Madonna Worship The Podcast Episode 17: Stay Darling (Toby)

This newest episode of Madonna Worship The Podcast has swiftly arrived and features a wonderful interview with the dynamic Darling Toby (who will performing at this month's 17th Annual Madonna Worship Night 8/15 at 3 Dollar Bill...)
Stevie and Chauncey were thrilled to welcome Madonna Worship Night veteran Darling Toby to the show. They chat about how much of an inspiration Madonna has been in their lives artistically, as an actor, burlesque artist and recovering Catholic, as well as how important she was to young queer people who were vindicated by her irreverence and unapologetic nature and cultural force.
Two major Madonna events next week! First up is a live podcast recording of All I Wanna Do Is Talk About Madonna at Iron Feather on 8/14 with after-party beats by DJ Chauncey D and of course The 17th Annual Madonna Worship Night on Friday, August 15th at 3 Dollar Bill in Brooklyn, the eve of her 67th birthday. Attendees will get a chance to win a copy of The Madonna Songbook, other memorabilia goodies and a chance to be a guest on this very podcast! Learn more at linktr.ee/djchaunceyd

Don't forget to like and subscribe and follow us on Instagram @djchaunceyd @stevievox and @madonnaworship



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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Yahoo ky Stevie Vox.

Speaker 2 (00:17):
Hey, Chauncey Dandridge, how.

Speaker 1 (00:19):
Are you good? What's going on? I'm excited about today's episode.

Speaker 2 (00:22):
I know we we got a little bit of a
special guest coming.

Speaker 1 (00:27):
Yeah, he's one of our one of our performers for
Madonna Worship. Madonna Worship is coming up before we know it,
it's coming up quick. I know it always it always.
It always seems so far away, and all of a
sudden it's like, oh my god, it's next week. We're
like ten days away. We're less than two weeks away.
It's back at three dollars bill. And I'm very excited because, uh,

(00:51):
I didn't I didn't book as many performers, but you know,
because I know that people are anxious to dance to Madonna,
so the show won't be as long. But we have
some cool raffle prizes. We're gonna be raising money for
trans Lifeline, but we have some cool raffle prizes. We're
raffling off two copies of the Madonna's Songbook, which me

(01:14):
and Michelle Ruiz both have an entry in, which is
very exciting, where we have like some promo items and
promo packses to put up. But then also one of
you who attend and buy a raffle ticket, Well, everyone
who gets it, who buys.

Speaker 2 (01:27):
A ticket, gets a raffle ticket.

Speaker 1 (01:28):
It's a raffle ticket. You can buy additional ones. You
win a guest spot on the Madonna Worship Podcast, did he?
I think that's really exciting. I would. I would get
a kick out of that because we're going to get
someone who, like, isn't someone we would ask to be
on it already, you know.

Speaker 2 (01:44):
Yeah, it's gonna be fun. I eagerly await who the
universe gives us.

Speaker 1 (01:51):
Yeah, because yeah, we've had We've had Kama White on,
We've had Jessica Rose on, We've had Vegas Valentine.

Speaker 2 (01:57):
On, Michelle.

Speaker 1 (01:59):
We had Michelle was like, definitely, we definitely need another episode.
Most definitely was a lot of imagine she Winston, Wait
can I win That would be really funny. It's like,
you have to be Stevie and then we'll have to
record another person.

Speaker 2 (02:16):
I'll double I'll double record it.

Speaker 1 (02:21):
Stevie Stephen, Stevie Stephen.

Speaker 2 (02:23):
I don't go by Steven.

Speaker 1 (02:24):
You know, I know that, Yet I hate that we'll
have to come up with a different character for you
what was it? Didn't you have a different didn't you
have a different character? Do? I didn't we come up
with something recently? I don't know.

Speaker 2 (02:34):
Oh yes, it was uh Stevie Foxtrot, Steve fox Trot,
That's what it was. And I giggle about that every
day for those who don't know. Long story short, at
my at my day job, I had to call the
language line interpreter and they ask you for your full name,

(02:56):
and I don't give them my full name, so I
give them my legal last name, but like just the
first initial, which is F. So I always say F
is in foxtrot because that's the Nato phonetic alphabet.

