John Epperson

Last week, we took our own Agenda advice and checked out John Epperson performing as his alter ego Lypskinka…who was in turn performing as one of her many alter egos, Joan Crawford. The Passion of the Crawford is a rich, sly salute to one of the great gay icons, in which Epperson recreates an interview with the legend in her later years, disappearing into character while flawlessly lip-syncing to a recording of the actual event. Lip-syncing the spoken word requires a level of precision beyond what’s required to mouth along to pop songs, but Epperson is so technically on point that one actually forgets that he isn’t speaking—this is no drag show, its a display of extraordinary acting and remarkable physical discipline.

While post-modern drag is all the rage here in San Francisco, the evening had me feeling a tinge of mournfulness for studious exercises in camp and diva worship like Epperson’s. My partner and I—both in our mid-40s—were among the youngest gay men in the audience. Even as The New Normal takes to the airwaves and new norms begin to elevate society as a whole, one senses that a certain reverence for the gay past is beginning to wane. “Gay history” has really only been a topic of study for the past half century or so, yet—reflecting other ageist ways of our tribe—cultural touchstones that go back more than a few decades are starting to be treated like “gay ancient history.”

Are there any twentysomething gay boys who will carry the torch for Joan Crawford? Seems like Lady Gaga is already over for most of them.

So, if you’re over 35, here’s your assignment:  Be a Daddy Dearest.School a twink! Treat a young friend to The Passion of the Crawford,—which continues through this Sunday at The Rrazz Room, lend them some classic movie DVDs (How quaint…haven’t you heard of streaming?), take them to task!

And for you discerning gentlemen who recognize timeless classics and have no inclination to ever brush them aside, come share your good taste with John Epperson, himself, making a rare public appearance in trousers, and at the piano, for a one night cabaret performance of “An Evening with Lypsinka’s Maid”  on Monday night, September 17, at the Rrazz. Expect songs, stories, and appropriate deference to our distant 20th century past.

More drag delights? Check out a local star in and out of character, here.

The 55th annual Monterey Jazz Festival runs from September 21 to 23, with a terrifically varied roster of mainstage performers, from soignée chanteuse Melody Gardot, to iconic figures including Tony Bennett and Bill Frisell, to the Agenda’s pick for the most entertaining contemporary jazz musician on the touring circuit, Trombone Shorty. Over 500 artists will perform on 8 stages throughout the weekend-long event

On Thursday the 20th, the night prior to the festival opening, Jack DeJohnette will be honored at the non-profit festival’s fundraising Jazz Legends Gala. The evening’s host will be the Invisible Chair Whisperer himself, former Carmel mayor Clint Eastwood. The gala festivities will take place at the Hyatt Regency Monterey, home to one of SF Agenda’s favorite Bay Area escapes, the Accista Spa.

The deluxe couples’ suite at the Accista Spa in Monterey

If you like to feel jazz hands all over your bod, its well worth taking a break from the weekend’s concerts to treat yourself to a customized Accista massage. You’ll be asked to sample four different scents—from an almost medicinal herbal blend to a warm, sunny citrus—and select an aroma that matches your mood and the tone of the treatment you’d like to receive.

The spa’s most extraordinary offerings are its lavish couples suites, with private sitting areas, fireplaces, side-by-side massage tables, wine and cheese service available, and—in the largest suite—a hydrotherapy tub with room for two. Even if you don’t reserve a suite of your own, Accista’s hushed, sprawling post-therapy relaxation areas are arrayed with comfortable daybeds, encouraging dreamy naps to extend the spa experience (If you look drowsy, an attendant will likely offer you a soft blanket to snuggle up in, you little jazz kitten, you.)

Wake up! There’s a fierce Trombone Shorty video after the jump! Read more…

San Francisco’s stellar siren, Veronica Klaus

Knockout song stylist Veronica Klaus is a real San Francisco gem, delivering respectful yet singular interpretations of  Great American Songbook tunes that will please devotees while winning new converts from younger generations.  The resident Tuesday night performer at the late, lamented Enrico’s restaurant during its final two years, Klaus now performs regularly at the Rrrazz Room—where she’ll be showcasing selections from the Peggy Lee songbook this weekend—along with Joe’s Pub in New York, The Gardenia Room in L.A., and other marvelous boîtes hither and yon.

