Heart in the South

Singer Kitty Baudoin moved to San Diego in the summer of 1994 after spending five years in Hawaii and has lived here since then -- with "many trips home to New Orleans thrown into the mix," she says. "I love San Diego, but I have to admit that my heart is down south, my home."

Kitty feels that her mission is to deliver the New Orleans spirit to San Diego. She was not in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina, but, she says, it "messed up my home badly. My family has lived in Louisiana for hundreds of years and had been through a lot of hurricanes, but this bitch did a number on us all. We all lost a lot -- friends, homes filled with memories that took lots of blood, sweat, and tears to make...whether the idiots that fill the offices on Capitol Hill get their act together one day and allocate the Gulf South area with the tools they need doesn't really matter in the long run. It will be the spirit of the people that will make the South rise, better than ever before.

"I think that everyone should do themselves a favor and take a trip to New Orleans, Slidell, and the Mississippi Gulf Coast to see the beauty and the destruction to fully understand that no, it is not fixed yet, and that we all have to make our voices heard to effect positive change in the cities and towns torn to pieces by Lady K."

Kitty and her band, Yeah You Right, play the Ocean Beach People's Co-Op Friday, July 13, at 5:30 p.m.

BEST GIG?

"The Exotic Erotic Ball in San Francisco, because it is so decadent and packed with thousands of crazy costume-wearing lunatics. That made me feel right at home, and I loved the band that I had back then, the Psycho Souls."

WORST GIG?

"I was playing at the Kennell Club in San Francisco on my birthday and had just a bit too much to drink. I think that some clothes came off, and I thought I was so fabulous! But, boy, was I wrong, and if I remember right, it ended with after-the-show weeping and wretching."

TRICKIEST PROBLEM PLAYING LIVE?

"A huge problem in San Diego, besides finding venues that will actually pay you, is getting the audience to loosen up. We all have so much going on in our lives that it takes a good set or two before people can realize that it is okay to shake their personal tambourine -- hey, maybe I should give tambourines to everyone at the shows, that just might work."

WHAT IS IN YOUR CD PLAYER?

"I listen to a lot of New Orleans--based music all the time, but now -- especially because I am morphing my trio chanteuse into a totally New Orleans music band by the name of Yeah You Right -- I am concentrating on a lot of New Orleans funk. Jon Cleary, the Meters, Snooks Eaglin, Professor Longhair, Allen Toussaint, the Radiators, Johnny Adams, Percy Mayfield, Elvis Costello..."

EARLIEST CHILDHOOD MEMORY?

"My first performance. We lived out in the country in Covington, Louisiana. We didn't have very many neighbors or other kids to play with, but I did have five sisters. My sister Nancy would be the director, and my sisters Jo and Vicki and I would put on musical plays...I still borrow moves from those early performances. 'Hit the Road, Jack' is still on my song list."

FAVORITE SAN DIEGO HANGOUTS?

"The Technomania Circus at the Center for Amusing Arts in Southeast San Diego. O.B. People's Co-op on Friday evenings from 5:30 to 7:30 for their 'Free Music Friday.' My bandmate Mark Lamson's studio in East Village. And my new favorite is Cafe Noir at 447 Ninth Avenue."

WHERE DO YOU SEE THE SAN DIEGO MUSIC SCENE IN TEN YEARS?

"I don't see it very much different than it is now. Not that there isn't a scene, it is just so disconnected and spread out. Until the music community can really become a community and work together, I don't see it being much different. One thing that will be interesting to see come together is the downtown development, if all the people living downtown will manage to develop something that is honest and truthful in its musical expression. They do have a chance to create a community that is full of art and music on a daily basis, not a yuppie wasteland like what the Gaslamp has become, but something that we can really be proud of."

BRUSH WITH THE FAMOUS?

"The Stray Cats spent a leisurely evening at my home in New Orleans drinking whiskey and dangling my poor cat Ratbait out of my window, muttering how much they did not like cats. They did bring him in unharmed."