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VILLAGE PEOPLE AT RARE CHERRY

By Wendy L Yockey

and Riki Wilson

All the complimentary adjec-market mid to late September. It tives one could use would apply to the Village People's smash act at the Rare Cherry (9 p.m. August 27). At once crisp and sultry, their act is one of those rarities, a touring disco group. High energy, gut level music and gyrating disco dancing form the core of a bright new act that kept the audience on their feet through the whole show.

Unfortunately, we had little choice because our $7.00 tickets did not include any seating. So, the entire crowd (people were turned away at the door) had to stand for 4 hours of music, intermission and dead time between changes. The few chairs on hand were taken by people who stood on them to get a glimpse of the show. The rest of us could hear, but got few glimpses of the act, except when those in front shifted.

As to the sound itself, the electricity started as the VP came out on stage and shot into Fire Island. Each member dances his way to the stage, trobes flashing and hips gyrating. These are without a doubt the best male dancers to be seen on the pop stage anywhere. They are all costumed in stereotypical garb, patterned after gay-types in the Village, which gives a special vis al appeal.

The VP sound better live than on their albums, which is a difficult achievement, especially with the studio-produced sound of disco. Not only is the sound better, but the action on stage adds, rather than subtracts, from the music. The performers are dynamic, charging up the audience with the favorites they know the words to and have come to hear. It is an act; it is musical theater, it is seductive; precision dance.

The VP are working on a new show to start with the release of their third album, due on the

will be a multi-media show with an even stronger integration of their auditory and visual impact. This is to be performed in even larger auditoriums, hopefully avoiding scenes such as their performance here. Their touring manager assured us that they would return to Cleveland. Looks like we've been granted a reprieve!

AN INTERVIEW WITH

DAVID HODO Interviews were conducted during the break in the show. As the group was in great demand, we spoke primarily with David "Scar" Hodo, the construction worker. Talking to David was an exercise in the abstract.

HG: What about the gay aspects of the group? Are they downplayed over-played, or not played at all?

D: We are not a gay liberation

group. Not a heavy statement group. We are a party group. We fashion ourselves after gay types in the Village, which are fashioned after American types everywhere.

HG: What abost your song

basis, Fire Island, Frisco, Key West?

D: Our philosophy is, we call

ourselves a people liberation. We don't like to play gay clubs, because the straights won't come. The gay following come to the straight clubs. When we're out there, we see straights having a good time and gays having a good time and nobody gives a shit who's getting off on who. We've been condemned for not coming out and saying, we're gay or straight. They're labels. This act is a male celebration which is where the sound

comes from. It had to be a

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totally masculine driving sound.

HG: What about the origins of the group? Is the sound and delivery we're getting now the resuits of a progression?

D: We were all rather successful gypsies in New York and we heard they were going to do a gay album and you had to stop and say, 'Hmm, do I really want my picture on this thing? All this smells faintly of bullshit, which one of your reporters was so indelicate to suggest to Mr. Hodo. Unfortunately, gay does not sell records. It drives away the large straight audience who make up the bulk of the disco buyers. While VP are in the business of making money and selling records, it is sad that a group fears to be identified as gay less they lose the majority of their audience.

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David is quite correct in pointing out that a person's private life and preference is not a public concern, but when an act includes speficially gay lyrics and references, it is naive to avoid the gay topic entirely. This is equally true of asking Average White Band, who ae not black, about the black influence and content of their music and act. If the group were all straight in personal preference, it would still be valid to ask about the gay influence in the group. We were not asking if they were gay, we were asking them to address the gay influence on the group's art. This is a valid question David failed to consider.

As it stands, the only gay alignment seems to come through in slips of their seemingly rehearsed interview responses. David and the other seem to have been asked these questions ad nauseum, and their

replies so sound rather memorized. We're not saying that they are, but as David was giving us answers about the dreaded appelation "gay", we could hear Randy, the cowboy. giving the same answers to P.D.'s Jane Scott and later for the benefit of Channel 5's Afternoon Exchange. Hopefully, this will change in time, and where they have to say. 'We're not a gay group' sometime in the not

too distant future, a group will be openly gay -of only in content (if wishing to keep their private lives private) and say 'our act is influenced by the gay scent; we draw on it for content and style and we think it adds to our performance. As some of these comments are the value judgements of your reporters, we do not wish to overlook the possible contribution of the VP. We would simply prefer they're message be more overt.

Since David will be getting a copy of this article (at his request) we would like to invite any reply he might have to anything mentioned in the interview. As the interview was recorded, we were certain to make the quotes verbatim reproductions. We would like to add that never has anyone seen a "star" who was so easy to interview, so un-star-struck, and willing to give of his time.

We'd like to end with a quote from David that I think says it all as far as the group's appearance is concerned. David mentioned that they are often quoted out of context of misquoted, so I must forward that this is, I trust, somewhat out of context. When asked about the group's name, he replied. "Te like to think that everyone, if they're lucky, has a Village People inside them." AMEN.

Wendy L. Yockey Riki Wilson

Ohio's Gay Journal