Things I did at Equality Forum weekend
Sorry I haven't posted anything this past week. It's been a combination of my allergies acting up and having a bad case of post-Equlaity Forum weekend depression. I had a great time in Philadelphia at a few different events over the past weekend, and now that they're over and I'm back in West Chester. I know that I'm not having a good time where I'm living right now, it kind of feels like I'm being stifled here. Hence the depression.
Anyhow, here's a recap that went down. The Dumpsta Players's 100 Proof show at Tyz on Saturday May 6 was fun. Lots of people turned up with a few well-known faces in the crowd. Some of the highlights IMHO included a piss-take on Wilson's Phillips' "Hold On," with Carnie Wilson walking on stage stuffing her face with cheese popcorn and drinking Diet Coke straight from a two-liter bottle, and the other two members trying to grab the food away, resulting in soda being sprayed all over the stage. The big balcony scene from Evita was re-created, but in Evita's place a guy in a straightjacket was brought onstage, perched up on a stool and loopily lip-synched "Don't Cry For Me Argentina." (Now why I didn't think of that myself?) Quite a few Eurovision tribute numbers in there, and the performance of Gary Numan's "Cars" was a hoot with the record being interupted with some crazy hip-hop scratching! All in all a great re-cap of the troupe's performances in the past decade. And this was the first time I was in Club Tyz, a cozy afterhours place I've heard a bit about but never was there until now.
Earlier that evening around 7:00pm I had driven into the city and stopped at a barbecue held in Kahn Park on 11th and Pine Streets which was sponsored by Q102. Considering the crowd was mainly twentysomethings that were into the current (mostly R&B/rap) chart music, I stayed only about 10-15 minutes and left to kill some time at the Westbury until it was time to go see the Dumpstas's show (which started at 9:00pm).
Drove back into Philly the following afternoon around 2:00pm, parked at the corner of 12th and Walnut and walked over to the Old City section for the SundayOUT! Street festival, which was held on Market Street between Second and Fifth Streets. It was sunny and pretty warm that afternoon, but I had my little London Fog jacket in my backpack because I knew it was going to get cooler this evening. Until two years ago this would be held in the heart of the Gayborhood, but last year it was moved to its current location. At least it made it easier to get to the Equality LIVE! concert, which was held at the Geat Plaza at Penn's Landing. (This location was where Philly's Gay Pride festival was held up until 1999 when it just got too big.) Got to the gate around 4:50pm, which was supposed to open at 5:00pm but didn't until 5:50pm due to some prolonged soundchecking. The show started at 6:10 with the energetic Brazilian dance troupe Alo Brasil. Then some band featuring four grrls that looked and sounded like they spent lots of time at the Hot Topic store at the local mall. Some DJ rap-rock stuff? Check. The lead singer's liberal use of the F-word? Check. Throwing the damning digit a couple of times? Check. Someone sarcasticly shouted out "We want Madonna!" The lead singer went on to say they were going to be on the Warped Tour, the band performed one more number and left. Whatever. It was getting cool and a breeze was coming from the Delaware River, so I took my jacket out of my backpack and put it on, glad for having the sense to carry it with me.
Jade Starling and Pretty Poison came onstage next and performed six songs, including the new single "Take Me I'm Yours." When they closed the set with "Catch Me I'm Falling," Jade reached from the stage to shake hands with members of the crowd. As she was shaking my hand, I noticed that the guy next to me--who looked like a young version of Kramer from Seinfield--was groping her butt. I thought "Well that's pretty nervy of him!" Well Jade was just cool and professional, brushing him off like he was just some annoying fruit fly and kept singing like nothing had happened. After the performance she and keyboardist Whey Cooler sold some posters and CDs and signed them. I took a moment to say hello to Jade, who thanked me for the interview I did with her a few days prior. Gina G., best known for England's entry for the 1996 Eurovision Song Contest where she performed her big hit "Ooh Ah Just A Little Bit" (which was pumping out of radios in the summer of that year here in Philly), came on with her backing dancers who had on T-shirts done up in the Katherine Hamnett agitprop style that sported slogans such as "FRANKIE SAY" and "CHOOSE LIFE." Since Kylie Minogue isn't going to be coming to perform in Philly anytime soon (or elsewhere in America as a matter of fact), the crowd settled for Gina instead and was happy. Taylor Dayne came on last with two backing singers and performed eight songs (no band, just a backing tape, like Gina) and the crowd ate it up. When she performed "I'll Be Your Shelter," she walked into the crowd as she belted the song. I was standing about ten feet away when she finished it. When she did the Thunderpuss mix of "Naked Without You" (just the radio version, not the longer club version with that exaggerated prolonged note) a few crowd members were saying "Finally!" She did her signature tune "Tell It To My Heart," and then it was over. She came out afterwards to sell some autographs (ten dollars each) and some CDs (twenty-five) and a crowd was swarming around her. I instead decided to walk on over to the Bike Stop to see if I could catch the end of the Liberty Bears's social, but it was winding down when I got there--after all the concert ended around 9:45pm--it went on longer than I had expected-- so I wasn't able to get there until 10. So I decided to just go home. After that the next few days would be dull in comparison.
