A GREAT SHOW!

As those who know me/us well, I don’t go to shows much…like almost never….except for our performances. It takes days for us to prepare to go out…then days afterward to recover…and I’m usually painfully disappointed at what we see…not to mention our lack of money. Moreover, we have the bands, hottest acts coming to our house for THE SHAMAN’S DEN each week…like Sunday’s band, Corsica, has members who have played with Dizzy Gillespie and the bassist for Jimi Hendrix. So why go out?

But we did last night! We went to Penny Arcade’s BITCH! DYKE! FAGHAG! WHORE! To put it simply it is one of the five “best” live performances I have ever seen. I knew, or had a feeling, it wasn’t much of a risk…not because of her titles of WARHOL’S SUPERSTAR, THE QUEEN OF THE UNDERGROUND, etc….those would be normally bad omens! But Penny and I have been emailing about her coming over. She emails like a grounded person who shares my excitement about getting together with someone who has been doing the same work. And the below photo sealed our going.

The ticket guy on the phone off-handedly said we should get there a half hour before “show time” to catch the pre-show goings-on with erotic dancers. In spite of our normal challenges getting out of the house, we got there about an hour early. Just tell me “erotic dancers!” One advantage of being in a wheelchair is you are let into performance areas early…which is like being backstage! We are front row kinds of people, ready for action…people think sitting in the back is safer! Anyway, Penny walked out into the space before the doors were opened to check things out. She was in street clothes. When we saw each other, we hugged as fellow warriors/players/misfits. Then she went to piss before the show. Meanwhile about 15 dancers in different sexy costumes came in and took positions both on the stage and in the mist of the seats. Both genders, all body types, races, etc. All hot! They started dancing erotically, hot! During their 45 minute dancing period, they rotated their positions after each song. After 10 minutes the doors were opened and the audience started coming in [SO GET THERE EARLY!]. Frankly it was visually and erotically overwhelming! During the show, each dancer became a person to us. At a certain point, Penny walked back into the theater. She was still in her street clothes. So most people didn’t know she was PENNY ARCADE…just a middle aged woman trying to make contact with people, going up to people in the audience. But I was the first she came up to. We did our thing together….but a guy in a wheelchair and a middle aged woman…but all that changed when she climbed up onto the stage!

The show is Penny. And Penny is funny, warm, sexy, erotic, kick-ass, political, subversive, plain talking, nude, up-lifting, real, wise, entertaining, committed, outsider, humane, community-building, rich history…and a damn good artist! We are going back next week! Btw, be prepared to dance! I loved dancing with Miss Muffy!

And PENNY ARCADE will be my guest on a special edition of THE SHAMAN'S DEN this Monday at 8pm pt.on http://www.luver.com !

* * * * *

Penny Arcade’s
BITCH! DYKE! FAGHAG! WHORE! (Regional Premiere)
Written and Created by Penny Arcade
February 25 – March 7, 2009 at 8pm
Tickets $20-$50

“In a world where "bad girl" has become a marketing ploy applied to the likes of Britney Spears, New York performance artist and social satirist Penny Arcade is the real thing.” – The Sydney Morning Herald

“The show is everything you ever wanted to know about censorship, feminism, counterculture and joy – without speaking about any of those things.” – Rolling Stone Magazine

Penny Arcade was recently featured in the Weimar, NY Series presented at SF MOMA, February 2008. Arcade aka Susana Ventura is an internationally respected writer, actress and director. Penny Arcade debuted with John Vaccaro's explosive Playhouse of The Ridiculous at 17 years of age, and was a Warhol Factory superstar at 19, featured in the Warhol film "Women In Revolt. In 1991 the great Quentin Crisp chose Penny Arcade as the woman he most identified with naming her his Anima Figure and their friendship became professional as they undertook many performances together right up till one month before his death at age 91. For the first time, Arcade world renowned performance piece, “BITCH! DYKE! FAGHAG! WHORE!” comes to San Francisco!!!