LADY OF THE LICK
She bills herself as an Entertainer, Dream Maker, Chanteuse, and Superstar, but Lady Rizo can be called so much more. With her new show, Autumn in San Francisco, the dynamic diva blew into the City by the Bay with all the subtlety of Hurricane Sandy during Autumn in New York. This ballsy, cocky, irreverent, 
tongue-in-cheek, silly, and ambisextrous singer/comedienne is a little Lucy Ricardo, a little Linda Lovelace, a little Janis Joplin, a little Bette Midler, a little Sandra Bernhard, and a lotta Fruit Fly. The “Lady is a Tramp,” the “Lady be Good,” and the Lady “Lay Lady Lay,” but it’s completely subjective whether the Lady’s act is or is not for burning.
As a singer, Lady Rizo (aka Amelia Zirin-Brown) has got some impressive chops, adding her Alice Ripley-esque, hard rock-gargling vocals to late 20th century pop songs, both classic rock standards (“If I Were Your Woman”) and obscure rock tunes (Barbra Streisand’s “Queen Bee” from A Star is Born). By adding performance art, audience interaction, and funny quips (she’s not really a storyteller that I could see) to her unique interpretive vocal phrasing, the self-glamorized Rizo has attracted quite the cult following in New York, but only you (and I mean only you) can decide what to make of her act.
It might be different in New York, but at the Rrazz Room there are so many aspects to her show that the mash-up never coalesces into something that sinks its teeth into me – she’s the crazy, funny, drinking best friend who simply MUST entertain at your next party; she’s so glib and so fabulous and so talented. Yet on stage, her act feels like the love grandchild of a 1930’s “Kit Kat Klub” burlesque headliner, a goofy Cabaret singer from The Duplex in 1980’s Greenwich Village, a street performer who involves the crowd, and a wildly talented Fringe Festival participant who still hasn’t found the right project.
Still, this is one orally gifted chick, both in her powerhouse vocals and her ability to take an elbow-length glove into her oral cavity without gagging the slightest. Now that’s impressive. And while I loved how she licked the microphone like a Gila monster in heat, her current act is not as spectacular as she is.
Lady Rizo
Rrazz Room in Hotel Nikko
ends on November 15, 2012
for tickets, call 415-394-1189 or visit The Razz Room
also appearing monthly at Joe’s Pub in New York December 13
for more info, tours and dates, visit Lady Rizo
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Lady Rizo is one of the best entertainers. She performs very well and has many fans in SF. I, for one, never miss her concerts.