GayEasterParade.COM SouthernDecadence.COM Jan. 8-21, 2013 The Official Mag: AmbushMag.COM 31

Transcription

1 GayEasterParade.COM SouthernDecadence.COM Jan. 8-21, 2013 The Official Mag: AmbushMag.COM 31

2 ambush paparazzi In for Kajun Idol s Karaoke Kajun s Pub Kajun s Pub GM David & 2nd place Kajun Idol winner Adam Lassiter Kajun s Pub GM David & 3rd place Kajun Idol winner Rebeca Rae Daniel, Kajun s Pub s Joann Guidos & Blaine join Kajun Idol & Kajun s Pub Gia GiaVanni & Ambush s Oz Christmas Party Oz bartender Frankie Fierce & Pub's Jasmine Oz Six year partners Alexa & Melissa, aka DJ Mel, from Mobile Oz Ambush s Marsha & the legendary Mr. Carl Golden Lantern Entertainer of the Year Monique Michaels, Bartender of the Year Andy Ehlers & Transgender of the Year Jasmine Golden Lantern Wild crowd New Year s Golden Lantern Tami Tarmac, new Lantern bar baron James & Aubrey Sinclaire New Year s Golden Lantern Syleena Welch Black & Miss Golden Lantern Gia GiaVanni toast the New the Lantern Dancer Rainbow Room Sugar Tits & Grandmaw Michael s On The Park Serving Xmas Eve Le Roundup Quartermaster s Saundra Spotlight Madness ~ New Orleans ~ Photos by Charles Jenkins, Paul Melancon, Rip Naquin, Arthur Severio Kajun Idol Kajun s Pub Bobby Blue Salon s Carrie & Lantern legend Golden Lantern Dancer Rainbow Room Clover Grill s Will 32 The Official Mag: AmbushMag.COM Jan. 8-21, 2013 Official ficial Gay Mardi di Gras Guide GayMardiGras.COM

3 Sweet Charlotte! at the Mid City Theatre through January 19. As I wrote when they premiered this production, along with Brian Peterson, Jack Long, and Yvette Hargis six years ago, Whether romping around in slow motion, tweaking the conventions of cintrodding the boards...from 29 with Ntozake Shange s Spell #7 (Apr. 5-28), the gospel musical comedy Sanctified (June 7-30), Ma Rainey s Black Bottom (Sept. 6-29) ABCT s final installment of August Wilson s ten play cycle, and Langston Hughes classic Black Nativity (Dec. 6-22). Promethean Theatre returns for its second offering when the award-winning Equus goes up on the Lagniappe Stage at Rivertown Theaters. Bob Edes will star as Dr. Dysart along with Jesse Friedman as Alan (Feb. 22-Mar. 3). Sweeney Todd will receive its second go-round this season when Slidell s Cutting Edge Theater presents Stephen Sondheim s 1979 musical thriller. starring Richard Fuentes as the Demon Barber of Fleet Street and Sara Pagones as Mrs. Lovett, this Sweeney will gain extra authenticity by being performed in Cutting Edge s hair salon/theater home (Mar. 1-15). Sordid Lives, Del Shores black comedy about white trash, will follow April The NOLA Project kicks off its new season at Dillard University with Gabrielle Reisman s bounceinspired Catch the Wall featuring Troi Bechet (Mar ). Dillard will also present Dreamgirls (Feb. 22- Mar. 3), and Lagniappe, a musical adaptation of The Threepenny Opera to New Orleans by Brian Sands (Hey, that s me!) (Apr ). For its 20th anniversary season, The NO Shakespeare Festival at Tulane will stage The Merry Wives of Windsor in June and Romeo & Juliet in July as well as The Complete Works of Shakespeare (abridged) directed by Carl Walker. The Festival will also offer a late night cabaret style production of The Shakespearean Jazz Show, featuring Shakespeare s words set to live jazz music, in an expanded version of the show which premiered at the Festival last year. By the time you read this, I ll have seen two time Tony Award-winner Patti LuPone bring the curtain up on Broadway at NOCCA. Under the watchful eye of producer Mark Cortale, Seth Rudetsky s popular Broadway Concert Series heads to NOLA and continues with Great White Way divas Sutton Foster (Mar. 2), Megan Mullally (Apr. 6), Audra McDonald (May 18) and Betty Buckley (June 1). What a treat these will be! Two of New Orleans home-grown divas, Varla Jean Merman and Ricky Graham, are carrying on with their run of Shut Up, [continued the 35] GayEasterParade.COM SouthernDecadence.COM Jan. 8-21, 2013 The Official Mag: AmbushMag.COM 33

