I am staying with my sister in Northern New Jersey until the con starts tomorrow. So I had to eschew the Creation bus tonight and hie myself down to the lower dregs of Manhattan on my own. I took a bus across the Bridge and then took the A train allllllllll the way down Manhattan to Canal Street. And, when I climbed up the stairs from the train, I happened to be looking up and noticed an awning over a small shop advertising, "Argo Electronics". Figured I must be close to where I should be. (Argo Electronics—sounds like a line from a fanfic fixated on Xena’s saddlehorn, does it not?)
And then, my gaze lowering to the street, I saw a long line of people creeping along a building kitty corner from me. There was something about them that just screamed out, "It’s US!" I unerringly headed for them and yes, indeed, it was us.
I joined the line just as it began to move and we chugged around the corner and we all got inside.
This room seemed to have more space than the Roxy. I think some of this perception is due to the walls and ceiling not being painted black.
First up was Tig, the young comedian who opened for Lucy at the Roxy. Tig was very funny again. Played with the audience a lot and didn’t repeat very much from the Roxy. She had a new "Slice of Life" story from her Roxy days with us that was very funny—but it’s almost 3:00am and I’ll tell you about that later.
After Tig left, having reduced us all to laughing hyenas, once again Lucy began to sing to us from offstage. And then she arrived.
She arrived in that silver what she called on her site, "cat suit". Which looked like it might have been squeezed out of a tube directly onto her body. She sashayed around the stage, swinging her butt and flouncing her arms around. And as always, the room rocked with hoots, cheers and appreciative roars.
You know, when I first saw those pictures on Lucy’s site that showed her walking down the street wearing this outfit, my very first thought was, "She’s so tall, she’s so gorgeous, she’s so blond and she’s so leggy—I bet people thought she was a transvestite working Canal."
That thought was apparently fostered by the ambience of the mean streets of New York she was trodding down. She didn’t resemble a transvestite at all on stage. Un-ungh.
A truly pleasant surprise to me—Sharlotte from The Roxy was back onstage with Luce as a back-up singer again. It is very obvious that Lucy and Sharlotte truly enjoy each other and like working together. A strong connection between them comes through onstage. At one point, they were singing face to face standing very close to each other. They leaned their heads towards each other and then suddenly their foreheads touched. They grinned at each other and then Lucy rubbed Sharlotte’s forehead with her own. It was a gesture that to me showed they were really having fun but it was also a very loving gesture too. Sweet.
Lucy sang and talked. I thought the sound on the floor was much better than at the Roxy. I could hear what Lucy was saying much better here. But it was also WAY loud-there was so much screaming with approval going on that even if you put your mouth right next to someone’s ear, they still couldn’t hear what you were saying. And after a very short while, once the song and the roars for it were over, you would suddenly realize that your ears were ringing from the enormously loud noise level-so even then you couldn’t hear what the person with their mouth in your ear was saying. (And no, it wasn’t "Slurp, slurp, slurp.") Um—at least I don’t THINK it was. Unlike my AWOL sense of hearing, my sense of touch never left me.
Lucy asked if anyone was from New York. Throwing aside the last 30 years or so of living in Alaska, I raised my arms and hooted. Surprising myself, but feeling that it was right to reclaim myself as a New York homey. I DO so love this city.
Lucy also mentioned that she gets recognized more often in New York than anywhere else. (And "they" say people in New York never make eye contact.)
Lucy sang her Cowboy Song (once again hauling a cowgirl hat out of the audience) and Down On My Knees. She sang much of the material she’d sung at the Roxy, with just a few new songs thrown in.
I was looking around the audience, enjoying watching the crowd enjoy Lucy. And suddenly it struck me that there were many more men here than you usually see at the cons and Lucy’s shows. I talked with a few folks about it and we thought there might be as high as 20 something percent men present. Later Lucy mentioned that some of her police officer friends were in the audience. So I’m thinking this was them. At any rate, the men were as enthralled as the women. I really enjoyed watching the rapt faces staring up a Lucy, totally absorbed, hell, damn furken mesmerized. And the bodies below the faces grooving almost involuntarily along with the music. There were people with their arms around each other’s shoulders swaying together, people bumping hips, people bopping in their own tight little circle of space. Almost as fun as watching Luce on stage. Almost.
The usual token male from our group of buds was there again tonight. He was the one who said after the Roxy, "Some day Lucy is just going to give me a heart attack". He walked by me at one point with his hand clutched to his chest and his head bowed, a stunned but extremely happy look on his face. If Lucy did give him a heart attack, he would most certainly die happy.
Lucy handed the stage over to Sharlotte to sing for us while she went backstage. Those of us who still had memories (hearing not being essential to memory), knew this meant she’d be back out in a new outfit and trailing the old sidekick. And yes. Lucy came back (roar of delight in her return) in a pink shimmery dress with tiny reflecting rhinestones on it. And Renee followed (more roar of delight, though lacking the surprise element of the first night at the Roxy) in a red shimmery dress and danced for us.
It’s always fun to watch those two together. And I just love how they DO do things together. That doesn't happen very often with actors with other shows. Sure, Xena being a cult show means the actors get together at a con. But this, this branching out for Lucy and her including Renee and Renee happy to be included and to perform for us-this is really something special and gracious for them to be doing together for our pleasure. I noticed that even in the commercial for the show, even though Renee performed just one dance, Lucy included her in the advertising for the show. Very generous of her, and very grateful and respectful for Renee taking part in Lucy’s show. Nice.
Anyway, it was another great night in the adventure of following Lucy on her road tour. Lucy has an amazing energy. She seems to thrive on us, on our appreciation and our enjoyment of her. Everyone tonight, Tig, Sharlotte and Lucy all talked about the love they feel from us.
Lucy sang "I’ll Stand By You" and then left the stage. The band stood around while we screamed and applauded like we were possessed. Lucy came back and laughed and said, "Why do we do that? Why do we do this fake leaving the stage thing?" Then she turned to the band and yelled at them, "You were supposed to leave too!" And she just stood there and laughed about how silly this fake-out is since we all know they’re always going to come back for at least one more song.
Finally the fake outs were over, the last song was song. When we just kept applauding Lucy at the end, she began applauding us back. And literally said, "No, you!" and once again thanked us for our loyalty.
Another rip-roaring appearance by Ms. Lucy. Once again, Lucy gave us an absolutely fantastic show. That woman has so much energy, she could probably light up lower Manhattan. And still have enough excess wattage to illuminate Queens.
I took the ferry home across the Hudson. Looking back at the city behind me, I suddenly saw that the Empire State Building was illuminated with purple light tonight. I’ve never seen it wearing purple before. I concluded that the Empire State Building is a lesbian Lucy fan. Who knew?
