Vicarious Tales:
Margaret Cho & Friends plus Music Video Taping of
"Eat Shit and Die!"
at El Cid Restaurant (Los Angeles, CA)
on Feb. 21, '10
by P. Kristen Enos
(Originally posted March 1, '10. All rights
reserved.)
Non-Spoilers
Warning: (Believe it or not.) Since the event was
filmed and part of it included an audience surprise or two, I'm
going to let the officially release material do those reveals.
This write up is just from an attendee's perspective who got a
bonus, or two.
After a lot of
kicking and screaming, including belittle remarks to
others, I finally broke down and joined Facebook to
become a hypocrite (kind of.) While it is
hardly a place that I spend any real time, I've
discovered there is something convenient to be said
about the "Become a Fan" function since there are
certain entertainment acts and projects that I like
to keep an eye on. (No, I don't use Twitter
either.)
One of these
entertainment acts is Margaret Cho, whom I've been a
fan of since her "I'm the One That I Want" tour.
It's really not that hard to figure out why:
we're the same age, Asian-American women (though she
from the Korean branch and me from the Thai one),
and we both have an activist mentality. She's
hilarious as hell, making me laugh at subjects that
I would never think to find humorous... like
taking toilet-humor to whole new levels ("up" or
"down" is your choice given the subject but it's a
good thing in my mind.)
It was on Jan. 27th
when I discovered that she was holding an upcoming
event in the L.A. area on Sunday, Feb. 28th.
The fact that it was announced as being filmed for
DVD also made it a little more interesting.
So I immediately sent
an email to my gay guy best bud (who was also a fan)
to see if he would be interested in going. He
responded that he and his hubby were going to see
musical "Dreamgirls" instead. I then responded
"How gay" and unsurprisingly did not get a response
back to that.
That meant it was now
my sole decision if I wanted to go. And I
admit the timing kind of sucked. I'd been
itching to go to Vegas for a while and that weekend
was the best chance for a couple of months.
While I could fly out on Friday night and come back
early enough on Sunday to go, that would just be too
much to coordinate and track for what should be a
relaxing weekend. Well, as relaxing as
possible for a weekend that involves a trip to Sin
City.
Therefore, I waffled
on the idea, leaning more to "no" than "yes".
Plus, there was this
sentence in the event about wanting everyone to
dress in 1920's attire, which I couldn't tell how
much of it was a "suggestion" vs. "strongly
encouraged". And since I'm a dyke with a
preferred fashion sense of t-shirts and jeans, I
don't have such clothes readily available.
Never mind the point that I seriously didn't know
what clothing options there would be other than
flapper, which I just did not relish doing.
When I discussed the
matter of 20's attire with a couple of other
lesbians, one of them suggested the Marlene Dietrich
look. Given that she was from Berlin, I
shouldn't have been surprised. It was a more
appealing idea to me than some mini dress with
fringe but I didn't have a tuxedo lying around and I
didn't feel like making the effort to go rent one.
I eventually pushed
it out of my mind as I opted for a Vegas only
weekend instead.
Well, I had been on a
business trip to the Bay Area last week and due to
hotel boredom, visited my FB page. I was
surprised to see that the Margaret Cho event had
been moved up to the 21st, which was only a couple
of days away.
Now, while this
wouldn't have conflicted with my intended Vegas
trip, it was pretty impromptu notice given than I
would be flying back that Saturday night and I was
really in the mood just to stay home and relax
before starting the next work week. But then I
saw that it was only $30, which to me was low enough
that I could buy the ticket but still opt out at the
last minute if I just wasn't up to it. Plus,
the event warned people that because there would be
a music video filming that tickets could sell out
early. There were now an announcement to
would-be attendees that they would receive a free
DVD if they showed up in 20's style attired, which
confirmed my assumption that the dress code was
preferred and not required.
So I checked that
tickets were still available and purchased one.
