It was double the fun on Sunday night. A holiday weekend two-fer had me at the DNA Lounge for the Bootie Pirate Prom - where the usual mash-up goodness was seasoned with a high-seas theme and numerous patrons in full-on buccaneer or wench costumes. Then, I ambled a few blocks away to the Cat Club for a summit that brought together the weekly ‘80s dance music party Club Gossip and the insanely funny, über-hip drag show Trannyshack – with special guests Jane Wiedlin and Gina Schock of the Go-Go’s.
Hitting the DNA, I swilled a goblet of grog, caught a good dose of musical piracy from the Bootie house band Smash-Up Derby and the event’s resident DJs, and cheered the crowning of the Pirate Prom King and Queen. Fun? You betcha, but I could not shake the allure of seeing the real Jane and Gina judge a Go-Go’s lookalike lip-syncing contest.
For the uninitiated, Trannyshack usually goes down on Tuesday nights at the Stud bar in the same south of Market area where you’ll find the DNA and the Cat Club, and features a rotating group of performers who pay tribute to different musical genres, artists, holidays, and so forth each week. I still marvel at the legendary Pat Benatar Night, especially the “Hell Is for Children” routine performed by a braided-and-infuriated “schoolgirl” brandishing a plastic hand grenade. But I digress.
The Cat Club has a front room with a bar, a DJ booth and a small dance floor - and a larger back bar with a more spacious dance floor and a small stage. To accommodate the Trannyshack gang, statuesque m.c. Heklina took over the back room. After the standard musical intro (“The Muppet Show” theme – Ha!), (s)he introduced a randy, trash-talking Jane in top hat and quasi-tux and the amiable, more casually garbed-and-androgynous Gina to pass judgment on the parade of wannabe rock “queens.”
As Jane and Gina belted back the drinks and looked on, the jammed-up-and-jelly-tight crowd was treated to (or terrified by) interpretations of Go-Go’s favorites - from “This Town” (done after a grotesque trio mouthed dialogue from the soundtrack of John Waters’ film “Desperate Living”) to “Bikini Beach” as performed by a not-so-Little Orphan Annie clone while her pet dog Sandy did unspeakable things to her leg. “We’ve Got the Beat,” “Cool Jerk,” and my own numero uno “Head Over Heels” were all lovingly desecrated. A few contestants even mimicked what Jane referred to as the Belinda Dance – the incessant, ever-so-goofy, arm-waving on-stage dance moves of Go-Go’s lead singer Belinda Carlisle.
The first-place winners were three bathing “beauties” (beauty is, after all, in the eye of the beholder) who amazingly and amusingly reproduced the water-skiing sequence from the video for the jaunty, summery pop hit “Vacation.”
Sarcasm was rampant – from Heklina, the contestants, and, of course, Jane and Gina. It was all wildly entertaining, but it made my subsequent return to a sweaty DNA full of drunken pirates seem rather tame.
In the spirit of the antics at the Cat Club, here’s a peek at a gender-bent romp by the Go-Go’s themselves - the 1984 video for “Turn to You,” including a cameo appearance by a young Rob Lowe:
My Trusted MOGs
You blow me away. I know the area, and was unfamiliar with Trannyshack. WOW! I love the Bay Area.
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Wow, sounds like an unforgettable night.
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Go-Go fact: Gina is from Baltimore (or Bortamore as she would say) and hung out with the John Waters crowd. So Trannyshack should have been like old times. The Go-Go's were (are?) a great example of looking clean on the surface while indulging in all manner of filth and depravity. Sounds like a great night.
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Sounds like FUN! I remember back in the good old punk rock days before the Go Go's existed as a band, Jane was known as Jane Draino and designed clothes. She kept the name Jane Draino into the Go Go's until they got signed and got groomed.....and what John said is so true. I went to high school with Belinda Carlisle and when she moved to LA, she stayed in my apartment for a couple months while in between her own.... well... yeah. Those girls are NOT sweet n innocent.
In fact, here's a photo of Belinda I took in 1978.
probably she wants to forget that look....
Jane, on the other hand, and Gina as well, have always been consistent.
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I want your life for just one day.
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chucky.... then you'd have to deal with being 50 years old and a bad case of arthritic knees (happy birthday by the way). but if we could trade, you're on!
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anna, haha - if you're sure you'd like to be a 32 year old accountant.
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well... its just for a day. i could balance my checkbook, put together a budget and all that kind of stuff i know how to do, but never get around to....
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You forgot mogging. That occupies a good portion of my day...haha.
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Great night indeed, wish I could have been there
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Arrrh. Me wishes I could've been thar at ye go-go and mashup paaarrrtiees. Sounds like a jolly good time.
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hah, it looks like you had a great time the other day, mike.
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Anna - love the Belinda photo. I'm sure she'd like to forget too but I think it captures the era perfectly! I wanted to be Gina when I was growing up but try and convince your parents you need a drum kit in a 9th floor apt with loads of shared walls...not gonna happen.
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anna, we should talk. Was this in the days of "dating" the arab with a house on Mulholland?
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We now have two MOG story tellers, Jonh as well as Ann! Excellent.
I'm glad you had a good time, Mikey! Thank you for sharing. I wish I could be there, I even had the pirate outfit and all. I would like to know if it would be socially acceptable for me to walk up to a guy and say "Arrh Ya Free Saturday Night?". Ha ha ha
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Ye may say that Anna but you risk dem takin ye booty. :p
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annieander: You gots to check out Trannyshack some Tuesday night. It's nuts! (Although they're mostly tucked...)
Joxley: It was a full-on, laugh-out-loud riot, from start to finish.
Jonh: I'd call it a splendid time for all. Both gals were totally in their element. Seemed like the perv-ier, the better. And I sure do like that Jane gal.
anna log: Who needs sweet and innocent in this big ol' dangerous world? Well, maybe a little sweetness is nice. BTW, mucho respect for the resonant portrait. It's one for the ages, but that's what you do, no?
chucky: By all means, borrow anna's life for a day. I don't think you'd be so excited about mine. ;-)
Rawkkiddo: I wish a bunch of the Trusteds could have been there. It was one for the ages.
fistula spume: See my note to Rawk, right above. It was yo-ho-ho all night long.
soulrocket: With apologies to Ministry, it sometimes feels like everyday is Halloween around here. And that's not so bad.
Misstee: Hope you eventually got the drum kit of your dreams. Or at least a set of bongos.
Anna: Yeah! Great anecdotal evidence from the MOGsters. And truly, nothing would have made the evening better than to have had our very own pirate queen as first mate on my journey into mystery. Socially acceptable? You'd have had them walkin' the plank for sure.
And just so's ya know, fist: No one messes with the Pirate Queen of Aegean!