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COLUMN
 Saturday Night Fever
This has undoubtedly been the best week of the year... so far. Monday
night I dropped Linda at home via Asoka Son of Dharma in Kloof St.
Asoka is a trendy, intriguing venue with earthy tones, numbers scribbled
on the walls and lights perched on top of animal horns. The interior is
spacious, with a relaxed bar and a separate, intimate enclosure in the
front and two larger dining areas, one with a tree in the middle of the
room. The crowd is very diverse, ranging from your older business people
to the young, trendy type. You know, the type where the boys spend as much
time on their hair as the girls. The bathrooms aren't marked, so I assume
they're unisex. And if the weren't, they are now. Doors are covered in
denim, toilet seats are bright red and there's a picture of Marilyn Monroe
doing a bench press in one of them. Definitely another venue to add
to my favourites folder.
Tuesday night we saw the dance production Off Axis at the
Baxter Theatre. I prefer straight forward dance productions where you know
what's going on, but I was impressed by the creativity of the production
and the drag show was quite memorable.
On Thursday night I saw another drag show, which couldn't have been
further from Off Axis. Ceri Dupree is back at On Broadway for three
weeks and is one of the most talented drag artists I have seen. The
wardrobe is extravagant and the stand up and impromptu comedy hilarious.
Dupree had one woman describing her entire house, to which he remarked
"Making love in your bedroom must be like making love inside a varicose
vein". Everyone from Barry Ronge to the Queen bears the brunt of his
brilliance and the sketches of Nana Mouskouri, Dame Edna and Marlene
Dietrich are outstanding.
Much as I enjoyed Ceri Dupreez, the undoubted highlight of the week
was seeing the Brubeck Brothers perform at the Cape Town Jazz and Blues
Festival at Marimba Restaurant. Seeing Darius, Chris and Dan perform
was more than seeing a concert, it was bearing witness to a musical family
reunion. Watching the brothers so obviously enjoying themselves, sharing
knowing smiles with one another, artistically manipulating their
instruments (particularly Dan on drums), and their instinctive musical
interaction was a truly unforgettable experience, and I feel honoured to
have been able to see it.
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