Tony Starlight's offers a glimpse back at a '40s-style nightclub
by Peter Ames Carlin, The Oregonian
Thursday August 27, 2009, 4:16 AM
Photo: Leah Nash/Special to The Oregonian
When Tony Starlight hits the bandstand he comes in a blue tuxedo, with a glimmering blue cummerbund and a shirt ruffled to just this side of outlandish. He's got a drink in one hand, a tight jazz trio behind him and a smooth croon that's part Frank, part Dean and every bit as old school as the chrome broadcast microphone standing in front of him.
As long as I'm singin', then the world's all right, and everybody's swingin'. ...
He's snapping and grooving, and the whole club is right there with him: the young woman in sea foam green taffeta, her companion in the black Kangol cap, the older couples in their cocktail gowns and blazers. Cufflinks are not unheard of. You could show up in spats.
Tony Starlight, who also owns and manages the club, would love it if you did. It's all his vision, this luxurious remove from the bonds of time and place, so when he gazes down at the shimmering faces and glittering gowns, he's seeing a dream come to life.
"Nice lookin' crowd!" he says between songs, and he means it. As much as a fictional alter ego can mean anything. Because just as Tony Starlight's Supper Club and Lounge isn't really a 1940s nightclub, and Tony Starlight isn't really Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin or any of the singers he'll cover over the next 90 minutes, he also isn't really Tony Starlight.
Which is sort of the point. Because in this world an evening out should be about making magic. A show should be a show. And even if you think Tony's tributes, impressions and parodies are anachronistic or even corny, you must admit that what goes on in this elaborately staged warren on Northeast Sandy Boulevard is quite a production.
An hour or so before the show Starlight (real name: Brett Kucera) took a seat near the bandstand and remembered the day he first heard the big band jazz that would change his life. He'd grown up in Hood River and Bozeman, Mont., listening to the same bands every other '80s high-schooler loved: Judas Priest, Iron Maiden. He leavened the thrash with the poppier stylings of Neil Diamond and Barry Manilow, but when Kucera started to sing, he was all about the rock'n'roll growl.
Kucera moved to Eugene in 1989 hoping to join a band and give rock'n'roll a go. But the new wave of grunge music did nothing for him, and with nothing to do one day the 20-year-old went to the library and came away with a stack of records from classic artists he'd never heard: Louis Armstrong, Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett.
"I loved it. It became an addiction," he said. "I'm just hooked on melodies and lyrics. And the craft of it -- no one writes like that anymore."
Kucera also figured out that the real bond between Dean Martin and Neil Diamond (and also Def Leppard, for that matter) was their dedication to stagecraft: not just singing a song, but also romancing the audience. "That's the old style of singing and dancing. You engage the crowd, you make each show a real moment."
Asked to join a jazz band to serve as campy lounge singer to their sets, Kucera came up with the Tony Starlight persona. "A smart-mouthed, chain-smoking comedian singing his jokes," he said.
Tony developed a following, particularly after Kucera began writing parody songs for him to sing. But Kucera lost interest in being a spoof artist, and followed his ambition to Los Angeles, where he hoped to pursue a new career in acting and comedy.
He spent a few years in an improv group, and worked as a nanny for a family he'll only describe as "serious A-list people." But show business success continued to elude him, and after seven years he returned to Portland to re-boot his, and Tony Starlight's, singing career.
"I began to imagine a club," he said. And not just any bar with music, but the places Dean and Frank might have played back in their heyday: an elegant room with a fully stocked bar and kitchen. And, of course, Tony would be the star attraction.
A great idea, but who would pay to make it real? At first Kucera talked to potential investors, but when their plans for putting televisions over the bar and video poker machines in the back clashed with his original vision, he decided to go it alone, investing much of the money he and his wife, Sherry, got from selling their home in L.A.
Tony Starlight's opened in Hollywood ( Northeast 37th Avenue and Sandy) at the start of 2007, and after a shaky start developed a regular clientele that returned for Tony Starlight's ever-changing show, along with an array of other bands and singers. Almost everyone shares Tony's jazzy/retro vibe, but the club's namesake remains the club's most potent attraction.
And so here Tony goes, mixing jazz standards with wicked patter lampooning Kids These Days (tattoos, piercings, etc.) and the physical indignities of encroaching age. Then come tributes to the Rat Pack and, a bit more cheekily, a few well-seasoned rockers.
He changes costumes, he tosses in goofy impressions and he works the room, tossing shout-outs for birthdays and anniversaries. By the time the set climaxes with a taste of Tony's tribute to Neil Diamond, that young couple we saw earlier -- he's Chris, she's Kelsey -- are beaming. They weren't alive when Tony's tastes were au courant, not even close. But they couldn't imagine a better way to spend their first anniversary.
"So many people are just plugged into their iPods," said Kelsey, who is 26. "They think that's what music's all about."
"It's more of an experience when you actually see it live," Chris added. He's 28, a salesman of industrial equipment. "When you're here, you can feel the electricity."