Speaker 1 (03:10):
Like yeah.

Speaker 2 (03:11):
So the representative on the other end was like, okay,
Stevie foxtrot, and I'm like, okay, we'll go with it.

Speaker 1 (03:20):
So funny, and he didn't. They didn't get that that
because you know, like that's what the army uses right
in the marine.

Speaker 2 (03:26):
Yes, yeah, so that's it's. It's basically like instead of
saying like he is an apple, you know B as
in boy, like there is a specific Nato phonetic alphabet
and those words are allegedly.

Speaker 1 (03:38):
You can hear it over like a like a chopped
up like telephone. Yeah, like recording like a bad connection
or whatever. That's so funny. What what what's a? What
do you know what A is?

Speaker 2 (03:50):
I don't remember. I actually I have it printed on
my desk.

Speaker 1 (03:53):
Oh, that's so funny.

Speaker 2 (03:55):
So I know it's like I is in India, Like
I remember, I know that's what? Like isn't fox Trot?
I is in India?

Speaker 3 (04:02):
He is in Zulu.

Speaker 2 (04:05):
Zulu.

Speaker 1 (04:06):
I wonder how they decide on those. That's pretty interesting. Yeah,
like A is an apple. We always think of apple,
Like if you're telling somebody that like anything with an
N and as in Nancy and.

Speaker 2 (04:18):
And M can kind of sound alike on the phone.
So that's why you would say is in Madonna MS
in Madonna. You can call me M tonight.

Speaker 1 (04:28):
You can call me. I'm excited. It's a seventeenth annual.
I can't believe it's going on for seventeen years.

Speaker 2 (04:38):
Legal age of consent in New York State.

Speaker 1 (04:40):
Yes, that's what we decided last time, right, like Madonna
worship is now.

Speaker 2 (04:44):
Can consent to sexual stuff?

Speaker 1 (04:47):
That's crazy. So but yeah, I'm excited. We have we
have a great list of performers. Most of them have
done it before. I'm pretty I'm pretty sure. I don't
know if there are any newbies. This time around, we
have the amazing Ladi Bachiconi headlining. She's bringing out something
from the from the eighties. I know, usually she does
something a little more recent kind of but she's doing

(05:10):
just going back back to around the beginning.

Speaker 2 (05:12):
This time around, everything she does is always like just
a spectacle.

Speaker 1 (05:18):
Yeah, it's wonderful. It's just it's and like I've gotten
to know her over the past couple of years and
just like hearing the quirky like preparation process and how
she comes up with things, and it's just really fun
to now know the know them personally because for a
while she's just this mysterious creature that imitated Madonna that
you knows Madonna now, like you know, I've been to
her house were we talk almost every day on WhatsApp.

(05:41):
So it's like it's cool to know the the madness
behind the magic. You know.

Speaker 2 (05:47):
Well, I can't wait. I'm so excited, I legitimately am.
I hope you don't think that I'm just like saying
that because I'm shitmately excited, because I feel like I
say that. I'm like, I'm so excited, I actually am.

Speaker 1 (05:59):
Really Definitely, you're definitely like a great source of excitement,
excitement for for Madonna worsher. You like, help me get
in the mood because you know, there's so many moving
parts to these events that you know, you you get
freaked out when you're producing it. You're like, are enough
people coming? Or is there too many direg queens? Is
there too many you know?

Speaker 4 (06:18):
This?

Speaker 1 (06:18):
Is there too many that? Or what's that going to be?

Speaker 4 (06:21):
There?

Speaker 1 (06:21):
Is it the right DJ? You know, like all that
kind of you know you, I think we need a mine,
We might need a mime.

Speaker 2 (06:26):
Yeah, I think I think you should book a mime
next time next year.

Speaker 1 (06:29):
Yeah, yeah, why not? If I feel not expecting you
to say something like that, I was like, yeah, we'll
book a mine. Yeah. I always loved the clown from
Girly Show that had a my mission as to it.

Speaker 2 (06:46):
Mm hmm. So maybe maybe that's who you need a book.

