THE WASHINGTON POST
Friday, March 3, 2000

BETTY
"Carnival"
Stereo Society

Life is a carnival, they say, but if BETTY's new album proves one thing, it's that the best carnivals are bigger than life. With a Felliniesque flair for combining the surreal and the everyday, the women of BETTY have created their own theatrical freak 'n funk show, and though it only runs for half an hour, it's a tent town full of fun. Of course, some of the fun has its dark side. On the spoken work track "Pins and Needles," for example, a tale of surprise and heartbreak slowly unfolds until the moral of the story finally hits home: sometimes love can't hold a candle to a brand new bike. And speaking of failed romance, another song, "Heartache," should serve as a warning to anyone with a habit of misspeaking from ever asking their pharmacist to prescribe a remedy for a broken heart. As it turns out, "Wishing Well," easily the album's most poignant song, suggests that the best cure doesn't cost a thing.

Even so, the biggest draws in BETTY's carny town are "Millennium Man" and "Jungle Jane," characters who are truly larger than life, and the funk-rock tracks that set them into engaging motion. So go ahead. Take the barker at his word, and step right up.
--Mike Joyce

Photo: Monica Nation (b&w)
Caption: Amy Ziff, left, Alyson Palmer, Elizabeth Ziff - as BETTY they're fun with an edge.

THE MORNING CALL
Friday, June 16, 2000

Brassy ambiguity paying off for BETTY

By Jennifer Whitlock
Special to The Morning Call

Guitarist Elizabeth Ziff says the women in BETTY are"excited" about playing Saturdays's Lehigh Valley Festival in Allentown.

"Eccentricities seem to run rampant in Pennsylvania," says the self-proclaimed "rock 'n' roll chick." "Maybe it's because you take a bigger chance when you're outside the city. [You're] really ready to accept a lot of things."

If that is so, Pennsylvanians will find kindred spirits in the three outrageous females who front the five-piece pop rock band. When BETTY rocked Bethlehem's Diamonz nightclub five years ago, Ziff ricocheted about in her patent leather go-go boots, instigating the audience with her mean shimmy and her impudent attitude. Glamazon Alyson Palmer and Ziff's zany sister Amy spouted brassy, bawdy humor between songs.

The group's music refuses to conform to any one category, but has elements of '40s big-band harmonies, '60's girl groups, '70s disco and '90s club tracks. Publications as diverse as The New York Times, the New York Post, Glamour, The Village Voice and Vanity Fair have compared BETTY to such acts as the Roches (for the whimsical harmonies), The B-52's (for the wacky post-punk rhythms), Parliament Funkadelic (the dance beats) and Bette Midler (the campy sense of humor).

To baffle critics further, BETTY - meant to be written in capitals like one member's favorite band, KISS - released its latest disc, "Carnival," on Feb. 29. This concept album spins the listener on a careening, funny, funky, freaky, sultry ride through the bizarre, the surreal and the mundane.

"We planned for this to be a concept album, but it's even more twisted than we anticipated," says Ziff, puckishly adding, "We want people to listen to the CD in its entirety, in the dark, naked, with or without drugs."

Within two weeks of its release, "Carnival" whirled to No. 8 on Amazon.com's Top 100 Hits list, and is in its third pressing, according to Ziff. "This is the first album that has conveyed our wild theatricality in the music," says Ziff. "National Pu7blic Radio interviewed us. They did a 13-minute piece on us for 'Weekend Edition,' and they mentioned our Web site, which is www.hellobetty.com."

The Morning Call, Friday, June 16, 2000

The Web site allows visitors to sample music, order any of BETTY's four CDs, check the group's concert schedule, and learn that BETTY's video, "Spell It Out," from the PBS adult literacy program "TV411" won an Emmy Award. Those with Quick Time 4 can view video clips from their music videos and monthly New York City cable show, "BETTY: Off The Record."

