There will be a free showing of “Regina Spektor: Live in London” at 7 p.m. on Tuesday at the Student Center Auditorium. The Blu-ray will feature 18 of Spektor’s performances, from London’s Hammersmith Apollo Theater. It will be the first time fans can see Spektor perform at an uncomfortably close distance, as well as see footage of intimate details like sound check and peeks inside backstage.
Spektor’s “Live in London” CD/Blu-ray, which will be released Monday, will be available online and in major bookstores for $21.99, though online sites like amazon.com and borders.com are currently giving a 2-percent discount for $19.99. The CD will have 22 songs, and three are never-before released songs.
Though the screening will include performances of her popular songs like “Fidelity,” “Us” and “Eet,” many Eastern Michigan University students are hoping she performs new songs or at least lesser known songs they love but haven’t seen her perform live.
“I’m looking forward to hearing new music of hers that I have never heard before,” said Ted Wells, 21, majoring in information assurance. “I might even learn some shit about her.”
Spektor is famous for her unusual way of approaching a song, and well as the content of her songs, which are rife with metaphors, symbolism and play-on-words. In her song, “Poor Little Rich Boy,” she uses one hand to play the piano while her other hand is playing percussion using a chair. In “Chemo Limo,” she sings from the point of view of a woman struggling with cancer, and how she would rather spend money on a limousine than chemotherapy because she does not want to die in her current state.
Spektor was born in Moscow, Russia in 1980. She came to America when she was nine-years-old, during the period of Perestroika when Russians were allowed to emigrate. They emigrated because of the social, ethnic and political oppression Jewish people in Russia faced. She lived in the Bronx where she went to school to become a classically trained pianist. She realized she had a knack for songwriting while she was in Israel during her teenage years.
She is influenced by Joni Mitchell; though her songs give a more contemporary take on American folk music. She pairs American folk music with punk, pop, rock and jazz, to create a sound uniquely her own. In her jazz song, “Mary Ann,” she sings of a woman who killed her husband methodically, like the way they made love.
On her official website, there is a game Spektor developed called Spektris. According to a radio interview with WERS 88.9 FM, she said, “I said there should be a game for those people who sit at their office, who want to go somewhere and play for 10 minutes and relax. So I gave them Spektris and they can play that on my website. The funny thing is when I first came to America and first found out about Tetris, it had Russian music and it was weird to me and thought it was so bizarre because I am from Russia.”
Also on her official website, Spektor has her own survival guide inspired by her CD, Soviet Kitsch. It offers a unique look into her personality and it is presented in a format similar to a scrapbook. One survival tip Spektor recommends is eating wild plants, because, “you can catch plants easier than meat, which is important if the enemy is near.”
