GA GA Monster

BY: COLIN MURPHY - SENIOR WRITER

    It was bound to happen. A major case of Ga Ga fever swept The Lou following the announcement that the pop culture icon’s, The Monster Ball tour was coming to town on Jan. 7 and the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community had it bad.

    For nearly 30-years gay fans have waited in vain for Madonna (the last true diva of note) to grace us with her presence. So when word spread that heir-apparent, Lady Ga Ga had booked a date the Gateway City LGBT community could hardly contain its excitement. Add to this the news that Topeka-based homophobe, Rev. Fred Phelps was bringing his Westboro Baptist Church to protest the event and you had the most nationally talked about St. Louis concert since the Guns N’ Roses riot at Riverport.

    In the end, the winter storms and sub-zero temperatures kept the odious Phelps clan at bay but the threat of frost bite couldn’t keep Ga Ga Nation from descending on the Fabulous Fox Theatre.

    Indeed, the Ga Ga concert was unlike anything St. Louis has seen before. Fans came dressed in a carnival of festive finery to witness the arena sized concert which enveloped the former movie palace. It was bright, it was brilliant and as empowering as it was entertaining.

    Ga Ga played the coquettish dominatrix as she prowled the stage pouting and shouting for her little monsters’ love—and we gave it freely. For "the Lady" knows her audience and she took us to church to preach equality, diversity and all things gay.

    "Put your hands in the air," cried the warrior queen. "For love, for art, for unity—for gay fu*king pride!"

    The atmosphere was electric from the moment her flashing silhouette appeared behind the opaque curtain. The stage was a modern triptych of plasma screens which projected artistic imagery of Ga Ga intermixed with mind bending light displays throughout the 100-minute spectacle.

    The creative chameleon was in fine voice whether rising through a two story glass cube, navigating a futuristic sphere or straddling her post-apocalyptic piano. Ga Ga’s music is infectious and commands you to move as she took us on an 18-song journey of Fame including hits ranging from "Poker Face" and "Paparazzi" to "Just Dance" and "Bad Romance."

    Known for her quirky fashion and platinum hair, Ga Ga did not disappoint darting off stage for a runway of wardrobe and wig changes while muscled dancers and special effects held fans transfixed.

    Like Madonna before her, Lady Ga Ga embraces her gay fans and champions our issues; but the 23-year-old has taken it to a level never seen before in popular culture. She regularly speaks of LGBT issues both in interviews and from the stage. What’s more, she’s done so from the very start of her career.

    Born Stefani Germanotta, the New York native was surrounded from an early age by many gay mentors as her parents nurtured the musical prodigy. Whether in school or out at the clubs, the openly bisexual superstar has always enjoyed a gay sensibility and recently told Out magazine that she wants to inject gay culture into the mainstream.

    This past October Ga Ga participated in the National Equality March in Washington, D.C. performing at the Human Rights Campaign dinner, and on the following day, shrugged off security concerns to march alongside hundreds of thousands of LGBT activists to the U.S. Capitol where she addressed the crowds.

    "ARE YOU LISTENING?" she screamed out to President Obama. "We will continue to push your administration to bring your promise to reality."

    Ga Ga has taken a stand against homophobic lyrics in the music industry and late last year partnered with Virgin Mobile to form a charity to help LGBT homeless youth. (She gave the charity a shout from the Fox stage.)

    Indeed, Ga Ga is a new breed of gay icon and her fans have taken notice.

    "That’s what’s wonderful about her," said Tyler Cross who is better known as the edgy female impersonator, Siren. "I feel like in past generations there’s always been the diva who at some point said, hey—I know I have a lot of gay fans and I appreciate you guys, you guys are great. But I feel like my generation has never had that. We’ve just been throwing ourselves at Brittany or Christina or whoever and screaming I love you, I love you and they’re like, heyyyy. But Lady Ga Ga—she stopped and said, yeah, I love you too."

    Cross was one of the many thousands of queer fans lucky enough to score a seat at the Fabulous Fox and not surprisingly, came dressed as the diva to mark the occasion.

    "Blonde hair and no pants—it’s pretty easy to get it started," quipped Cross. "The first time I did it was for the Queen of Pride pageant in May of this past year and I was like, if I’m doing Ga Ga—I’m doing Ga Ga as Ga Ga—I want to look like her. So I got a costume made, bought new hair and then it kind of went crazy from there. Now there are three hairs and six costumes."

    The Bonne Terre, Mo. native started female impersonation seven years ago at age 18 during amateur nights at Faces nightclub. With musical interests that are admittedly off-the-beaten-path, Cross struggled early in his career between what he wanted to do as an artist and what audiences would appreciate in a show. That is until he heard an obscure remix of Ga Ga’s "Just Dance" and related to the artist immediately.

    "I think that’s what tied it all together for me," explained Cross of his appeal. "Now I can do this fantastic, weird, unique person all of the time and its pop music and everyone knows it and everyone loves it and everyone relates to it. And I’ve never really been able to relate to pop music like this before."

You can email Colin Murphy at colin_murphy@sbcglobal.net

Photos By: COVER- Meeno, courtesy of Interscope Records; Black & White – Hedi Slimane, courtesy of Interscope Records; Washington DC – Philip Deitch; Siren – Tyler Cross

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