From Mar ’06 Spotlight: Chicago cabaret artist Joan Curto performs Of Thee I Sing, Ira: The Lyrics of Ira 
Gershwin at Davenport’s Piano Bar every Saturday night at 8 in March.
Ira says a lot in very succinct and simple ways,” Joan told me. “He was a wordsmith, a very studious guy who did a lot of research. He liked to write lyrics the way people actually spoke, and he liked to play with sounds (like ‘s’wonderful’).” “I don’t know what was in the water when their parents emigrated from Russia,” she mused, “but Jewish kids like Ira grew into the men who created ‘the Great American Songbook’!”
Davenport’s is located at 1383 N. Milwaukee Ave. in Chicago. For more information, visit www.joancurto.com. For reservations call (773) 278-1830.
