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camille west - answering the
call to babe-dom
by susan seay
for months, camille west had been ready to
lay down her guitar and quit scrambling for gigs at coffeehouses and folk festivals.
she was ready to set
aside the last seven years of perfecting her musical act, return to college and look for a
job.
then, in february,
the phone rang.
"want to be a
bitchin' babe?" asked debi smith.
"are you
kidding?" west squealed.
of course, she'd
love to hit the road with the foursome that has played to packed concert halls for seven
years.
the four bitchin'
babes was founded by folk star christine lavin, who blends song, comedy and baton
twirling in her ensemble of female songwriters to examine real-life issues facing
women.
"these women
speak to the masses through their songwriting, their stories of getting by, getting it
taken care of, getting over it and, most important, getting it on sale!"
according to a press release.
lavin is retiring as of
september, however, and has bequeathed her spot to west, whose work has a similar emphasis
on humor.
west's life with her
husband and two sons in queensbury will change come august, when she'll begin to rehearse
with the babes and cut a live album with them at the birchmere, a big club outside
washington, d.c.
the babes' fall tour
will then take her winging around the country for shows two or three weekends each month.
she's 40 years
old...and psyched.
"it's so
exciting i can't believe it," west said in a recent interview. "i'm hanging out
with famous folks. this is incredible-little old me!"
the three other
women in the group are: sally fingerett of ohio and megon mcdonough of illinois, both
original babes, and debi smith of virginia. each is an established performer with a unique
folk style.
but none packs a
punch to the funny bone like west, according to group members.
"she's just the
cat's pajamas," said fingerett. "just right. she's going to be fabulous. we're
very excited to have her."
westward ho
west
grew up on long island and became smitten with the guitar at summer camp when she was 11.
in her
adolescence she began writing mournful songs, which she and her husband, scott wodicka,
now affectionately call "wrist-slitters."
she kept her talent
at home through the early years of adulthood, as she raised two boys, justin and jason,
now 12 and 16.
it wasn't until west
returned to school at adirondack community college that she came out of her musical
closet.
a writing-class
teacher ended one semester with an informal gathering, telling her students to bring
something different they'd written. west brought a song.
a fellow student
pointed her to caffé lena, where they hold open mike nights. west tells the story like
this:
she painstakingly
rehearsed several lead-ins, songs and a patter of jokes for in between (west does
not like to wing it on stage), and the crowd responded well.
after the show, lena spencer, the founder of
the cafe, asked west to step into her office.
west, wide-eyed, followed spencer onto the fire
escape, where the cultural pioneer held all her high-level meetings.
"where have you been performing,
dear?" spencer asked.
"the living room," west replied.
spencer looked at the sky for a moment, then
said, "i don't believe i know that club."
as she had with countless artists throughout
the years (including christine lavin), spencer encouraged and fortified, giving west a
chance to play with other artists, then a show of her own.
"mine was the last performance that lena
ever saw in her club," west said.
spencer had an accident the day after west's first solo performance in 1989 and died a
short time later.
"i don't know if i've ever really gotten
over her death," west said.
she began a career on her own after that, with
her husband as manager.
she recorded a cassette called "suburban
mother from hell," which west no longer promotes. she even buried a cassette in her
back yard not too long ago, a ritual to help her put those early years behind her.
two songs live on, however: "getting
raptured" and "freud."
now she's busy promoting her new cd,
"mother tongue," produced by tony markellis of saratoga, which she made with
help from molly mason, jay ungar, billy novick, tony trischka, richard bell and peter
ecklund, among others.
she always has music on at home, but won't
listen to her own work. unless one of her songs starts to play on the radio, which always
brings a thrill, she said.
west hooked up with the babes when lavin asked
her to perform one song with them last year during their show at the egg in albany.
then it came out that lavin was retiring from
the group, and the invitation to jam turned into a one-song audition in front of a large
audience.
"i can't impress upon you the stress,"
she said.
west performed a short comedy routine that
ended with her song "ladies against fanny floss" a rousing diatribe against
designers who promote unwearable clothes for the average woman.
ready and weighting
although she didn't hear from them for several
anxious months, they liked west, whom the slightly older babes now adoringly call the
"baby babe."
between now and august, west's goals remain
what they have been for years: write a handful of new songs, stop smoking (none of the
other babes smokes) and lose weight.
she wears a nicotine patch now while she writes
in her journal at the kitchen table and drinks her own special blend of herbal tea with no
calories.
west considers herself first and foremost a
writer, then a musician and performer. the journal helps her clear out the thoughts that
won't become songs, as well as capture ideas that will, she said.
she is constantly searching for the kernel that
will turn into an idea, that will become a very funny idea, that will blossom into a song.
then she writes the music.
she's confident the songs will come, she said,
and she feels healthy, happy and ready to folk 'n' roll.
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