Anyhow, here's a recap that went down. The Dumpsta Players's 100 Proof show at Tyz on Saturday May 6 was fun. Lots of people turned up with a few well-known faces in the crowd. Some of the highlights IMHO included a piss-take on Wilson's Phillips' "Hold On," with Carnie Wilson walking on stage stuffing her face with cheese popcorn and drinking Diet Coke straight from a two-liter bottle, and the other two members trying to grab the food away, resulting in soda being sprayed all over the stage. The big balcony scene from Evita was re-created, but in Evita's place a guy in a straightjacket was brought onstage, perched up on a stool and loopily lip-synched "Don't Cry For Me Argentina." (Now why I didn't think of that myself?) Quite a few Eurovision tribute numbers in there, and the performance of Gary Numan's "Cars" was a hoot with the record being interupted with some crazy hip-hop scratching! All in all a great re-cap of the troupe's performances in the past decade. And this was the first time I was in Club Tyz, a cozy afterhours place I've heard a bit about but never was there until now.
Earlier that evening around 7:00pm I had driven into the city and stopped at a barbecue held in Kahn Park on 11th and Pine Streets which was sponsored by Q102. Considering the crowd was mainly twentysomethings that were into the current (mostly R&B/rap) chart music, I stayed only about 10-15 minutes and left to kill some time at the Westbury until it was time to go see the Dumpstas's show (which started at 9:00pm).
Drove back into Philly the following afternoon around 2:00pm, parked at the corner of 12th and Walnut and walked over to the Old City section for the SundayOUT! Street festival, which was held on Market Street between Second and Fifth Streets. It was sunny and pretty warm that afternoon, but I had my little London Fog jacket in my backpack because I knew it was going to get cooler this evening. Until two years ago this would be held in the heart of the Gayborhood, but last year it was moved to its current location. At least it made it easier to get to the Equality LIVE! concert, which was held at the Geat Plaza at Penn's Landing. (This location was where Philly's Gay Pride festival was held up until 1999 when it just got too big.) Got to the gate around 4:50pm, which was supposed to open at 5:00pm but didn't until 5:50pm due to some prolonged soundchecking. The show started at 6:10 with the energetic Brazilian dance troupe Alo Brasil. Then some band featuring four grrls that looked and sounded like they spent lots of time at the Hot Topic store at the local mall. Some DJ rap-rock stuff? Check. The lead singer's liberal use of the F-word? Check. Throwing the damning digit a couple of times? Check. Someone sarcasticly shouted out "We want Madonna!" The lead singer went on to say they were going to be on the Warped Tour, the band performed one more number and left. Whatever. It was getting cool and a breeze was coming from the Delaware River, so I took my jacket out of my backpack and put it on, glad for having the sense to carry it with me.
Jade Starling and Pretty Poison came onstage next and performed six songs, including the new single "Take Me I'm Yours." When they closed the set with "Catch Me I'm Falling," Jade reached from the stage to shake hands with members of the crowd. As she was shaking my hand, I noticed that the guy next to me--who looked like a young version of Kramer from Seinfield--was groping her butt. I thought "Well that's pretty nervy of him!" Well Jade was just cool and professional, brushing him off like he was just some annoying fruit fly and kept singing like nothing had happened. After the performance she and keyboardist Whey Cooler sold some posters and CDs and signed them. I took a moment to say hello to Jade, who thanked me for the interview I did with her a few days prior. Gina G., best known for England's entry for the 1996 Eurovision Song Contest where she performed her big hit "Ooh Ah Just A Little Bit" (which was pumping out of radios in the summer of that year here in Philly), came on with her backing dancers who had on T-shirts done up in the Katherine Hamnett agitprop style that sported slogans such as "FRANKIE SAY" and "CHOOSE LIFE." Since Kylie Minogue isn't going to be coming to perform in Philly anytime soon (or elsewhere in America as a matter of fact), the crowd settled for Gina instead and was happy. Taylor Dayne came on last with two backing singers and performed eight songs (no band, just a backing tape, like Gina) and the crowd ate it up. When she performed "I'll Be Your Shelter," she walked into the crowd as she belted the song. I was standing about ten feet away when she finished it. When she did the Thunderpuss mix of "Naked Without You" (just the radio version, not the longer club version with that exaggerated prolonged note) a few crowd members were saying "Finally!" She did her signature tune "Tell It To My Heart," and then it was over. She came out afterwards to sell some autographs (ten dollars each) and some CDs (twenty-five) and a crowd was swarming around her. I instead decided to walk on over to the Bike Stop to see if I could catch the end of the Liberty Bears's social, but it was winding down when I got there--after all the concert ended around 9:45pm--it went on longer than I had expected-- so I wasn't able to get there until 10. So I decided to just go home. After that the next few days would be dull in comparison.
posted by Chris Krakora at 10:10 PM
1 Comments:
What a week! What a show! Thanks for coming out--it is always goo
Post a Comment
<< Home