Wiretap: Kiki & Herb-- Running Up That Hill

We don't like to let too much time go by without a Kiki & Herb post; it's practically a contractual obligation. If you've ever seen the deranged, boozy duo, you know that their cover of Kate Bush's "Running Up That Hill" is a showstopper. If you've somehow never seen them (perish the thought!) they've extended their run at Joe's Pub through the first part of February. Get tickets here.

Wiretap: Kiki & Herb Take On The Difficult Topic of Ass Cancer

We had the pleasure of attending one of the recent Kiki & Herb shows at Joe's Pub, where the inebriated duo wowed the crowd with their tales of showbiz woe. We were too blitzed to capture any photos or video, but then, there's always YouTube. Here, Kiki discusses her sister Candy's battle with ass cancer. If ever there needed to be a spokesperson for the dreaded disease, it's Ms. DuRane.





Kiki & Herb ;Joe's Pub

Curtain Call: Kiki & Herb: Joe's Pub Redux

Ah, the start of the holiday season is just around the corner, which means indulging in our usual annual traditions: food, family, booze, and strip clubs. But to our mind, no holiday is truly complete without the dulcet hymns of Kiki & Herb. We've been remiss in reporting that the boozy chantoosie and her gay-jew-tard pianist, fresh from their Broadway run, are back below 14th street for a stint at Joe's Pub.

One of our favorite blogs, The Music Slut, caught the show the other night and filed this report:

Kiki was in rare form last night. By rare, I mean very very drunk and very very hilarious. The set featured mostly new covers not previously attempted including Belle & Sebastian's 'Fox In The Snow' (mixed with 'Material Girl', it was AWESOME!), 'Smells Like Teen Spirit'/'Miss World', a Kanye West number and even, if you can believe it, an encore of The Knife's 'Heartbeats'!!

We were also treated to a variety of Christmas tracks including 'Frosty The Snowman', 'The Little Drummer Boy' and 'Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer'. The two-hour set also, as you would assume with the downtown duo, featured many stabs and rants about Madonna, Oasis, Farah Fawcett (as part of the 'cancer medley' which also featured a line or two of Kylie's massive smash 'Can't Get You Out Of My Head'), and oh yeah, more stabs at Madonna.

Our only quibble is that B&S's "Fox In The Snow" was a staple of Kiki & Herb's early shows, along with their very special cover of "Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer," but only nerdily loyal fans like us may know that.

So, mix yourself a cocky-tail, dress up in your Sunday best, and get to Joe's Pub for some Holiday cheer.


Kiki & Herb ;Joe's Pub

*69: Justin Bond

Audiences are probably used to seeing Bond gussied up as the boozy Chantoosie Kiki Durane, one half of the punk cabaret duo Kiki & Herb. But La Bond is quite a character in his own right. He frequently performs with his band the Freudian Slippers, and coming this fall, he's going to be on the big screen again (Kiki & Herb had a cameo in the movie Imaginary Heroes) in John Cameron Mitchell's sextastic Shortbus as...Justin Bond.

In an interview with Paul Hagen in the latest issue of Metrosource Bond reveals just how he wound up aboard the shortbus.

"In the mid- to late '90s there were places where there was a lot more public sex in New York. When we did Foxy on Saturday Nights at The Cock, there were these huge competitions where people would do all these crazy sexual things on stage. And then there was a back room, where people were having, you know, all kinds of crazy sex, and I really liked that," says Justin Bond - the performer who gained renown as Kiki of the legendary duo Kiki & Herb. "I enjoyed the vibe there because it was kind of funny and it was light. It wasn't this really agro kind of like, you know, crystal meth, squeezing your nipples, 'Pick me! Pick me!' kind of vibe," he adds.

Bond oversees quite a bit of public sex in the latest cinematic tour de force from John Cameron Mitchell, Shortbus. Mitchell raised a few eyebrows when he announced that he'd make a movie in which the actors participated in actual sex acts. Nevertheless, he set out on an improvisation-based process, featuring a cast of relative unknowns, who would be willing to be totally free with their sexuality on camera.

