By: Jen Paulson
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| John Waters - Photo by Jon Behm |
For inspiration, not like I really need it, I am listening to the compilation, A Date With John Waters, put out earlier this year. It might be one of the best mixes ever made. The perfect, eclectic mix of old-time sweetness, roadhouse rockers and many out-of-the-ordinary oldies are a great combination of Water’s counterculture sensibilities.
So it goes without saying that The God Damn Doo Wop Band proved that they were the appropriate band for this edition of Fakebook, with their ‘50s girl-group (albeit non-matching) attire and their sweet harmonies, alongside their sassy attitudes.
Everything was summed up perfectly by Mary Lucia’s comment as she introduced John Waters. Moments before, as the God Damn Doo Wop Band ended their short set, she was thrilled by her ability to finally use the expletive, instead of Gosh Darn, among other safe-from-the-FCC ways they had been saying the band’s name in promoting the show on The Current—
"If you are not comfortable with adult content, get the fuck out now!"
John Waters and his one-man show, “This Filthy World,” did nothing but entertain the Saturday evening Fitzgerald crowd. I can’t imagine that so many years ago he’d have expected his older-self to be, as he admitted, doing this act on college campuses and theaters. Water’s show was followed by an intermission with more music from The God Damn Doo Wop Band and a 30-minute question and answer session between him and Mary Lucia. He spoke hilariously throughout the night of his legendary muses and friends and his inspirations. Such inspirations ranged from actors and actresses, for example, Margaret Hamilton, mostly her turn as The Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz and Patty McCormack’s chilling turn as Rhoda in 1956’s, The Bad Seed, to directors like famed campy Horror mastermind, William Castle. On his own, John Waters, this Pope of Trash or King of Puke as he has been called has been inspiring freaks, secret freaks and not-so-secret freaks for well over 30 years now.
The longevity of his career, with its critical highs and acclaimed lows has relied on shocking and pushing the conventions of stale and feigned American normalcy. So this was a special night for us Midwesterners in attendance—a group of people that have been shrouded in a stereotype of buttoned up prudishness. However, the heavy guffaws and well-received humor from our man of the evening proved this stereotype wrong.
John Waters, aside from being a filmmaker and artist, has definitely become a pop-culture icon in his years in the business. However off-color, the evening we spent with him was warm and funny, even if the content was sometimes dark. Some of the most outlandish things I have seen with my two eyes have been through his films. I’m glad that I was there to bask in his debaucherous greatness.
Writer Jen Paulson and John Waters share an extensive interest in Liberace.
Location Info:
Fitzgerald Theater
Artist Info: John Waters, The God Damn Doo Wop Band
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