Her superb new album, Something Cool, has been on heavy rotation here in the San Francisco Agenda office. Among the highlights is  Klaus’ jaded, jazzy rendition—killer trumpet solo!— of “The Hunter Gets Captured by the Game,” a song oddly unfamiliar to the general public despite having previously been recorded by performers ranging from Ella Fitzgerald, to the Marvelettes, to Massive Attack.

Clearly, our Ms. Klaus has a discerning musical palate. And she’s equally impeccable in her selections of food, fashion, et cetera. Which is why we asked her to answer our Insider Tips questionnaire. Read her answers, and buy her album, stat!

What’s your favorite cultural institution to spend time at in the city?  

 The Alameda Antiques flea market—held the first Sunday of every month—qualifies as a cultural institution for me! You can learn a lot at a museum, but you can also learn a lot about society by the things it saves and casts off. Put on your hat, dress up and make an occasion of it!

Where’s your favorite view in the city?  

 It’s great to take in the sites while riding a bicycle through Golden Gate Park to Ocean Beach. The park really is an incredible resource and presents LOTS of different opportunities for sightseeing and mind clearing. I do it as often as possible in good weather early in the morning.  There’s something about putting it in high gear and going as fast as you can downhill through the meadows and the mist that really starts the day right! Rent a bike and go!

Where is shopping central for you?

I’m an compulsive browser when it comes to antiques and vintage, and there are several places to get your fix:  For clothing and accessories it’s Torso Vintages near Union Square downtown. They have an exquisite collection of designer, vintage and accessories that always amazes me–from Yma Sumac estate vintage gowns to FABULOUS hats!  Full disclosure: I work there too, but believe me, I shop!

For antiques and such there is Stuff on Valencia–two floors of fantastic and fantastically priced things that I may not end up buying but NEED to
visit often. For instance, there’s a folding screen made up, probably in the 70s, of authentic 30s hand-painted movie boards used to advertise in theater
lobbys.  NO ONE does this sort of calligraphy painting by hand anymore and it is exquisite!

Name one thing a visitor shouldn’t miss eating in San Francisco?

 The sweetbreads at Florio!  I don’t know exactly what they are–and please don’t tell me–but they are the most decadent succulent treats in town! What’s even better?  Though they used to only be an appetizer, they recently added them as an ENTREE size dish!  Oh, and did I mention there is bacon involved?

What’s your cocktail spot of choice? 

Two places for different moods:  Most of the time when I go out to a club I want to see some live music with my cocktail, and the best place in town for that is The Rrazz Room!  It’s a fantastic room to see a show in:  great sight-lines, sound, and a stellar array of artists!  It’s downtown at the Nikko Hotel in Union Square so it’s very centrally located.  You might be lucky and catch renowned artists like Della Reese, Mary Wilson formerly of the Supremes or the amazingly talented Tammy Hall playing piano with her own trio or accompanying any number of wonderful singers! [Ed: Including Ms. Klaus...but, while she's biased, we completely agree with her recommendation.]

For those nights when you just want a quiet cocktail with friends, The Comstock Saloon in North Beach has been in continuous operation since 1907 and is a great holdover from the old days of the Barbary Coast!  They are serious about their bartending there and take great pains to make you the PERFECT Manhattan….though a good Scotch neat is more my style.  One of the attractions you must look for is the original porcelain trough running along under the bar stools which used to function as a spittoon and supposed urinal for lazy, and intoxicated 49ers.  Don’t worry, it’s only a conversation piece now.

You’ve got $50 or more per person to spend for a meal, where would you choose?  

Da Flora restaurant on Columbus in North Beach—home of the sweetbreads!  Flora and Mary Beth run this fine Venetian cuisine establishment in a tiny little10 table space that is dark and cozy–just what I would imagine a fabulous century old Venetian restaurant to look like.  The gnocchi will start the meal off with delicious comfort and the menu usually includes a risotto orduck livers and other assorted ultra fresh and delicious regional specialties.  Try to take it easy on the house made focaccia bread because you will need the room.  They have their specialty cheeses flown in and for wine aficionados, Flora is adept at suggesting the perfect compliment to their amazing menu!  Call for reservations.

So now you’ve got less than $15 per person to spend for a meal. Where will it be?  

