AN EVENING WITH TWO OF CANADA'S FUNNIEST SONGWRITERS

NANCY WHITE & ROGER JAMES

The comic songwriters Nancy White and Roger James are joining forces in a cabaret show they're calling "Peculiar Behaviours", designed to provide a good workout for the abs.

"Of course, " says the ever-modest Ms.White, "I am but mildly amusing. But when I go to hear Roger sing, I always tuck a roll of tensor bandage into my purse just in case."

White, best known for her CBC radio work on "Sunday Morning" and the cd "Momnipotent: Songs For Weary Parents", first played with the mysterious Roger James in a comedy workshop at the Blue Skies Festival. Some may think"Peculiar Behaviours" refers to their stage deportment, but no! It's about the many peculiar behaviours they've been writing about for years.

White developed a particular interest in eccentricity in fifteen years of writing songs about the news. Her latest cd "Stickers on Fruit", ("an artful and entertaining piece of work"- Greg Quill, Toronto Star), acknowledges a squirrel taxidermist, a mooning Quebec athlete, a tractor imitator, and people who water the sidewalk.

While Nancy tackles the topical, Roger goes for the timeless. He'll tell you why Gaelic is not spoken much, and treat you to a selection from the Jimi Hendrix Christmas album. He sings sea shanties for infants, and a song of a pirate who's really just in it for the outfit. He deals with the 60s, and teaches the audience the correct words to "Wooly Bully." At the end, you won't quite know what he did, but there was a bodhran, guitar and banjo involved, and you may have hyperventilated along the way.

Roger and Nancy plan to throw a few Broadway duets into the mix and will try to persuade their witty accompanist Bob Johnston to tell the piccolo player joke.

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