Pat McCurdy
Encyclopedia
Pat McCurdy is a cabaret
singer/songwriter from Milwaukee, Wisconsin
. He regularly tours the upper midwestern part of the United States
with regular stops in Milwaukee, Madison
, Chicago
, Green Bay
, and Minneapolis. His shows usually consist of just him and his guitar and include improvised interaction with the audience. While the majority of his audience is made up of a college-age crowd, McCurdy appeals to a large number of people of all ages. Performing well over 300 shows a year, his large catalog of original songs (over 600 and growing) covers a variety of topics such as lost loves, politics, family vacations, hair styles, the joys of Asian cuisine, the sex organs of long-dead French Emperors, how the world cannot live without Sex & Beer, and wishing to have a Monkey Paw. He even successfully makes humorous the mundane daily cycle of waking up, going to work, getting drunk, and going to sleep.
on The Ed Sullivan Show
. After teaching himself guitar and participating in several high school bands, he went on to front Yipes! in the late 1970s. Often described as a power pop
or New Wave
band, Yipes! enjoyed some moderate success after being signed to RCA/Millennium in 1978. However, the label dropped the band after only a few years.
McCurdy spent most of the 1980s fronting several bands. The Men About Town (which included several members of Yipes!), Mankind, and The Confidentials all enjoyed minor success touring the Midwest. It was not until late in the eighties, when McCurdy decided to take tentative steps into performing solo, that he managed to find his real niche.
Performing initially for sparse audiences in small bars, he honed his act to what could be described as "interactive goofiness". For example, one of his most popular segments are his tributes to the 1980s and 1990s. These medleys, consisting largely of one-hit wonders from those respective decades, invoke a sort of call-and-response with the crowd, where McCurdy sings a line or two from each song, cueing the audience to continue that bit. This style quickly attracted a devoted cult following of fans, many of whom would (and still do) attend his shows on a weekly basis. McCurdy's act has also brought increased involvement of his sound and light man, Jim "Pipe Jim" Schafelburger, an entertaining aspect in its own right. Over time, the audiences became less sparse and the bars became less small, thanks mainly to word-of-mouth marketing. Still following this formula to this day, McCurdy has managed to create a successful and prosperous existence for himself without the support of a record label.
In 2008, he was asked by the Green Bay Packers organization to write a song to play in the stadium. Originally objecting because he did not like sports songs, he wrote "I Love the Green and Gold," eventually making it into a music video starring himself and featuring Larry the Cable Guy
. After the Packers won Superbowl XLV, he wrote a followup song entitled "The Trophy Song".
Cabaret
Cabaret is a form, or place, of entertainment featuring comedy, song, dance, and theatre, distinguished mainly by the performance venue: a restaurant or nightclub with a stage for performances and the audience sitting at tables watching the performance, as introduced by a master of ceremonies or...
singer/songwriter from Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Wisconsin
Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...
. He regularly tours the upper midwestern part of the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
with regular stops in Milwaukee, Madison
Madison, Wisconsin
Madison is the capital of the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Dane County. It is also home to the University of Wisconsin–Madison....
, Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, Green Bay
Green Bay, Wisconsin
Green Bay is a city in and the county seat of Brown County in the U.S. state of Wisconsin, located at the head of Green Bay, a sub-basin of Lake Michigan, at the mouth of the Fox River. It has an elevation of above sea level and is located north of Milwaukee. As of the 2010 United States Census,...
, and Minneapolis. His shows usually consist of just him and his guitar and include improvised interaction with the audience. While the majority of his audience is made up of a college-age crowd, McCurdy appeals to a large number of people of all ages. Performing well over 300 shows a year, his large catalog of original songs (over 600 and growing) covers a variety of topics such as lost loves, politics, family vacations, hair styles, the joys of Asian cuisine, the sex organs of long-dead French Emperors, how the world cannot live without Sex & Beer, and wishing to have a Monkey Paw. He even successfully makes humorous the mundane daily cycle of waking up, going to work, getting drunk, and going to sleep.
Biography
McCurdy was influenced at an early age by the first appearance of The BeatlesThe Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
on The Ed Sullivan Show
The Ed Sullivan Show
The Ed Sullivan Show is an American TV variety show that originally ran on CBS from Sunday June 20, 1948 to Sunday June 6, 1971, and was hosted by New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan....
. After teaching himself guitar and participating in several high school bands, he went on to front Yipes! in the late 1970s. Often described as a power pop
Power pop
Power pop is a popular musical genre that draws its inspiration from 1960s British and American pop and rock music. It typically incorporates a combination of musical devices such as strong melodies, crisp vocal harmonies, economical arrangements, and prominent guitar riffs. Instrumental solos are...
or New Wave
New Wave music
New Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...
band, Yipes! enjoyed some moderate success after being signed to RCA/Millennium in 1978. However, the label dropped the band after only a few years.
McCurdy spent most of the 1980s fronting several bands. The Men About Town (which included several members of Yipes!), Mankind, and The Confidentials all enjoyed minor success touring the Midwest. It was not until late in the eighties, when McCurdy decided to take tentative steps into performing solo, that he managed to find his real niche.
Performing initially for sparse audiences in small bars, he honed his act to what could be described as "interactive goofiness". For example, one of his most popular segments are his tributes to the 1980s and 1990s. These medleys, consisting largely of one-hit wonders from those respective decades, invoke a sort of call-and-response with the crowd, where McCurdy sings a line or two from each song, cueing the audience to continue that bit. This style quickly attracted a devoted cult following of fans, many of whom would (and still do) attend his shows on a weekly basis. McCurdy's act has also brought increased involvement of his sound and light man, Jim "Pipe Jim" Schafelburger, an entertaining aspect in its own right. Over time, the audiences became less sparse and the bars became less small, thanks mainly to word-of-mouth marketing. Still following this formula to this day, McCurdy has managed to create a successful and prosperous existence for himself without the support of a record label.
In 2008, he was asked by the Green Bay Packers organization to write a song to play in the stadium. Originally objecting because he did not like sports songs, he wrote "I Love the Green and Gold," eventually making it into a music video starring himself and featuring Larry the Cable Guy
Larry the Cable Guy
Daniel Lawrence Whitney , better known by his stage name and character Larry the Cable Guy, is an American comedian, actor, and former radio personality....
. After the Packers won Superbowl XLV, he wrote a followup song entitled "The Trophy Song".
Discography
- Yipes! (1979) (with Yipes!)
- A Bit Irrational (1980) (with Yipes!)
- How To Love And Be Loved (1985) (with The Confidentials)
- The Good Life! (1988) (with The Confidentials)
- Memorial Day (1989)
- The Sound of Music (1991)
- Pat in Person (1992)
- Show Tunes (1995)
- The Big Bright Beautiful World of Pat McCurdy (1997)
- Pat in Person Volume 2 (1998)
- Fainting With Happiness (2000)
- My World of Love (2003)
- 15 Favorites (2007)