Speaker 1 (06:50):
And I also love I was a friend of mine
because this there's next Thursday, We're doing an event at
Iron Feather. All I want to talk. All I want
to do is talk about Madonna podcast is in a
live podcast recording at Iron Feather and Soho, my friend's
salon and events space. One of the other owners of
the celon asked me, Jeff Vicente is the person I know,

(07:11):
the Madonna fan that I know, and his his his
co owner asks me to help him find a birthday
gift for him, and I suggested that Chinese like boxing
puppet from the Erotica video and they were like, I
am not getting.

Speaker 2 (07:29):
How do you search for one of those? Like do
they have does that have like a name or it's gotten.

Speaker 1 (07:33):
I can't think of its name, but if you type
in Madonna Erotica boxing puppet, it'll show up. Because if
anyone cares, my fiftieth birthday is in March, and that's
definitely high on my list.

Speaker 2 (07:46):
You're gonna get so many.

Speaker 1 (07:47):
I'm gonna get eight. No, they're not cheap, so I'm
not gonna get so many.

Speaker 2 (07:49):
You're gonna get fifty.

Speaker 1 (07:51):
I'm fifty. Give them out to people and you get
a Chinese boxing boxing puppet, and you get a Chinese
boxing puppet, and you get a Chinese box.

Speaker 2 (08:00):
We're gonna find an Oprah Winfrey impersonator to come and
do that.

Speaker 1 (08:04):
But that it was so it was so creepy that
that puppet. The fact that she had that in the video,
it was very unexpected. What I liked about her during
the Erotica era and during like the Sex Book era,
she was very like spurred the moment. It seemed like
somebody probably was like, my friend got me this creepy,
you know puppet. What should I do with it? Like
give it to me? I want to have it in
my music, like I'm putting it in the video. But

(08:27):
what's interesting is later in the Girly Show there were
boxers in the back, like shadow box that was behind
the stage. Mm hm, So that was a reference to them,
maybe that doll. And then in the Celebration tour, the
whole Erotica song was done with a boxing ring. Yeah,
I wonder if I always thought it was a hard
candy reference, which it could have been, but I wonder

(08:48):
if it was also a hearkening back to the Girly
Show and the Erotica video with the I believe it's Chinese,
And I don't want to sound like an ignorant white person,
but I'm pretty sure it's Chinese.

Speaker 2 (09:00):
Well, I think she's actually a boxing fan because when
she was with Sean. That's when she became friendly with
Mike Tyson. Oh, because they they were they were friendly,
so they would all go out together.

Speaker 1 (09:15):
That's interesting.

Speaker 2 (09:16):
Okay, Yeah, I think that. I think that there's like
paparazzi photos, you know of them, like all like hanging out,
like going out to dinner or something.

Speaker 1 (09:24):
Gotcha.

Speaker 2 (09:25):
Okay, So I think that's I think she she might
she might like be a little bit of a fan.

Speaker 1 (09:30):
Interesting. Boxing is such a Boxing is such a blood
sport to me, so so angry.

Speaker 2 (09:38):
Yeah whatever, but it is.

Speaker 1 (09:40):
It's like it's it's very not primitive but like cock
fighting and all that kind of like it's it's it's brutal.
You know, I'm not a brutal.

Speaker 2 (09:48):
Yeah, I mean I wouldn't box, you know myself.

Speaker 1 (09:51):
Yeah, I couldn't see you with the You.

Speaker 2 (09:53):
Couldn't see me with with boxing gloves on and those
boxing shorts.

Speaker 1 (09:58):
Maybe the shorts, but I couldn't see boxing like doing
like the butterfly that stings.

Speaker 2 (10:03):
You never know, listen, you know, maybe maybe that's my calling.

Speaker 1 (10:08):
I find out like you're like, Stevie can't come to
hang out with me, say, I'm like why because he's
taking a boxing.

Speaker 2 (10:16):
I have my boxing match. Yeah, I have to I
have to go box somebody.

Speaker 1 (10:21):
I have to go box somebody. It's called boxing. Look
that up.

Speaker 2 (10:24):
Because you're in a square, like you're in a box.