"It's still under construction," says Ziff. "Eventually, it's going to be great and insane and hilarious. You're going to be able to spend your life in BETTYland. We'll have political links and sites for each band member, where anything we want will be there. There will be audio of us talking and telling stories. A lot of flash. A lot of stuff will move.

In the future, "BETTY Rules" T-shirts and "hot halters" will be up for sale. The site will also feature video clips from their forays into film, such as the 14-minute "mockumentary" the group did several years ago about the rise and demise of BETTY. Band members ended up in a convent, a penitentiary and an insane asylum.

Since BETTY's birth in 1986, the girls have gotten around. They have appeared on TV stations such as MTV, VH-1, PBS, Comedy Central, HBO and the Food Network ("Don't ask, we don't know why either," says the band on its Web site). They've played at small rock clubs, huge art festivals, benefits and 1993's Stephen Sondheim tribute at Carnegie Hall. The few diehard "Saturday Night Live" fans who saw the movie "It's Pat!" might have glimpsed the threesome's cameo appearance as singing waitresses in the karaoke strip club where Pat hangs out.

When BETTY returns to New York City from the Carnival Tour 2000 this fall, group members will begin work on their next project, a self-penned musical play based on the BETTY babe's lives, directed by Micahel Greif of "Rent" infamy.

"We have been hooked into the most amazingly diverse venues because no one can say exactly what BETTY is," Ziff says.

Confounding ambiguity has its benefits.

Photo: Monica Nation (color)
Caption: Amy Ziff, Alyson Palmer and Elizabeth Ziff will perform Saturday

PEOPLE
April 19, 1999

Picks & Pans
Song
Betty3
BETTY (T.M.F.B.)

Boop? No. Rubble? Nope. Just plain BETTY. But something has sure got into this onetime cabaret act. Known originally for their intricate vocal harmonies and bawdy good humor, this trio has morphed from a mostly a'cappella group into a hard-rocking guitar band. Formed in Washington, D.C. in 1987 when sisters Amy (cello) and Elizabeth Ziff (guitar) teamed up with Alyson Palmer (bass), BETTY is now augmented by backing musicians who lend guitar and percussive punch. Highlights here include original rockers "It Girl" and "Dolls and Bennies," as well as a version of the Beatles' "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" that begins as a carol and ends as a gothic rock anthem.
-S.D.

Bottom Line: BETTY's best yet.

Photo: Katrina Del Mar/IPOL (color)
Caption: BETTY's Alyson Palmer and Amy and Elizabeth Ziff add wattage to their girl power.

The Journal
Friday, March 3, 2000

PREVIEW
By Brian Truitt

Alyson Palmer never realized that answering a 1981 radio request would change her life.

Two sisters from Fairfax, Va., Amy and Elizabeth Ziff, needed a bass player for their band and went on WHFS to find one. It just so happened Palmer, a bassist from Bethesda, Md., was looking for somewhere to play.

Together, the three women,with some additional musicians, formed Quiver, a new-wave, punk band. But they still didn't know if the chemistry was there, so they tried to hit a three-part harmony their first time singing together.

Destiny stepped in, creating an almost flawless chord.

"It was really freaky and cool," Palmer said. "We still vibrate like that chord, even after all these years."

After several different incarnations, the band trickled down to a trio and in 1987, BETTY was born during a performance at the 9:30 club in Washington. Now based in New York City, the band makes a homecoming appearance tonight at the Birchmere in Alexandria, Va., in support of its new album, "Carnival."

BETTY - with all the letters capitalized on purpose, like one of the members' favorite bands, KISS - have found success in many different genres. The band has appeared in feature films such as "It's Pat" and "The Out-of- Towners," and shows on MTV, VHS and, of all places, the Food Network. The three women created music for HBO's "Real Sex" series and have their own monthly cable show in New York, "BETTY: Off The Record."

Last Friday during a phone interview from New York, Palmer was still feeling the effects of a celebration from the night before when the band's video "Spell It Out" from the PBS educational program "411" was nominated for an Emmy award for outstanding direction. BETTY is up against shows such as "Christmas at Rockefeller Center."

