Vegetarian Star

Nellie McKay released a new album this week, Normal as Blueberry Pie: A tribute to Doris Day.

Nellie first became acquainted with the musical legend while participating in an animal rights protest, of all places.

“I was at a protest outside the aquarium in Maryland, and there was a music shop there and I picked up, just because I liked the cover, a CD of hers called It’s Magic, which had a lot of her early work for Warner Bros., and I listened to it all the way on the bus ride home,” Nellie told Vanity Fair.

“Yeah. I really love Baltimore, and it’s so sad that the harbor there is defined by the aquarium. Aquariums—it’s not the wild. They’re a business and they can’t help being a business; anything you’re going to build is not going to be the ocean.”

Nellie was elated to find out the singer she looked up to championed animal rights as well, as Doris founded the Doris Day Animal League.

“You know, I hadn’t known [anything] about her except she always looked happy in her pictures. She was one like Julie Christie or Mary Tyler Moore that I read had become involved in animal-welfare work—it does make you like people more. Becoming politically involved can alienate people but then it can make people dig you all the more. It’s like if you go to a Sean Penn movie and you think, Well, it’s not the greatest movie but I like his politics.”

Read the entire interview with Nellie at vanityfair.com.

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New Yorkers will be heading to the polls tomorrow to cast their votes in the primary election.

Yetta Kurland, an openly vegan candidate for City Council, has received some props from singer-songwriter Nellie McKay in this PSA.

Kurland has championed for the rights of many, including animals and humans.

“She fights for civil rights for every person,” McKay says. “She fights for animal rights. And she fights for environmental justice.”

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Nellie McKay has expressed her love for junk food and the interest in manufacturing more junk food for vegans.

The singer and songwriter may have gotten her wish because Skittles has taken the gelatin out of their candies.

Weird fact: Skittles had already taken the junk out of  their trunk (a.k.a. the gelatin from their product) in other countries. What took them so long to get on board in the U.S.?

But now’s not the time for criticism. Let’s give it up for Skittles and show ’em how we appreciate them making a mainstream product veg friendly.

via vegdaily.com

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The fifth annual Taking Action for Animals conference is taking place this month from the 24th-27 in Arlington, Virginia.

Actress Ginnifer Goodwin and Nellie McKay are among the guest speakers, along with notable animal advocates like CEO and president of the Humane Society of the United States, Wayne Pacelle.

This is definitely worth a road trip for animals lovers as registration for the conference is only $165, with options to attend one or two specific workshops, as well as an exhibit pass.

Issues such as factory farming, dog fighting, effective campaigning, and lobbying are just some of the workshops that will offered.

Not to mention, there’s a banquet too-good food always make an event better!

For more information, visit takingactionforanimals.org and register today.

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“Children have a natural empathy with animals. They carry around a teddy bear and are taught to love animals. All those fairy tales have animals in them. Then kids are taught to accept their exploitation and death. I do think people try to do the best they can, but they get hit by mixed messages from every direction. They get confused and need to learn.”

—-Singer and songwriter Nellie McKay, in an interview with popmatters.com. 

Talk about mixed messages…Kids grow up with cats and dogs as pets and cows and chickens as food. No wonder the adolescents of today are so angst ridden!

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Animal lovers across the nation are disappointed that the Obamas have chosen to go with a dog from a kennel versus a shelter due to allergies in the family.

While some feel this is a setback for rescue animals, we’re ecstatic to bring you the news that another shelter dog has indeed been given its earthy wings and will be living high with singer-songwriter Nellie McKay.

McKay performed at VegFest in Denver this past weekend and Susanna Speier, who blogs as the Denver Sustainable City Examiner, had a chance to watch her that evening, where it was revealed Nellie has recently adopted a pit bull.

“In effort to end this on a somewhat brightish not, I shall also inform you that Nellie McKay is now a proud new parent. Although, Denver’s strict pit bull regulations, precluded the golden hearted singer/songwriter from being able to bring him to Denver with her, his newly adapted presence was with her in spirit, throughout the night. And yes, in case you are wondering, Nellie McKay chose to rescue a shelter dog.”

Sweet deal. Karma works in ways you couldn’t imagine. If you’re interested in adding more magic to the shelter pet pot, visit the Humane Society or rescue shelter in your area.

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We hope we’re not giving Nellie a hard time or a bad image. But look at it this way: She’s good proof that vegans enjoy crap food like everyone else. And if it makes some of us like everyone else, hey, we won’t look so bad to the carnivores, huh?

McKay has jokingly called herself a “junkatarian,” in the past because she loves to chow down on french fries. In this Sprig.com video, she explains that although veganism can be hard, there’s still plenty of “vegan fun,” which she names as “potato chips, beer, and spaghetti.”

Woohoo! Go Nellie! Besides, spaghetti is full of protein and good carbs. She’s not so junkatarian as she’d like to believe. Hear her say how being vegan is the “primo” title of the eight she holds, in addition to singer, songwriter, and ukulele player.

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Happy Vegetarian Awareness Month! Yes, we’re horrible with birthdays, anniversaries and the like so we’re a little more than halfway into it, but hey, time’s not up yet.

The good green folks at Ecorazzi are on top of things, though and they’re featuring a series of vegetarian celebrity interviews this month. Their most recent chit chat session was with the infamous French fry eating junkatarian Nellie McKay.

McKay, a singer and songwriter who’s also had some fame on Broadway, has been a vegetarian since age eight, but admitted to “cheating” a few times in the school cafeteria.

If she could go back in time and meet some of the famous vegetarians she would have liked to have been in the presence of Zora Neil Hurston, Isaac Bashevis Singer, and Caroline White, founder of the National Anti-Vivisection Society. Speaking of vivisection, protesting animal research is something she is very passionate about and she once wrote a song, “Columbia is Bleeding,” to symbolize her disapproval with the vivisection labs at Columbia University.

“Unwilling experiments on human beings have yielded certain kinds of “progress,” but most people would say that it’s unconscionable to test on prisoners or disabled people or minorities or women — which would probably be the first types of people they would try that on. Most people wouldn’t accept that, and the same thing should be said with animals. No matter what the benefit! And the benefit is really small to nil that comes out of animal experimentation; it’s not worth what we have to do.”

Read the interview in its entirety, here.

Photo: Amy T. Zielinkski on Creative Commons

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