O-blog-dee-o-blog-da

By Melanie Nathan, October 29, 2009.

 Before last night when did I last hit that vein?   Sheraton Universal Studios?   Somewhere around 1987– some lesbian organization fundraiser gig?  My dose – Sandra  Bernhard – slipping through my two decades of Bernhard withdrawal – from what was then to what is now!

That very –always- fabulous- epoch, eventually immortalized by The L Word, and that could not even come close to a true depiction of the time, that sassy time, the West Hollywood Lipstick Lesbian Era – a time to behold.  We went from drudge to pretty, from VW to Limo, from silent to noisy. After Sharon went from King Solomon’s Mines to Basic Instinct, we brought cousin Hilda to Paulette’s party, embodied in a blowup named at “The Pleasure Chest” and we all romped – oh, if one were to find that video – the viral would be now!

Our novel sexual revolution brazenly played out on our very own stage, where one night was a rehearsal for the next.  We got better and better at it.  Never before was more fun had by a red-lipped bunch of gal dudes, who ‘toiled their own tude,’[i] with a “prevailing beat[ii] “ unlike any other, on dance floors rented one night at a time, by would be dyke entrepreneurs. (mmm … perhaps would be entrepreneur dykes..I don’t know!)

Waking up with grazed elbows naked in a cul-de-sac in Trousdale Estates to find a strange woman asleep beneath me?  Nah that was not me maybe it was someone else’s dream.   Gay marriage? Not bloody likely –Oh yes I am dreaming – a long gone time that within moments may well renew.  But now is not then and it is now… so what will be as I now attend my dreams  in preparation for another dose.

As Ms. Bernhard appears glamorously adorned on the Razz Room Stage I check my cell phone neurotically ensuring that my four and twelve year old girls have not called in with some catastrophe.  Relieved, I sit back determined to enjoy;   little did I know I would revel in the delight of a sobering and renewed Sandra Bernhard.  Indeed the show exceeded my expectations.  For years I have isolated myself in my work and kids. Silly me to think that the big night out would be a throwback experience, where I would hear the slam slash throat lesbian jive again.   Notwithstanding my momentary nostalgia I must give Ms. B credit for maintaining her unique self in this updated context, a concomitant of the journey, long embarked now morphed into a maturity that belies the past. Her re-surfaced style reflects  her own Jewish mother-ness and one, who like me, has atoned in so many ways, reflecting a love for Israel and the mystical offerings of our changed age.

So despite myself and despite what I thought it would be, I was able to relate to everything.  To the current affairs, political chatter, celebrity gossip, all tuned to a Bernhard-esque key.  A well-honed musical talent revealed a surprisingly beautiful singing voice, and a new album to boot. So Sandra, “Whatever It Took,”  you did GOOD BABY!…

Picture:- Melanie as a Lipstick lesbian 1995

The Show “Whatever It Takes”  at the RrAZz Room, Nikko Hotel San Francisco, – Go to Sandra Bernhard’s web page (link here)  to see tour dates.  A highly recommend

[i] I have the trademark on the phrase…

[ii] Okay another trademark