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Chandler Center for the Arts staff sent a Q & A to Pink Martini's bandleader and pianist, Thomas Lauderdale. We wanted to know the behind the scenes of creating a one-of-a-kind band like Pink Martini. Drawing inspiration from music all over the world, Pink Martini is constantly pushing and crossing genres of music. According to Lauderdale, the incredible part about this "genre defying little orchestra" is that it brings together people who "normally wouldn’t stand next to each other," creating an inclusive and diverse audience.
Having released 11 studio albums on its own independent label Heinz Records (named after Lauderdale’s dog), Pink Martini has sold over three million albums worldwide. In 2023, the band is celebrating its 29th year of performing, and preparing to celebrate its 30th anniversary from July 2024 – July 2025. The band is currently at work on a new studio album, due in 2024.
Featuring a dozen musicians, with songs in 25 languages, Pink Martini has performed its multilingual repertoire on concert stages on six continents. For one night only, Pink Martini featuring China Forbes will be performing their Tons of Tinsel Tour. The performance will take place on the Steena Murray Mainstage at Chandler Center for the Arts on December 15th, 2023 at 7:30 PM. This is a holiday show unlike any you have heard—get your tickets today before they are all gone!
CCA Staff: How did Pink Martini come to be?
Thomas Lauderdale: I was working in politics when I got back to town from Harvard. I really wanted to become Mayor of Portland. And there was a very nasty attempt to amend the Oregon State Constitution to illegalize homosexuality in the state of Oregon. So, I was on the campaign in opposition to Measure 13 in 1994. I had just seen Pee-wee Herman’s Christmas special, which has 25 different stars in it in 45 minutes: k.d. Lang, Dinah Shore, Little Richard, Magic Johnson, Annette Funicello, Frankie Avalon, Cher, Charo, Grace Jones, and The Del Rubio Triplets – three gals, three guitarists, who were somewhere between the ages of 70 and 80. They wore little mini-skirts, little booties, and they looked exactly alike – big hair. And they played guitar and warbled covers of “Walk Like an Egyptian” and “Whip It.”
So, I decided that I should bring them to town to do a series of mini concerts in retirement homes and nursing homes and hospitals and rotary meetings. And then at the end of the set they would say, “Vote No on Measure 13.” At the end of the week, we had a big community concert at a local theatre, and I needed an opening act. I was trying to get a hold of a surf band called Satan’s Pilgrims- this amazing, gorgeous group with whom I just released the LONG-shelved collaboration album “Thomas Lauderdale Meets the Pilgrims”. But back in 1994, they weren’t answering my call for a main act, so I threw on a cocktail dress and started Pink Martini.
Pink Martini- such as it was back then- was just going to be a once or twice thing, but pretty soon thereafter we became kind of like a house band for parties for progressive causes – affordable housing, public broadcasting, libraries, music education, civil rights, the environment. And if there was a benefit for you-name-it, we probably played it. The first four or five years we never travelled beyond the Portland city limits. And then we made our first record, Sympathique, with the song “Je ne veux pas travailler,” which crazily and much to our surprise caught on in France and became a big hit. So, we developed a career in Europe before we ever really had one in the U.S.
Pee-wee Herman’s Christmas Special was the biggest inspiration for that first variety show concert. So, if it wasn’t for Paul Rueben- and a nasty anti-gay-rights initiative in Oregon in 1994—the band would not exist!
How would you describe the music of Pink Martini?
As you may know, that’s not an easy task! We have so many inspirations and influences, so many musicians! We sing in 25 languages and blend a lot of musical styles. We’ve been called a “genre defying little orchestra," and I like that better than any one type of band. What we strive to do is represent is all of these different components that make a more beautiful, inclusive America and world and a more beautiful and inclusive sound. Our “little orchestra” is made up of a diverse group of people with different musical educational training, genres, and styles that all come together and blend and contribute different parts to make the sound of Pink Martini, much like the different people make the culture and fabric of America. I think there’s a diplomatic, ambassadorial element to the band. I still think the band has this great impact of appealing to fans who like different kinds of music, people who are very different from each other. We’ve got very conservative fans, very liberal fans, very young fans and older fans. And because there are so few places where people cross-pollinate, at least in this country, our music brings together people who normally wouldn’t stand next to each other. And that’s one of the very best elements of the band. I think the music’s really beautiful, but actually what’s more beautiful to me is just looking at the insane cross-section of people that are in the audience.
2023 is Pink Martini's 29th year! Is there anything exciting coming up for you all?
Well, hopefully in the next year we will have another studio album! Both China Forbes and Edna Vazquez are also working on releasing solo projects this next year. And of course, there is always touring. After 29 years, it is truly amazing that we have the band that we have and that it is as wonderful as ever, and at least for me, is as fun as ever. And I think the band sounds so great these days and I'm just impressed with how great each of our band members are as people and as musicians!
What albums or songs are you most proud of recently?
One of the albums I’ve been obsessed with this year is album we just released on Heinz records- Pink Martini’s boutique label I started with our first album. It’s called Thomas Lauderdale Meets the Pilgrims and it’s the result of a long-shelved collaboration project with the iconic Portland surf music band Satan’s Pilgrims. I should say there is absolutely nothing satanic about them, they are the nicest guys in the world, and incredible musicians! I met them in Portland almost 30 years ago and was instantly mesmerized by their sound and stage presence and desperate to make music with them. I thought “how can I make this happen?” and decided that a surf-rock version of “Rhapsody in Blue”- one of my absolute favorite pieces of music- would be perfect. We began recording it in 1996, around the same time as Sympathique. That album got finished first and Pink Martini’s career sort of took off and that was it with the Pilgrims for over a decade. Then we went back into the studio in 2011 and recorded a few more songs, and then again left it for another decade. Then when we are all on hiatus from touring during the pandemic, I decided to dust it off and work on it. It took another year but the album came out this summer and I’m thrilled with how it turned out. We had the Pilgrims on tour with us this summer and it was really fun to introduce Pink Martini audiences to a new sound and genre of music as well.
What musicians/bands are you listening to right now?
The Music Man soundtrack- I love some of those classic American Broadway musicals- and diving into the catalog of the legendary Iranian singer Googoosh. Pink Martini has covered her original song “Kaj Kolah Kahn” and I’m now working on a collaboration album with her.
If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you live and why?
I don’t think there is anywhere I would rather live than here in Portland, Oregon. I am originally from a plant farm in rural Indiana, but my family moved to Portland when I was 8, and except for college in Cambridge, this has been home ever since. My partner, pianist Hunter Noack, and I live right smack in the heart of downtown Portland in an historic building that I renovated over the years. The main floor has the offices of the band and record label and band practice space with two grand pianos. It's sort of the center of everything, we call it The Pink Martini World Headquarters. We also recently bought a cabin on the Clackamas River just outside Portland, and when we aren’t on the road, or entertaining and doing business downtown, that’s where we love to be.