Quartet’s ‘traveling pajama party’ hits Las Vegas

Friday, March 7, 2003 | 9:20 a.m.

What: Four Bitchin Babes.

When: 8 p.m. Saturday.

Where: Charleston Heights Arts Center, 800 S. Brush Street.

Tickets: $15; $20 at the door.

Information: (702) 229-6383.

Forget Avril. Forget Christina. Forget soaking up the sun with Sheryl or shakin' it with J. Lo.

The Four Bitchin' Babes have a different song to sing.

Armed with lyrical lamentations, self-empowering celebrations and humorous dedications, the fortysomething singer/songwriters have been spinning tales about motherhood, marriage and American culture for more than a decade.

They're a self-described 'traveling pajama party," a four-woman ensemble harmonizing to original songs about Viagra, love and life on the road.

Most of all, they're bitchin."

"We mean 'bitchin' ' to mean 'cool,' 'tragically hip,' " said Camille West, group member of the Four Bitchin' Babes.

Forgive the clarification, but in crossing the country for concerts, the Babes (as their fans affectionately call them) are used to having their name censored in certain areas, including the city of Las Vegas, which promotes them only as the Babes.

The group frets little over the censorship, however. If the songs are being sung, surely the fans will come. The quartet performs Saturday at the Charleston Heights Performing Arts Center on Brush Street.

"We make 'em laugh. We make 'em cry," West said via telephone from her home in Queensbury, N.Y. "We're singing about who we are. We have our own club, which is different from the twentysomethings. We're coming from a whole different perspective. That's why our audience can relate.

"In addition to West, the group consists of founding member Sally Fingerett from Columbus, Ohio, the musically Celtic-rooted Debi Smith from Washington, D.C., and newcomer Suzzy Roche, of the Roches, from New York City.

Formed in 1990 by singer/songwriter Christine Lavin, the mostly folk group has been playing musical chairs, switching in new members while others leave to pursue solo efforts or have children. Cheryl Wheeler, Janis Ian and Megon McDonough are among former Babes.

"Each one leaves their own mark," West said. "We bring our own flavor to it. Suzzy's kind of quirky. Sally does beautiful ballads, Debi does gorgeous songs with the bodhran (Irish drum) and I can stretch limits ... I can go out there."

The group's sixth and most recent CD "Some Assembly Required" is a mix of satire, wit and melancholy.

Smith pays tribute to a former English teacher in "Bob Dylan's Poetry," West reflects on her home and road life in "These Ruby Shoes" and Roche asserts the rhetorical question: "If all the world's a stage and every person is a player, then aren't I the leading lady in my life?"

Fingerett, who refers to herself in her solo act as the "Mental Yentl," declares on the CD, "Don't mess with me, I'm somebody's mother. I've taken on much tougher than you. I've given birth to sons and daughters. I part the waters and I walk through."

The songs were recorded by each member independently, followed by a group gathering in Nashville, Tenn., in which members sing harmonies. It was a switch from "Beyond Bitchin,' " their previous CD in which the group spent a week recording together at Longview Studios in North Brookfield, Mass.

"We wanted to try something different," West said. "We sort of assembled everything from the disparate parts. It works because it gives a flavor, a sense, of who each woman is."

Each member decides independently which of her songs will be included on a Babes CD.

"We all love each other's stuff," West said. "Hell, if Suzzy wanted to read the phone book, that would be fine because I know Suzzy would do just a great job."

Dubbed the "Comedic Babe," West said she performs mostly comedy songs when singing the Babes. Depending on the audience, this could include "Nobody Beats My BOB."

Written by West for the off-Broadway production "Sex! The Musical!" the song is not about a guy named Bob, but an accolade to a "Battery Operated Boyfriend."

Other West creations include "The Nervous Wreck of Edna Fitzgerald" (a song about a family boat trip) and "L.A.F.F." (Ladies Against Fanny Floss), which targets the bathing-suit industry.

Her "Viagra In The Waters" chronicles what happens when an 18-wheeler accidentally spills a truck full of Viagra into the town's water supply. ("Save your sons, shield your daughters. There's Viagra in the waters all over Johnson City ...")

West began her singing career in her early 30s as an open-mike participant at the renowned Caffe Lena in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

She joined the Babes more than five years ago, replacing Lavin, who had asked that West join her at a performance in Albany, N.Y. without mentioning that it was an audition.

West passed with flying lyrics.

"It's been quite a trip since," she said. "The show is fun and pathos, poignancy and puns. The audiences are warm and loving."

The women perform together two or three weekends a month. At the performances, each woman sings a handful of original songs while the others sing harmony.

"Four working mothers get together without their husbands and kids, it's so much fun," West said.