Speaker 1 (10:26):
Okay, like you're the rink is like the box punching,
you know, the sport of punching.

Speaker 2 (10:33):
But you know, I didn't talk about it last week
because we kind of got sidetracked. But you know, I
went to go see Desperately Seeking Susan a few weeks back.
Oh that's right, yeah, which I thought. I didn't know
if it was or not. I just kind of assumed
it would. It was like for the fortieth anniversary, and
it was going to be the four K edit four
K remaster. It wasn't. It wasn't it was. It was

(10:54):
the thirty five millimeter original print, which was actually more
special for me because I kind of I like that,
you know, the grain and the grit, and it was
it was so much fun to watch with a lot
of like Madonna fans and some you know, some people
that were just there, you know, they oh, wow, let's go,
let's go to the movies on a Saturday morning or whatever.

(11:17):
It was Sunday morning. But I forgot how many really
good lines are in that movie, Like Laurie Metcalf had
so many good one liners.

Speaker 1 (11:29):
Yeah, I don't remember seeing it. I don't remember seeing
it as a kid. I think I I might have
skipped it or something, or maybe I watched it and
didn't remember it. But I remember like finally rewatching it,
like maybe like ten fifteen years ago, I being like,
I don't remember this, Like I remember like obviously into
the groove video and all kind of stuff and like
clips from it, but I don't remember. I didn't remember

(11:50):
the plot really.

Speaker 2 (11:52):
You know, we could we could rewatch it if you want.
I have I have the Blu ray.

Speaker 1 (11:56):
That'd be fun.

Speaker 2 (11:56):
I have the Laser disc too.

Speaker 1 (11:59):
We were me and Michelle. We're talking about possibly doing
like a Madonna film festival next year. Okay, cool, like
you know, play like a dangerous game. Bloodhound's a Broadway
girl six you know song the movies that aren't like
and she she's like the main you know, like for
a room like like the odd Balls.

Speaker 2 (12:21):
You know, you know that was that was a lot
of fun. And then I don't know if you saw
I'm sure you did see, you know, dress you up
just got released on streaming.

Speaker 1 (12:31):
And she she dedicated the release to those two guys
that designed the doll on the Graham Morton Show.

Speaker 2 (12:37):
Yeah, they tragically passed away.

Speaker 1 (12:40):
They work for Barbie.

Speaker 2 (12:41):
I don't think that they worked for Barbie. I think
that they were just like Barbie fanatics, Like they were
really big in in the doll community. Mario, I know,
Mario and Gianni. Maybe, yes, I think that's what their
names were. But they tragically passed away and was like

(13:02):
a crazy car accident. Right, Yeah, that's terrible. I mean
and I think I saw that, you know, even like
not just Madonna fans were commenting, but like people that
were like really big into like the doll creation community,
because that's like a huge thing too. Yeah yeah, but yeah,
she she released Stressed You Up and in the press
release sheet they dedicated it to them, and I was like, oh,

(13:25):
that's really sweet.

Speaker 1 (13:26):
Yeah, what a what a what a great? Uh? Like
timing wise, you know, you know, rip was she? I
think she I think British.

Speaker 2 (13:36):
Yeah, I think she was being playful about it. I
don't think she was actually like appalled by it.

Speaker 1 (13:40):
And also she was.

Speaker 2 (13:41):
Like really they did this?

Speaker 1 (13:43):
Wow, I feel like it's possible that there was like
stuff cut out that like made her look more mean.

Speaker 2 (13:51):
I didn't really take it that she was being mean
even with what was left.

Speaker 1 (13:54):
You did the Roupe Paul's Drag Race Villain edit for her, Like,
I feel like she probably like said a couple of
times like I'm just picking on you, and they just
cut that out to make her look like maybe grateful,
you know.

Speaker 2 (14:06):
Maybe. No, I think I think she. I think she
she thought it was cool.

Speaker 1 (14:09):
Yeah, I love it, you know that she was like, uh,
the glasses quine aren't the right shape. I've watched that
that that episode many times because I'm like, why is
she like, why is she like she barely said thank you?
So funny?

