Join us on February 6th at The Laurelhurst Club for an intimate concert with legendary songstress China Forbes, followed by a conversation with Luke Burbank and Elena Passarello.
For ten years, this beloved Live Wire tradition has invited supporters to champion our mission while showcasing their most resplendent trousers!
The evening features delectable sweet and savory bites, wines from Cloudline, cocktails from New Deal Distillery, a silent auction, a fancy pants competition, spirited merriment, and the opportunity to raise your paddle in support of Live Wire's programming.
ABOUT CHINA FORBES
China Forbes was born and raised in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She graduated cum laude from Harvard, majoring in painting and English literature, with a minor in theater. After winning the Jonathan Levy Prize at Harvard for “most promising actor,” Forbes earned her Equity card appearing in New York regional theater and off-Broadway productions while also performing regularly as a singer-songwriter in NYC clubs. Her first album Love Handle (November Records) was released in 1995, and she was chosen to sing "Ordinary Girl," the theme song to the TV spin-off of the movie Clueless (ABC/UPN).
Harvard friend and classmate Thomas Lauderdale invited her to sing with fledgling Portland, Oregon band Pink Martini in 1995. China has fronted the little orchestra ever since. Co-writing many of Pink Martini’s most beloved songs with Lauderdale, beginning with “Sympathique (Je ne veux pas travailler),” the duo also composed “Lilly,” “Hang on Little Tomato,” “Una Notte a Napoli,” "The Lemonade Song," and “Let’s Never Stop Falling in Love,” among many others. In 2000, “Sympathique” was nominated for song of the year at (the French Grammy awards) Les Victoires de la Musique.
Forbes’s original song “Hey Eugene” appears on her second solo album '78 (Heinz Records), a collection of autobiographical folk-rock songs, which is also the title track of Pink Martini’s third album. Her voice and songs have been featured prominently on acclaimed film and television soundtracks such as Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Hitch, Emily in Paris, Parks and Rec, Money Heist, Sherlock, and season two of The White Lotus. She sings “Que Sera, Sera” over the credits of Jane Campion’s film In the Cut, and her original song "The Northern Line" plays over the end credits of sister Maya Forbes' autobiographical directorial debut Infinitely Polar Bear (Sony Pictures Classics).
With Pink Martini, Forbes has appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman, Later with Jools Holland, Late Night with Conan O’Brien, and twice on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. She has duetted with Rufus Wainwright, Michael Feinstein, Carol Channing, and Little Jimmy Scott. Singing in over 20 languages on nine Pink Martini studio albums, China has graced the legendary stages of Carnegie Hall, Red Rocks, the Hollywood Bowl, Paris’s l’Olympia, the Sydney Opera House, and Royal Albert Hall.
In 2021, China released her post-pandemic anthem Full Circle, followed by her suicide prevention anthem “Rise,” both featured tracks on her most recent solo album The Road. China Forbes is the recipient of the 2022 Ella Fitzgerald Award at the Montreal International Jazz Festival. Previous winners include Diana Ross, Etta James, Liza Minelli, Diana Krall, and Aretha Franklin. China recently announced that she will be taking a two-year sabbatical from Pink Martini to stay home in Portland with her 16-year-old son until he goes to college.
Tickets are $150 and are very limited for this special benefit.