"We had to drink a bit of the bubbly," Palmer said. "We used to be a lot better at celebrations."

But not a lot else has changd over BETTY's 14-year existence. All three still sing, while Palmer plays bass, Elizabeth Ziff handles some guitar and keyboard duties and Amy Ziff shores up the sound with her cello, a somewhat uncanny instrument in today's rock industry.

The Journal - Friday, March 3, 2000

BETTY never has taken well to being mainstream, which is how the BETTY concept started in 1986.

"[With BETTY] we could do whatever we wanted without boundaries," Palmer said. "[Before] we were stuck in a rigid "art rock" concept. Then we realized we were missing the ability to do whatever we wanted. "We had to learn how to be passionate people and sustain a positive working relationship. Marriages don't last this long."

Soon after BETTY was formed, the three members moved to the Big Apple to dabble in different areas of performance, such as a cappella, theatre and spoken word. The best example of how versatile BETTY can be is "Carnival," which was released Tuesday.

The album, the band's fourth, came from the band's idea to work with producer Mike Thorne, who has also collaborated with the '80s band Soft Cell ("Tainted Love"), Aimee Mann and Nina Hagen. It is a 30-minute "concept" album, which takes the listener on a mysterious and sometimes dark journey though a carnival.

"One night, I got a lightning bolt that our whole career has been like a carnival," Palmer said. "It's like the light and dark of our career; it's not knowing what's ahead that could thrill or scare you."

From the simple, catchy tune in the opening title track - "That song was the glue that kept us together," Palmer said - BETTY introduces the listener to several carny characters, including the funky and guitar-driven "Millennium Man" and the bass- and drum-heavy "Jungle Jane." There are also spoken-word numbers such as "Pins and Needles" and "Heartache."

One of the more intriguing songs on the CD is "Millennium Man", a song written around an already existing French rap. Every member of BETTY speaks French, and Amy Ziff was a professor of the language at George Washington University and is a fluent speaker.

"Carnival" is BETTY's first album on Thorne's Stereo Society Internet label (www.stereosociety.com). While the band has been given offers by better-known labels, the members feel that these other companies may be too limiting compared to Stereo Society.

"They want us to indulge ourselves as artists," Palmer siad. "If somebody opens the creative door, we'll come running and screaming." BETTY is bringing two males with them on its tour. Maryland native and guitarist Tony Salvatore - who grew up near Palmer - and drummer Mino Gori will round out the band.

"I pity the guy who has to be with these fierce, flawed women," Palmer laughed.

The Journal - Friday, March 3, 2000

Palmer said BETTY is "your basic cult act." It is popular in certain places such as California, Washington, Miami and New York and locations which have hosted AIDS and pro-choice benefits at which the band has performed.

"People seem to find BETTY like little acorns on the ground," Palmer said. "We roll into so many places."

The trio is now writing a play based on the members' lives with the help of director Michael Greif, the mastermind director behind "Rent." Palmer said they have had to revisit their 14-year career writing the play.

"It's been edifying," Palmer said. And the play will probably be like BETTY's albums, concerts and over-all life: eclectic.

"They say when you're in the belly of the beast, you can't see where you're going." Palmer said. "BETTY's a total potpourri for the discerning listener with attention-deficit disorder."

Photo: Barry Muniz (b&w)
Caption: BETTY return home to the Washington area tonight at The Birchmere.

THE WASHINGTON POST
Friday, June 11, 1999

BETTY
"betty3"
T.M.F.B.

As much as BETTY loves to revel in irony and attitude, the Washington-bred threesome often come across as unabashed pop romantics on their latest release. Granted, their neo-psychedelic adaptation of "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds," isn't exactly guileless, but there is something innocent and endearing about the trio's multi-tiered remembrance of pop past.

And the same could be said for the album's opening track, "It Girl," a swirling celebration of zeitgeist-defining celebrityhood in which the flashiest flash in the pans are honored for their 15 minutes of flair. After all, it isn't easy being "amorous, glamorous, dangerous, scandalous." The curious linkage between fame, fashion and fortune is a subject that BETTY treats with great affection and not a little style of its own.

