Kinsey Sicks in Sicks-Tease!

by Jerry Metzker
Bay Area Reporter
27 June 1996

The ability to parrot and parody knows no bounds, especially when the concept is as smart as the one The Kinsey Sicks have brought to the stage at Josie's Cabaret and Juice Joint. By day these four gentlemen don suits and work as lawyers and business professionals. But as The Kinsey Sicks, they exchange daywear for big hair, heels, and the opportunity to strut their stuff.

Drag shows are hardly unusual in San Francisco, but this is more than a drag show. What makes these broads distinct from the Usual Suspects is their unique style of vocal performance -- no lip-synching or Karaoke-style singing for them. They call themselves a dragapella beautyshop quartet, which is the drag way of saying an a capella barbershop quartet. If you're still not certain what that is, you've got through this weekend to get to Josie's to hear what Rachel, Trixie, Vaselina, and Winnie and figure it out.

In their latest show, aptly titled Sicks-Tease!, the quartet has pulled out all the stops in a musical exploration of the '60s. When they sing "Hair," for example, they mean it, collectively displaying some of the biggest hair imaginable.

All the songs the quartet performs (without musical accompainment) are familiar, only each is given its own unique camp spin. The Supremes' "Love Child," for instance, is done as a testimonial on artificial insemination. And as sentimental as "To Sir With Love" sounds after all these years, the piece gets a new lease on life when the back-up trio is "lu lu lu" (I'm sure you get it). More than two dozen songs are dragified for this show, including "Fever," "Macho Man," and "We Are the Champions."

No writer or director is credited for putting this show together, but it has the look and feel of a group effort, and a very successful one at that.