MAY 30, 2008
juStOUt!39
culture
Double Your Pleasure
Lesbian musician, comedian share the stage
by Kristin Steele
Central Lutheran Church
njoy one of the summer’s best lesbian
double bills when sultry songstress Suede
shares the evening with Seattle’s own co
medic legend Lisa Koch.
A New York native, Suede studied
voice and trumpet in college and started working
the club circuit from Maryland to Virginia, haul
ing her gear around in a Toyota hatchback.
“One day when I was working retail at a re
cord store outside Baltimore, I was offered yet
another promotion,” she says. “1 knew it was
time to take the leap and go for a music career
full time or I might end on the front porch with
too much ‘shoulda coulda,’ and that wasn’t ac
ceptable to me. I gave my two-week notice and
auditioned for my first bar gig that afternoon at
a great lesbian bar in Baltimore called The Shot
Tower. From that point on, it was a matter of a lot
of luck, more hard work, amazingly loyal fans who
spread the word to everyone in their lives and lots
of common sense, putting the pieces together to
get playing, stay busy, find the gigs, grow the tour
schedule.”
Early on she founded her own record label,
Easily Suede Music, and as a result enjoys the in
dependence and artistic control many musicians
dream of. To celebrate-her 25th anniversary in
the business, Suede went all out on her newest al
bum, Dangerous Mood, putting together a 14-piece
big band horn section and recording in New York
with a multi-Grammy-winning engineer who has
worked with the likes of Tony Bennett and k.d.
lang.
The lush orchestration surrounds her sultry
and playful voice like a glove. A singer’s singer,
Suede fuses pop, jazz and blues in her work, mix-
ing original creations with such greats
as “You Can Leave Your Hat On” and
“Do It Again.” She can do a cappella
and torchy love songs and front a big
band as well as cut a mean trumpet solo
without breaking much of a sweat.
Of her newest creation being out
in the world, Suede muses: “It’s really
pretty intense and awesome—a word I
never use. It’s time for me to let her go
and see what she does with her life on
her own.”
Suede is proud of her ability to con
nect across all populations and genres:
“While I have been blessed to have
incredible support from the GLBT
community from the start, I also have
Lisa Koch's “rm a Middle-Aged Woman" has gotten 2.5
great support from the mainstream jazz
million hits on YouTube.
audience, also crossing all age ranges.
My music may fall mostly into a pop/jazz/blues
Koch has four solo albums and has worked as
style, but first and foremost I am an entertainer,
half of the sketch comedy duo Dos Fallopia. She
and that precludes any limits of market or musical
also wrote songs for the off-Broadway show 27
style. I connect with people from all ages, ethnici Rue de Fleurus, a musical about the relationship
ties and other backgrounds or communities. I can
between Alice B. Toklas and Gertrude Stein told
safely say that every single show I have ever done
from Toklas’ point of view.
has been about that and that has been achieved—
When asked to describe her live act, Koch
no matter what.”
sums it up as only she can: “A Lisa Koch show is a
And although Suede connects to a wide range
cross between a cabaret act, sketch comedy and a
of audiences, she has never shied away from who
lap dance. It’s a lot of music, a lot of laughs and a
she is: “It’s very important for me to be honest
lot of interaction with the audience.”
about who I am, period. While my music is not
Koch has just released her fourth solo album,
lesbian-specific, or even gender-specific, usually,
Tall Cool Drink, which she describes as “jazz-
it is honest to who I am. We have come a long
flavored with a kick—sultry, snappy and silly.”
way in regard to homophobia, but we still have
“I had a great time making Tall Cool Drink— it’s
a long way to go before sexual preference is the
more music-oriented, which makes me happy. But
nonissue I think it should be. I believe that only
there’s a couple of funny tunes. In fact, I wrote a
continues to move forward by lesbi song that’s making its way around the Web called
ans and gay men being very visible in
Tm a Middle-Aged Woman’ that people are nuts
all segments of community. So, while
over. It’s about the not-so-pretty side of aging and
I personally have no need to ‘wave
menopause. There’s one YouTube site with my
banners,’ as some might say, I am
song that’s gotten 2.5 million hits—crazy!”
absolutely truthful to who I am, no
Humor is central to Koch’s work: “[It’s] about
matter what venue 1 am playing. To
finding the twists and turns in everyday life and
do otherwise would simply be absurd
talking about the shared experience. Life is funny,
to me.”
even when it’s tragically funny. 1 write about my
Suede advocates coming to the
experience...what I see, what affects us socially
show with someone you like: “I’ll get
and politically, what makes me laugh.”
the crowd screaming and swooning
Being out in her work has been a point of
and snuggling up to whoever is next
connection for Koch and her audiences: “Being
to them—beware.. .come to the show an out performer is an amazing experience—I
with someone you really like. I play
don’t ever hide who I am, and I get to incorporate
my real life into my work. Humor is an amazing
full out, every single time I play."
bridge between worlds. Laughter or emotion is
the connecting point, and when a diverse group
och mixes comedy, theater and
song into her work. She grew up
of people laughs or cries at the same material,
in Ashland and started playing music
they are bonded. It makes folks realize we’re not
so
different. ”©
in high school.
“I play guitar and bass and have
always thought of myself as a musi S uede and L isa K och perform 8 p.m. June 7 at
cian first,” Koch says. “I kind of Aladdin Theater, 3017 S.E. Milwaukie Ave.
Tickets are $25 from the box office or Ticketmaster.
wandered into theater and sketch
comedy and discovered 1 could write
funny songs and create characters. So
K ristin S teele is a Portland writer and educator.
Suede can do a cappella and torchy love songs and front a
my act today is more comedy-based,
Her work has appeared online and onstage and in
big band as well as cut a mean trumpet solo without
breaking much of a sweat.
but always with music under.”
neu/spapers, magazines and anthologies.
K
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