The Ice Palace, which survived the March 27 Grove Hotel fire, ended a season, triumphant against all odds, on September 20 with a Porsche Live show, with Porsche celebrating the conclusion of her 10th year at the Palace, assisted by faithful DJ Chuck McTague.
Porsche started out by singing some country, “Let It Rip, Let It Fly” and “Your Good Girl’s Gonna Go Bad,” and in between, in honeyed tones of Eartha Kitt, pronounced this “a purr-r-r-fect day!” She moved on to Cher’s “It’s in His Kiss (the Shoop-Shoop song),” backed by “new fake boyfriend” Chris—of the size 17 shoes—and others. She got a phone call—the first of many that punctuated the show—from Shequida, shared with the audience via speaker phone, which inspired a rendition of “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” with irreverent interpolations. Other callers, wishing Porsche a happy 10th anniversary, were Ariel Sinclair, Logan Hardcore, Jennifer McClain, and Porsche’s grandmother, mother, and aunt. There was a message from Kenny Holcomb as well.
Porsche followed Bette Midler’s “Friends” with “History Repeating,” the Shirley Bassey song, dedicated to this writer. With Madonna having recently been in New York, Porsche offered “Beautiful Stranger.” Parodies “The Pines Song,” to the tune of “My Favorite Things” (“Isn’t there anything else we can do?”), and part of “The Grove Song,” to the tune of “The Lonely Goatherd” (“You’re in Cherry Grove/Drama every day”), came next, along with Lily Allen’s “Not Fair.”
Porsche gave us her cinnamon-flavored version of Adele’s “Skyfall” (“What’s in Fireball?”) She then purred Eartha Kitt’s “I Want to Be Evil.” “Ghost” and “Native New Yorker,” the latter for those of us who are, were next on Porsche’s agenda, as were a seductive “Smooth Operator,” Sade’s song, and “What’s Going On?”
Porsche paid tribute to Ariel with “My Vagina is Eight Miles Wide,” with Michael “Whore D’Oeuvre” Moran and Chuck as backup dancers. She sang the “Star Trek” theme song vocalise in honor—?—of Shequida; performed “Chandelier” to make us think of Logan, and “It’s All Coming Back to Me” to salute Brenda Dharling; and, as Busted, gave us a scene from “Precious” and some Lady Gaga. She sang “Chapel of Love” for young John and John Henry, who married that afternoon at Island Breeze, and dedicated a romantic “Tammy,” Debbie Reynolds’ song, to Gusty Winds and, in part, to the newly-married couple.
Porsche’s marathon gradually wound down with Macy Gray’s “I Try;” Billie Holiday’s “God Bless the Child;” Elvis’ “Can’t Help Falling in Love;” Amanda McBroom’s song for Midler “The Rose;” Kitt’s “Champagne Taste” and “Santa Baby;” and, dedicated to Chuck, an emotional “Wind Beneath My Wings.”