Viva Variety is the Spice of Life
BY SISTER DANA VAN IQUITY
7 April 2005
Viva Variety, San Francisco's longest running queer and 'queer-friendy' variety show, has once again showcased some of the finest local talent in a variety of acts, How many times can I use the word "variety" in this paragraph? Four times, This particular show, held at its new venue of ODC Theater, was a benefit for Thrive SF, a self-help group of HIV-positive men in the Bay Area, combating isolation in poz men, striving to thrive in spite of HIV. Steve Murray, producer and emcee of VV, wore a loud necktie made of absolutely no colors found in nature, but he does have good taste when it comes to booking acts.
Cabaret singer Tim Hockenberry sang and played piano with "Hope That I Don't Fall in Love With You," about seeing someone in a bar and being attracted yet afraid to get involved. His unique raspy velvet voice reminds me of a combination of Joe Cocker and Tom Waits. He also sang the Beatles' "Girl" and Dylan's "Like a Roiling Stone" in his own inimitable style.
Miss Coco Peru is a fabulous theatrical performer. Fresh from her critically acclaimed Undaunted one-woman show at the New Conservatory Theatre, she recited her original monologue about being a lower class New Yorker who suddenly discovered high class opera when first she heard a Wagner aria from Tristan & Isolde sung by Eva Martin-except she mispronounced all the words such as a Bronx greenhorn might do, and was therefore disdained by the record shop clerk when she wanted to purchase the piece. She plotted revenge, just as in the opera. All the while the actual aria played in the background, and she perfectly timed every crescendo, every pause, each tempo change, every pianissimo and fortissimo.
Comic Julia Jackson was a semifinalist in the. SF Comedy Competition and will be entering the Fringe Festival in Scotland this August. She really tore into Prez Bush and family, saying the election has put all of California into suicide watch, "Even the bridge wants to jump," she quipped. Speaking of daughter Jenna, Jackson said the woman will be teaching lower income students in Washington Doc. "I think if she's gonna be teaching English, she'd better start with her father. Leave no president behind. The reason he likes war so much is it's the only word he can spell."
That night was another first at Viva-an aerial dance, with Christopher Love performing in a harness suspended by a rope and rings. To the sound of Spanish guitar and Indian bells, he swung back and forth, then around and around in circles, then flying towards the audience, then curling up and resembling a bouncing tether ball. At one point he was a pendulum barley an inch away from the floor. Amazing control.
Betsy Salkind, better known as the Squirrel Lady, made her fifth appearance at VV. She had her opinion of Terri Schiavo: "She was a very pretty woman and obviously cared about her looks. If she were alive today, she would die of embarrassment". Taking a stab at the Bush administration-with Texas being the state with the most executions and ShrubCo's propensity for war, she said, "They're very pro-life, unless they want to kill you!" She did an ear-piercing imitation of a seagull, followed by her trademark squirrel impersonation-frenetically chewing in rodent fashion on a sheet of unleavened bread. It always cracks the audience up. Who doesn't love squirrels?!
The deep deep voice of Big Bones Blues (wearing Ray Charles sunglasses and a black fedora) and his partner treated everyone to genuine down-and-gritty blues-singing and playing a mean harmonica while his partner beat out the bassline. His first number was "Wanna Get Next to You." He sang his originals, "If You Want My Love" and "Blues from Sea to Sea." Very tasty.
Actor Michael Sousa, looking very tweedy, channeled the Welsh poet, Dylan Thomas, by first giving a reading of a DT prose piece, "Love and the Asylum," and then doing his original monologue in the styleof Thomas: "I have been a wee bit confused about the godly nature of the human creature," he' emoted. "I think it has something to do with having the guts to thumb your nose at the social shears that clip the wings of our human hearts." He summed up, 'I want the factual killing-world to go back to fancy kissing. Peace on earth."
Still another first at VV was the world's only theremin lounge act with '50s and '60s cocktail music. The theremin is a bizarre electronic device where the player's hands moving between antennas control the pitch and tone. It's that weird space-age sound in Star Trek's theme song, and in fact Project Pimento played that very tune. This talented group of four guys on instruments and a girl singer also played sexy samba music, "Sway Me Now" and James Bond's "Diamonds Are Forever," Dazzling.
Jim Short, winner of the 2004 SF Standup Competition, proved himself worthy of his title. Regarding gay marriage last year, this Aussie foreigner remarked, '1 could have married a dude, but I didn't. Well, I already had my green card." He pointed out that the news media in America is overly concerned about the sexual orientation of cartoons and characters in fur suits. "Who the hell is Tinky Winky, and why are we surprised he's called gay?" he asked. "Dude, he's not real. Where in the Bible does it say if a man lay down with another man in a big purpley suit, it is abomination?!" He ripped on evangelicals, noting, "They have to keep telling us they're Christians, because you wouldn't know it from their deeds and their actions." Talking about typical comics' income, he said at $10,000 a year, he felt he was a loser. Then he turned it around, pounding his chest and announcing, "I'm not a loser. I tried. I am a failure!" He is certainly nothing like that. In fact, all the entertainers in Viva Variety are surefire winners!!!