On Saturday night, the Cute-Little-Red-Headed-Girlfriend and I went to the Egyptian-themed "Ra" party held at the convention center. The place was decorated in a glitzy Vegas-style Egyptian theme, complete with a huge Tut mask dominating the central stage. A laser light show beamed Egyptian glyphs across the walls of the dance hall; I particularly liked the green undulating snakes. Dancers energetically engaged their admirers from platforms raised above the dance floor, but the attendees themselves were showing a little wear and tear from all the partying. It was like the entire crowd had that not-so-fresh feeling.
In addition to the dance and stage area, Ra provided a casino where women could play poker, blackjack, craps and other games. A salsa room and a karaoke room were also on offer, along with drinks, drinks, and more drinks. (Gays and alcohol sponsorship--now there's a marriage that's lasted.)
The draw that night was Carmen Electra and her Bombshell Babes, scheduled to perform at midnight. While at Dinah, I became aware that Carmen had a lesbian following, though I never met actually anyone who belonged to it. Like me, most of the women I talked to knew vaguely who Carmen Electra was but drew a blank on more specific questions like "what precisely is she famous for?" and "why should I care?"
Now that I've seen her act, I can tell you that Carmen Electra's stage act is a cirque du soleil influenced burlesque act. A few of the Bombshell Babes did some impressive gymnastic work, especially one trick that involved shimming up a rope, tying complicated knots around their semi-nude bodies with long red swaths of cloth, then unfurling themselves from the cloth so that their bodies dropped dramatically to inches above the stage. But overall, for an act that was advertised as sexy I found it to be sort of generic.
Comments (4)
Tut and not Nefertiti?
Posted by Joel | April 10, 2007 5:31 PM
Posted on April 10, 2007 17:31
I believe the only connection Ms. Elektra has to the lesbian community, at this point in her career, that I know of, is her association with Joan Jett's video, ACDC in which it is implied that she is bisexual and possibly having an affair with Joan Jett. I believe the rumor was that she was to come out that night and tell everyone that her and Joan were an item. As we left early due to the overly enthralled state of mind we were in watching her perform, who knows? Maybe she did say something and the reason we never heard anything about it later was, as you pointed out, who cares?
I have to say I was completely unimpressed with Ms. Elektra's performance. It seemed rather designed toward straight men. The lesbians in the audience, as a a lot of lesbians tend to do, accept the images of women thrown at them even if that image doesn't particularly turn them on. They're just so happy to get any attention, they don't tend to be as picky as they should be. After all, their money has the same value as straight people's money, they should get what they want, not what is thrown at them and Carmen Elektra seems more designed to get gay men all worked up - not dykes.
Not to mention - she what? Stayed on stage for two minutes, ran off, leaving her girls to finish up the act while she got changed for the next act - and did the same thing - ran off to get changed again. What kind of performance was that? And what really blew my mind? She didn't even sing - she lipsynched, unlike Lucy Lawless, who the previous night, sang her heart and soul out at us dykes because she is truly a woman that turns dykes on, as long as she keeps to the "butch" look of jeans. She needs to lose the disco diva look - strictly gay male - and even gay men think it's a bit dated at this point. Stay with the chaps, Lu, and watch us drool.
Posted by the cute little redheaded grrlfriend | April 10, 2007 6:12 PM
Posted on April 10, 2007 18:12
That's a good point Joel. I should look at my photo again but I think it was Tut.
Posted by Teresa | April 10, 2007 6:22 PM
Posted on April 10, 2007 18:22
So I guess you have an opinion, CLRHG. I didn't write about the whole Carmen/Joan rumor because I don't know who started it or what the motivation was behind it.
I disagree with you about Lucy's look, I like her with blonde hair. But I recognize that I am in the minority on this point.
Posted by Teresa | April 10, 2007 6:27 PM
Posted on April 10, 2007 18:27