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November 4, 2009
By Kate Richardson
Staff Reporter
Photo by Melissa Conrad |
Award winning a capella group, The Kinsey Sicks, shook up UIS students as they performed song remakes dressed in drag. The Diversity Center hosted the “Beauty Shop Quartet” at 8 p.m. Monday night in Brookens Auditorium.
The four drag queens, Trixie, Winnie, Rachel and Trampolina all donned different colored go-go boots with matching dresses. They opened with their own variation of Beyonce’s “Single Ladies,” changing the lyrics to, “All boy singer ladies…give boy bands up.”
As the group introduced themselves, they moved to Trampolina’s addiction to Starbucks. “I’m never more than 12 steps away from a Starbucks,” she sings to the melody of Amy Winehouse’s song “Rehab.” “A latte gives me lots of class, not to mention lots of gas. I’m not gonna switch to decaf, no, no, no.”
The group took on other songs, such as Brittney Spear’s “Womanizer,” Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean,” and Katy Perry’s “I Kissed a Girl.”
Although the group added humorous and sometimes raunchy lyrics to songs, they also had a larger message for their audience. The group eventually delved into politics, asking each other why they voted for President Obama and discussing issues such as health care and the national debt.
Photo by Melissa Conrad |
“Now that I’m poor sleeping on my parent’s floor, I wished I’d voted for Al Gore,” the group sang in tune to Brittney Spear’s “Womanizer.”
The group also involved several students in their performance including junior Andrew Windmiller. Drag queen Trixie pretended that Windmiller was her boyfriend and sang a song about him giving her gonorrhea.
Student Nathan Schmidt said he especially enjoyed how the group involved the audience and made people break out of their norm.
“I thought it was pretty great. I had some friends that had seen it before, but their descriptions didn’t do it justice. It was a great experience,” Schmidt said.
The groups final involvement exercise entailed having different sections of the audience sing a part to the phrase “I’m wearing sexy underwear,” with Kinsey singer Rachel commanding, with choice expletives, audience members to sway back and forth.
“I liked it,” said student Alex Rodriguez. “It was fun and entertaining. It made me laugh.”
The group celebrates their 16th anniversary next month. The Kinsey Sicks originally formed in San Francisco in 1993 when five friends decided to perform in drag following a Bette Midler concert. Most members came from law and political activism backgrounds.
They have six current full length albums and a feature film.
