Last month I did a Maria, from The Sound of Music, listing a few of my favourite things. Now I have even more, starting with the Daytona and Donnarama show on Sundays at Woody’s. From Donnarama’s Exorcist/Evil Dead: The Musical tribute, to Angelina Jolie’s leg, to Daytona’s impersonations of Reba and Amy Winehouse, these two make me laugh out loud. It’s the best drag show in the city right now.

I also really love the new song by Carrie Chesnutt and Boyd Kodak, called “Send Me to the Moon.” It’s both sweet and sexy and has been floating around the inside of my head for weeks. Check out their YouTube clip.

I also love Sky Gilbert’s new blog (skygilbert.blogspot.ca), in which he reviews, among other things, films with a tangy mixture of anger and hilarity. I admire his trashing of homophobic movies The Hunger Games and Shame (“Michael Fassbender’s character ends up . . . getting a blowjob by some guy — and this is supposed to be the ultimate act of degradation. A usual evening’s debauchery usually just starts that way for most of us”), and his review of The Vow is hilarious. I haven’t had this much fun reading film reviews since Pauline Kael.

It’s no secret that I also really like beer. So it’s a thrill when the Corona company sends me some recipe ideas, like the Corona Coastal Surf Margarita, which blends tequila, lime, orange syrup and crushed chilies with a bottle of Corona Extra — and voilà, a mess. At least when I try it. I don’t even have ice in the freezer. Thank God you can enjoy both Corona Extra and the new Miller Chill just on their own.



They found their ideal home at Revival Bar, at 783 College St. Speakeasy is their first show with a dinner element, and they luck out with chef Christopher Wood. We enjoy a remarkable dinner, starting with a salad that in itself would qualify as one of my favourite things. Chef Wood wraps frisée lettuce leaves in an elongated cucumber slice, so it looks like a little fascinator on the plate, then garnishes it with roasted heirloom beets and a shallot and verjus vinaigrette. Divine. This is followed by a lovely plate of organic roast chicken with a Madeira pan jus and apple crumble for dessert. We wash it all down with a shot of Jägermeister.

Then the show begins. Miss Skinner, wearing a sexy red dress, hosts as La Minouche, her patter dripping with innuendo. She teases the guys in the audience, then Romanov comes out as Lilli Bubalotovich to sing a bawdy song with grand choreography. La Minouche introduces the rest of the company, including the man-props — two sexy guys who could show a little more skin, please. The girls do various scenarios involving stripping, but no one shows pink or removes their pasties. It’s polite nudity, more titillating than arousing. There is also a hilarious send-up of Blonde Venus where a dancer comes out in a gorilla suit and takes off the head, revealing the same platinum Afro worn by Marlene Dietrich in the movie. Awesome stuff.
So let’s see. Can I turn all these things into a song like Oscar Hammerstein II did?

Drag queens at Woody’s and burlesque attractions
Beer mixed with fruit juice and girls playing saxes
Movie reviews that come with a sting
These are a few of my
favourite things! — Paul Bellini

paul@fabmagazine.com