2013, Part 1: Holiday Shites and Love Bites

A Shameless Show of Holiday Shite: The Sequel, Martuni's Piano Bar, December 16 & 17, 2012.

Unfortunately I do not have a program sheet for this cabaret and I did not sing in it either so I do not exactly recall what we performed. I do seem to remember one of the songs was a parody of The Twelve Days of Christmas with the 12 gifts very different from the original and there were signs that were held up for each of the 12 gifts for the 12 days. As with all of our cabarets at Martuni's we and our audiences all had fun, especially after a Martuni's martini or two.

Love Bites: 10 Years and Still Masticating, Mission Cultural Center, February 8 & 9, 2013.

Yes this was the tenth anniversary show of Love Bites, imagine that! In his program notes, Billy Sauerland wrote "Tonight's show is our 10th anniversary of this show and features some of the most beloved (or most biting, perhaps) songs from a decade of Love Bites. It is a pleasure to welcome back former LGCSF Artistic Director Stephanie Lynne Smith to help me co-emcee tonight's performance. As you may know, the tradition of this anti-Valentine's cabaret began under her direction, and since this year marks a first major anniversary, I am pleased to have her with us."

We were 33 strong for this show. The first act began with the full chorus singing "This Marriage" and "Down With Love." Next was a song from the Broadway musical "Avenue Q" called "Schadenfreude" and was performed by a sextet - Jason LeBrun, Carol Chen, Howard Miller, Tom McElroy, Janice Placido and Scott Turco. This was followed by Jed Herman singing "Beauty School Dropout" from "Grease." Our favorite deranger of songs, Yolanda DeByle, was next with "My Funky Valentine." This was followed by the songs "Closer," "Cruel to be Kind," "These Boots Were Made for Walking," "Taylor, the Latte Boy," and "Pimp You Out" by a guest artist, Mark Etheridge. The tenors and basses sang "I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Out-a My Hair" and the full chorus ended Act I with "Stacy's Mom" featuring Laura Liscar as the title character.

The second act began with Shane Kroll doing "Ring Them Bells" and his was followed by "Cell Block Tango" from "Chicago" and performed by another sextet - Aaron Brewer, Andrew Field, John Gullotto, Ellen Miller, Howard Miller, and Janice Placido. Cat Dunford followed with "I Hold Your Hand in Mine" and this was followed by Wendy Tobias singing "In Short." Next Noam Szoke sang the torch song "Flush Down the Toilet of Your Heart" and this was followed by another guest artist, Liz Kennedy singing "Sensitive Song." Fernando Ruelos and the chorus sang Jack Curtis Dubowsky's all time love song "Your New Stupid Boyfriend." This was followed by Tom and Scott singing "Relationshit" and Jen Brown, the world famous Holiday Hotdog, gave it her all with "Why'd You Do It?" Next was Aaron Brewer singing "Alone" and the full chorus came on to end the show with "You Give Love a Bad Name."

We all had fun rehearsing this show and going back over these favorite songs from the past nine years of Love Bites shows and our audiences were very enthusiastic and they called out for more.

Next week's entry will be about our following cabaret at Martuni's called "Something Foolish" in honor of April Fool's Day.

Cheers, Michael Lucero