LIVE AT THE CACTUS CAFE:  WHAT WAS I THINKING?  -  CHRISTINE LAVIN

YEAR:  1993
LABEL:  Philo
TRACK LISTING:  Prince Charles,  We Are the True Americans,  Dear Dan,  Bald Headed Men,  What Was I Thinking?,  I blab about celebrities I have spied on at my local health club,  Doris & Edwin:  The Movie,  Alternate endings to the above song if the one here is too scary for sensitive you,  Intermission,  The Dakota,  Regretting What I Said...,  How the Lord helped me rewrite a troublesome line in "Regretting What I Said...",  Shopping Cart of Love:  The Play,  Katy Says Today Is the Best Day of My Whole Entire Life
BONUS TRACKS:  What Was I Thinking? (The Dance Mix)
IMPRESSIONS:  Christine Lavin has a LOT of live albums but this is the first one I ever heard and it's, I think, her best.  On occassion, Lavin's folky humour can be a bit twee but here it's all laugh-out-loud funny (except for the one or two serious folk songs) and her songwriting is particularly strong here.  Lavin adeptly switches from making fun of Prince Charles or Dan Quayle (remember him???) to revealing her passion for bald men to the genuinely touching moment when Katy tells her Aunt Christine that today was the best day of her whole entire life.  In between we have the epic tales of Doris & Edwin and the Shopping Cart of Love.  Speaking of epic, there is also "Regretting What I Said..." which originally appeared on her 1984 album "FUTURE FOSSILS" and is the longest known song title:  "Regretting What I Said to You When You Called Me 11:00 on a Friday Morning to Tell Me That at 1:00 Friday Afternoon You're Gonna Leave Your Office, Go Downstairs, Hail a Cab to Go Out to the Airport to Catch a Plane to Go Skiing in the Alps for Two Weeks, Not That I Wanted To Go With You, I Wasn't Able to Leave Town, I'm Not a Very Good Skier, I Couldn't Expect You to Pay My Way, But After Going Out With You for Three Years I DON'T Like Surprises!! Subtitled A Musical Apology".  All that and the absolutely hilarious title track!
MY FAVOURITE TRACKS:  Prince Charles,  Bald Headed Men,  What Was I Thinking?,  Doris & Edwin:  The Movie,  Regretting What I Said...,  Shopping Cart of Love:  The Play,  Katy Says Today Is the Best Day of My Whole Entire Life
FACT SHEET:  LIVE AT THE CACTUS CAFE:  WHAT WAS I THINKING? is Christine Lavin's eighth album.  It was recorded live at the Texas Union's Cactus Cafe at the University of Texas at Austin on January 16, 1993.  Lavin is a New York City-based folk singer/songwriter who is also a major promoter of contemporary folk music; she not only records her own albums and tours extensively (releasing many live albums as well) but also puts out many many compilation cds of other contemporary folk artists (sometimes on a single theme i.e. CHRISTINE LAVIN PRESENTS LAUGH TRACKS, ON A WINTER'S NIGHT, WHEN OCTOBER GOES:  AUTUMN LOVE SONGS, ONE MEAT BALL or the recent holiday collection JUST ONE ANGEL) as well as being a founding member of the folk super group "Four Bitchin' Babes".