Re: Galas

[larry@csccat.cs.com (Larry Spence)]

In article <B7F4BD2BD020125D@MPS.OHIO-STATE.EDU> TREADWAY@MPS.OHIO-STATE.EDU writes:
>
>About this Diamonda Galas person:  Where or what types of places does she 
>usually perform? 

I dunno about "usually"... the live CD was recorded at the cathedral of
St. John the Divine, I believe.  She does have a fondness for religious
sites, and places like (not surprisingly) Greek temples, etc.  The booklet 
to the new disc mentions her being accused of blasphemy for performing at 
the Palace of the Medicis in Italy.  I have no idea how she got permission 
in the first place to do her bit there or at the cathedral in NYC.  When I 
saw her in Dallas, she performed at Empire, an "alternative" (ack) club that 
was in a nice old building with very cool architecture, very dark and sort 
of Gothic in ambience.  It's now a "gentlemen's club" (read: topless bar). %(
She tends to do shows in large cities with a large gay population, such as
Dallas, NYC, Rome, and San Francisco.

>The descriptions so far bring to mind an angry song and 
>dance by Karen Finley.

Umm, there's a lot of rage in both cases, but I think that's about it.  I
don't think Diamanda is into yams at all. %)  Finley isn't a great singer, 
whereas Galas' voice is technically impeccable and IMHO a more potent weapon. 
What puts most people off from Galas is her _screaming_ -- she does these 
high-intensity aieeaieeaieeaieeaieee wails that are pretty blood curdling,
and at times she just plain shrieks like she's been shot.  However, a lot of 
stuff on the new disc is more like spoken high-speed ranting.  She also does 
a lot of her standard tricks, such as holding two microphones, each run 
through different processing, in front of her and violently snapping her head
back and forth, giving the effect of two vocals at once.  Sort of like a
vengeful Laurie Anderson on crack... %)

A friend was attending a new music seminar in NYC once, and got on an elevator
to find that Galas and Robin Hitchcock were carrying on a conversation.  He
tried to listen in, but the other people aboard were three elderly but very 
noisy Jewish ladies on their way to a wedding in the same hotel.  He said the 
combination of characters made him feel like he was in some weird Fellini 
film... %)

-- 
Larry Spence
larry@csccat.cs.com
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