So it's a little surprising when Bond saunters onscreen and introduces himself as "Justin Bond." But Mitchell had written the part of the "Mistress" of Shortbus - the artistically and sexually freewheeling salon around which the film's events revolve - specifically for him. "I didn't have to use the name," Bond explains. "But in the script, the character was Justin Bond. And in my real life, I've been identified so strongly with the character of Kiki for so long that it became a nice thing for me to establish an identity outside of Kiki for myself."

Read the rest of the interview after the jump.

Justin Bond ;Kiki and Herb ;Shortbus


KIKI & HEDWIG
"In the old days that sort of rock 'n' roll thing was thought of as a very head-banging, kind of straight guy thing. It's somehow interesting that two fags brought these rock 'n' roll shows to the stage," says Bond.

"It has a lot to do with this club Squeezebox that happened in the '90s," he continues, mentioning the party that once regularly rocked Don Hill's. "They had a house band and all these drag queens, and they were singing rock 'n' roll. John was really inspired by all that, and that's what got the character of Hedwig started," Bond explains. "I used to host these trashy club nights in the East Village in the '90s. And he was a big fan of Kiki, and he is a big fan of mine."

Even though Mitchell had known him for years, Justin's character still evolved over the course of the process. "Initially the part of my boyfriend was written into the movie, and he was the DJ at Shortbus. But the other characters were workshopping for like a year or two before the film was made, and they developed their storylines. I was either on tour or in college in London, so I wasn't able to really workshop a big narrative structure for myself," Bond says. Then he lets loose one of his glorious, volcanic laughs. "By then the boy who was my boyfriend who was a real DJ and I had broken up, so it was probably for the best."

And that may be how Justin Bond ended up kissing a girl. "The make-out scene felt really awkward," he says of the uproarious sequence in which he swaps spit with the charachter of Sofia, while being frequently interrupted by the remote-controlled vibrating egg in her vagina. "I kept thinking, 'God, this woman is really uptight!'" Bond says of his costar, Sook-Yin Lee. "Then once filming wrapped and we were hanging out in Cannes, I realized she's a really hot, very kind of sensual person," he explains. "I think that's testimony to her really being in the character."

Yet in a movie where the audience sees most of the main characters participating in actual sex, this touch of tongue tango is as risqué as Justin Bond gets. "The thing was, I could have, I guess, been sexual," he explains. "I was more interested in being a voyeur than actually splashing my, you know, tiddly bits on the mean screen."

Tiddly bits or no, Bond points out that being a queer artist is always a risky proposition. "I was talking to some reporter who said, 'Do you think that what you're doing is dangerous? I mean, you're in New York after all.' And I had to say, 'Well, yeah, we're in New York, aren't we? And Kevin Aviance just had his jaw broken," Bond says, referencing the well-publicized gay-bashing. "It's still a dangerous city, and it's still a culture where they're trying to make laws that prohibit gay and lesbian people from having the same civil rights as everyone else. So until the culture changes, there's still gonna be the trickle-down of these arrogant straight people who think that they can just come and fuck up your shit."

SUR LE PLAGE
However unlikely, what began with the friendship of two edgy performance artists ended up amidst the glamour of the Cannes Film Festival. "I've known Paul and PJ for years," Bond says of Paul Dawson and PJ DeBoy, who play the film's central gay couple. "So it was really fun to be in a film with them. And it was great when we were all in Cannes, we all just kept pinching ourselves. We couldn't believe that we had all been sitting in Paul's living room 10 years ago, just sitting around, playing guitars and singing and smoking pot and just being friends, and then, 10 years later, we were on the beach at Cannes doing the same thing, only in front of a thousand people."

"We had a big concert the night after the premiere in Cannes," where he performed "We All Get It in the End," the anthem he sings in Shortbus, says Bond. "It was so nice of John to give me that big number at the end. I guess a lot of people had seen the film, either at the screenings or at the actual premiere at the Grand Palais. But we did that song at the finale of the show and the audience was singing along. Fantastic!"

"I'm really curious to see how people respond to it because I think it is an important film," Bond says. "I don't know if you were in New York during the blackout, but it was so unbelievable. It was the most magical night, and [Mitchell] tapped into that," he adds. "It recaptures this period in my life - the absolute joy and innocence."

