Seattle Twist

If Cher, Boy George, Michael Jackson and Freddie Mercury got busy and created a love child, it would be Adam Lambert. Tuesday night he brought his Glam Nation Tour to Seattle to the Showbox Sodo for an incredible evening of camp, dance-pop and -rock and gave it all a light coating of goth.

The audience was an unusual blend of middle-aged women, younger fag hags, sexually confused young men and a few bewildered parents accompanying their children to the sold-out show.

Adam performed about an hour of dance and music — some of it big and loud with heavy beats, some of it soft and acoustic. His set included covers of Johnny Cash (“Ring of Fire”) and Led Zeppelin (“Whole Lotta Love”), proving that nerve and audacity are not two of his deficiencies. The band was tight, as were the incredible dancers, and the crowd swooned with each costume change.

The set list comprised over a dozen songs, mostly from his “For Your Entertainment” album. But the performance and costume changes, including a laser show, and the dancing were as much an attraction as the songs.

Even though he came in 2nd in the American Idol competition, it’s obvious that Adam Lambert is the number one winner in the pop/glam/goth/gay/dance category!

Last weekend’s sold-out Seattle Area Home Bar Tour was, by all measure, a rousing success.  A two-day affair of private bars, home lounges, surf and spy music, tiki history and humorous clothing, this tour is becoming a not-to-be-missed tour d’farce by the retro tiki lounge crowd in Seattle.  If you didn’t make it, you can view a video montage or Flickr photo set

The action started Friday night with a party at Pete’s Monkeyskull Voodoo Lounge.  Appetizers, fruity drinks with little paper umbrellas, a barbeque and a selection of Terence’s exotic music collection ruled the evening.

Jeffrey Cook delighted the crowd with a slide show retrospective of the History of the Tiki Bar.

Bringing the evening to a close with a musical performance was “The Band from U.N.C.L.E.” with retro instrumentals, exotica, tiki and a spot-on rendition of Martin Denny’s “Quiet Village”.

The next day, tourists met at Lincoln Park to board a big yellow school bus that took them on their magical Home Bar Tour.

First stop was Dan and Michelle’s Castaway Lounge, a perfect re-creation of Gilligans Island, complete with bamboo bicycle blender and clamshell putting green.

Next, off to Andy and Liz’s Ship Aground Lounge Tiki Bar on Beacon Hill. We dined on roast pig and spicy cocktails while enjoying the new backyard tiki bar and underground lounge, and the storefront disco upstairs.

After that, the gang boarded the bus again to visit Josh Menashe’s “Paradise Beach”, an incredible tiki bar created with the assistance of Lynette Wylie, owner of Island Life, a shop specializing in Polynesian, Hawaiian and Tiki decor. Josh’s home bar is located on the hills above Puget Sound with beautiful mountain views in the front, and an incredible swimming pool and tiki bar in the back.

The tour concluded at Terence’s “Shrunken Head Lounge” in West Seattle, a home bar that manages to combine a 1960’s lounge asthetic with touches of tiki and other exotica.

A great time was had by all.

Seattle Home Bar Tour photos