On July 5, at the Ice Palace, family, friends, and colleagues helped Ken “Sonny Shores” Woodhouse celebrate his 50th birthday with a rollicking good Cherry Grove Pride show, with DJ Chuck McTague on music, lights, and sound.
Sonny opened the show with a swaggering “I Can Make You a Man,” from “Rocky Horror,” and with Jean-Pierre Lemarié at the Privia keyboard, a contrasting “Creep,” with pathos. Peter Candido, brother-in-law of Ken’s erstwhile babysitter, sang “Time of Your Life” and Beatles songs “When I’m 64,” to which Ken and spouse Mike Turci danced, and “Ferry Cross the Mersey.” I sang “L-O-V-E,” which Sonny had urged me to learn—and we shared a dance during the instrumental interlude—followed by “Unchained Melody.”
Lovely Bubbles Atlantique gave us country—“Cheater, Cheater (where’d you meet … /That no good white trash ho?)”—and 1960s doo-wop—“I Know Something about Love.” Matty Kennedy, in glorious full cry, took us back to the ’50s, singing the Platters’ “Only You,” and ’60s, with Elvis Presley’s “It Hurts Me.” From the relentlessly upbeat Monty Python oeuvre, Sonny sang—and whistled—“Always Look on the Bright Side of Life,” complete with kick-line, and “You Won’t Succeed on Broadway (if you don’t have any Jews).”
Peter Chmiel sang a polished “Levon,” Elton John’s song. Tintin and Red Hot Mama sang a campy “Let It Go,” from “Frozen,” as a duet. Sonny/Ken introduced his high school girlfriends, and an early gay fling, and launched into a duet with Porsche, “Get Happy/Happy Days Are Here Again,” with Porsche on the former, the Judy Garland part, and Sonny on the latter, Barbra Streisand’s line. Jada Balenciaga offered an emotional “Rose’s Turn,” from “Gypsy.”
Sonny/Ken concluded with Frank Sinatra song “I’m Gonna Live till I Die” and, from “Rocky Horror,” “I’m Going Home,” between which Jack Ruolo brought out our hero’s birthday cake. Thanks, Ken/Sonny, for allowing Cherry Grove to share your birthday with you!