BOND AMBITION
Justin Bond and I are in a quandary. It's time to talk about what comes next, but as we speak, he has not yet opened on Broadway in the latest incarnation of Kiki & Herb. "I'm sure it went beautifully. See you at the Tonys!" Bond quips, releasing another roar of laughter. He continues: "I'll be doing a lot of touring with Kiki & Herb, and I'm just going to play it by ear. I've never had a plan; I've just been lucky that things worked out the way that they have, and we'll just see what happens. I don't really want to make films for the sake of making films, and I don't want to do shows for the sake of doing shows." But he does get a bit wistful as he considers the films and shows that have led him here. "For me, even before it opens on Broadway, it's so exciting that Kenny [Mellman, aka Herb] and I, who started out playing in this restaurant that seats 50 people in San Francisco 14 years ago, ended up playing on Broadway." And after one last fiery blast of laughter, Bond neatly brings to a close a conversation that, like his career thus far, has been sexy, surprising, politically charged and often outrageous. He ends with a rousing statement of his raison d'être, and it's a damn fine one, if I do say so myself: "If any sort of trashy, messed-up, crazy queen out there wonders if it can happen, and starts to think that it can, then that's all that matters to me."

Curtain Call: Kiki & Herb Are a Hit on Broadway

Well, Ben Brantley at the New York Times busted a nut over Kiki & Herb's Broadway debut:

"Though they may disappear when the lights go down, and the makeup comes off, Kiki and Herb onstage are Alive with a capital A, with all the human vitality and fallibility that that implies. This is more than can be said for the synthetically enhanced automatons appearing in most Broadway musicals."

This, after he meditates for two paragraphs on the rhinestone teardrops afixed to Kiki's lower eyelashes. Whoa, simmer down Brantley.

Though the rest of the reviews were positive...a few thought the performance lasted too long and might not draw anyone but the hardcore Kiki & Herbsters to the show. Maybe not, but then the very fact that the Booze-addled duo is on Broadway is an brilliant act of subversion; and if they can touch just one person (and get away with it), well...mission accomplished.

The Broadway show includes some new revelations about the lives of our favorite septuagenarian songsters. For instance, Kiki danced with Maya Angelou at a titty bar: "I know why the caged bird sings. She can't write." They also happened to be present at the birth of Jesus, and are now immortal thanks to Daisy the Cow and the afterbirth of the messiah (don't ask). The audiences are also treated to some old chestnuts about Kiki's family: Bradford, Miss D., and the deceased Coco; as well as her fondness for her father, "If you weren't molested as a child you must have been an ugly kid." And of course "retard," they still own that word.

Their musical repertoire adds Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy," performed as an autobiographical dirge, Public Enemy's "Don't Believe hype", and when Kiki sings Bright Eyes' "First Day of My Life" she promises to do it while manufacturing genuine emotion. A cover of Alphaville's "Forever Young" is perfectly rendered, and their "showtune" of choice, "Total Eclipse of the Heart" has become their anthem.

This in between scathingly funny social commentary (Kiki likens the treatment of gays and lesbians in the US to apartheid). We're pleased as punch the critics didn't skewer our beloved duo. And, if a rave in the Times draws some unsuspecting audience members into their clutches, all the better. To the non-iniated, don't be afraid of Kiki, she's not there to scare you, just make you think. If she could love, she would love you all. Even the matinee crowd.



Kiki and Herb [Google News]
Did Critics Cheer Kiki & Herb: Alive on Broadway? [Broadway.com]

Kiki & Herb ;Broadway ;Musical

Curtain Call: Reminder -- Kiki and Herb Alive on Broadway

Performances for Kiki & Herb Alive on Broadway begin tonight. So, if you haven't gotten your tickets, do it. They're only playing the Helen Hayes theatre for a month.

You may even want to wish them well with some comment love on their myspace page, because like Kiki says: "Without love, there is only rape."











