The many faces of Sweetie
Tonight is another edition of Salon Saloon. I’ll miss this one, as I’m upstate. But how could I decide whether to go to this or Linda Simpson’s Fabulous Drag Explosion which is in the East Village exactly at the same time? If you’re in town you’ve got a tough decision. Below is my take on August’s Salon Saloon…
Why does a show with the wheels coming off always seem more entertaining than a rehearsed, slick production? I don’t know, but it always is and Monday night’s escapade at New York’s Cowgirl was just that. Old pals, legends themselves on the New York scene turned out to support Brenda Bergman and David Ilku’s cracked cabaret; John Kelly, Chi-Chi Valenti, Johnny Dynell, David Russell and Daniel Nardicio, among others. I’ve know Ilku for decades and we both just spoke at Nora Burn’s New York Stories II at The Stonewall Inn along with his coconspirator for the night, the irrepressible Brenda B. The theme of the show was summer and they bantered and sang their way though several reworked classics. Brenda was in shock that the audience was so attentive and urged us all, multiple times, to talk to each other during their patter because “the material wasn’t that good”. Then, powerhouse Flotilla de Barge who was funny, charming and acerbic, as always did a mean Macy Gray number accosting a few audience members along the way. A beautiful tall redhead at the bar was identified to the crowd as, “the beautiful Julianne Moore” (it actually turned out to be Brenda’s tall gorgeous daughter.) Sweetie then wowed us all multiple times by reading an excerpt about shopping at Saks from a book she’s currently writing… I won’t spoil the story but she CAN write. She then did a mean version of M.A.F.I.A. by Lil Kim (of which I shot enough stills to make a film.) and she closed by lip syncing THE most heart wrenching rendition of Bette Midler rendition of Karen Carpenter’s “You’re Not Really Here”. Half of the audience was in tears. Then, a few minutes later the rest were in tears when Ilku announced what many of us already knew; Robin Williams had killed himself. Big bummer. But they managed to bring us all back up again to close the show.
Brenda Bergman, David Ilku and Brenda’s gorgeous daughter
Johnny Dynell, Chi Chi Valenti and Sweetie
Salon Saloon; Old School at Cowgirl in the West Village tonight @8
Drag Explosion at The Wild Project in the East Village tonight @8
The post Monday Dilema: Brenda Bergman & David Ilku’s Salon Saloon OR Linda Simpson’s Drag Explosion? appeared first on World of Wonder.