It’s got to be Pancho Villa Mexican restaurant on 16th St. near Valencia.  For a budget meal, there is NOTHING better than Pancho Villa’s carnitas burrito with black beans and guacamole.  You can smother it with Pico de Gallo at the salsa bar for free!  Delicious, and a bargain! Oh yes, and if you want seconds you don’t have to stand in line again….don’task how I know that.

What would you tell a visitor that they absolutely must do while in San Francisco which they probably wouldn’t find in a guidebook? 

The rooftop garden at the Fairmont Hotel is a gorgeous and chic place to spend a free hour and is open to the public!  You can take a free City Guides tour of the hotel
and get some wonderful insights on its history in San Francisco: it was built before the 1906 earthquake and has quite a storied past.

Before I chat about one of the greatest good times you can have in SF this weekend, let me point out one of the big fails in gay men’s general efforts to have a good time these days. Let’s call it the “Want Ads” factor, in honor of the 1971 #1 hit by the rollicking R&B trio, Edna Wright & The Honey Cone, which also scored big with the similarly sassy, sing-along worthy singles “Stick Up,” One Monkey Don’t Stop No Show” and “Girls, It Ain’t Easy.”

The “Want Ads” factor works like this: You post an ad featuring a flattering photograph taken of yourself, oh 5, 10, 20 (?!?) years ago and are shocked—shocked!—when your OKCupid date or Grindr hook-up is disgruntled upon meeting today’s version of you. Gentlemen, what’s disgruntling is not just that we look different—or, if you insist,”worse”—these days; it’s that:

• We’re bait-and-switching
• We’re suggesting that we don’t like ourselves as we are (So why should anyone else?)
• We’re mutually disrespecting the value of each others’ personalities, life experiences, and talents as we bow to the altar of superficial aesthetics

As an (admittedly tangential) example, let’s look at the photo that the Rrazz Room has been using to promote Edna Wright & the Honey Cone’s shows this Friday and Saturday night (top), followed by a photo of Edna as she actually appeared last year (bottom):

Edna Wright (center), circa ???

Edna today. Smiling, seasoned, and ready to rock you.

As far as a good time goes, yeah, in her ingenue days, Edna Wright may have been sleek and polished.  But admit it, today’s Edna looks like waaaaay more fun.

And let me tell you—it’s the truth. Now in her mid-60s, the sparkplug sister of Darlene Love puts on a fierce, fabulous show. She’s Tina Turner without the Euro-pretensions. Along with her own hits—originally released on Hot Wax records by Holland-Dozier-Holland after the superstar songwriting/production trio left Motown—Wright plays some classic R&B covers, flirts madly with the audience, and generally has everyone in the crowd on their feet, letting their hair down (if they haven’t lost it all yet), clapping, and shaking their maybe-not-so-tight-anymore tuchuses.

When you get together with fellow grown-ups for an evening of live music like this, it reminds you that there’s much to celebrate in getting older, wiser, and more experienced. Embrace yourselves and boogie!

Want Ads video, after the jump

Read more…

Matt Yee comes in from the sea this Saturday night

If you’ve ever been on an Atlantis gay cruise, odds are you’ve found yourself drawn in the the very corny, slightly porny and utterly irresistible whirlpool of musical energy that is a Matt Yee singalong.  Pounding the keyboards in his signature muumuu, moving through a succession of wild wigs, whipping out punny props and hit-or-miss gags with the relentlessness of Carrot Top, Yee tosses away his own inhibitions—and it’s utterly infectious. Any shyness you have about singing in public will be wiped out by Yee’s overwhelming tsunami of silliness. You will sing. You will dance. You will make synchronized hand gestures.

A Hawaiian native—and still a resident when he’s not off floating the seven seas (Yee performs frequently on mainstream Royal Carribean cruises as well as on GLBT charters), the seafaring songster makes a rare shoreside appearance for a 10:30 pm. late show at the Rrazz Room this Saturday night. Cancel your Martuni’s plans pronto! (Or head over there afterwards if you’ve still got the music in you!). The evening’s repertoire is likely to swing frantically from TV theme songs, to Broadway tunes, to pop hits; a maniacal mash up, masterfully orchestrated by a man who makes it all look incredibly offhand and casual. However the rest of your week is going, you can guarantee yourself a big smile this Saturday night.

