Introduction:

The downtown duet met in 1989 through a group of songwriter friends. Chanteuse, Kelly Flint, a teenage Joni Mitchell freak turned twenty-something fan of Keely Smith and Lulu, had been singing backup around town and feeding her dreams as a waitress at the Cookery, an old cabaret where she befriended blues legend Alberta Hunter. David Cantor, a one-time student of the Berklee College of Music and an avid songwriter, started performing his offbeat jazzy songs at open-mikes at places like the Speakeasy. Kelly and Dave passed each other like two ships in the night until a snowy evening in 1992 when they cemented their friendship over shots of Jack Daniels at the old Village Corner. Kelly proposed that Dave teach her a song and the rest, as they say, is hi-story. Well, not quite.

Chapter 1: Giving It A Go

"He brought me a tape of his songs and I conveniently kept it on my shelf for six months," says Kelly. When she finally got around to listening to it, she was hooked. She decided to give a partnership with Dave a whirl. "It turned out to be the most fun I'd ever had. I loved Dave's melodies, the lyrics, I was just digging the whole thing." The Kelly and Dave duet was born.

Chapter 2: Dave's True Story is Born

"We didn't have a tape or even a name, but I was a fast talker," says Kelly, who booked them a gig at Postcrypt, a showcase for singer/songwriters at Columbia University. "The guy who organized it announced us like this: 'I've never heard these guys before and I don't know if they're any good, but here they are'". The gig turned out to be especially formative because as Kelly was introducing the song 'Last Go Round', she said, "This next story is a true story, it's Dave's true story". Somebody yelled out: "That's your name". The duo was christened Dave's True Story.

Chapter 3: An Auspicious Beginning

As DTS played more and more at places like CB's Gallery, Siné, Don Hill's, the Bottom Line and the Mercury Lounge they decided to record a CD and release it on their own BePop Records. With gigs from Boston to Monterey they've managed to sell 10,000 copies of that CD. In June 1995, DTS won the prestigious Kerrville New Music award. Previous winners include Lyle Lovett, Suzanne Vega and Michelle Shocked. They have been featured performers on radio shows hosted by WNEW's Vin Scelsa, WFMU's Irwin Chusid and WFUV's Rita Houston. DTS music has appeared on Hear Music's Christmas CD, the Performing Songwriter's first collection and on the soundtrack to director Josh Melville's independent feature 'The Day'. Most recently, DTS was the only contemporary act featured on the Pottery Barn's 1997 Christmas Compilation with such legends as Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, B. B. King and Nat King Cole.

Chapter 4: About The Name & The Songs

"The songs are at least emotionally truthful, if not factual", says Dave. "I guess I think my life is too boring to do straight so I embellish a little". Like a trip to Chinatown turned into 'China Tour', about China, the country. But most of the songs on 'Sex Without Bodies' are works of nonfiction. "I love to play with words", says Dave. "Sometimes the songs aren't as earnest as they could be because I view songwriting as a puzzle. Sometimes I hear a funny turn of phrase and I'll write a song about it, like 'Ned's Big Dutch Wife.' At other times, I'll hear a story that will make some sort of an impression on me, like 'Trollope'. A friend of mine told me that before she got married, she and her girlfriends would read Trollope to each other on Saturday nights. I thought, Oh, how precious". But did Dave really call the number on the screen on the title track "Sex Without Bodies" about sex party lines advertised on television? And was that Dave having the last word in the song 'Stormy'? "I was so sickly obsessed with this woman", says Dave. "She broke my heart but she gave me great material".

Other songs have less painful origins. "I had this rhyme in my head: Fred Astaire and pied-a-terre. And my dad, being a big Irving Berlin fan, told me to finish the song. So I did. What emerged was 'Rue de Lappe', based on Dave's experience watching French kids swing-dance on that hip Parisian street. 'Daddy-O' is more character-driven. "When I'm singing that song," says Kelly, "I switch into this character, a housewife in the '60s who's playing hostess to a group who are freaked out over Vietnam. She's wearing a pantsuit, has a Mai-Tai in her hand, and is kind of a ditz, telling everybody to chill out".

Conclusion:

So what's the message? "There are no messages", says Kelly. "This is simply entertainment".

"We were thinking of putting a guarantee on the CD that the word 'nurture' would never appear in any of our songs", adds Dave.

Phew! So sit back, mix up a Kelly's Pink Belt Martini and drink in the tunes. You'll hear some of the best session players around, Richard Crooks on drums, Darren Solomon on upright bass, Emedin Rivera on percussion, Jeff Berman on vibes, Chris Botti on trumpet, Rick DePofi on tenor sax and Ben Monder on guitar.

Cheers!

Site Navigation

engagements | discography | about | reviews | links | what's new

get on the email list | send a message to the band | technical issues  | kelly's pink belt martini

media - press kits - promotional photos