I'll admit, straight off the bat, that I bought a ticket to this show solely to see Geraldine Quinn. I've been following her work and attending her shows (both in Adelaide and Melbourne) from about 2008 to now. I'm even friends with her on Facebook, and yes, she actually talks to her fans. For a misanthropist, she's quite lovely, proving that you can dislike and distrust humanity and still be a nice person. This is Quinny's only appearance for Adelaide Fringe 2011 and, in her words, she 'just flew over for the sexual health'.
TEAM AFFIRMATIVE:
Gordon Southern, accompanied with his overpriced sampler purchased from eBay, discusses Bollywood films, men who are good at multitasking housework and shows impressive and hilariously renamed Bollywood dance moves.
Dave Flanagan spent too much time explaining that we are lucky to have him considering he woke up in the gutter this morning as a result of an alcoholic binge he and a taxi driver we met three months ago had been on. He discussed, and demonstrated, the mating calls of whales as well as translating them into English.
Geraldine Quinn is a rock-cabaret star. She is well read, extremely intelligent, well-informed and just plain hilarious. If you aren't laughing at one of her shows, I'm convinced you must be clinically dead. She used her song "Camel Toe" (from 2010's Fringe show "Shut Up and Sing") to beautifully illustrate her point that music and sex are so 'inextricably linked' that it is impossible to separate them. Clad in a leotard which evokes Beyonce and (David) Bowie, she explains her reasoning, the only way she claims to know how, in song.
TEAM NEGATIVE
John Robins explains how his current playlists are killing his sex life, because of how many audio books he has stored on his iPod and how painfully aware how, at an inopportune moment, Stephen Fry's voice may come on reading Harry Potter.
Stephen Grant discusses a condom called "Durex Performa" which features standard lubricant on the outside and mixed with the lubricant on the inside, 5% Benzocaine, which is a mild anesthetic. He finds it unfair that it numbs the penis during intercourse and suggests using the condom inside out despite what damage it may do to female genitalia. This took his rant to a rape-y place which I'm sure unsettled more than a few people.
Granny Flaps discusses all points made, adding her own two cents, mentions lesbians and asserts that they were doing sex right. My favourite line of hers was 'fuck rhythm, just shove it in and make it work'. She congratulated her 'boys' on Team Negative and got stuck right into Geraldine Quinn.
Then came the showdown between Granny Flaps and Geraldine Quinn. Quinny shed her Beyonce/Bowie leotard to reveal a skin-coloured leotard with flames in the crotch (which took vajazzling to a whole new level). Quinny argued (via song and guitar) that "Bootylicious" by Beyonce, "S&M" by Rihanna and "Closer" by Nine Inch Nails were the epitome of sexy .Whereas Granny Flaps cited songs such as "Everybody Hurts" by R.E.M and "Nellie The Elephant". Granny Flaps cheekily said 'counterpoint' after each rebuttal to reinforce her argument.
*****
After "The Great Sex Debate" I ventured to the Garden of Unearthly Delights to meet my friend Eddie. Entering the Garden, I spied Cowboy Max putting up posters for the "Max amp; Dagger Show", I approached him for an autograph.
Eddie and I wandered through the Garden, perusing stalls and generally killing time until our gig at 10pm. Taking a slight detour before venturing out into the real world to get food, I wait for Jack Dagger to get his autograph.Cowboy Max chatted with us for a while and told us that Jack Dagger would be out soon.
Jack greeted me with a hug and as I rummaged through my bag for a pen, he spied a book in my bag and asked me what I was reading. I showed him and he told me that this series (The Otherworld Series by Kelley Armstrong) was his guilty pleasure. I was thrilled to discover I had something awesome in common with Todd Abrams.
Eddie took a picture of me with Shelby and Todd and then the Tech guy for La Campanile took a picture of both of us with them.
After this we got dinner and returned to the Garden to line up for Monique Brumby. I first heard of Monique Brumby through Eddie. I knew Eddie loved her music, but had never looked her up on YouTube because I had a pretty good idea what to expect (something along the lines of Heather Frahn meets Tracy Chapman), I was not wrong, and that, most definitely, was not a bad thing.
Monique grew up in Tasmania, but now lives in Melbourne. She performs with Sophie (her girlfriend) and Nick. Her hair could be described as a fusion of Prince and Robert Smith of The Cure but she claims to be experimenting with a Don McLean look having just toured with him.
She talks about how you shouldn't judge people based on their hair because they can often turn out to be cool people (e.g. Edward Scissorhands and Prince). She mentions that Sophie, her girlfriend, is her hairdresser and they experiment with hairstyles between gardening and cleaning up cat excrement.
Monique writes and performs life-affirming songs with a powerful, self taught voice which she describes as a friend you get to know better as you get older. She is soft-spoken, but belts out her songs. Some songs contain something reminiscent of yodelling which is an interesting touch.
We are told the story of how they came over from Tasmanian on a boat with a sail made out of Sophie's skirt and Mama Cass's knickers, how they were propelled with help from Nick who'd been eating Baked Beans and how they arrived on the shores and were greeted by shells and jewels that she learned were the audience, which ended this intimate concert on a lovely note.
Happy Fringing,
Ladyx Chronowire xx
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