4 B-Bob s Wendy, spreading holiday cheer in Mobile The Asian Goddess Regine B-Bob s holiday party Entertainer of the Year Monique Golden Lantern Lords of Leather Fetish the Phoenix Ringing in the New the Phoenix big easy paparazzi More excitement at the Lords Fetish the Phoenix Miss Louisiana Leatherette Countess C. Alice & Lords of Leather Fetish Ball Phoenix bar baron Clint Ambush s Charles snagged by hot Lords Fetish Ball Lord King & Lords of Leather Fetish Ball Two more "Angels" from Good Friends 18th Christmas Gala Manager Jason & Old Town Inn Dusty & Frankie join Natasha for Bootsie & The Michael s On The Park Ms. Jenkins in Bootsie & The Michael s On The Park Welcome to Rawhide Ringing in the New Cafe Lafitte in Exile Wood Enterprises' Micheal ringing in the New Year with bartender Jake & Good Friends Bar Fans join Kristine W. for her CD Skully z Recordz Adeaux & Cutter s Cutter s Planet Beach s Jeffery, Jeremy & Ambush s Oz Diverse Excitement ~ Mobile, Alabama; New Orleans ~ Photos by Frankie Fierce, Charles Jenkins, Tony Leggio, Paul Melancon, Arthur Severio, Leon Weekley 34 The Official Mag: AmbushMag.COM Jan. 8-21, 2013 Official ficial Gay Mardi di Gras Guide GayMardiGras.COM

