The liberal resistance is alive and well in the People’s Republic of Cambridge. Last night in the bluest city in the bluest of the blue states, we went to the Middle East club to see El Vez and his two backup bands (Mary McBride and Bobby Conn), all Bush bashers to some extent. El Vez was on his “El Vez for Prez” tour – making his grand entrance onstage in an Uncle Sam jumpsuit singing the Alice Cooper song, “I Wanna Be Elected.” Of course since it’s now after the election, he peppered his banter with “when I’m President, after the recount…” It’s not all Elvis songs, though there was plenty of that, including his second song, dedicated to Bush, “You Ain’t Nothin’ but a Chihuahua.” I don’t know how to describe it so I’ll quote here: “a socio-political-Las-Vegas-via-Memphis-by-way-of-Mexico Rock ‘n' Roll Revue. It's a multiculti-hybrid - Elvis kitsch and Mexican culture - that mixes political and social satire while distilling the Chicano experience, presented through the songs of Elvis Presley.” But really you have to see it - what a kick.
It was very entertaining and worth staying up for – alas, he came on at 11:30pm and ran until 1am, which means I got home at around 2am. I’m still recovering. I’d say I’m too old for this, but my compañeras were older than me (and El Vez is 44! Yikes, and doing splits in a skin-tight, tiger-skinned jumpsuit no less. ¡Hijole!). No, I just have one of those sensitive systems that requires adequate sleep, healthy food and constant maintenance. Speaking of food, we met up before the show next door at ZuZu and had wine and some great food: tapas/mazza, a Cuban sandwich, a quesadilla, and we split a Chocolate Baklava Sundae (all spread out in little scoops and bites – yumm!).
2:08:43 PM 
Sunday, November 07, 2004