Kiki & Herb Come Alive on Broadway [Playbill]

Kiki & Herb [myspace]


Kiki & Herb ;Broadway ;Music

Curtain Call: Kiki and Herb Explain Themselves...Sort Of

The deranged cabaret duo plug their upcoming Broadway run; discussing their unique chemistry (alcohol), what fuels them creatively (alcohol), and of course alcohol. Kiki even sings a little Bright Eyes to a wax statue of George W. Bush (it was filmed at Madam Tussaud's).

Watch the video here.

[via Broadway.com]

Kiki & Herb ; Broadway

Curtain Call: Kiki's Gonna Take Your Mama Out

This clip is from Kiki and Herb's recent "secret" show at Joe's Pub, where Kiki put her unique spin on the Scissor Sisters hit song. Somehow, we think if Kiki did actually take our mama out, she would return with some serious damage to her liver and a penchant for "nerve medication."




Kiki & Herb ; Scissor Sisters ; Joe's Pub

Photocall: Kiki and Herb

Broadway.com has photos of Kiki and Herb's "meet the press" event at Madam Tussaud's to promote their upcoming Broadway run. See the entire photo set here.

Curtain Call: Kiki and Herb on Broadway

As we reported ages ago (take that Musto!) Kiki and Herb are bringing their deranged cabaret act to the Great White Way for a limited engagement at the Helen Hayes Theatre.

Since the downtown kids have moved on up, so have the ticket prices. However, thanks to "Daddy" Daniel Nardicio, The Operator has learned about a 30% off discount offer for preview performances:
Friday 11 August 8pm, Saturday 12 August 8pm, Sunday 13 August 7pm & Monday 14 August 8pm$69.50.
Sunday 13 August 3pm $59.50.
To get the discount:
1. ONLINE: Visit Broadway Offers and enter code KH2EFAN.
2. BY PHONE: Call 212-947-8844 and mention code KH2EFAN.

They has risen, Amen! And God help the blue hairs when they see the drunken kerfuffle coming to Broadway.

Last Call: the Slide

The Slide, the raunchy little boy bar on the Bowery, is closing it's doors Saturday. A casualty of the city's war on nightlife and F-U-N in general.

OperatorNYC has many fond memories of the slide: Daniel Nardicio and Sweetie's High Life/Low Life, mini-Kiss (the midget Kiss cover band), the go-go boys, the random downtown superstars, Kiki and Herb, Richie Rich, blackout parties, Corey Tut, Jake Shears. We'll still never forgive Sammy Jo for making us dance to "Annie." Here's where the memory train starts to derail, because at times we were too fond of the many drink specials. Suffice it to say, the Slide treated us well.

There's a closing night party on Saturday, so head down there one last time to relive all the fun you had. You may even run into that guy who gave you crabs.

The Slide
356 Bowery (Fourth St), cellar
212-420-8885

Call Sheet: Kiki on Film

Kiki and Herb get the mockumentary treatment in Kiki and Herb Reloaded, part of the the 18th New York LGBT Film Festival. The film will be full of the wit and wisdom of Ms. Durane, performance clips, as well as cameos by famous fags-about-town like Rufus Wainwrigh, the Scissor Sisters, Andy Bell, Stephen Merritt and gossip queen Michael Musto.

The screening is at 10PM on Satuday, Jun 10th at the AMC Loews 34th St Theater.

for tickets and info go to the NewFest site.

In related film news, the lovely Amnesia Sparkles has updated info on John Cameron Mitchell's Shortbus.

Curtain Call: Kiki and Herb on Broadway

We'll run the risk having people think The Operator is turning into a Kiki and Herb fansite, but we had to report that the drunken duo will be playing a limited engagement on Broadway soon. After a successful off-Broadway show, a sold-out performance at Carnegie Hall and touring the world, it's a natural progression. OperatorNYC heard the news straight from the boozy chanteuse and her gay-jew-tard piano player themselves. Unfortunately, he was too drunk to remember details like, say, when this was happening, but end of the summer seems right. Trust The Operator will keep you updated.

Wiretap: Kiki and Herb

Just a reminder that Kiki and Herb are playing tonight and tomorrow at Joe's Pub under their other alias the Erie Institutional Children's Choir.