When Sec. of the Treasury Steve Mnuchin, a huge slimeball, was testifying before Congress and attempting to evade Rep. Maxine Waters's (D-California) questions, she invoked a House rule by repeatedly stating she was reclaiming her time.
That went viral in 10 seconds flat.
Now, check out the drag reboot of Maxine's moment. Keep reading for that and more hot links of the day ...
I had a very unusual experience at the Blondie gig last night, which was the latest stop on their Rage and Rapture Tour 2017 with Garbage.
See, lots of good stuff happened, but lots of bad stuff happened — and yet, I think it could be that the resolution was so appropriate, it wound up being a positive experience overall.
Plus, it's always nice meeting Debbie Harry! Keep reading for a full review ...
Last night, I caught Camp Wanatachi: In Concert, an official selection of the 2017 New York Music Festical (NYMF) — and I'm so blessed that I did!
Keep reading for my take on this weird and wonderful story of girls discovering who they are at Christian camp ...
(All images by Matthew Rettenmund)
My friend Jason suggested we catch Diana Ross at New York City Center last night, and I'm glad we took the plunge. Having never seen her, she was on my bucket list, and didn't disappoint.
The space was crazy-small, so even from second-to-last row, I got good shots and videos of the diva, who has not only not changed, but seems to have become even more Diana Ross as the years have gone by.
The first look — we didn't want her to Stop!
She wafted out like a vision, with her signature big hair and glitzy, sequined gown, welcoming herself with her Top 5 smash from 1980 “I'm Coming Out.” Like her presentation, it was an unapologetically literal choice, and had the crowd stomping.
She effortlessly cooed her way through a Motown segment featuring “More Today Than Yesterday” and “My World Is Empty Without You” (many of her song choices and stage gestures seemed tailor-made to communicate with fans), “Baby Love,” “Stop! In the Name of Love,” “Come See About Me,” “You Can't Hurry Love” and “Love Child.”
Red-hot!
After the first gown swap (she favored us with five looks in all), she moved into the '70s with “The Boss” and “Touch Me in the Morning,” taking a Red Hot Rhythm & Blues detour with “It's Hard for Me to Say,” her only shaky performance all evening (she seemed a little lost, then joked that she would just read the words, presumably from a prompter).
She then brought down the house with an ecstatic “Upside Down,” for which she welcomed two of her grandkids, one daughter and a step-daughter onstage.
The '70s were back with “It's My House” and an ultra-slinky “Love Hangover,” which segued into her '90s hit “Take Me Higher,” itself a '70s throwback. Ross would occasionally give us a little vamping while singing, always with a mega-watt smile that made fun of herself, as if to discount her sexiness at 73, but she can definitely still pull it off.
You were expecting Lady Gaga? (Image by Matthew Rettenmund)
Tuesday night, I took my Encyclopedia Madonnica 20 designer Anthony with me to 54 Below for an evening of expensive scallops, microscopic dessert and a waiter who was serving ass for days, so we could take in the one-night-only show by crooner and pianist Michael Griffiths, In Vogue: Songs by Madonna.
If you've never seen or heard Griffiths, he's a nattily dressed cabaret performer who brings to life the oeuvre (said with all of Madonna's pretension) of the Queen of Pop, giving her songs the Cole Porter treatment while sardonically narrating her life and career.
The part of his show that takes some getting used to is that Griffiths addresses the audience as Madonna, but doesn't attempt to mimic her voice. For die-hard fans, his needling of Madonna's grandiosity and, at times, even her songwriting skills, can be alarming, but as the show unfolds, it becomes increasingly clear that he's the type of person to keep his friends close and his icons closer.
A Truth or Dare black-and-white moment (Image by Matthew Rettenmund)
Griffiths has a beautiful, clear voice that he uses aggressively, squeezing out phrases brusquely and with precision. At times, his renditions were so fabulously inventive and fun to hear (“Die Another Day,” for example), it was frustrating that he would cut things short in order to be funny ... but funny he was.
Some of the songs that received relatively full renditions include her obvious best work, like “Vogue” and “Like a Prayer,” but one highlight of his curation was his selection of “Cry Baby” from I'm Breathless: Songs from and Inspired by the Film Dick Tracy, a gem of a tune that he rewrote in order to skewer Madonna's failed marriage to Guy Ritchie.
