Charo: A savvy blend of trashiness and talent

Charo—one of the celebrity grand marshals in this year's Pride parade—gave a concert on Sunday night at The Herbst, and I've decided that she's either very savvy or very crazy. Or both.

"You're probably wondering, 'How old is that bitch?'"
—Charo at the Herbst on Sunday night

For the record, she's 67. (Or at least I think she is: Wikipedia and IMDb list different birthdates—1951 and 1941, respectively—and apparently Charo went to court to prove that she was 15, not 25, when she married 66-year-old Xavier Cugat in 1966. Let's just say that she qualifies for senior-citizen discounts, OK?)

Sunday's show opened bizarrely: when Charo appeared on stage, she was backed up by a three-piece band and flanked by two male dancers wearing black mesh shirts. One dancer wielded a tambourine, the other a pair of maracas. (The guy with the tambourine seemed especially excitable, leading my friend Michael to observe: "He's taking that instrument even farther than Tracy Partridge.")

For the first hour, Charo relied on her variety-show stand-up schtick, sang a few spastic songs, and even strolled around the half-empty auditorium giving random lapdances. It was kind of horrifying, made even more so by the backup dancers who kept appearing in various forms of unflattering undress.

"Don't underestimate a cuchi-cuchi. Cuchi-cuchi showed me the way to the bank."
—Charo at the Herbst

And then, at the one-hour mark, Charo finally broke out her guitar. It was instantly clear why she remains so well-regarded as a flamenco guitarist: her control of the instrument is mesmerizing, and the audience cheered wildly at the conclusion of each piece. Over the course of two hours, she'd gone from second-rate nightclub act to artist. And it occurred to me that it was a smart, if zany, approach to self-presentation.

How better to take an audience off-guard with your considerable talents than to begin with a trashy, self-deprecating stand-up routine? I, for one, was floored by the second half of her show, in large part because I was so disheartened by the first.
 
Topics: Gay , Gay culture , Gay events , Gay Pride , SF Gay Pride , Pride 2008 , SF Pride , Charo

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