From the mid-1980s until the end of the decade, the comedy songwriting duo of Horowitz & Spector occupied a very special and extremely-visible place in the cabaret sphere. Known as much for their catchy melodies and snappy lyrics as their penchant for flashy garmenting (matching metallic pantsuits and headbands in gold and silver, huge rhinestone brooches proudly announcing “Horowitz & Spector” and the glitter the two would liberally sprinkle into their hair), it was a very short matter of time before they were headlining at such clubs as The Duplex and Panache Encore.

For nearly two decades, and whether at its previous location near Lincoln Center or its current home on Broadway and 51st next door to the Winter Garden Theater, Iridium Jazz Club has endured as one of the finest jewels in the crown of Manhattan nightlife. Not merely a mecca for jazz fanatics to catch such soon-to-be legends of their day as Diana Krall, or more recently when the Stanley Jordan Quartet took the stage, proprietress Ellen Hart Sturm (the brains behind Ellen's Stardust Diner) has launched a venue which people will most fondly remember as the room where legendary guitarist Les Paul held court every Monday night for years until his lamented passing.

As a member of Bistro Awards Committee, my lips have gotten sore and chapped from being sealed for so long, not revealing the chosen winners.  But look for the announcement finally this week!  The awards show is Tuesday, April 13, at Gotham Comedy Club on West 23 Street.  See www.bistroawards.com for all the juicy details and tickets as they become available, and the news will be here as well.  Meanwhile, two ladies you saw as part of last year’s Bistro show are around this week.  Catch ‘em while you can:  At 6pm this Wednesday, March 9, last year’s Bistro Award winner for Outstanding Vocalist, SUSAN WINTER, appears as part of the ongoing FREE series at Barnes & Noble on Broadway at West 66th Street.  She’ll be singing from her first CD, a live recording of her cabaret show Love Rolls On. Well worth the roll, or, rather spin.

This entrancing, brand new collection from the fabulous Barb Jungr is subtitled “the new American songbook,” and functions on two levels. The first, as a record of her triumphant debut last year at New York’s posh Cafe Carlyle Supper Club, and secondly, as a valentine to some of the songwriters responsible for these "new classics" of our time. They include absolute gems from the likes of David Byrne, Neil Diamond, Leonard Cohen, Bruce Springsteen, Todd Rundgren, David Gates, Bob Dylan, Paul Simon and Jimmy Webb, among others. As is her tradition, Ms. Jungr deconstucts each of these selections and tailors them to her singular,extraordinary style.