Are bar/lounge singers real? Where do I find them?

Like that super-played movie trope of a bunch of people sitting at round tables in a smoky dimly-lit bar in front of a stage with a woman in a v sparkly dress and a harsh spotlight on her.

Is this a bygone era? It is in SO MANY MOVIES/SHOWS but seems completely fabricated; I have never heard of this happening IRL or seen this or even seen a bar set up like this but I really, really want to. Someone please tell me how.

S: theater ppl putting together their own cabaret acts to tide them over between gigs; that is the modem incarnation of the "cabaret singer"

I have like 10 friends who do this

s: drew barrymore in the hbo grey gardens singing at reno sweeney's.

Huh? Surely this happens all the time at jazz clubs? Not sure about the sparkly dress.

e.g. I remember seeing this person sing in bars in Toronto: http://www.melissastylianou.com/news.html

Or are you looking for something different from this?

There was a lounge act I used to run across in Chicago about 7 or 8 years ago. They were called Quiet Storm, and I encountered them twice: the first time at an Italian restaurant, the second time at a bowling alley.

Marty and Elayne at the Dresden room in LA since 1982

It happens round here all the time (Vancouver) except for the "smoky" part obviously. No smoke. Just a woman in a sparkly dress with a trio, quartet or even quintet playing some jazz standards. In fact we have a college course here with a whole program which vomits out these bands to play in all the local restaurants which require them.

Friends of mine got married a few weeks ago, and the band was a quartet of woodwinds, keys (also playing bass lines with pedals), drums and vibes. Two of the guys are Hispanic, and have evidently played together since the late 50s! They did Ellington, Basie, Mancini, Prima, cha chas and cumbias, and a few curveballs like "Theme From The Odd Couple." They were marvelous, survivors from a time when that type of music played in supper clubs every weekend.

no lady in a sparkly dress, but this is my fave lounge singer ever

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_3ufnH7nPU

rred fox room san diego

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmlUde6Xm_M

Is the Dresden room fun? In ny, try the Carlyle hotel: Carlyle cafe for the splurge, and bemelmans bar for the relative savings.

It's true that we should retire the "Ramada Inn lounge singer" cliche. Does the Ramada Inn hire singers for its lounges

dresden's a trip. good steak too.

(are you coming to LA, VP?)

dresden room is beyond corny

and full of douchebags

but that's actually my general take on los feliz so ymmv

los feliz ilxors excepted

I was just thinking abt this thread today and how like 30 or 50 years ago ppl used to call these places "nightclubs" but now that means like Tiesto bullshit

Yep, Donna rouge, sept 5-9. I'm trying to help my sis decide on an l.a. neighborhood to call home. Expect me to be blowing up the l.a. threads in the coming days.

happy 78th to Nick Apollo Forte

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3WzmKISWMc

What about somewhere I can watch a guy from the Venezuelan jungle wobble around the stage in a fat suit and a paper mache mask? Do they still do that kind of act anymore?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bj2Iw5CepMc

The singer isn't wearing a sparkly dress, and this is a bit more straight-up Latin jazz than lounge, but the wedding band I referred to 3 years ago (upthread) is on youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBEeCe0aXEk

saw a hotel jazz band in Shanghai (the one in this video but w/ an added female vocalist), it was p dope and the closest i've gotten to this sort of thing, though my enjoyment wore off quickly bcz it was SO overly air conditioned and I was jet-lagged and v tired/out of it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6wtxrUQgDQ