Sweetie returned to Cherry Grove to give a show at Island Breeze on July 2. Matty Kennedy was the DJ.
Sweetie, self-identified as “New York City’s big-titted soul mama,” brought a consummate actor’s detailed interpretive touch to eight songs, interspersed with autobiographical anecdotes, observations, and advice. She opened with a wild and powerful “Acid Queen,” from The Who’s “Tommy,” and followed it with an ecstatically romantic “Do You Wanna Dance?,” Bette Midler’s song. “Be My Husband and I’ll Be Your Wife,” as an earthy tribal chant, followed.
Sweetie conjured up another era with the story she told in the Gossip’s down-and-out “Dimestore Diamond.” She moved us with Dolly Parton’s torchy “Down from Dover,” which was banned from radio when it was new because of its subject matter, “unwanted pregnancy and infant mortality,” Sweetie shared.
She continued with “Fifty Percent,” the ‘other woman’s’ song from “Ballroom,” touching but brave. Robyn’s up-tempo lament “I Keep Dancing on My Own” was next on Sweetie’s agenda.
Sweetie closed with a dramatic “This Is My Life (and I don’t give a damn),” the Shirley Bassey song, as an apt Gay Pride anthem.