June 12, 2005

Lucy Lawless Sings at L.A. Gay Pride

Last night, I went to go see Lucy Lawless at the Gay Pride festival in Los Angeles. Before Lucy came on, I also caught Ce Ce Peniston and Deborah Harry performing onstage.

The night made me think back to the first time I attended the Gay Pride festival in L.A., more than 20 years ago. (Did I just write that?) It was a very different time then, and the gay scene was much more underground. There were no celebrities onstage back then, that's for sure. In fact, if I remember correctly, the highlight of the performance schedule on Saturday night was a drag group called "The Mandrew Sisters," who sang covers of golden oldies by the Andrew Sisters.

So it was really exciting for me to see acts like Peniston, Deborah Harry and Lucy Lawless performing at Gay Pride. I wrote last year about how excited I was by Lucy's appearance at the Gay Pride Run. I wasn't expecting her to come back this year to sing, but I was certainly happy she did. Especially as I didn't see much else in the way of lesbian-centric entertainment this year.

Lucy was wearing a costume that included a long, luxurious golden blond wig. I actually think the audience was a bit unsure it was Lucy at first. But since I've seen Lucy in different wigs and costumes at the various Xena conventions it didn't throw me off one bit. In her costume and wig, I felt I could see a certain physical resemblance between Lucy and The Ultimate Sex Goddess of All Time, Ann-Margaret. Lucy sang a single disco song--I wish it had been a longer set, but it was still great to see her.

I was sort of hoping that someone from the L Word might make an appearance at Gay Pride but that wasn't the case. However, it makes me appreciate Lucy's willingness to perform for a lesbian crowd all the more. It's still an act of bravery for a celebrity to appear at Gay Pride, and I'm grateful to Lucy for having the guts to do it.