Sister Bernhard's Traveling Salvation Show

The world has become so insane that it's gotten to the point that I feel like I have to create my own "alternative universe" -- one where intelligence and wit are revered, racism, misogyny and LGBTQphobia are frowned up, and truth and facts still matter. (Besides, I wouldn't give the right the satisfaction of making me miserable, despite their truly valiant efforts.) That being said, Damian and I decided to fudge the truth a bit last night at at Joe's Pub, deeming it our own "New Year's Eve" celebration (avoiding the hysteria) on Dec. 28 with one Sandra Bernhard. I've been going to Sandy's year-end wrap-up on and off forever. But these past three years it's become a necessary tradition -- a palate cleanser to prepare for the year ahead.

And once again, she didn't disappoint. As it customary, she opened with one of my songs -- this time it was Neil Diamond's "Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show" -- reminding me that our similar MI-AZ-L.A.-NYC slash queer sensibilities know no bounds. And from there she off to the races, with an hour of her signature observations, celebrity run-ins (#SheToo, with Buddy Hackett and Rodney Dangerfield) and is-she-or-isn't-kidding songs ("Takin' It to the Streets"), keeping it light on politics as god knows none of us needs to pay good money to have it rubbed in our faces just how dire things are. And best of all, reminding us that we might just make it after all.

Through Sunday at Joe's Pub. Tickets HERE.

Just about everyone there was a gay dude of a certain age -- except these two lovelies!

Future appearances HERE.

Unitard Returns to Joe's Pub on May 31

David Ilku, Nora Burns and Mike Albo

I caught the premiere performance of NYC comedy trio Unitard's residency at Joe's Pub -- Tard Core: There Are No Safe Words -- earlier this month and strongly suggest you head on over for the May 31 followup. (Additional performances on June 28 and July 26.) The set is littered with all sorts of hilarious topical bits about politics, gender, $12 avocado toast and the hyper-gentrification of the city. What makes their brand of humor so perfect is that they're just as willing to poke fun at blasé New Yorkers who swear the city was "so much better" when you had to risk being murdered every time you left the house to buy a quart of milk as they are people who moved here (because of "Sex and the City") and are willing to wait in line for four hours for [insert latest idiotic fad here]. I'm a big fan of Mike Albo having seen his brilliant one-man shows "The Junket" and "Spermhood" and Nora Burns from her critically acclaimed (and heartrending) "David's Friend." But it's bonus 'tard David Ilku (a member of the Dueling Bankheads with whom I was not as familiar) who steals the show with his Home Shopping Network bit, which stings harder than a regrettable impulse purchase featuring Dr. Sebagh's patented melon extract you made at 3 in the morning after a bad breakup. 

Tickets HERE.

Unitard Kicks Off Joe's Pub Residency on Wednesday

The comedy trio Unitard kicks off a four-week gig at Joe's Pub on Wednesday, guaranteed to be the antidote to these times that ail us. These "arbiters of biting bitchiness and snappy satire" were in rare form when I saw them at the Stonewall Inn in 2015, but promise even higher highs and lower lows as we cross the 100-day mark into "reality" government. Made up of the combined talents of Mike Albo (who had me in hysterics with "The Junket" and "Spermhood"), Nora Burns (fresh off her critically acclaimed run of her moving "David's Friend") and David Ilku (member of the Dueling Bankheads), you'd have to be the biggest stick in the mud to not have a fun time at this shindig. I'll be there opening night. Get your tickets HERE.

Sandra Bernhard Bids 2016 Adieu

Sandra Bernhard is back with her annual end-of-the-year run at Joe's Pub -- and God knows we need her. Andy Cohen showed up to last night's debut of Sandra Monica Boulevard: Coast to Coast. Will you be there? Tickets HERE.

Read my review of last year's show HERE.

Taking a Ride Aboard Justin Vivian Bond's 'Bipolar Express'

Went to see Justin Vivian Bond's Christmas show at Joe's Pub, "The Bipolar Express," this week -- for free and against my will because Damian was reviewing it for The Daily Beast. Bond and I have been in a long-running feud (that she doesn't know about and couldn't care less) stemming from a friend's attempt to introduce us via Twitter years ago. What started as an innocuous introduction against the backdrop of New York state's battle for marriage equality quickly devolved into a bitter feud in which she kept insisting it was a-OK that Cynthia Nixon was telling the world that she had "chosen to be gay," while I kept pleading with Nixon to clarify that what she meant was that she was attracted to both sexes (i.e., bisexual) and had chosen to act on the same-sex attraction. (Bond doubled-down on her position and grew increasingly irate that I wouldn't just agree with her.) Nixon eventually did clarify her position (that I was right). But by then an inordinate number of people -- a book agent, a publicist, a photographer, a club manager, a D-list celebrity, several journalists and editors -- had come forward with their own horror stories of Bond's being incredibly difficult, so I kind of wrote her off more than I already had given that I never had any interest in the thing she was best-known for, Kiki & Herb. (Longtime readers know I'm more of a TV, movies and music person than a theater, musicals and cabaret guy.)

So after dragging my feet, I ended up going along with Damian for the ride, and must confess that I was pleasantly surprised. Although the cabaret format is still something I prefer in small doses -- and Bond's voice probably wouldn't qualify as a "legitimate" one if not for the shtick associated with its owner -- it's the overall performance that matters. And the quirky songs she selected (Dolly Parton's "Dumb Blonde," Crosby, Stills and Nash's "Almost Cut My Hair," Porter Waggoner's "Mama Ain't That Daddy" with the backing band acting out the lyrics and "Carole King's "It's Too Late" sung as an abortion confessional), endearing personal anecdotes (both our mothers are politically nuts and we're both obsessed with "Dawn: Portrait of a Teenage Runaway"!) and her undeniable je ne sais quoi (for better or worse) helped me finally see why she's such a beloved cult figure, and why my friend tried to hook us up in the first place.  