5 review...books, movies, cds by Blanche Photo by Larry Graham, GrahamStudioOne.COM Welcome to 2013! I hope everyone had a festive Christmas and New Years...now it s on to SUPER BOWL XLVII on the 3rd of February, rolling right into Mardi Gras, February 12. Congratulations to Rip and Marsha on 31 years of AMBUSH! I remember when the paper came out of Baton Rouge...y'all have come a long way. I can t remember the last movie I saw that had the entire theatre laughing out loud for the entire movie, but DJANGO UNCHAINED certainly did. Sunday afternoon matinee, small town Alabama, a racially mixed audience...and everyone was laughing. It s a Quentin Tarantino movie. It s bold, bloody and daring. It has clever dialogue and extreme violence. It s shocking and raunchy and very politically incorrect. It s profane and the n-word is used freely. It treats a very complex subject...slavery...as pop entertainment. It s a western, but it is also a comedy. Tarantino said he wanted to do movies that deal with America s horrible past with slavery and such but do them as spaghetti westerns, not big issue movies. I want to do them like they re genre films, but they deal with everything that America has never dealt with because it s ashamed of it, and other countries don t deal with because they don t feel they have the right to. Spike Lee tweeted: American slavery was not a Sergio Leone spaghetti western. It was a Holocaust. My ancestors are slaves, stolen from Africa. I will honor them. Antoine Fuqua, director of TRAINING DAY, is quoted in The Hollywood Reporter saying, I don t think Quentin Tarantino has a racist bone in his body. Besides I m good friends with Jamie Foxx and he wouldn t have anything to do with a film that had anything racist to it. He went on to say that if Spike Lee had a problem he should have talked to Tarentino privately. I m as liberal as you can be and I didn t find it racist. Extreme, over-the top, violent, profane...yes. Funny and entertaining...yes. Racist...no. But as I said earlier, it is a Quentin Tarantino movie and may not be your cup of tea. Django Freeman and his wife Broomhilda Von Shaft are sold at auction to different buyers. Django is purchased by the Speck Brothers. Shackled and marching across Texas in the middle of the night they encounter Dr. King Shultz, a bounty hunter posing as a dentist. Freed from the Speck Brothers because he can identify the Brittle Brothers, who have large bounties on their heads, Django and Dr. Shultz join forces. Dr. Shultz promises Django his freedom and promises to help find and free Broomhilda. Over the winter they collect bounties. They discover that Calvin Candie, owner of one of the largest plantations in Mississippi, has Broomhilda. He also owns and trains slave fighters. Dr. Shultz and Django pose as buyers looking for a fighter. At Candieland, Stephan, Mr Candie s oldest slave senses they are after Broomhilda and not a fighter. This is where the real fireworks begin. DJANGO UNCHAINED was released Christmas Day. Written and directed by Quentin Tarantino, it was produced by Reginald Hudin, Stacy Sher, and Pilar Savone. It comes from A Band Apart Studios, distributed by the Weinstein Company. It runs 165 minutes...stop by the bathroom on your way in. It stars Jamie Foxx as Django Freeman...Christoph Waltz as Dr. King Shultz...Leonardo DiCaprio as Calvin Candie...Kerry Washington as Broomhilda Von Shaft...Samuel L Jackson as Stephan and Kurt Russell as Ace Woody. It features Walter Goggins as Billy Crash...Dennis Christopher as Leonide Moguy...James Remar as Ace Speck...Don Johnson as Spencer Big Daddy Bennett...and Quentin Tarantino as one of The LeQuint Mining Co employees. It was filmed in California in November 2011, Wyoming in February 2012, and at the Evergreen Plantation outside New Orleans in March of Christoph Waltz (Dr. King Shultz) won Best Supporting Actor for his role of SS Standartenfuhrer Hans Landa in Tarantino s INGLORIOUS BASTARDS at the 2009 Academy Awards. He is outstanding in this movie. Leonardo DiCaprio gives an over-the-top performance. Samuel L. Jackson steals the movie from trodding the boards...from 35 ematic special effects or simply letting Varla s heaving chest give a laudable performance of its own, this merry band of crazies will cure all that ails you. With Michael Sullivan now also in the mix, I m sure nothing has changed. Another diva has come back to the Marigny. The return engagement Evan Spigelman s deservedly award-winning turn as the eponymous heroine of Hedwig and the Angry Inch plays at the AllWays Lounge until January 21. Also returning to the AllWays is NYCbased stand-up performance artist Amber Martin (Feb. 4) who blends music, raunch, and comedy with a multioctave singing voice. Further afield, Rivertown Theaters for the Performing Arts presents another return engagement. The revival of The Class of 70 Something plays Jan followed by the classic farce Noises Off (Mar. 8-24) and the classic musical Gypsy (May 10-26). For those interested in an immersive experience, The Network of Ensemble Theaters New Orleans MicroFest (Jan ) consists of workshops, performances and community events all focused on the intersection of arts and advocacy. Highlights include performances by Goat in the Road, Cripple Creek Theater Co., NEW NOISE, Mondo Bizarro, Artspot Productions, and Angola 3; workshops by his first frame until his demise. DJANGO UNCHAINED is raunchy, shocking, politically incorrect, irresponsible, bloody, clever, inventive, magical, brutal...full of profane language and extreme violence done the Quentin Tarantino way. It s rated R and it is so entertaining. the Bucket Brigade, Moving Forward Gulf Coast, Kids Rethink New Orleans Schools, and the New Orleans Workers Center for Racial Justice; a history tour with performances by local musicians hosted by Junebug Productions and followed by lunch at the Golden Feather Mardi Gras Indian Restaurant & Gallery; and helping/watching 100 out-of-towners prepare for their first Krewe de Vieux. More info at While it looks like the Saenger Theater just might finally open this year, till then Broadway tours continue to play The Mahalia Jackson Theater for the Performing Arts. Jersey Boys will be in residence through January 27. Flashdance The Musical, the stage adaptation of the 1983 hit film, comes next (Feb. 26-Mar. 3), followed by Million Dollar Quartet, inspired by the true story of the famed recording session that brought together Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins for the first and only time (Apr ) and the blockbuster Wicked (May 8- June 2). And if you find yourself wickedly hungry after the show lets out, head over to Harrah s newly renovated (to the tune of $3 million) buffet. Executive Chef Christopher Brown is understandably proud of the new look which is especially noticeable in the pizza & Italian section and the dessert area. Though everyone will have their own favorites among the bounteous offerings on hand, some of those that I found most mouth-watering were a classic seafood and andouille gumbo; delicious roasted asparagus; the guilty pleasure of cheesy bread; a succulent Cajun roasted turkey at the carving station as well as roast beef with garlic cloves; pillowy mashed potatoes; and amazing sweet potatoes with pecans. Make sure you leave room though for a strawberry mousse in a multi-colored chocolate shell among the many tempting desserts. And with the very accommodating staff that clears dishes and refreshes drinks, everyone s a winner! GayEasterParade.COM SouthernDecadence.COM Jan. 8-21, 2013 The Official Mag: AmbushMag.COM 35

6 36 The Official Mag: AmbushMag.COM Jan. 8-21, 2013 Official ficial Gay Mardi di Gras Guide GayMardiGras.COM