Kiki and Herb Will Die for You

[buddha2]

Posted: 9/12/04 at 10:27am

Are they really ending it?

[wickedfan]

Posted: 9/12/04 at 10:28am

What the hell is Kiki and Herb?

[buddha2]

Posted: 9/12/04 at 10:40am

my parents

[Glebb]

Posted: 9/12/04 at 10:42am

Google them wickedfan.

[sabrelady]

Posted: 9/12/04 at 11:23am

in your DREAMS Buddha2!

[G]

Posted: 9/12/04 at 12:10pm

Yep, it's the end for them (at least for a few years). Justin (Kiki) is moving to London to do an Arts degree.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 9/12/04 at 4:52pm

I've seen them probably a dozen times over the years, from their first performances in East Village a decade ago when they were total unknowns in NYC, through their years at Fez, their Off-Broadway run and beyond. It's amazing how much they have grown as artists and how their popularity has expanded so exponentially (who'd have thought ten years ago when they were playing to crowds of a dozen people that Justin and Kenny would end up at Carnegie Hall??). I already have my tickets for Sunday's "farewell" -- I wish them luck and hope that perhaps we'll see them at some point in the near future.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 9/12/04 at 7:04pm

Don't bother googling them, Wickedfan. It would be totally lost on you.

[buddha2]

Posted: 9/12/04 at 7:45pm

Somehow I knew Margo would know this duo. I'll be there Sunday for sure, as I too have been following them for years.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 9/12/04 at 7:55pm

Poor Miss D....

[buddha2]

Posted: 9/15/04 at 6:46pm

Anyone else beside Margo and myself going to the show?

[The Goat]

Posted: 9/15/04 at 10:55pm

Yes, Buddha2, I will be at Kiki and Herb's swan song at Carnegie Hall. I'll be sitting in Parquet (aka "Orchestra") C 103, and would love to meet fellow K & H fans. I've seen them a number of times in New York and Philadelphia (once Kiki made a surprise appearance at a Rufus Wainwright concert at Town Hall), and I love when Kiki goes off on one of her rambling drunken stories. I also only play their Christmas album at holiday time as an antidote to all the traditional music that seeps out from every speaker starting the day after Thanksgiving. I'm hoping that this "final" show will be like Cher's Farewell Tour, which means that they will be around for another three or four years before finally calling it quits.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 9/20/04 at 11:47am

What an absolutely amazing evening. Kiki & Herb certainly went out with a bang, giving one of the best concerts I've ever seen them do (and I've seen them pretty much every year since they came to NY a decade ago). Justin Bond/Kiki was in terrific voice throughout and Kenny Mellman/Herb was his reliable self on the piano. They did a lot of their "greatest hits" and greatest bits from the course of the last several years (from The Revolution Will Not Be Televised to Wutang to the Dominique sing-a-long to Total Eclipse to the Kate Bush and Tori Amos covers) -- hilarious and touching.

The big surprises came during an encore set where Sandra Bernhard, Rufus Wainwright, Isaac Mizrahi, and Jake Shears of the Scissor Sisters (and one other person who's name escapes me)came up on stage to join Kiki in choruses of "Those Were The Days My Friends." Then towards the very end, Kiki introduced "her daughter Miss D" from the audience who came up to the stage, gave Kiki a big hug, turned to the audience, bowed and then went back to her seat. The place went wild.

The sold out house was raucous and responsive throughout the three hour running time, with several standing ovations throughout the evening.

I must add that before the show, during intermission and then afterwards, the crowd verged on being almost as entertaining as Kiki. The who's who of the New York Fabulous People were there (as one friend quipped as we were outside at intermission, "My, it would appear that all of the Professional Homosexuals are in attendance"). Uptown, Downtown and everywhere in between, drag queens to movie stars, models, singers, performance artists, producers, agents, wannabees and used-to-bes -- they were all there. And my god what they were wearing -- I haven't had a chance to watch the Emmys yet (it's Tivo-ed at home), but I would bet that that red carpet had nothing on these folks (sequins, leather gear, hair every color of the rainbow, high fashion couture, feathers, makeup, capes, hats,...... one of my favorites was Jeff Whitty who had this wild jacket that made him look like a pimp .... from South Beach). It was all very dizzying. By the end of intermission we were all exhausted from air-kissing all of the friends and friends of friends and hangers-on swarming around in the crowd (I know I said hello to at least two dozen people in less than ten minutes).

