as one of home shopping television’s most popular on-air personalities, brings her highly acclaimed one woman show to Don’t Tell Mama (located at 343 West 46th Street), Fridays February 19th, March 19th and April 16th at 9:15 PM. There is a $17 cover charge and two-drink minimum. (Call 212-757-0788 to make reservations.) “Home Shopping Diva” is inspired by Flather’s second career as a popular cosmetics salesperson on domestic and international home shopping TV channels. But Flather, who has appeared on QVC, Shop NBC, HSN, TVSN (Australia ), and The Shopping Channel (Canada ), has enjoyed a life-long parallel career as an acclaimed singer and songwriter. With more than two decades writing and performing, Flather boasts five albums, all of which are commercially available on Amazon and iTunes. A member of ASCAP, her original compositions are published by Margaret Hall Music. Laced with humorous snippets of her life story, “Home Shopping Diva” celebrates Flather’s life behind the cosmetic counters of New York City (“I think I worked at every department store in New York,” she says). That experience, together with her training as a performer on stage and television (Flather was a regular comic actor on Conan O’Brien’s New York TV show for NBC) made her what she is today: One of television’s top cosmetic shop girls beloved by millions of women. In addition to homage to the great female singers and composers who inspired her musical career, Flather’s “Home Shopping Diva” includes some comedy songs as well as sendups of the home shopping TV phenomenon and heartfelt snippets of her work advising women seeking the lost luster of their youth. As a singer and songwriter, Flather is a two-time Backstage Bistro Award-winner. Her original music is heard in the soundtracks of theatrical films, including one that bowed at the Cannes Film Festival, as well in as the Off-Broadway play, “Acts of Love,” and “A Secret Best Not Kept,” a multi-media project to prevent teen suicide. She has also performed as a special guest at the Tribeca and Vermont Film Festivals. As a comedic actor Flather has been seen on NBC’s “Late Night with Conan O’Brien” and the syndicated “Rosie O’Donnell Show.” Her band includes pianist Paul Greenwood, drummer John Mettam, bass player Jamie Rogers with direction by Marc Geller. ”
— MEG FLATHER brings “HOME SHOPPING DIVA” – to Don’t Tell Mama
“Meg Live on the The Barry Z Show”
“by Andrew Martin (http://www.NiteLifeExchange.com) We all know by now that one of the very best things about Facebook is the chance to reconnect with people we haven't seen in a long time and have missed, and such was the case two days ago when I found my old friend Meg Flather. Now, I want to explain a few things about my friendship with Meg. When I burst onto the cabaret scene in '86-87, she was already more or less an established personality; she'd won a Bistro Award for being one half of the vocal duo Leather & Flather (Leather was the brilliant singer-pianist Christian Daizey) and had a huge following in the clubs. I myself never got to see them work together, although I got to see her a time or two at the Duplex piano bar, but in general I had the feeling she'd be unapproachable, because she's very tall and extremely beautiful besides having one of the most remarkable voices in New York City. (Honestly, and here's where I put on my old reviewer's cap, it's a truly unique voice, with a solid tone, terrific pitch, and just enough vibrato to be really earthy without containing a showy distraction. Quite remarkable).Then, when the now-defunct Eighty Eight's opened, they held a major event: it was a two-night memorial concert for the deceased pianist Timmy Moore, whom we lost in the health crisis. And they had an absolutely marvelous roster of performers, including Amy Ryder, George Sanders, Terri White, Lina Koutrakos, Kevin Pititto, and the late Scott Traudt. One of the most chilling moments of all, however, was Meg singing "Millwork" from the Broadway musical "Working." This was not merely a performance, it was a happening event. It was a capacity crowd, and she had us all in the palm of her lovely hand. That was the first time I ever approached her after a show, because I simply had to compliment the performance. I was about as surprised as I could ever be to find out that she was just as lovely a person as she was gorgeous and talented, was thrilled that I'd take the time to say such nice things, and that we were both native New Yorkers. She also freelanced at cosmetic counters at various department stores, which made perfect sense. Needless to say, we stayed friendly.In 1990, I landed my first job in journalism, writing cabaret reviews and entertainment features for Night & Day Magazine, which folded after six months. I was transferred over to writing for the New York Native weekly newspaper, and left there after a year to publish my own monthly magazine, CaB. And I never missed an opportunity to review Meg if she was doing a show somewhere. One that sticks out in particular was a show she did at Don't Tell Mama in 1991, because it was obvious that she was a true original. Rather than delve into the Great American Songbook or concentrate on such standard cabaret fare as the catalogs of Rodgers & Hammerstein, Cole Porter and