 Video of Matt with Idina Menzel, after the jump

Read more…

Paula West and Bruce Vilanch share an eclectic bill with cast members from American Idiot

Cast members from the touring company of American Idiot will break character and break out some distinctly unpunk performances this Monday night, July 2.  Members of the stellar troupe are using their night off to volunteer on behalf of the Richmond/Ermet AIDS Foundation (REAF) in the latest One Night Only! fundraiser at the Marine’s Memorial Theater.

Among the Green team’s fellow footllghters in this crazy quilt of a benefit will be the extraordinary interpretive jazz singer Paula West—who has headlined the late lamented Oak Room at the Algonquin in Manhattan as well as our own Rrazz Room—and  Muppetoid writer/comedian Bruce Vilanch, who’s scripted quips for everyone from Bette Midler to Florence Henderson.

Expect an eclectic mix of music and laughs from this generous crew in a show that is not only a benefit but a bargain—tickets are as little as $25.

From  evidence we’ve dug up online, members of this American Idiot cast like to bust out a little country when they’re freed from their show’s rock and roll score. Video after the jump Read more…

American Idiot, the blast-furnace of a musical built around the songs of Bay Area natives Green Day  and first produced at the Berkeley Rep in 2009 has circled back  from Broadway, landing at the Orpheum for the final run of its first North American tour (Now through July 8). The rock solid cast—including several veterans of the New York production—takes the stage with an exuberant ferocity that belies the fact that this is the last stop of a long haul that began in Toronto six months ago.

After last night’s official opening, we spotted director/conceptualist Michael Mayer positively beaming at the back of the house, surely impressed at the stamina and professionalism of this remarkable troupe. You’d be hard-pressed to name another touring show with this degree of polish.

Scott J. Campbell plays Tunny (Photo: Doug Hamilton)

The show stitches all of the songs from the 2004 American Idiot album—along with numbers from Green Day’s subsequent 21st Century Breakdown record—in a loose, poetry slam of a storyline about a troika of teenage boys seeking to escape the miasma of contemporary suburbia in search of some inchoate ‘better life.’ Propulsive punk-pop songs like “I Don’t Care” and “Know Your Enemy” effectively convey the sneering, pissed-off angst of adolescence, while anthemic ballads including “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” and “Wake Me Up When September Ends” alchemize sometimes self-dramatizing teen bathos into genuinely moving onstage moments.

The emotions and characters in American Idiotare as boldly and broadly drawn as graffiti tags: Musical vernacular aside, the show is much more akin to opera than to traditional musical theater: It invites its audience to get swept up in the music, to wallow and soar in grand percussive projections of their of their own emotions, rather than closely follow witty lyrics and clockwork plotting.

Arena rock spectacle at the intimate Orpheum
(Photo: Doug Hamilton)

American Idiot even has its own three tenors: Van Hughes as Johnny, who descends into heroin addiction; hunky Scott Campbell as Tunny, who joins the army out of aimlessness rather than patriotism; and Jake Epstein as Will, who stays behind in their hometown with his pregnant girlfriend. They’re remarkably focused actors, imbuing their loosely sketched roles with specific humanity and creating surprisingly individuated characters amidst the overall atmosphere of stomping ensemble spectacle.

A bell-clear sound system, an arsenal of well-deployed lighting and video effects, and Steven Hoggett’s frenetic full-bodied choreography help American Idiot concentrate and elevate the the pleasures of an arena rock show into something just as visceral, but much more rewarding in the intimate 2200-seat Orpheum.

Sit in the pit! A limited number of $25 Orchestra Pit Rush seats will go on sale two hours prior to each performance at the Orpheum Theatre Box Office only. These tickets are available to anyone and you must be present to purchase. Cash only with a limit of two tickets per person. Tickets will be sold on a first come, first serve basis.

Video clip after the jump

Read more…

You’re doubtless familiar with the Blue Man Group. Well, take a gander at White Man Group, better known as VocaPeople, the Israel-based singing ensemble now performing at the Marines’ Memorial Theater through June 17.

VocaPeople on tour in Spain

Their musical is tied together by a thin, rather extraneous plot line about alien visitors to earth (hence the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence cosmetics and bleached out wardrobe), but its really all about spotlighting the group’s remarkable vocal talents and ingenious song arrangements and mash-ups.  The show is performed entirely a cappella, but spans genres from classical, to funk, to metal (with a dollop of doo-wop, of course). If you’re looking for a lighthearted, utterly entertaining evening out over the week ahead, VocaPeople’s got the white stuff.

Check out cool Voca video after the jump Read more…