10 GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE April 26, 2002

eveningsout

Wide awake at the Beachland

by Heather Gmucs

Cleveland-They were setting out extra chairs for late-comers at the Beachland Tavern for Toshi Reagon's April 17 concert, even though the room was not yet filled to capacity. It was the second 80-degree spring day, and most Clevelanders were still awakening from their six-month winter slumber.

Reagon, however, has been wide-awake year round and is on tour to support her latest self titled CD release, Toshi. This is her second effort on Razor and Tie Records and overall, her sixth release. The new album became available April 23.

Big Love, the band Reagon is touring with; supplied the set with enough energy to power a freight train from here to California, backing up Reagon's sweet soulful vocals with raw power and sound dynamics. Jen Leigh, on lead guitar, ripped and wailed, leaving hungry listeners yearning for another tasty hook. Robert Burke, a.k.a. Chicken (drums), funked out with unique style on a vintage '65 Ludwig, dropping beats like Grandpa drops quarters in every kid's pocket,

whether you deserve it or not. Fred Cash (bass), melodic and driving laid out the low end. Cash's thumping and rhythmic agility made getting your groove on an involuntary reflex.

Reagon took control of the room from the get-go. She started out sweet and pleasant, sitting on a bar stool with her guitar nestled gently in her lap. The first four songs were intimate cuts from her new release, old school rhythm and blues with a twist and twang of her acoustic guitar. Getting up from the barstool marked a decided change in the set as she threw down with "I Hate/I Love," a rocker off the new CD.

"Did you feel that? Did you feel the room just get elevated? Oh we elevated; we're all on another level," Reagon exclaimed, after raising her arms and coming to a screeching halt mid-song to bear witness to the vibe of the room. "When you leave here tonight it's okay to be a little changed!"

It's difficult in the recording studio to capture the raw energy a stage and live crowd offers, but Reagon manages to pull some of that life into this disc. The disc is a teaser that

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Lesbian icon Toshi Reagon completely controlled the crowd at her Beachland show. At right is Big Love lead guitarist Jen Leigh.

leads you inevitably to want to see her perform live. The demo recording was done in Reagon's own Roland Digital studio. In just twenty days toward the end of November 2001 and with only a few rehearsals, Reagon and Big Love recorded thirteen songs. Most of the tracks were written just before or during the recording sessions.

"I have the gift of influence, which means I can be influenced by so many different things. I think my biggest influence is being able to hear all different kinds of music and be able to appreciate it. That's like anything from classical to Hendrix to blues like Memphis Minnie to Def Leppard and Kiss to gospel like Mahalia Jackson to Sweet Honey in the Rock and also to be influenced by my friends and what they listen to," Reagon explained.

All of these artists are channeled through Reagon, brought to life in her music and translated 'Reagon style' on the new CD.

Reagon strives to keep the connection with the people listening to her music and seems to know that her fans are the ones that are the most influencing and inspiring.

"I truly believe that for the music, the most important critic is the person who spent their money and bought the record is listening to it. People who write about music are wonderful and fine and great, but that's just an element. That shouldn't be the main thing that tells you if you like something or not," said Reagon.

Anybody that has been listening to Reagon's music through the span of her sixteen-year career knows that the songs are solid, relatable and full of hooks that reel you in. It's about real life put into songs that you'll be humming the next day.

More information about Toshi Reagon's tour schedule and how to purchase her new self-titled CD can be found at www.toshireagon.com

This play knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men

by Anthony Glassman

"Tell us the shopping story."

It's British. It's very, very gay. It's full of sex and drugs and minors doing things they probably shouldn't do.

The original Queer as Folk?

Nope. It's the new production at Dobama's Night Kitchen, running April 26 through May 12.

It's Shopping and Fucking, and it's incredible.

Mark Ravenhill's play revolves around the central questions of whether one person can own another, and whether what one wants is what one should have. Both are answered in the arenas of emotional and sexual attachments and the use of vast amounts of illicit chemical substances.

Doug Rossi plays Mark, who at some point in the past "bought" Lulu and Robbie (Laura Caslin and Perren Hedderson) from an unnamed fat man who had gotten tired of them.

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After perhaps years of free love and easy drugs, Mark is tired of all. He leaves for rehab, abandoning the almost childlike Robbie and the slightly more worldly Lulu so that he can clean himself up.

The sudden loss of their means of support sends Lulu into the wide world looking for a job, which she finds in the office of Brian, played by Michael Regnier. Brian's cultured exterior hides some very dark recesses indeed, but even he may not be the darkest they will encounter.

Mark, meanwhile, has been booted from rehab, but still tries to fight his addictions. They taught him that one of those addictions was to people, that he compulsively formed emotional attachments, so his effort to break this cycle brings him to the room of Gary (Dale Kennedy), a young hustler with more issues than the archives of National Geographic.

When Mark brings Gary together with Robbie and Lulu, the fireworks begin in earnest.

The deftly written play, directed by Dan Kilbane and produced by Sabrina Gibbar, starts off looking as if it will be a lighthearted comedy about pansexual London junkies. First impressions, however, are deceiving, and the dark tragicomedy can accelerate from fun to intense in six seconds flat. Perhaps the most impressive feat the play accomplishes is demonstrating just how hard the human heart can be.

The actors, as can be expected from a Night Kitchen production, are skillful, their interactions more than convincing. Anyone leaving the play who does not feel emotionally spent is probably being carried out on a stretcher.

Shopping and Fucking will play at 11 pm on Fridays and Saturdays and 8 pm on Sundays, April 26 through May 12. Tickets are $5. Dobama's Night Kitchen is at 1846 Coventry Rd., Cleveland Heights, and can be reached at 216-932-3396 or online at http:// www.nightkitchen.org.

This is not a play for kids, keep in mind. Anyone under a mature 16 should probably be left at home to rifle their parents' drawers for books by Anais Nin, which are probably far tamer.