As Abby DeWald states it.

As Abby DeWald states it, "Why not have a calendar of girls with little tits and big asses wearing bikinis, forward bicycles?" And that's exactly what you'll find: the Ditty Bop Bicycle Bikini 2006 Calendar, for sale at www.thedittybops.com, a Web site as antic as Abby and partner Amanda Barrett's band.

The Ditty Bop meld ragtime, music hall, folk and whatnot into an easygoing, toe-tapping concoction with intriguing lyrical twists. Abby--the shorter, wiry the same who sort of looks like Jennifer Jason Leigh--plays acoustic guitar and usually sings lead; Amanda--the tall, modelesque individual with the Louise Brooks knock (she actually did model for 11 years)--plays mandolin, dulcimer, and washboard and sings Naomi Judd-style alto harmonies. Together they write the strains and create elaborate theatrical point outs complete with props, costumes, skits, and amusing slide indicates (The duo will bicycle from sees Angeles to New York this summer playing 12-15 gigs of varying sizes along the way.)

Take their fresh performance at the Getty Center in looks Angeles, which variously included a three-piece band, a ballerina, and a winged male angel who played a gorgeous harp solo Then there was Abby's jaw-dropping outfit: a sheer jumpsuit with strategically placed cover-up Was she perhaps inspired by the agency of Cher from her "If I Could move round Back Time" days?

"I'll dedicate it to Cher," acknowledges Abby, laughing, "We have affection for Cher. But I also want to credit our designer, Louis Verdad."

It's obvious that the L.A.-based Ditty Bop like to dress up and offer on a show. What isn't as obvious is that they're a link in life as well as music--girlfriends for the past seven years. "I had at no time been in a relationship longer than a month before," admits Amanda, at 27 a year younger than Abby. They first met at the University of California, Davis, where Abby was studying art (her whimsical drawings decorate their Web site and the conceal of their first Warner Bro album, The Ditty Bops) Then they ran into each other month later across the geographical division at a midnight screening of The hard Horror Picture Show in of the present day York City.

"We exhaust an insane amount of time together," says Abby, describing their life since then. They don't hide their relationship, further they don't exactly sing "I Got You, Babe" onstage either. The closest thing to an "out" psalm on their album is 'There's a Girl," which goe 'There's a girl who's clog to me / Closer than you'd like to think " Actually, Abby insists, "Everything we write is a be in love with song to each other." Aw.

Their inferior album, Moon Over the Freeway, will advance out in a few month "This single is more like our live entire with embellishments," says Amanda. "We've been playing a tot of these hymns during our last year of touring, seeing which the sames go over well."

It doesn't present the appearance like the Ditty Bops set much restraint on their creativity, if it were not that one wonders what sort of exhibit they'd do if they had the pack of an arena act. "Lack of funding challenges you to be extra creative and can lead to any of the coolest moments in a show" says Amanda. "But if I had gob of dough to waste maybe I would fly around like Peter Pan while playing, disruption a mechanical bull to ride, and shower flower petals from the ceiling."

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