Adam Dugas & Mia @ the Palihouse

If Rufus Wainwright were more absurd, more foppish, and more melodramatic, he would be Adam Dugas. I ventured to West Hollywood's elegant hotel Palihouse to see Adam play his special brand of cabaret with harpist Mia Theodoratus. Adam is a New Yorker who does an annual Christmas-on-acid extravaganza called Chaos and Candy that was one of my favorite things to do every year in NYC. He was also the mastermind behind the Weimar-inspired vaudeville/cabaret performance troupe, the Citizen's Band.

Since he was a New Yorker, it was no surprise to see a few ex-East Coasters in the audience, including Mario Diaz (of the Cock/Hot Dog fame) and G-Spot (now a regular on “L.A. Ink"). Both of them hadn’t seen Adam before, so they giggled when he took the floor of the lounge in the Palihouse and began belting out, as he described it, “songs from the 1600s to the 1960s.” He did quite a range of tunes with Mia, who did all the arrangements, including “Everything In Its Right Place” by Radiohead, “Toxic” by Britney Spears, and “Three Ravens,” an English folk song from the 1600s, as well as their own creations, including a song with the harp going electric and trippy. During the set, he prowled, pranced, cocked his hip, and strode into the audience—which included Ann Magnuson—before wading back to center stage. He finished with a few songs that are regulars on the Dugas repertoire, including, Fleetwood Mac’s “Landslide” and Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah.”

Before closing out the show, Adam, who is originally from Los Angeles, told the audience an obligatory L.A. story. While having lunch in Studio City, a very L.A. woman said, “I wish there was one thing I could have where I didn’t have to fuck somebody.”

And without further ado, Adam and Mia played Aerosmith’s “Dream On.”

Email tips to .


Aerosmith Tickets