Kurt Loder will make a special appearance in the role of the rock journalist who interviews legendary German rock chanteuse Nico in Tammy Faye Starlite's Nico theater piece Chelsea Mädchen, which ends a Saturday night June residency at the Duplex Cabaret Theatre this Saturday night.
It's hardly a stretch, of course. Loder is a noted music journalist and longtime MTV on-air personality.
"The guy who usually plays the interviewer in the show couldn’t make this one because of family reasons, so Tammy asked me to step in," says Loder.
"I was naturally honored, and agreed," he adds. "I'm excited about doing it in a semi-terrified sort of way, since I’m not in any way an actor--and of course she’s a very good one. The show’s extraordinary: a Nico tribute--so unexpected! But Tammy Faye’s a fine singer, and she really nails Nico’s deadpan/narcotized delivery, and the dialogue, lifted straight from old Nico interviews, is very funny."
Best known for her overwhelmingly obscene and biased born-again Christian country rock ‘n' roll shtick act, Starlite began performing her Nico tribute last year. Her Chelsea Mädchen takes its name from the late Velvet Underground associate's1967 solo debut album Chelsea Girl, and mixes Nico’s music with spoken-word material scripted from Starlite's edits of Nico quotes from books and interview transcripts; the dialog also features Nico's surreal reminiscences of cohorts including Lou Reed, Andy Warhol (Chelsea Girl was titled after Warhol's 1966 film Chelsea Girls, which she starred in), John Cale, Jackson Browne, David Bowie and Alain Delon.
The gig has her fronting a six-piece band on Nico-performed Velvets classics including “I’ll Be Your Mirror,” Femme Fatale” and “All Tomorrow’s Parties,” as well as Nico originals and celebrated Nico covers of David Bowie’s “Heroes,” Rodgers and Hart's "My Funny Valentine," Bob Dylan's "I'll Keep It With Mine" and The Doors' "The End."
"Anyone who knows [the historic 1967 album] The Velvet Underground And Nico knows enough about Nico to drop in at the Duplex and learn some more," the esteemed music scribe Robert Christgau recently wrote.
Loder caught Starlite’s debut Chelsea Mädchen performance last summer at Joe's Pub. While he has in fact appeared in feature films including the recent Get Him To The Greek, his Saturday performance marks his stage debut.
"He's a real journalist portraying a fictional journalist asking questions of an actress playing an historical figure,” says Starlite. “It's gonna be downright Brechtian!"
Concludes Loder: "I hope she can keep doing this show. In fact, I hope it gets turned into an offbeat Broadway production. It’s that good!"
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