Toxic Pop TV » Live Performances

Rob Paravonian – Less From You

Tom Tenney — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 16:12:38 +0000

A song for the over-sharers, the people who just can’t seem to use social networking sites in moderation. From comedian/songwriter Rob Paravonian, the Pachelbel Rant guy, available on his new CD “Songs From The Second Floor.”

Lord of the Cockrings

Tom Tenney — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 19:31:05 +0000

The journey of young Scroto Baggins begins on the Magical Land of The Lower East Side, as he wanders into a store called “Toys in Babeland”—where he purchases a golden cockring. Unbeknownst to Scroto, the cockring…is magical…

Lord of the Cockrings first appeared as a Grindhouse-A-Go-Go! production at Surf Reality in 1999. Written by Rev Jen Miller, the cast includes such downtown favorites as: Faceboy, Big Mike, Emily Blythe, Bruce Smolanoff, Bex, Hank Flynn, Big Baby, Rev Jen, and many others.

This is the full length video of the performance (40 mins).

Tinea Tricolore: The Love Fungus

Tom Tenney — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 22:02:30 +0000

“Tinea Tricolore: The Love Fungus” was the third production in the infamous “Grindhouse-A-Go-Go!” series, a late night performance/party that was held at midnight at Surf Reality in NYC’s Lower East Side in the late 90′s-early 00′s. This show, performed in October of 1999, was by far the dirtiest (in terms of outright nudity) and probably our most political as well. Rudolph Giuliani was still mayor, and the show satires his campaign to “clean up New York” by shutting down strip clubs and replacing them with Disney stores, Banana Republics, K-Marts and Starbucks. Other issues of the day that make an appearance are: the toilet-plunger sodomy by the NYPD, the killing of Amadou Diallo (an unarmed man shot 41 times by police bullets), enforcement of NYC’s archaic cabaret laws and the gradual “whitening” of the city by selling off the island to the highest bidders – squeezing minorities out of their neighborhoods through the process of gentrification.

The performance features: The Purple Organ (also the writer), Jonny McGovern, Faceboy, Tom Tenney, TV Head, Ebony & Chiara, Eris Migliori, Ivan Ulz, and Reverend Hank (Hank Flynn).

Christa Hughes – Wine

Tom Tenney — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 20:04:52 +0000

On September 17 1999, a talented young Australian cabaret singer by the name of Christa Hughes performed at Surf Reality in NYC as the opening act of the weekly Grindhouse-A-Go-Go! performance series. She had just come off a successful run at the NY Fringe Festival as part of a group called Mongrel.

In this first of the 4 songs she performed that night, Ms. Hughes performs what I *believe* is an Edith Piaf cover about wine and/or beer, and achieves some interesting effects with a bottle of Stella Artois.

Christa Hughes – Whiskey Trail

Tom Tenney — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 20:02:24 +0000

On September 17 1999, a talented young Australian cabaret singer by the name of Christa Hughes performed at Surf Reality in NYC as the opening act of the weekly Grindhouse-A-Go-Go! performance series. She had just come off a successful run at the NY Fringe Festival as part of a group called Mongrel. In this second of the 4 songs she performed that night, Ms. Hughes moves on from her first song about wine to the “harder stuff” – The Whiskey Trail

Christa Hughes – Weed

Tom Tenney — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 19:45:38 +0000

On September 17 1999, a talented young Australian cabaret singer by the name of Christa Hughes performed at Surf Reality in NYC as the opening act of the weekly Grindhouse-A-Go-Go! performance series. She had just come off a successful run at the NY Fringe Festival as part of a group called Mongrel. In the third song she performed that evening, Christa sings about the evils (or joys) of the Devil’s weed – marijuana.

Christa Hughes – Dirty Fucking Whore

Tom Tenney — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 18:07:18 +0000

On September 17 1999, a talented young Australian cabaret singer by the name of Christa Hughes performed at Surf Reality in NYC as the opening act of the weekly Grindhouse-A-Go-Go! performance series. She had just come off a successful run at the NY Fringe Festival as part of a group called Mongrel. In her final song of the 4 she performed that night, Christa sheds the guitar and goes acapella for a raunchy finale!

Shasta Oaks: Trailer Park Superstars

Tom Tenney — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 17:52:24 +0000

This was the second in the series of “Grindhouse-A-Go-Go!” shows which were performed every Friday at midnight at Surf Reality in NYC. Shasta Oaks was written by Jonny McGovern and with only 5 performers – McGovern, Faceboy, Nadya Ginsberg, Reverend Hank, and the Purple Organ – it was the smallest cast of any of the Grindhouse shows.

This is the full length video of the performance and tells the story of trailer park diva Lerlene Famous (pronounced fa-moose) who is thwarted in her efforts to become a beauty queen by her dirty granny, has-been Blaxploitation star Chocolate Puddin’, her white slave Tapioca Puddin’, the Reverend Hank, and undercover psychologist Kiki Lamonte.

It was recorded at Surf Reality’s House of Urban Savages in NYC on September 17, 1999.

Dance Liberation Front (DLF) Communique

Tom Tenney — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 20:23:07 +0000

In the late 1990′s – as a protest to the Giuliani administration’s enforcemet of archaic “Cabaret Laws” which restricted dance in NYC – a group of art stars formed the “Dance Liberation Front”. The DLF, an absurdist performance group in the tradition of the futurists, staged a series of “dance actions” in and around NYC designed to call out the ridiculousness of these laws which had been orignally enacted in the 20′s to curb the flow of money to Harlem Jazz clubs. Some of these actions included a Times Square Twist-a-Thon, The World’s Longest Conga Line, and a giant Hokey-Pokey Circle around City Hall.

This video, produced by John Ennis, is a mock “communique” from the DLF to the city government, and depicts local news coverage of the Hokey Pokey event.

Cinco’s Boob Couch

Tom Tenney — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 18:51:18 +0000

Back around the turn of the millenium, a little art-hole on the Lower East Side called Surf Reality hosted a midnight show called Grindhouse-A-Go-Go! It was dirty. It was funny. It was sudden, violent comedy, free beer and an after-party that lasted all night long. No-one ever saw the same Grindhouse show twice. Grindhouse’s second season kicked off with Cinco’s Boob Couch – an absurdist comic masterpiece by Purple Organ in which out-of-work actors, cartoon characters, vampire fitness instructors and computer geniuses vie to overthrow Cinco Copy Shop’s duplicitous empire.

Featuring: Hank Flynn, Jon McGovern, Tom Tenney, Faceboy, Raven Solano, Michele Carlo, Ebony, Pete Gerber, Carly Adler, and Purple Organ. Directed by Robert Prichard.