My night on Murray Hill

Murray and friends at Corio Saturday April 25 2009

Don’t get any funny ideas from the title of this post. When I say I spent Saturday night on Murray Hill, don’t think I was drinking at the Rodeo Bar.

I was the special guest of legendary Murray Hill for “This is Burlesque” at Corio. “That’s impossible!” I hear you say. “You’re just an anonymous blogger whose idea of a good time on Saturday night is to get stress management counseling at the Bay Ridge Community Service Center.” Yes, that may be true. But thanks to Twitter, I made a new friend, and he made my night.

You see, dear reader, I just happen to be Facebook friends with Mr. Hill (though he probably doesn’t remember asking me to friend him in the green room of the Copa the night the Yankees’s Billy Martin got into a fight with some of Sammy Davis Jr.’s hecklers). Murray took the bold step of linking his Facebook updates to his Twitter updates, and I decided to follow him into this uncharted territory, because frankly, I can’t enough of the wisecracking king of Showbiz. And BOY HOWDY am I glad I did. You see, Friday night I was at The Slipper Room checking out new talent on the burlesque scene. The first part of the show was over, and I was sitting with some random dudes who were dressed in cargo shorts, t-shirts, and vans at a random table. I pulled out my iPhone and flipped to the Twitter thingy. This is what it said: “murray_hill http://twitpic.com/3xoe5 For 2 free tix to sat. 7:30 show…who is this? First to reply correct wins!” Take a look at the picture in the link. Recognize the dress? I did. So what did I do?! I replied to Murray’s tweet saying “Angie Pontani!!!”

Of course, Mister Hill was too busy to respond that night. So I neurotically sent him messages every thirty minutes for the next eight hours saying “Please, please Mr. Hill, for the LOVE OF GOD send me free tickets to see that show of shows on Saturday night!” The next day I got a direct message from Murray Hill. My prayers had been answered.

“you are on the guest list + 1 for 730 show tonight! Corio is venue.”

Pontanis a plenty

Now, I’ve seen the Pontani sisters perform a couple of times, singly and as a group.  Our star reporter J. D. Oxblood usually covers them, but he was in Cali for the weekend, and I was subbing for him. The Pontanis always put on a great show. I’ve seen Angie Pontani’s routine behind the blue scarf a couple of times, but it never fails to impress me with its style and grace. You can’t see it from the pictures, but she is in ballet toe shoes! Seeing the diaphanous blue drape covering her majestic curves reminds me of classical sculpture, as if a nereid or Mars’ lover was rising from the azure sea.

Angie Pontani Behind the Blue Screen

But add Little Brooklyn to the Pontani party, add Little Miss Lixx, and you have more fun than slippery banana night at the Bronx Zoo.

Little Brooklyn and King Kong climb the Empire State Building

OK. The picture doesn’t do the joke justice, but trust me, that’s Little Brooklyn doing a tango with King Kong as he force feeds her a banana. And we got a special new treat Saturday night — the world premier of Little Miss Lixx. I am going to guess that she is a Hill/Pontani protege, and I predict she has a big future.

Little Miss Licks

Just when I thought her act couldn’t get any better she revealed maracas velcro-ed to her pasties. I was close enough to the stage to hear her keep perfect time with them. Yowee! It was a night to remember.

Me and Murray Hill

But the most memorable part of the night is immortalized in the snap above. Murray is the King of Showbiz — but there ain’t enough Photoshop in the world to make me look good in that picture. If you tag it on Facebook, believe me, I’m untagging it in a New York minute.