An incredible vibe could be felt at last night’s Strip Zeppelin show at Cambridge’s Oberon cabaret style theater. The venue, part modern discoteque, part old time showroom where people are seated cabaret style, was the perfect performance space for this Niki Luparelli concoction.
Luparelli had a full band performing Led Zeppelin songs while burlesque dancers and striptease artists from the greater Boston area performed routines to the music of the quartet from Birmingham, England. Just as burlesque dancers and striptease artists created a new movement in dance, with their skimpy costumes and daring, sultry moves,that quartet of musical pioneers created a whole new movement in modern music with their fiery guitar solos, thunderous grooves, and lion hearted vocalizing.
Both injected a new, exciting element into their art: sexuality. Just as burlesque and strip tease made dance performances more exciting, more sexual, Led Zep’s over the top rock and roll introduced a sexuality to their art. Blues based lyrics about loving some other man too and vocalizing about a woman who can burn and sting was accompanied by a new energy in rock, an energy that made Led Zep’s music sound and feel similar to the frenzied release of an orgasm.
As creator-director of Strip Zeppelin,Luparelli functioned as the leather clad dominatrix that forced both art forms to perform unspeakable carnal acts on one another, metaphorically speaking, of course. Opening with “Good Times Bad Times,” several dancers entered from a staircase in the back of the room to bare their flesh to this driving anthem by the overlords of tumescent exuberance.
Then, the first rate tribute band on stage, featuring Luparelli as a female blonde bombshell version of Robert Plant, went into one of that band’s most aggressive, most dark creations, “The Immigrant Song.” Meanwhile, a buxom aerialist repeatedly contorted her body and pushed it through a large hoop hanging from the venue’s theater as this song about overlords commanding their minions to take on new lands played out with sonic abandon.
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While some in the audience may have preferred to follow the band and others may have only wanted to admire the dancers, most seem to understand the connection between the two art forms. During the upbeat vibe of “Misty Mountain Hop,” a bare chested male aerialist hung suspended from two white sheer curtain-like material ropes. His routine depended on his ability to let himself fall freely downward before that material, fastened to his ankle, halted his descent. His freedom in the air was a perfect match for that assertive, colorful keyboard rhythm that’s become quite familiar to everyone who has grown up with it
Female drummer, Shania Mikeekeith, who flew in from Los Angeles for this performance and a repeat show schedule for this Friday, sang lead vocals on “Ramble On.” The shifting vocal dynamics and instrumental changes accompanied a dancer who was strutting her sexuality on a balcony to the rear of the room, rubbing her buttocks against a railing, shaking and shimmying, getting even faster as the tempo sped right up.The dancer’s sexy talent was on full display as she matched the tune’s ever increasing tempo.
The bouncy, strutting groove of “Out On The Tiles” and it’s lyrics about “all I have to give/ is all my love” inspired a dancer to dress like a hobo and flash a sign asking for handouts. After stripping down to something sinful, she hugged various members of the audience during her routine.
If anybody needs more evidence of this theory of mutual sexuality, consider the routine that played out during the Led Zeppelin epic “When The Levee Breaks.” Guest harmonica player Chilly Kurtz from the local punk band Caged Heat stood in for Plant’s mouth organ chops. Kurtz nailed the torrential down pour of notes that make this song feel like something huge and urgent is open to happen. Meanwhile, a plus sized beauty managed to project tawdry sexual invitation in a way that felt as monumental as the music. Open the floodgates. A massive orgasm is on its way to sweep everyone away with the metaphorical force of a dangerous flood.
Led Zeppelin’s sexiest song could be “Since I’ve Been Loving You” off of their third album. A slow boil blues songs that eventually erupts with huge vocal lines and monster size sultry, bluesy guitar phrasing, it made the perfect soundtrack for a dancer named Honey Pie as she executed a lengthy, detailed routine. Honey Pie took her time expressing her slinky physical moves, mirroring the down tempo build up on the Zep number. She painted several broad strokes with her very bold and very physical moves, like she had an immediate urge to fulfill a need. Brilliant.
“Rock And Roll,” from the fourth Zeppelin album, was the perfect accompanying piece for “Hershey” as she gyrated and shook it while wearing pink plastic glasses with a blue acoustic guitar she pretended to play.
Luparelli and backing vocalist Susan Catinski moaned with a desire during “Whole Lotta Love” while a whole lot of desire was expressed by black teddy clad dancer.
By this point in the show everyone realized that a new form of entertainment had been created and inspired by finding the common sexual element of two well known art forms. The brilliance of this concept was well executed by musicians and dancers alike. Keyboardist Nick D’amico was precise while adding color to tunes like the hippie-vibed “Misty Mountain Hop” and the suggestive “Trampled Under Foot.” Guitarist Dave Lordan could be counted on to handle the legendary changes in these Zeppelin classics. Lordan made a fantastic shift during “Tangerine,” from mellow acoustic British folk inspired guitar to an empowered electric lead guitar phrase that initially erupted with orgasmic force.
Local dancer and choreographer Sugardish, creator of the annual local holiday classic “The Slutcracker,” was perfectly suited to play a hippie chick dancing to the swaggering guitar work in “What Is And What Should Never Be.” Boogieing to hypnotic slide guitar echo dressed in a 1970s design print blouse and period blue jeans, Sugar Dish conjured the ideal of the kind of young woman who followed this band during their heyday. Back flipping from the floor onto the stage during a frenzied guitar burst and following up with rapid pelvic thrusts and a daring split all the way to the floor was a testament to the sexual theme in both arts forms as well as impressive dance moves.
Getting back to the musical performances. D’Amico played beautifully on “All My Love” from the In Through The Out Door album, capturing graceful sounds John Paul Jones once created with a mellotron. The multi-talented Mikeekeiths switched from drums to mandolin for “The Battle Of Evermore,” an acoustic number that was played up by light and dark colored costumes. Also: anybody who doesn’t hear or understand the sexuality of “Kashmir” is probably still a virgin. As Luparelli and the band captured the mounting excitement of the song, a beautiful young dancer in sky blue veils, flashing blue feathered fans, expressed the fevered day dream that might have been going through a fan’s mind as he listens to this huge, exotically sweeping number. This dancer’s follow up movements, using big, blue butterfly wings was nothing short of brilliant, playing to the wide, expanding, and otherworldly feel of this masterpiece of a song.
Closing out with “Stairway To Heaven,” the message might have been that sin leads to death and that it’s a fun way to go. Black veiled, cigarette baring dancers turned the song into a warning as well as an erotic send off by the time they had stripped down to black teddies.
Luparelli has made a strong connection between the music of Led Zeppelin and the sultry dance moves of burlesque and striptease. Her commonality has lead to the creation of a night of amazing entertainment. A professional comedian, Luparelli wasn’t shy about mixing in elements of that art form either. She had a pair of “lawyers” riffing on Led Zeppelin’s past legal problems before they went off on other legal satire. An elfin woman from the Lord Of The Rings saga kept showing up to emphasize and exaggerate Led Zeppelin’s lyrical infatuation with that fantasy trilogy. Their and Luparelli’s comedic timing were on time, to the point that it was never clear when they were adlibbing. Seamless.
It was a night of grand, erotically charged dance and music entertainment. Luparelli is presenting another Strip Zeppelin this Friday, July 15. It is highly recommended for the vast amount of talent involved. After the show, one might be in the mood for a whole lotta love. So, bring a date.
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