40ft Stripper Poles....

Last evening, my buddy Jack invited me to a performance at the theatre he works at a few days a week, the Brava Theatre in the Mission . I was described the show as follows: "Should be pretty interesting...a couple 40ft stripper poles, some girl who had something to do with Warhol, also an actress in the the 70's, 10 strippers...Again, I'm not really sure, but you should check it out. Should be righteous"

So I decided I must finally hold true and attend one of the invites as it was a Wednesday evening, I have an empty apt(while the Bird is away in Canadia country), and free beer and any sort of theatre are always welcomed warmly.

I showed up 15min before call-time, grabbed a beer and walked in...immediately I threw on a huge smile, as it was a bit unsure as to what I had entered into...Flipping open the play-bill trying not to look too lost, I soon found out who this was based on, and who (all of) the dancers were. The show was done by/about Penny Arcade who was in the 1971 Warhol film 'Women In Revolt'(at 19), a writer, activist, actress(read about her here, too much to list)...

I continued to look around at the 10 dancers rotating between the main stage with two 40ft stripper poles(which one of the dancers proceeded to climb about 20-25ft up, twice) and on one of three platforms throughout the theatre hall.

I opened the play-bill, and was happy to find the Name, and Bio of all 10 dancers...my favorite being Cinnamon, Lusty Cheecks(or was it Sweet Cheecks from the Lusty Lady...hmm) Tigger(The ORIGINAL Mr. Exotic World...scroll to the bottom...please!), Amber Ray, and a handful of other stripper ridden names. (Michael Highdrive, ya know first name and street name you grew up on, I always thought could be used if necessary.)

So my buddy Jack was able to give up his boxoffice post and come in to enjoy the show(wiitthh a few replacement beers) shortly before curtains, which was nice as I hopping to ask him a few questions to help prepare for the coming show.

"Soo Jack, after reading the Bios, is this going to be sort of spoken word deal, only with strippers all around the whole time?"

"Ughh, it could be. Sort of sounds like it, yes."

"Is it mainly about her life?"
"Ughh, sure. Look at that one climbing the pole", as Tiger climbs the 40ft pole higher than half way.

"This is going to be weird isnt it?"

"I think it's going to be righteous, YAY AMBER RAY!"

The show turned out to be just a bit off, a bit preachy, a bit ad-libbed(word? Sure), which was interesting as most of the audience was press or friends of everyone involved. It went in and out of different phases of her life, acting out a specific scene, then talking about everything around her at the time, with the dancers complementing said era. This back and forth ended with eveyone on stage dancing to some Castro-loved tunes. I enjoy a good dance. I was up there.

The tickets Jack had for us were 'combo' tickets to the show, as well as the official After Party of: "Penny Arcade’s BITCH! DYKE! FAGHAG! WHORE! (Regional Premiere)" at Cafe Du Nord.

After the show, we grabbed a Super Kaysodilla at a late night Taquerria off 24th and Treat, and stopped by Ruby and Niko's (Yay)for a few drinks before the Tingle Tangle's after party. That's about all I was told regarding the after party (much like the performance itself), "Ugh, should be pretty interesting...hosted by the Tingle Tangles,...some club kids from the 90's" all said under an almost made-up sounding, unsure tone(didn't help).

We bought some pints of Jim, walked downstairs and the lady/man/performer was Flawless Sabrina

There were a dozen of club kids, all seated on the floor, or flouncing around all graceful like, dressed like characters from Alice & Wonderland, with Green Man def. catching my eye.(Check out It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia)

They were all seated with little sketch comedy acts going on, with this Flawless Sabrina mc'ing the whole deal...weird weird weird... The final act I viewed was a lady (a naked lady...of course she was)who came out dressed in a Afro, a mask, and an afro g-strig(you figure that part out). She proceeded to pull out a tub top, a skirt, bracelets, sun glasses, and a purse from her afro to which she put on..only followed by two 5ft pieces of panty hose, one out the front of the smaller shaped afro, one out the rear of her..herself...make sense? Again, figure it out...

The show was fucking weird...everyone was in shock&awe of these performers (Penny Arcade, Fab Sabrina, the acts, club kids, etc)...we made sure to say hello to all of the 'known' acts present, to have full club cred. in case it was ever necessary.

It's weird to think that the entire venue, packed to the stairs, was into this...this was THEIR SCENE. This is what they paid $30 to experience...beyond me...

Yet another night here in eSeF, where one could say, "This could only happen in San Francisco."