Eau de Jo

High Heels and Red Noses
At The Palace of Variety, Chashama, NYC
February 27, 2004

Last night I went with Bambi, Rik, and Kate to the Bindlestiff’s “High Heels and Red Noses” show. It’s the last weekend for the show, as that entire block of buildings is about to be torn down for still more urban renewal (see Robert Moses). I’ll miss the quality of life on this block, with Tad’s Steak House and Peep World. It’s such a great touristy stretch, right by Times Square.

We walked up to the Palace of Variety (see photo) to be greeted by Tyler Fyre as the Talking Man, doing a traditional shtick to entice people into the show. It was packed! While we were filing in, Kinko the Clown got thrown out into the street and stood sadly gazing in at the stripper in the window, who was made entirely out of balloon art.

I don’t want to give away all the secrets about the show, and I decided to watch it rather than photograph it, not that I had permission, but I’ve just got to describe some of the highlights. First, there was the dominant Philomena, bullwhipping roses out of an audience member’s mouth. Then, the fabulous Mr. Pennygaff swallowed the Wheelo, one of my all-time favorite stunts--what is it about Wheelo?. The Slapinski Brothers performed an extremely funny balancing act together plus did incredible solo acts, and Miss Saturn as Svetlana of the Camel Toe performed a brilliant hula-hoop routine. Tanya Gagne did her trapeze drag-king strip that has to be seen to be believed. It’s such a great show, so subtly subversive (as opposed to some of the more in-your-face entertainment available today, which I also like but can get anywhere any time), and so charmingly debauched. And I love the rare occasion when a performer makes a mistake because it makes the whole thing that much more exciting when they do something like, oh, say, swing out over your head on a trapeze or juggle 12 pins just a few inches from your face.

Afterward Bambi, Rik and I went with Tanya to the Bowery Poetry Club. We had to wait so long for a taxi that we ended up taking a real limo downtown. There’s nothing like stepping out of a limo onto The Bowery. We went to see Jollyship the Whizbang, a pirate-themed puppet show with a live rock band. It was so awesome it made all of us want to do something with puppets! It made me think about the Center for Puppetry Arts in Atlanta, one of the most interesting cultural establishments in that city.

It’s so sad to think of Chashama being gone. I’ve seen such amazing things there. I loved doing Emma-Louise’s Victorian Peepshow as the Monkey Girl, and I loved Julie Atlas Muz’s “Creature of the Black Lagoon.” It’s a real loss to the creative community I know.

In spite of my grief for Chashama, though, I had a fabulous, fabulous time!