SCENE + HEARD: Our Lady J Brings More Than Shtick To Boob-Aid Benefit

(Our Lady J & Ben Rimalower)
 
You know when you watch one of those SNL-skit-to-feature-length-films (See: Night At The Roxbury, Superstar, It’s Pat!) and at about the 45-minute mark you start to realize that the “shtick” that made it function in its original four-minute form has grown old way too quickly? Well, going into a performance with a name like Wednesday night’s Boob-Aid held at The Wild Project, one may carry the legitimate fear that the evening would dissolve into a marathon of tasteless breast-oriented and trans-specific jokes and material. 
 
But after watching the sold out performance benefiting the breast augmentation of the sensational trans-singer Our Lady J, these fears were never legitimized. The downtown diva truly solidified herself as an artist who happens to be a transgender individual rather than the other way around. As frequent collaborator Ben Rimalower said, Our Lady J “came into her own tonight.”
 
The packed 9pm performance I attended featured auctioned items within the theme of famous breasted women including a signed portrait from Dolly Parton, an element that illustrated, along with the show, the community of support Our Lady J has received. As Taylor Mac said, Our Lady J was able to “bring the high brow and the low brow together.” The event featured a fantastic array of performers including Bianca Leigh, Natalie Joy Johnson (of Bare and Legally Blonde fame), burlesque by World Famous *Bob*, Mr. Mac strumming out a hilarious tune on the ukulele, Isengart, Nadia Sirota performing a piece written for the event on the violin, Glenn Marla, Novice Theory, Lady Rizzo, Murray Hill and even the Scissor Sisters (performing “Tits On The Radio,” of course).
 
Midway through the evening Our Lady J performed a self-written piece titled “I Reach” which brought the otherwise excitable crowd to a stunning silence. She described it as one of the only songs she was able to complete pre-transition yet was never able to understand its meaning until now. “As artists,” she said “we pop open our heads and leave the conscience behind.”
 
The following night we ran into Our Lady J at the Ali Forney center's Jingle at the home of David Raleigh. “We did it,” she declared. “And they’re gonna be some big ones.” —Christopher Dilley