Anyway, it was a wonderful night (and I actually made it to work on time -- forgive my rambling, but I'm operating on about three hours of sleep). If they hadn't before, I think Kiki & Herb have now officially achieved "legendary" status after last night. Can't wait for the many "Comeback" concerts I'm assuming we'll be seeing in the years to come.

[buddha2]

Posted: 9/20/04 at 3:19pm

"Thank-you, Kiki and Herb for teaching us that nihilism does indeed have a melody line...and for reminding us of that eternal truth: that true art-genuine innovation-always lies in the perilous realm of the extreme."

from Playbill by Doug Wright


I agree with everything Margo posted. I thought it was one of the best nights and audiences that I ever experienced. Seemed to be something majical about the whole night or maybe it was the drugs but it was fabu Updated On: 9/20/04 at 03:19 PM

[The Goat]

Posted: 9/21/04 at 12:14am

I will second (or is that third?) the posts of Margo and Buddha2. I was so lucky with my seat, which was close and in direct line of Kiki's chair, and was near the guy she chewed out in the audience during one song. Saw Rufus, Sandra B., and Monica Lewinsky (oye) in the audience around me. Kiki was on fire, and Herb was great also. Again, I loved Kiki's stories, and loved the way she could go from campy humor to sing a lovely song, and sometimes even, amazingly, be parodic and completely serious at the same time. Justin Bond is a real artist, and, in spite of the show's title, Kiki and Herb will never die. Bought the DVD on offer of "Total Eclipse of the Heart," and will have that to watch if K&H don't ever return, for some reason. I could have stayed there all night, and, as it was, had to run to catch the last bus out of Port Authority. But I was singing "Dominique" as I was running!

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 9/21/04 at 12:20am

Bond is a truly a gifted performer -- I just find it impossible to believe that someone with that much talent could walk away from the stage forever. I'm almost positive we'll see him again in one guise or another.

[popcultureboy]

Posted: 9/21/04 at 7:49am

Well I am gutted that I didn't see this. I have only seen Kiki and Herb the once in London and it was the most uproarious evening. Sounds like I missed an evening that will go down in history. Damn.

[robbiej]

Posted: 9/21/04 at 2:23pm

I was devastated I didn't get to see this. My boyfriend, who works at Carnegie Hall, and I were at a wedding.

I tried not to think about what was going on in the Stern Auditorium as I had a lovely time at the wedding, but wishing I could be in that glorious building on 57th Street at the same time.

I live in hope that, as someone on another board wrote, they will some day grace us with the Resurrection tour.

PS anyone remember the horribly offensive song they used to sing in their Christmas shows with? You know...the one about the nails? Damn was that funny!

[popcultureboy]

Posted: 9/21/04 at 2:37pm

I do know the song of which you speak. I used to use it as an example of their humour when I told people about them. That, and I would do an impression of Kiki singing Total Eclipse Of The Heart.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 9/21/04 at 2:41pm

You mean:

BANG!
BANG!
BANG!
BANG!
BANGING IN THE NAILS!
WE'RE CELEBRATING JESUS!
BY BANGING IN THE NAILS!
(or something to that effect)

That one? I think it's on their Xmas album (There's a Stranger in the Manger).

LOL -- I took a bunch of friends to the Xmas show one year, including a couple of lapsed Catholics and a former fundamentalist. The ex-Catholics were doubled over by the song, but the ex-fundamentalist (who incidentally hadn't been to a church in many years) was positively scandalized -- alternating between being shocked, horrified and being convulsed with laughter. He really tried to at least feign that he was offended, but eventually he gave that up because he was laughing too hard to pull it off.

Updated On: 9/21/04 at 02:41 PM

[robbiej]

Posted: 9/21/04 at 2:50pm

Well...I wasn't going to be the one to post the lyrics, but YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES!

I saw the show at Fez (was it Dec. of 2000? 2001?), and nearly peed myself.

I was at a table down front and center and I, and my friends, freaked OUT over the genius of it all. Herb (Kenny Mellmann) played the piano so hard that he in fact broke a string. At the end, one of the backstage folks grabbed the string, bent it in the shape of a heart and gave it to me cause of just how much I was laughing. I TREASURED it!

A few months later, I was dating a guy who threw a party night at Flamingo called Superstar. Kiki performed a title song, if you will and I got to speak with her afterwards. Just a DELIGHT!

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 9/21/04 at 3:00pm

Superstar? Hmmmmmm .....Something tells me we know some of the same people ......

Justin and Kenny are both such sweethearts -- very fun to hang around with. And Justin is so laidback and soft-spoken (usually) that you forget that he's also "Kiki" -- the larger-than-life diva of the world.