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Live Blogging: Judas Cradle Opening Night Party
9:05 Here we are, Catatonic drink in hand, blogging to you live from the Lounge in the Red Cat. We couldn't get into performance artist Ron Athey's Outfest 2005 offering"Judas Cradle" but we will be there for the after-party hosted by Vag Davis. The Lounge is open to the public after all. Party starts around 10 PM so come on by.
Right now, crews are setting up lights and cool theater types with interesting hair cuts are here, nursing beers.
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9:22 The crew is setting up low platforms against the walls of the hallway. Perhaps that's where Athey's performers will line up to display their freaky costumes. Then again, perhaps Ms. Davis needs the platforms as a stage...
9:45 Party time. The crowd emerges from the theater, heading for drinks. Are they thirsty or need something to calm their nerves after the performance? We're gonna go investigate. People seemed to dress to match the performance piece's theme or else they have a fetish for "Hellraiser" as goths of various hues and sexual orientations mill about in spiked collars, filmy black skirts and piercings. Your basic Goth fashion nightmare.
10:15 Ms. Davis welcomes her guests with these words (or something like it. Your faithful correspondent is operating onder the influence of 2 large cups of the house special drink, Cat-a-tonics) while waiters ambled about with trays of sate and some other such treat we couldn't identify :
I welcome you. I'm here to welcome you. I have something for everybody. I encourage the ladies to _____. For you guys, I'm willing to perform fellatio. I don't care if you are well endowed or the size of a cashew. I am here for you...Enjoy yourself. We encourage you to relieve yourself of your white middle class burdens. Feel free to fornicate with each other.
10:40 OK this is hardly Live 8 but it's the best we've got as far as an operating avant garde here in LA so bear with me.
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We ask patrons how they liked the show. One party goer is a friend of Ms. Snapper and he praised her singing. Noting that she hit the right notes even while suspended upside down on a pyramid.
Everyone seems to agree that the performance was a delight.
We stop to compliment the show's creator, Ron Athey. He kindly posed for a picture (above) and told us how the music was composed especially for the piece.
10:45 Things are getting very "Story of O" now as Ms. Davis returns to the stage with 2 dozen nearly naked young people, organized in 2 rows. The hostess encourages party goers to walk a gauntlet of flesh as she tells us "you can look, but you can't touch, unless they want you to. So feel free to fondle them, enjoy them." Some party goers complied and groped a few of the fellas. As one uninhibited guest ran his hands over the chest of a glistening black buck, Ms Davis exclaimed "Of course, you go for the black one. I knew you were a dinge queen." And the party goers obeyed while a multi-media slide show of various celebrities cavorted on a screen at one end of the Red Cat foyer.
11:30 Things are winding down as party goers mix and mingle and discuss the latest. We know this group will probably leave the venue by midnight. Who says you can't have a taste of semi-decadence on a school night. Pictures to come.
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There's plenty more fun to be found at the Parlour Club, where Ms. Davis performs in a 20s themed cabaret on Fridays called "Brick Tops." Hurry, because the Parlour Club will be closing its doors after July to make way for another yuppie infested haunt owned by Andre Balzas.
Judas Cradle runs at the Redcat all weekend until Sunday.
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