The show was over, but they were going to stick around for a while. The rhythm of the music was still in them, and they were swingin'.
Peter Ames Carlin: 503-221-8562; petercarlin@news.oregonian.com
A Day In the Nightlife: Tony Starlight's Supper Club
by Angela Allen - oregonmusicnews.com - August 10, 2010
ony Starlight opened his namesake place in January 2007, determined to bring Portland a nostalgic entertainment venue it didn't have. Not a jazz club, a New York City-style piano bar, high-end resto, nor a concert hall, his room would be a supper club with a variety show, starring himself as Dino, Tom Jones, Frankie, Neil Diamond and made-up characters. He'd make people laugh, connect with the audience, get to know the community -- at least the ones who showed up at his nightclub.
What's odd is that by now the club has become all of those things. Read More >>
A Night in the Life of Tony Starlights
By NoPo Ness - neighborhoodnotes.com - January 28th 2009
Though the hey-day of the supper club has long since past, there are some that miss the relaxed refinement for which these places were known. Portland's own crooner/entertainer extraordinaire, Tony Starlight (aka Brett Kucera) is just such a person. Longing for a venue to perform in which people could sit and leisurely enjoy entertainment while dining, was what drove Kucera to open his alter-ego's eponymous supper club and lounge. "There was nowhere to perform the kind of show that I wanted to perform. Read More >>
Clubscene - Karla Harris @ Tony Starlight's Supperclub and Lounge
By Pam Jones, Writer Jazz Society of Oregon - November 20th 2007
Karla Harris is an engaging performer with stage presence and a stellar voice. Lucky for us she's relocated here, bringing her St. Louis style of swing with her. Her repertoire includes jazz, pop, soul and show tunes. She sings Ain't Misbehavin ' with panache, and tells a story of how Fats Waller came to write it, when he needed money to get out of jail. She engages the audience and makes us happy to be sharing the evening with her.
Don't Explain, a haunting love song by Billie Holiday, is sung unhurriedly and with emotion, "Hush now, don't explain, you know I love you. You are my joy, you are my pain..." Karla lightens the mood with Deed I Do, a show tune by Walter Hirsch and Fred Rose.
Read More >>
Clubscene - Tony Starlight's Supperclub and Lounge
By Carolyn Joyce, Writer Jazz Society of Oregon - October 6th 2007
The jazz at Tony's tends to feature groups who are audience-focused and proud to be viewed as both musicians and entertainers. This includes The Midnight Serenaders, Midnight Siren featuring the bluesy and bawdy vocals of Karen Maria Capo, Pete Peterson's Porkpie, The Bureau of Standards Big Band, and The Stolen Sweets. Check the website for other bands, and for events such as Monday Night Bingo, The Tony Starlight Show, and special parties. Each event is described in detail, making it easy to decide when to plan your visit. Read More >>
Portland's historic Hollywood District is starring in its own revival
By Tyrone Beason - Seattle Times staff reporter
Some of the newer spots trade in a swankier kind of cool. Take the just-opened Tony Starlight's Supper Club-Lounge, located in a triangular building near 37th and Sandy, where live jazz and a Saturday night "Vegas-style" show by Tony Starlight himself are the main draws. On the lounge's Web site, patrons are cheekily urged to dress to impress: "Don't embarrass yourself. It should be noted there will be a $3 surcharge for men in open-toed shoes and a $1 fee for each item of Patagonia on your person." Read More >>
Star Power - Can Tony Starlight shine up Sandy Boulevard's darkest corner?
by: Michael Byrne - Willamette Week - March 7th 2007
Ask anyone in Portland-- even a Hollywood-neighborhood native-- to list all the businesses that have called the odd, triangular building at Northeast 37th Avenue and Sandy Boulevard home, and probably the only people able to do so would be the Realtors who have guided the property through its many, many tenants.
Just since 2000 it's played home to indie venue the Blackbird, Rafael's Comida Mexicana, Uncle Butchy's Low Carb Creations and Brandy's strip club...even the Yellow Pages can't keep up.
But Brett Kucera doesn't believe the building's cursed. In January, he reopened the joint's doors, fashioning it as a home base for his longtime lounge-crooner alter ego, Tony Starlight... Read More >>
Starlight shines again
Portland Tribune January 15, 2007
Brett Kucera didn't invent the vintage vibe, but his alter ego Tony Starlight does it better than anyone... Read More >>
Hollywood gets a new star (light)
The Oregonian January 19, 2007
Lounge-king Tony Starlight once ruled the Portland nightscape. But after wowing fans at spots like the Gypsy in Northwest Portland, Tony left for Los Angeles in 1999 to try his hand at acting and improv. The performer moved back to the Rose City late last year, and for the past three months has been quietly transforming the space at the late, lamented rock club The Blackbird on Northeast Sandy Boulevard into Tony Starlight's Supperclub and Lounge... Read More >>