Speaker 2 (14:24):
But I mean I'm sure she's seen some pretty special
fan creations.

Speaker 1 (14:30):
Oh yeah, and you know yeah, no, I totally agree, Yeah, yeah, no,
She's like I wonder if there's a place that things
that people send her go, and like, is someone's job
just sifting through Madonna fan mail.

Speaker 2 (14:50):
Like fan mail and fan packages?

Speaker 1 (14:52):
Yeah, because I mean I'm sure there's possibility that some
of it could be dangerous, you know what I mean.

Speaker 2 (14:58):
I'm sure that they probably goes through vigorous checking before
she like.

Speaker 1 (15:02):
Some of her like political viewpoints, you know, and just
her you know whatever, Like is there like a like
is someone's job like Madonna.

Speaker 2 (15:13):
Like the Madonna mail room.

Speaker 1 (15:15):
Yeah, the Madonna mail room.

Speaker 2 (15:16):
I'm sure there is. I'm sure somebody has to check,
you know, go through it and intercept anything that looks suspicious,
you know.

Speaker 1 (15:24):
Or like you does you know, because even remember in
Truth or Dare when Moiram MacFarlane sent her a letter,
She's like, you know, I sent you a letter when
I was pregnant with my last child. She's like, yeah,
I got that, but a long time after the fact,
you know, Like like someone sends a letter in November,
she probably doesn't probably doesn't get to her until like
October the following year, you know what I mean.

Speaker 2 (15:45):
You know, Also, she is busy. She does have like
a schedule, so I'm.

Speaker 1 (15:48):
Sure she's sitting there like reading fan letters.

Speaker 2 (15:50):
She's probably not sitting there waiting like waiting for the mailman, like, oh,
here comes the mailman with my fan mail.

Speaker 1 (15:56):
Yeah, you know, I hope somebody sent me something today.

Speaker 2 (16:00):
Well maybe she does, who knows, But I think she's
a little too busy, you know. Jet setting around and whatnot,
you know, working here or working there, or you know,
recording in this studio where that studio. So I'm sure
it gets it. It does get sorted through and it's
like here, you know, you have a day off here,
you want to go through your mail, that type of
thing exactly.

Speaker 1 (16:20):
We found these five pieces of male that you might
find interesting. Meal.

Speaker 2 (16:24):
We found, you know, a Madonna cheese platter that's in
the shape of you know, the True Blue album, made
from all different artisan cheeses. Yes, I would love that.
By the way, if anybody makes cheese, you know, cheese
platters like, call me. I would love a true blue

(16:45):
cheese platter.

Speaker 1 (16:46):
I love a true true blue cheese with blue cheese.
I love blue cheese me too. I was on Fire
Island last week and I had a martini with blue
cheese stuffed olives. It was so good.

Speaker 2 (16:59):
I love that that isese.

Speaker 1 (17:02):
Like like like separated from the olives a little and
like just the whole martini was like vodka blue cheesy
mm hmm. Oh so good.

Speaker 2 (17:13):
I could go for one of those right now.

Speaker 1 (17:15):
Yeah, which could? We usually find a place to that
like serves funky Martini's Let's do it I love a
good Martini. Me too, dirty Martini, extra dirty, extra dirty, and.

Speaker 2 (17:25):
I want I want the erotica Martini.

Speaker 1 (17:27):
Yeah, kind of the erotica Martini. Why is it so hard?

Speaker 4 (17:31):
Teeny?

Speaker 1 (17:34):
That's an underrated gem. I love wise, it's so hard.
I'm gonna play that on Madonna Worship.

Speaker 2 (17:38):
I think you should.

Speaker 1 (17:39):
I'm gonna play Love Makes the Walk Around. You gotta
remind me, Stevie, that's your that's your one job that night.

Speaker 2 (17:44):
All right, I'm gonna bring a sign.

Speaker 1 (17:46):
Oh my god, how funny would that be? Can you
please do that?

Speaker 2 (17:49):
I'm going to bring a sign and it's gonna be
big and obnoxious jump watch them not let me in.
They're like, you can't come in with that. I'd be like,
excuse you? Do you know who I am?