When Sunday night
rolled around, I was NOT in the mood to drive up to
L.A. by myself for a possibly long night that could
adversely affect my pending work day. I had a
crappy travel experience back from SFO the day
before, that included an hour and a half delay due
to plane "mechanical issues" and I wasn't feeling
too well, mostly due to still recovering from having
pulled my neck muscle two weeks prior.
Yet, I forced myself
into my car to do the approximately 45-mile drive
north, all the while thinking that I can still turn
back home and feel no regret about it.
Now I admit I had no
knowledge of what kind of venue this event was going
to be at. I did some mild websurfing and saw
that it looked like a dinner theatre size building
in the Silverlake area, which did pique my curiosity
because I was used to seeing Margaret Cho at large
concert halls or theatres. I didn't do much
hanging out in Silverlake since my college days of
gay bar and club exploring, so my familiarity with
the area was quite out of date.
So as I'm driving
around Silverlake, trying to find this restaurant
based on vaguely remembered directions from the
internet, I'm STILL debating with myself if I want
to go. When I was momentarily lost, part of me
felt like that was a sign to head home.
However, my stubbornness kicked in: I was
already in the area, the ticket was paid for, and
the event seemed unique enough that I would probably
regret not going.
When I finally parked
my car a block or so away, I walked to the
restaurant with the concern about the chill in the
air and looked forward to being indoors. (Yes,
I'm speaking from a spoiled Southern Californian
perspective that there wasn't any snow or rain in
the picture.) As I approached the restaurant,
I realized that it was a venue built into the side
of the hill, and even though I was still outside on
the sidewalk, I could see that there was a lit up
courtyard that was decorated for something. I
was immediately appalled at the idea of having to
spend the next couple of hours outside. (Yes,
uber spoiled Southern Californian.) I was glad
I didn't show up in a flapper dress.
However, my spirits
immediately perked up when I noticed that the people
who had arrived just before me were NOT in costume.
(Whew!)
I happily followed
them in as they were greeted by a man at the door,
who checked them off a list and marked them for
entry. But when I approached him, he asked me
which event I was here for. When I said
"Margaret Cho", he immediately directed me to the
woman sitting nearby with a list of her own.
She found my name on
the list, marked me with a wrist band and told me to
tell "them" that if I'm here for dinner so they
could seat me at a table. She then pointed me
to a door that showed that my destination was indeed
indoors, and the slightly chilly Southern
Californian in me was very grateful.
Apparently I had
arrived early enough that crew were walking around
still setting everything up. No one greeted me
at the door, despite standing at the "Wait here to
be seated" sign for several minutes.
Even though I was becoming
annoyed at the lack of apparent organization, it gave me ample
opportunity to look around the surprisingly small establishment.
As well as the large placard and many flyers warning people that
just by being here meant you were giving permission to be filmed
for the event.
The center area was in dinner
theatre style, with a small stage long tables set up on each
side wall with tables on both sides where there were already
people eating various Mexican dishes in 20's garb. The
tiny center floor area had regular and folding chairs in rows of
four each that faced the stage. Behind them were a few
small found tables and booths against the back. There were
bars were on the side areas to the left and right.
For better visualization, here's
my best rough diagram of the main area of the restaurant.
Hardly accurate for size or number of seats.
From the bar area on the left, I
overheard a voice greeting someone who was registering as press.
That immediately got my attention since I remembered I actually
had my press pass (from the gay and lesbian Blade Magazine.)
It meant this was an opportunity for me to get some extra
information about the event and probably some other goodies,
like a press kit.
However, I am an (unfortunately)
ethical journalist -- yes, we do exist. I wasn't there on
behalf of the magazine, and therefore couldn't guarantee any
coverage. And, it would turn an evening
that I wasn't really enthused about into a "work" event instead
of just for fun. I decided to opt for being low key for
the rest of the evening to increase the possibility my mood
would turn for the better.
I then had overheard some staff
discussing the concerns about the event attendees, and I thought
they discussed whether there would be issues around the maximum
capacity of "180" people. I couldn't help but think "Wow,
this is going to be intimate."
