A few of you may have heard me use the expression “The Lina Koutrakos Phenomenon” in my daily lexicon. But where did it come from?

Back in 2003, I was spending the day in the East Village. I had just waited in line at Tower Records to get the late Lou Reed’s latest CD signed. I waited a long time… but not as long as you’d think for such a legendary performer. And he was such a great guy. (Trivia: Lou’s foot would start shaking nervously whenever a pretty girl approached his table… proving that Mr. Reed did indeed like the ladies…)

But I’m going off on a tangent. Afterwards, I had planned to go to Fez, a now sadly closed music venue with great cocktails, to see comedian Murray Hill. But unfortunately, I was there on the wrong evening. The nice gal at the door said, “Sorry honey… Murray Hill is here TOMORROW night! But we have a great singer named Lina Koutrakos tonight. You should stay!“

I had never heard of Lina at that time. As many of you out there know, she is not only an amazing performer but also is a in-demand cabaret director and a performance teacher as well. I was blown away by her talents. And when I got home that night, I wrote a review of her CD which I bought at the show. You can still read it on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/…/B000004CN9/R2P9IP3KA40MGR…

The moral of the story is that you should always try something new even if it wasn’t what you had planned. You will almost always be pleasantly surprised. I call this THE LINA KOUTRAKOS PHENOMEON and it is one of my tenets of life. Twenty years later, I have seen many, many shows that Lina has directed and even though I told many of you about this phenomenon, I only told Lina just recently at New York City’s cabaret hotspot Don’t Tell Mama!