Still, it's not as if they've donned rose-colored glasses. "Kissing You," a punk cum metal refrain, is lacerating in more ways that one, while "Greedy" is a song about uncontrollably voracious desire. Then there's "Naughty Naughty Nadia," a gothic horror story with sexual overtones: "Your cleavage won't protect you/ nor will your pretty blue eyes/ the punishment is fitting/ and worthy of your crime."

Not all of the songs are fully realized. Some merely offer the trio a chance to let of some funk-powered steam or indulge their imaginations. But the best tracks are alternately laced with enough sugar and spite to warrant repeat spins.
--Mike Joyce

Photo: Lloyd Ziff (b&w)
Caption: BETTY mines the best of the pop vein on "betty3."

THE WASHINGTON BLADE
March 1, 2000

NAKED LISTENERS WANTED
BETTY is back on the loose in the Carnival funhouse
By Loren King

Even though the pop trio BETTY relocated to New York City 10 years ago, many fans still consider it a Washington, D.C. band, since that is where its members - Alyson Palmer, Elizabeth Ziff and Amy Ziff - formed what was then an edgy a cappella group, in the early 1980s. Just as the band's home base has changed, so has its music - BETTY is now touring with a full band to plug its fourth, recently released CD, Carnival (Stereo Society), and will play at the Birchmere on Friday, March 3.

Guitarist Elizabeth Ziff, who describes herself as a "rock and roll chick" says D.C.-area shows always bring out BETTY's longtime friends, family and fans. Carnival is a 30-minute opus that echoes concept albums of the '70s, says Ziff. Each of BETTY's members writes songs, so each contributed to what Ziff calls the "creepy, funny, sexy, bizarre" music woven into a tribute to the carnival.

"We planned for this to be a concept album form the beginning," says Ziff. "But it's even more twisted that we anticipated. We want people to listen to this CD in its entirety, in the dark, naked. And the use of drugs is encouraged. My sister will kill me for saying that."

As a music act for nearly two decades, BETTY has figured out how to bring individual strengths and styles to recording and performing, while still remaining a unified force.

"There are three or four BETTYs," says Ziff. "There is the performance BETTY, which I could not live without; there is the recording BETTY ... When we write albums, we divide them up into thirds, or else we'd be fighting a lot. Our songwriting styles are very different. But it is the sound that makes it a BETTY song."

Each member does work solo, on occasion, but the band stays at the center of things.

"BETTY is her own entity," Ziff explains. "We've discovered lately that no matter what we try to do, she has a mind of her own."

The Washington Blade - March 1, 2000

Although the concept album is a departure for the band, Ziff point out that all previous BETTY albums have experimented with new sounds. Ziff's personal favorite of these isbetty3, which the band produced. But she is thrilled with Carnival's theme, which is "so BETTY", she says. The band is blazing a new frontier on the Internet, which it sees as in perfect sync with the theatrical, eclectic BETTY style. Ziff says the band's revamped Web site will be up in three months and will offer tours thought a wild interactive game called BETTYland.

"It will be much more like who we really are," she says. "We've never fit into a category, so the Internet gives us so many creative possibilities." The band has always worn its political and social activism front and center, and has long been a staple at human rights and Gay pride events - "Benefits are nice, but it is nice when people pay to see us," notes Ziff - as well as other fundraisers. BETTY's other causes include pro-choice issues; AIDS; breast cancer; and ending sexual violence.

As happy as BETTY is with its new independent label, Ziff says the band would welcome a deal with a major label, since it would mean access to top producers. "But no major label would touch Carnival," she says. "We're way too bitchy for that."

Photo: Barry Muniz (cropped b&w)
Caption: Step right up! Alyson Palmer, Amy Ziff and Elizabeth Ziff are the "creepy, funny, sexy, bizarre" BETTY.