Finally, I noticed a male couple
pass by in "current attire" as they walked towards the main
restaurant area. I followed them and realized that I
really could sit wherever I wanted no one seemed to be directing
anyone anywhere at that point. Since I did feel somewhat
self-conscious of not being in costume, I decided to sit in the
middle of the chairs set up on the main floor and waited.
I was pleasantly surprised to see
that many of the other attendees were indeed in costume, some
fabulously accurate for the period and others a little bit open
to interpretation but festive nevertheless. And I was also
pleased to see that more non-costumes arrived even though we
were clearly the minority, at least from what I noticed.
The gender and race diversity was across the spectrum, though it
did take a bit of watching to realize that I probably wasn't the
oldest woman there (but it seemed pretty close.)
However, I was surprised that I
didn't see anyone in drag, of either gender. It was a
little disappointing, personally speaking.
But then the show started, with
the diverse trio of opening comedians and then followed by
Margaret being Margaret.
I completely admit that it didn't
take long for me to change my attitude to being very glad that I
went. The last time I had gone to a concert of hers was a
couple of years ago and in a large theatre. So it was a
wonderful, intimate show with people who were clearly fans.
It wasn't a full crowd but definitely sizeable enough to make
for a great evening.
(I remember once prior to a
concert when an older heterosexual couple asked me what kind of
material Margaret usually covered. I told them she was
"controversial". They looked relieved and assured me that
they liked George Carlin so it should be okay. I just told
them then they're probably going to be in for an interesting
evening.)
So Margaret ended the
show by singing a few songs in prepping the audience
for the music video shoot, which would be directed
by Liam Kyle Sullivan of "Shoes" fame.
Despite being a Southern
Californian of over twenty years with some entertainment
industry exposure, I've never had real audience filming
"experience" before, always preferring to be backstage or off
camera. But it wasn't surprising having to participate in
multiple takes with the purpose of capture different angles as
Margaret lip-synched full or parts of the song: from the
stage, from the back, audience only takes with facial
expressions. Yet, all of us audience members were game for
it, bopping our heads along with the songs and eventually
evolving into clapping along with Margaret's project voice
projecting "Eat shit and die!" over and over again.
One of the last takes was when
Margaret was to walk down from the stage, work her way along one
of the side "aisles" towards the back crowd, with a camera
shooting from the stage and somewhere from the back of the
crowd. During the prep time, we audience members in the
rows of chairs realized we had to do some shifting towards the
targeted aisle so that all of the empty spots were out of
primary camera focus. Since there was one empty chair
between me and the aisle, I and my row-mates scooted over a
spot.
This meant that I was only a
couple of feet away from people sitting against the long dining
tables. The ones right next to me was a guy in a top hat
and tux (someone the director targeted for a special focus at
the beginning), and one of the opening act comedians.
So of course, when Margaret got
to our spot in the aisle in the two or three takes, she paused
to give playful attention to the men, including shaking her rump
in the face of the other comedian.
As a result however, it meant she
was shaking her boobs in my face. Like inches away.
While she's lip-synching "Eat shit and die!"
I was at a loss of what to do
since I had no idea where the camera was that was shooting from
the back. So I just smiled and enjoy the moments since I'm
pretty sure I wasn't the focus of the shots. Even if none
of those moments show up in the final video, I can pretty much
feel like it was a small, personal moment that I would take away
from the event.
I guess it kind of made me glad
that I didn't dress up after all because I'm sure I wouldn't
have been sitting there if I had.
So when the main video shoots
were over, the audience was thanked and told they could leave.
However, they did offer if people wanted to stay for additional
shots, they were welcomed to do so.
I would have stayed, if I had
been in costume (and it wasn't a work night), but I decided I
needed to be a good girl and leave so I begin my long drive
home.
And the next morning,
I was quickly reminded that bopping my head in the
music video shooting didn't help my healing neck
muscle. Suffering for art, I guess.
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