Liza at the Luxor

Last night I was privileged to end 2006: My Year In Gay Man Music with a performance by Miss Liza May Minnelli at the Luxor Casino in Las Vegas. Unfortunately we were half an hour late and so I only got to see about an hour's worth of performance. And there was no merchandise to be had. I had been dreaming for weeks about wrassling myself up a Liza tour tee that would motivate me on the eliptical trainer. I'd cut out the neck and make a neck hole big enough to slide over one shoulder. I might have even jazzed it up with a BeDazzle™ or two, but such dreams were not to be fulfilled. As Liza said as she ripped off one faux eyelash and then the other midsong, "DAMN!"

What I liked especially about this performance was that between each song, she took a few seconds to just chat, share an anecdote or remark on the first time she had heard a song sung. I would die to read a Liza autobiography, because honey you better believe she knows where all the skeletons are buried. I would have loved to talk to her about Arrested Development too. Can you imagine going out on the town with Jessica Walters and Liza, watching them knock back a couple thousand champagne mimosas while you nursed a Diet Peach Snapple Iced Tea? Heaven!

The best moment of the night for me came when she let her bandleader/piano player do a solo cover of "You Can Leave Your Hat On". Although I love the Tom Jones version of the song, I recently had to sit in the car and listen to my dad sing along every word of some random blues version of it which was extremely distressing and offputting. But Liza helped me to push those memories aside when she insisted on a reprise of the song and then proceeded to do an interpretive dance all the while her bandleader sang. She's still got it baby. David Guest eat your heart out.