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>> Strippers, magicians, drag queens and bakers embrace irony at Kiss My Cabaret

by AMY BARRATT

MaTante is very concerned about anthrax.

MaTante's alter-ego, actress Danette Mackay, is more concerned that people have lost their taste for irony. MaTante will be one of many acts featured in Kiss My Cabaret, a latter-day vaudeville/burlesque show that hopes to become a regular fixture at La Sala Rossa starting next month.

Mackay was inspired to put together a cabaret after travelling to New York last summer. (Remember the old New York? Used to be the world centre of irony--or at least sarcasm?) She returned to Montreal raving about an evening spent at the Va Va Voom Room, one of the city's finest establishments devoted to "the new burlesque." The venue presents a mixture of "legit" acts and striptease numbers, all with a performance art, post-modern wink. Mackay was struck by how much fun everyone--performers and audience--seemed to be having.

Although she's the organizer and nominal emcee of the event, Mackay has only a vague idea of what to expect from the inaugural show on December 1. That's because acts don't have to audition to get in.

"I really want it to be a place where people can try out new stuff, or do stuff that they'd never do anywhere else," says Mackay, who is perhaps best known as the owner of the Jack Russell terrier in those 6-49 commercials, ("I said, 'No thanks'"). Kiss My Cabaret will bring together performers from diverse scenes, with shows featuring anything from magicians to drag acts to serious music to peelers.

Stripping in the new burlesque goes only as far as pasties and G-strings, not so much in the interests of taste as in the interests of irony. It combines nostalgia for the puerile charms of the burlesque house with a contemporary "bite me" attitude. Just how much skin will be bared, how much booty shook, during the first Kiss My Cabaret, is anybody's guess.

Already Mackay has more acts lined up than she can probably use in the first show. Sexy magician Karla Kartoon will perform her death-defying fire-eating act. Dayna McLeod will be doing something in "a full-body beaver suit." Stephen Lawson's drag act involves projecting images onto his body and what I think the U.S. government would consider a desecration of their flag. The most intense actor in the city, Joe Cobden, will dress up as a baker and engage in hand-to-hand combat with some bread dough. Nick Carpenter is composing a duet for singer-actress Laura Teasdale and professional weird guy Ed Fuller. Then there's Vanilla Moses, a "tall white guy in a huge afro" who claims to be the love child of Aretha Franklin and Isaac Hayes. In addition, Montreal's world-renowned peeler Jade is a definite maybe. "She really wants to do it, but she wants to come home for Christmas," explains Mackay, "and she's not sure she can swing two trips in December."

Initially, Kiss My Cabaret is planned as a monthly thing, but if it catches on it could go to once a week. Although Mackay will emcee in French and English, and MaTante is pretty much a unilingual francophone, most of the acts in the first cabaret are English-speaking. She says that's because most of her contacts are on the English side, but she's actively seeking out francophone acts for future shows. All of the acts are performing strictly "for love and glory," and tickets are a low low $5 for everybody. Anyone with an unusual, anachronistic, or bawdy act is encouraged to contact Danette Mackay at kissmycabaret@yahoo.ca.

For fun, you can also check out the

Va Va Voom Room's Web site at, what else? www.vavavoomroom.com.

Kiss My Cabaret at La Sala Rossa, Dec. 1, $5