May 1977 - the Cycle Sluts'77 came to town - and they stayed 6 months at the Roosevelt Hotel.source: Los Angeles Times
Cycle Sluts was a modern cabaret style rock show presented inside the Blossom Room. The show was a performed by a troop of trashy and sassy street glamour types
complete with beards and glitter faces. There were biker beauty pageant skits, choreography and live band.
They wore a startling combo of leather gear and Frederick's of Hollywood-inspired undergarments. From the tip-top of their sky-high, feverishly teased wigs (think trailer-trash broads on crystal meth) to the bottom of their stature-building footwear (platform shoes, motorcycle boots), they stood tall (not one of them less than seven feet) in more ways than one. Their makeup— part Kabuki/part Sweet Charity—accentuated their unapologetic facial hair, streaked with glitter. This carefully designed juxtaposition, indicating a gender identity meltdown, extended beyond The Look. The Act consisted of original songs and sketch material created by Bill Bowersock, Matt Vernon and John Beal tailored to showcase them at their butchest and most femme. John Wayne one minute, Ann-Margret the next. Words that have since become downright banal and void of their true meaning were used to describe them: outrageous, androgynous, dangerous. Known as the Cycle Sluts, their in-your-face expressions of unrestrained sexuality were hard won (this was less than a decade after Stonewall).
After years of secreting who we were as sexual beings, the Cycle Sluts put the “sex” into homosexuality. In Los Angeles of 1975, the Cycle Sluts were the “It Girls” of gay culture, attracting gay and straight audiences alike in their nightclub appearances at the Whisky-a-Go-Go, the Roxy and other hip venues. Hollywood's most famous celebrities of the era, including Lucille Ball, disco divas, producers, managers and agents like Allan Carr (Grease, La Cage Aux Folles, Village People, Joan Rivers, Ann-Margret) and Roy Gerber (The Beatles, Bette Midler) commandeered the star booths night after night.
The Cycle Sluts couldn't have gotten within spitting distance of prime time, and that was precisely their allure. Unsanitized, uncensored, and unequivocally gay, their stage personas carried the stereotypical trappings of their predecessors (hair and makeup), but added an aspect of being gay that had rarely been acknowledged out loud. The Cycle Sluts may have had false eyelashes out to “here,” but they also had substantial packages out to “there,” bulging beneath their frilly lace panties.
(the only time drag was featured in drummer magazine~circa 1977)
Holy crap... I still have that poster. It's dayglo yellow/green.
ReplyDeleteI used to sing backup for the Cycle Sluts. They had 3 (sometimes 4) professional singers offstage singing the charts live. It was usually me (Steve Goldin), Donna Fein (John Beal's wife) and Joe Croyle. Sally Struthers often came and sang with us but usually had to leave before 10pm for an early call at All In The Family. She was such a sweet person. I think of her often. Most of them couldn't sing at all so they needed the singers backstage. But they sure could perform, and gave one Hell of a show. The audience always left wanting more. At the Whiskey celebrities were always in the audience; Lucille Ball, Art Carney, DeNiro, etc. And Roy Gerber was one of the backers of the show. It was The place to be and The show to see. It was hysterical, very ahead of it's time and consummately professional. John Beal wrote some of the charts and they were some of the best I've ever sung. (She's The Real All-American Boy, Stranded Beverly Hills, You Made Me Love You - tight harmonies with a raunch/rock kick) I wonder if any of the guys are still around. They WERE ALL GREAT GUYS. It was a wonderful time.
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