  

Read Damian's full review of the show for The Daily Beast HERE.

'The Bronx Queen' Returns!

Tickets HERE.

If muscular Guidos with sweaty pecs, chest hair and gold chains were the stars of your puberty, you don't want to miss this! Read HERE.

Tanya Donelly's 'Swan Song' Is More Like a Rebirth

I know how set in my ways I can be, so I'm guessing there's little chance that Tanya Donelly is going to win over any new fans nearly 30 years into her recording career, spanning three of the most influential bands of the alternative era (Throwing Muses, the Breeders and Belly) and a cult-favored solo career. But for the already die-hards out there, can I just tell you what a magical show she put on Saturday night at Joe's Pub? The gig comes on the heels of Belly's sold-out comeback tour, with Tanya now promoting the compiled release of a series of EPs she has recorded over the past few years known as the "Swan Song Series." Each EP included about five songs on which she collaborated with musicians and songwriters she admires, so featured a range of moods and styles by way of Robyn Hitchcock, ex-Throwing Muses and Belly bassist Fred Abong and Rick Moody, I noted to Damian that when I saw her at Joe's Pub in 2004, promoting her "Whiskey Tango Ghosts" album, she didn't do a single Belly song and I thought nothing of it, concerned only about which songs from "Lovesongs for Underdogs" and "Beautysleep" might get left by the wayside. I mentioned this because I'm the first person to get pissy at Paul Weller for not doing enough Jam songs or Morrissey for not doing (enough) Smiths songs. Yet with Tanya her band and her solo work just seemed entirely disparate, so it never occurred to me she's go into the archives, although I wondered how the crowd would feel perhaps not really knowing what they were getting into. 

In the end, it didn't seem to matter. Like me, everyone seemed mesmerized by the fairytale-like catalogue of new material she has amassed since going underground. Opener "Mass Ave." had Damian welling up with tears; "Mary Magdalene in the Great Sky" could make an atheist believe; "Christopher Street" convinced me she could have saved Kurt from Courtney. And by the time she got to the sibling love song "Still" I was full-on sobbing. Later, "Meteor Shower" washed away my tears and gave me chills.  Something about the music, lyrics and arrangements of these new songs strike such a chord with me, perhaps having been written by someone my exact age who has now experienced enough highs and lows to have something to say. (She even made "jazz" seem enjoyable with "Let Fall the Sky," which is a little reminiscent of her lovely b-side "Moon Over Boston.") If there was a bitter Belly fan in the house, all was forgiven when sexy Tom Gorman came out to accompany on "Send Me Your Next Nightmare," then returned for the too-brief encore of "Untogether," which was a highlight of Belly's recent Bowery Ballroom gig. The show seemed to end before it started. But like the artist herself, short and sweet won the day. Please tell me this isn't the swan song from this luminous creature.

"Swan Song Series" is available now HERE.

(F)untogether ... I couldn't help it, I got hard.

Ben Watt Brings Everything (but the Girl) to Joe's Pub

Went to see Ben Watt -- the less fair half of Everything But the Girl -- with my friend Allen on Thursday at Joe's Pub. Ben just released his first record since EBTG's 1999 sendoff, "Temperamental," and only his second solo album in total. To be honest, I really wasn't expecting much. The new release, "Hendra," is as sleepy as his one other solo release, 1983's "North Marine Drive," so I wasn't sure how it would come off live, especially with an audience likely full of rabid EBTG fans.

Well, much to our surprise, the show was a thrilling display of musicianship -- Suede guiatarist and "Hendra" collaborator Bernard Buter brings ou the best in Ben -- and emotion, with songs from the album that didn't really affect me much on my iPod taking on a new meaning when hearing the background on them. 

"Spring" and "Young Man's Game" were as thrilling as on the record, but "Matthew Arnold's Field" -- about scattering his father's ashes -- "Nathaniel" -- about a large tribute to a kid who had been killed in a car accident -- and "The Levels" -- written for the widow of Ben's half-sister, who very abruptly of lung cancer -- were just devastating live. (The introspective "Heart Is a Mirror" was somehow more effective live, too.) And that he threw in two songs from the early years -- including the stellar "North Marine Drive" title track -- and EBTG's favorites "The Road" and "25 December" made it a perfect night.

Bonus:

Adding icing to the cake was running into my friends Scooter LaForge and Johnny Rozsa, who were in the lobby waiting for the Penny Arcade show that followed. New York City -- there ain't a better small town in the world, kids. 

Music That You Can Prance To

If watching this video of the Skivvies -- aka Lauren Molina and Nick Cearley, award-winning NYC singer/actor/musicians who perform stripped down versions of eclectic covers and eccentric originals while stripped down to their undies -- doesn't make you want to come see them this Sunday at Joe's Pub, I'm fairly certain you're a stick-in-the-mud. Show starts at 7:30. Tickets HERE.

 

The Skivvies:

Lauren Molina (Rock of Ages, Sweeney Todd, Mary Zimmerman's Candide)

Nick Cearley (All Shook Up, And Then I Wrote a Song About It)

(On Facebook: and Twitter)

Sunday's guest line-up:

Will Swenson (Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, Hair [Tony nominee] , Rock of Ages) 

Mitchell Jarvis (Rock of Ages, Fiddler on the Roof)

Wesley Taylor (Smash, The Addams Family, Rock of Ages)

Ashley Brown (Mary Poppins) 

Susan Blackwell ([title of show])

Jessica Hendy (Aida, Cats, Amour)