Big band cabaret plus a big birthday: Leigh Crow sings and celebrates her 60th

It’s Leigh Crow month at Oasis, with the well-known entertainer putting on two shows that promise to have the audience stomping their feet. On August 14 Crow, also known as Elvis Presley impersonator Elvis Herselvis, will co-host (with Zelda Koznofski) “Swingin’ Songbirds: A Big Band Cabaret,” in which she and her friends, including The Super Super band, will perform sizzling songs from the Great American Songbook.

Then, on August 24, Crow invites you to put on your dancing shoes and to dress up in your best 1960s attire and help her celebrate her 60th birthday. There will be cocktails, live music, and there may even be a performance from the birthday girl herself.

Crow has been performing for decades. Besides her legendary run as Elvis Herselvis, she launched the ’60s cover band The Whoa Nellies, and the queer country band Velvetta. She has also performed extensively with the Sick and Twisted Players and Thrillpeddlers. Crow has also given other performers a platform upon which to be seen and heard with Dandy, her drag king cabaret. On top of all that, Crow has played Captain James T. Kirk in Oasis’ hilarious productions of “Star Trek Live.”

In an interview with the Bay Area Reporter, Crow spoke about both upcoming shows, paying tribute to some of her musical influences.

“I do love that kind of music,” she said of the “Big Band Cabaret.” “My parents were a little bit older and I grew up listening to jazz, not so much big bands but more jazz and a little jazzier jazz. I have a real appreciation of great vocalists, so that’s one of the things that attracts me to this. I have always responded to it, the strings and the vocalists, the harmony of the horns. I really enjoy it. It speaks to me.”

Crow doesn’t see it as much of a challenge to market a show like “Big Band Cabaret” to a modern audience, pointing out that current popular vocalists, such as Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, and especially Lady Gaga have an obvious appreciation for the vocalists of previous generations.

“Us gays, we love our female vocalists,” Crow said. Her own preference is for Eydie Gorme, a popular singer from decades ago.

“She actually started as a big band singer,” Crow pointed out. “Then she was hired to be on The Steve Allen Show and met her husband. Steve Lawrence. They became the quintessential lounge couple. Yes, they got cheezy, but it was so great and so fun, but they also won Emmys for their tributes to Gershwin. They’re really underrated, and they happen to be my favorites. Her big band stuff is really fantastic.”

Sultry singing
Some of the other performers in the cabaret include Crow’s partner Ruby Vixen, who, as Crow puts it, will be singing a “sultry, sexy number,” and jazz vocalist Briana Scales, who brings quite a resumé to the table. Scales, a veteran of SF Jazz, has sung behind Aretha Franklin, Sweet Honey in the Rock, and Al Green. Members of the almost twenty-piece band will also get up and sing, and Crow promises a lot of glamour.

“I’ll be doing my tux drag,” she said.

Crow also spoke about her upcoming birthday bash.

“I never thought I’d get here, but here I am,” she said. “But I’m feeling great. When I look back, I’ve done so many things, including this, that were on my bucket list. So this is another great experience to have. As a performer it’s really exciting.”

She promises that the music in the birthday celebration will include a cornucopia of ’60s sounds, such as surf music. There will be a lot of drag, though Crow for the most part isn’t sure who will be there, except for Miss X, a veteran performer from the 1980s. Crow’s band Velvetta will be playing, performing some of the original songs they’ve written. Partygoers are encouraged to dress in 1960s attire.

“The ’60s was the era I was born in,” Crow said. “The visuals, the music, the era speaks to me, all the way from the ‘Mad Men’ ’60s to the hippie freak-out ’60s, and everywhere in between.”

Classic tunes
The B.A.R. also spoke to Bebecca Sharp, bandleader and sax player for the “Big Band Cabaret.”

“We have tunes from all over the American cultural landscape of the last century,” they said. “A few of them are ‘Summertime’ from the controversial 1935 opera ‘Porgy and Bess,’ and ‘Big Spender’ from the 1966 musical ‘Sweet Charity,’ made famous by the bombastic, fantastic, Shirley Bassey. A couple of tunes synonymous with Frank Sinatra like ‘Fly Me to the Moon’ and ‘Come Fly with Me.’ We are premiering an original tune by our keyboard player entitled ‘Streams,’ and we are going to perform one of my favorites, ‘Just a Gigolo/I Ain’t Got Nobody’ in the style of Louis Prima.’

Sharp addressed the challenges of marketing this show, as well as touching upon her feelings regarding Oasis’ impending closure, which the B.A.R. has reported.

“Marketing is a challenge, period,” they said. “Instrumental music, without a vocalist, is not very popular unless it comes with the cachet of the symphony. Our cabaret show is more engaging to the audience than our instrumental shows since we have great vocalists, entertaining emcees, and hosting it at Oasis is a draw in and of itself. We are bummed this is the last time we’ll be able to play there, but I know our community has too much creativity, energy and ideas to stay down even without a permanent home so I am looking forward to see what arises next.”

'Swingin’ Songbirds: a Big Band Cabaret,' August 14, 7pm, $29.68.
Leigh Crow’s Swinging 60th Birthday, August 24, 12pm, $17.40.
Both shows at Oasis, 298 11th Street. https://www.sfoasis.com/