I've Got a Bulletproof Heart
Kenny Mellman - aka Herb from Kiki & Herb - tells Andrew Georgiou how a Grace Jones fixation inspired his one-man show
Your new show explores the connection between a gay Jewish piano-player and a black woman with a bad attitude. Sounds pretty niche. Can you talk us through it?
When I was nine I found a picture of Grace Jones at Studio 54 in a magazine in the public library. I was mesmerised! As I grew older I became fascinated with her explorations of gender fluidity and also genre-fluidity. Here was a woman who could slide from disco to new-wave to Iggy Pop with ease. So this show came out of that fascination. The show is just a piano, a drum machine and me wearing a hooded sweatshirt and sunglasses. Let's face it – I'm never going to look like Grace Jones, so why try?
In the show you use Jones' interviews as text. How does that work exactly?
In combing through old print and television interviews [of Grace Jones] I realised that she was very much aware and in control of her image and art. So I decided that I would let her speak for herself in this show. So besides a wee introduction, the text between the songs is a collage of Grace Jones' own words.
What do you think it is about her work that resonates with so strongly with queers?
The most obvious, of course, is her image. What queer didn't melt at the sight of Grace Jones in the Keith Haring dress that filled a room? But I think what really resonates is her power. She radiates a self-reliance that is overwhelming. When she sings "pull up to my bumper baby", you know whomever she is talking to better pull up right then, or there will be trouble!
You have been the musical director and one half of Kiki & Herb for close to a decade now. How important is a solo piece to you as an artist?
Kiki & Herb was a true equal collaboration and a successful one, but there is a certain subservience that is just inherent in that set-up. I think people began to equate me with Herb, just a co-dependent pianist supporting the star. So to step into the front of the stage is to feel very unencumbered and alive, to badly quote Joni Mitchell.
Would you describe your genre as queer cabaret, or do you find that description somewhat limiting?
I love the term 'queer cabaret', because it seems so inclusive, but I know that others find it reductive. To me, queer cabaret embraces everyone from Meow Meow to Pam Ann, neither of whom are exactly 'queer', so I to me it just speaks to a certain sensibility that my work certainly fits into.
Which of Jones' tracks penetrates that bulletproof heart of yours best?
I would have to say that her version of Joy Division's "She's Lost Control" is one of the most perfect expressions of madness on record.
What can audiences expect to walk away with after the show?
Hopefully a nice buzz and a desire to live their lives as hard as they possibly can. If Grace Jones can do it, so can they!
I've Got a Bulletproof Heart: Kenny Mellman is Grace Jones is on at the Famous Spiegeltent, Sydney Opera House Forecourt, Thu 23 Oct, 7.15pm.
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