More frequent flyer miles/on the road
Debra Shapiro, MD writes:
We just returned from KC’s fabulous Santa Rosa, Calif. show. This was part of the Sonoma County’s Pride weekend and the Luther Burbank Center now owned by Wells Fargo Bank was packed to the rafters with eager dykes of all ages, shapes, colors and even genders!
Kate met with us for 2 hours before her performance in her hotel room for lunch. It was too hot outside for the delicate northerner. We had brought lunch after checking with her publicist, the extremely lovely Michele, and, in case you are wondering, no beets, ever! And no carbs, minimal fat. Really, she eats almost nothing. I think she runs of caffeine, broiled chicken, some lettuce leaves and, of course, Nicorette gum.
First thing out of her mouth was an irritated comment regarding the bad Bush pushing his nasty anti-gay marriage amendment this week. And we were off… We talked about everything from her tour, performing comedy, losing one’s place in a routine and finding it again, her other gigs such as writing for the Advocate magazine, and being featured on In the Life to World Pride in Jerusalem, which we found rather ironic (should it be held in Spain, don’t you think?), Crucifix wielding homophobic thugs in Moscow, the European Parliament (my favorite topic) and radical rabid, foaming at the mouth secularism and Freedom of Speech (for which we are still grateful). We were exchanging book referrals. Kate had told me to read End of Faith, by Sam Harris which I, in turn, have been promoting at every opportunity, and we told her about the new Quincy Jones autobiography. She told us about meeting “Q” at one of her performances. He had said to her backstage, simply, “You’re funny.” Kate told us of her happiness in her dear Provincetown and her 19 years of Love with the strong, smart and beautiful Urvashi.
We stayed with Kate until we saw the first yawn and then we quickly left her to herself for a couple of hours before the show.
Believe it or not, there were tailgate parties happening at the Luther Burbank Center. Large groups of women hanging out in the parking lot eating and laughing. I was reminded of the Grateful Dead tours of my past. Was I no longer a Dead Head, but a Kate’s Kid?
We met up with our friends from the Olivia Greek Cruise who were kind enough to get us tickets. There were 1300 dykes in the hall, and a few gay men, too. The opening act, an LA comedian named Andre Kelley warmed up the crowd and he was actually doing quite well until, near the end, he mistook a woman in the audience for a cute dude and it was not a good thing. His last minute scrambling to recover was painful and we just couldn’t wait for our beloved KC to enter.
This was my 7th show of the tour and we got in some trouble in Victoria, because Kate thought that we laughed too early for some of her jokes. I feel, in our defense, that we were not laughing before the next joke, we were merely STILL laughing from the previous joke. We were safely tucked up in the balcony, but we needn’t have worried as she had added lots of new material to her show.
There was some summer humor, regarding vapor locked packages in bathing suits; some urinary humor..all the president’s leaks; and more political humor, although I hate the image of Ann Coulter and Kate…but, as she says: “Anything to shut her up!” Ain’t it the truth. Sometimes listening to Kate makes me feel like Proust taking a bite out of the Madeleine. I become flooded with all the memories of her other performances through the years. I feel the power of her humor, the importance of what she is saying with her humor. The greater message of how to disarm and even disassemble our oppressor. Laughing and waving as the rapture of change carries them away. The metaphor, the reality, our collective power to save ourselves from being ravaged by religious bigots.
Kate didn’t have time for an encore, but she got a great long standing ovation from the very enthusiastic and appreciative audience.