Sondheim, she bravely chose to infuse pop songs with a tremendous theatricality. In just that one hour of music, she could run the gamut from songs like "Floundering" and the country hit "Where've You Been?" to Marc Blitzstein's translation of Brel's "La Valse A Mille Temps" and Bianca Miller's humorous "Gay, Married Or Sick" and weave it all together in so seamless a fashion that the result was no less than astonishingly spectacular.Once CaB had established its foothold on the international cabaret community, one of the most exciting times of the year became the planning of that season's CaB Magazine Awards. We had run an awards list every season, but April of 1994 was the first time it was presented as an actual ceremony, at Steve McGraw's (formerly Palsson's, later The Triad). We had five categories: Best New Artist, Sustained Cabaret Achievement, Lifetime Cabaret Achievement, Special Service, and Entertainers Of The Year. And I made it a point not to be dictatorial about who the winners would be; I merely combed through every issue from the previous twelve months, composed a ballot, and allowed my twelve cabaret critics to vote in secret for whom they thought should win. And I was overjoyed to tally the votes and discover that Meg was one of our recipients for Sustained Achievement. It was a magical night that I'll never forget regardless, but a true highlight was Meg's performance of "Soliloquy At 5 AM From The Holiday Inn On I-90," which was written masterfully by John Kroner. It was very soon after that she became a true toast of New York at The Ballroom, which I also attended and couldn't have been more proud.However, times do change. CaB closed, I drifted off the scene, and though I didn't know it at the time, Meg did as well; she'd opted to begin singing in the rock'n'roll clubs of New York for the next ten years. Along the way, and aside from appearing in skits on such television programs as "Late Night With Conan O'Brien" and "The Rosie O'Donnell Show," she also found work as a hostess on home shopping channels like HSN and QVC, and a steady gig (which continues to this day) hawking cosmetics on both Canadian and Australian TV.But...fairly recently, she made a return to cabaret that was met with a not-inconsiderable amount of acclaim. As such, she is returning to the Metropolitan Room with a brand-new show, and I would be remiss as both a devoted friend and a loyal fan if I didn't help spread the word. Following below is her press release for the show. Please, please attend...and be sure to tell her I sent you. Thanks.-------------------------- NEW YORK, Fall 2009 – Meg Flather (www.megflather.com), known to millions as one of home shopping television’s most popular on-air personalities, returns to New York’s Metropolitan Room (34 West 22 Street in Manhattan) with a brand new show. Flather will appear in “Home Shopping Diva…songs of love, loss, & lipstick” at the Metropolitan Room Sunday, November 1 at 4 pm and Saturday, December 12, at 9:30 pm. Call 212-206-0440 for reservations. There is a $15 cover charge and two-drink minimum.“Home Shopping Diva…songs of love, loss, & lipstick” is inspired by Flather’s second career as a popular cosmetics salesperson on domestic and international home shopping TV channels. But Flather, who has appeared on QVC, Shop NBC, HSN, TVSN ( Australia ), and The Shopping Channel ( Canada ), has enjoyed a life-long parallel career as an acclaimed singer and songwriter. With more than two decades writing and performing, Flather boasts five albums, all of which are commercially available via www.amazon.com and www.theorchard.com. A member of ASCAP her original compositions are published by Margaret Hall Music.Laced with humorous snippets of her life story, including a childhood spent in the Philippines where her father was a director for the US Peace Corps during the Kennedy Administration, “Home Shopping Diva” celebrates Flather’s life behind the cosmetic counters of New York City (“I think I worked at every department store in New York,” she says). That experience, together with her training as a performer on stage and television (Flather was a regular comic actor on Conan O’Brien’s New York TV show for NBC) made her what she is today: One of television’s top cosmetic hawkers beloved by millions of women. In addition to hommage to the great female singers and composers who inspired her musical career, Flather’s “Home Shopping Diva” includes some comedy songs as well as sendups of the home shopping TV phenomenon and heartfelt snippets of her work advising women seeking the lost luster of their youth.As a singer and songwriter, Flather is a two-time Backstage Bistro Award-winner. Her original music is heard in the soundtracks of theatrical films, including one that bowed at the Cannes Film Festival, as well in as the Off-Broadway play, “Acts of Love,” and “A Secret Best Not Kept,” a multi-media project to prevent teen suicide. She has also performed as a special guest at the Tribeca and Vermont Film Festivals. As a comedic actor Flather has been seen on NBC’s “Late Night with Conan O’Brien” and the syndicated “Rosie O’Donnell Show.”Her band includes pianist Paul Greenwood, drummer John Mettam, and bass player Jamie Rogers.” - Andrew Martin
“ Meg Live on the Joey Reynolds Show”