For me, the most interesting part of the show was a brilliantly compiled mash-up arranged to capture Madonna's movie career (aw, he referred to Evita as a Musical and/or Comedy), using snippets of her movie songs to sketch her (now long gone) desperation to be accepted as an actress. It was probably his most intelligent use of his spoken-word vs. sung-song approach, and was a harbinger of the poignancy he achieved by show's end.
Two faces of Griffiths — serious 'n' silly (Images by Matthew Rettenmund)
Griffiths is currently on a mini-tour, singing the songs of Cole Porter (presumably sans bitchy asides about Cole's contempt for Lady Gaga). Catch him if you can regardless of what he's warbling, but if you get a chance to witness him being like a Ciccone, live out your fantasies of Madonna as torch singer there with him.
My flash almost died waiting for this! (Image by Anthony Coombs)
Keep reading for his full set list:
Images of Piaf were projected onto the walls of the performance hall as Carrere sang. (Image by Matthew Rettenmund; other images by G. Marsalla)
I spent Friday evening listening to Edith Piaf sing at Carnegie Hall in the '50s.
Actually, the event was Piaf! The Show, we were in the Fifties in NYC and the singer was Anne Carrere, but close enough — Carrere hauntingly summons Piaf's vocal stylings so beautifully it has been said she possesses the legend's instrument at her peak. In a warm, witty rendering of all the songs Piaf made famous, Carrere's challenge was to inhabit Piaf's unique style while giving us flashes of her own personality.
She succeeded.
Act I consisted of early Piaf, 16 French numbers performed with gusto by Carrere and her tight band. Carrere looked the part enough to create an illusion but not enough to appear to be a caricature. The crowd was eating from the palm of her hand, so delighted were they to be hearing songs in what was likely the native language of more than a few.
After an intermission, Carrere & Co. returned for 12 more tunes, these more modern and among Piaf's signature hits. With each number the crowd grew more enthusiastic, awaiting the inevitable arrival of “La Vie en Rose” and “Non, Je ne Regrette Rien.” Carrere performed cheekily, leaving the stage to flirt with audience members, some of whom were all to eager to flirt back. (When she approached a woman, the attendee stood and shook her breasts, which earned her a skip.)
The only less than perfect part of the evening was when a creepy guy overeagerly volunteered to dance with Carrere onstage. Even seated, his body movements were disturbingly suggestive, threatening to kill the buzz of an incredibly emotional and faultlessly classy evening for Carrere, who was debuting at Carnegie Hall 60 years after Piaf's famed gig there. Her own respect for Piaf and her charm as a newcomer to the world stage won out.
Wayward audience members aside, the evening was magical, driven by Carrere's indefatigable growl and her sweetness in admitting to us how much it meant for her to be able to bring us those songs in that place in that context.
For us, too, and for any big fan of Piaf; this is a show that can't be missed. Let it pass you by and you will regret it.
Piaf!: The Show has about 400 upcoming shows scheduled through 2019 in the U.S., Europe and Asia. Info here.
Set list after the jump ...
Dylann Roof, North Carolina, Trump Grill, Fake News, Prince Harry, EgyptAir, Billy on the Street: HOT LINKS https://t.co/XNaMMn06Dq pic.twitter.com/IZDAfj3gBJ
— Sean Mandell (@SeanMandell) December 16, 2016
Sean Mandell is leaving Towleroad — sob!
Obama's last 2016 presser: Press to blame for taking Putin's leak bait, but yeah, it was Putin. I prefer Mamie's take:
Newsweek's Kurt Eichenwald has Trump's number, so people are tweeting him strobe images to trigger his epilepsy.
(Image via Instagram @willgrant)
Will Grant, BMXer-cum-model, goes nude. (Work Unfriendly)
He's with v: Review of Justin Vivian Bond's new Christmas cabaret act.
(Video still via John-David Lyons)
Thank God for the (Really) Gay Men's Chorus of San Diego. Watch how they were born to hand-jive AFTER THE JUMP ...
(Video still via Showtime)
Showtime's December 9 airing of Madonna: Rebel Heart Tour gets a meaty trailer, throughout which we hear Madonna singing “Easy Ride” from her 2004 album American Life, performed live only at Tears of a Clown in Australia.
Keep reading to hear and see ...