Speaker 1 (18:06):
That would be hysterical. Please please don't forget to do that. Okay,
I will do it, And you know, because not every
listen to this podcast, but I'll like, I'll like deny
you until like like one am.

Speaker 2 (18:20):
Might I might just rush the stage.

Speaker 1 (18:22):
I like, get him, get, get him out of here.

Speaker 2 (18:24):
I'm gonna rush the stage and I'm gonna hold up
the sign. That's what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna like,
you're gonna be up introducing somebody you know, and I'm
gonna just run up on the stage with the sign
that is so funny. I'm going to crash your party, buddy, hyterical.

Speaker 1 (18:42):
But we have Yeah, that is so funny to me
because everyone's gonna be like, what the fuck is going
on right now?

Speaker 2 (18:52):
Oh you know, that's gonna be the test if you
see who actually listened to the episode.

Speaker 1 (18:56):
Yeah, there we go. Yeah. Well, speaking of Madonna Worship,
it is next Friday. Already, I was gonna see September,
August fifteenth, on the eve of her sixty seventh birthday.
Sixty seventh birthday, that's crazy. So at midnight it will
be her birthday and we can sing. It's at three
dollars bill once again, the Mega, the Mega club that

(19:18):
it is. We're gonna be raising money for trans Lifeline.
We're selling raffle tickets. We're gonna be giving away to
two copies of the Madonna Songbook made in Italy that
me and Michelle both have an entry in. We're also
going to give away Raffle off a guest spot on
the Madonna Worship Podcast. I said all this already and

(19:40):
realizing and then some promo items and stuff like that.

Speaker 2 (19:45):
But in case you guys forgot, you know, yeah, in case.

Speaker 1 (19:48):
You forgot from five minutes ago. But we have a
very special guest today. Last week we had, last episode
we have Vegas Valentine, one of the performers. And this
this episode we have Darling Toby.

Speaker 2 (19:59):
Which we love, Yes, we love, we adore Darling Toby.

Speaker 1 (20:03):
They've they've been with They've performed at Madonna worship a
few times already Vegas has done it once. But uh,
Toby has been has been at a few Madonna worships
at different locations. But should we should we get them on, Stevie,
go get them all right, We're gonna welcome to the
podcast Darling Toby. Hello, Hello, Hello, we have Darling Toby

(20:35):
here on the show.

Speaker 4 (20:37):
Hello everyone, Hi, Chauncy, Hi, Stevie.

Speaker 2 (20:40):
Hey, has it going Toby?

Speaker 4 (20:42):
It's going really good. I'm excited to be here.

Speaker 2 (20:45):
Now do you prefer do you prefer Darling Toby or
just Toby?

Speaker 5 (20:48):
You can call me Toby. I mean Darling Toby is
a bit dramatic when we're just having a one on one.

Speaker 2 (20:57):
So like if I if I call your job and
I asked, can I speak to Darling Toby please.

Speaker 5 (21:02):
Well, if you call my job and ask for Darling Toby,
they might not know who that is stage name.

Speaker 4 (21:10):
They were big out hell.

Speaker 1 (21:12):
Darling Toby's on a permanent lunch break, a.

Speaker 2 (21:15):
Lunch the business woman's special, exactly.

Speaker 4 (21:21):
Having a lunchtime.

Speaker 1 (21:23):
It's like candy Darling, but in reverse, you know.

Speaker 2 (21:27):
I mean, I'm sure, I'm sure Toby could be a candy.

Speaker 4 (21:30):
Toby could be a candy.

Speaker 5 (21:31):
I've gotten used to like people just calling me Toby now,
though I think it's really cute, it makes me feel
like a cartoon of sorts.

Speaker 4 (21:38):
I'm not sure why.

Speaker 1 (21:39):
Yeah, we both know each other and our other names.
We do.

Speaker 2 (21:46):
But you guys have known each other for a long
time because you guys, you guys have worked together. You
guys have you know, outside of nightlife as well.

Speaker 1 (21:54):
I think we met probably like two thousand and six.

Speaker 5 (21:57):
Yeah, it was like two thousand and six, two thousands Evan. Yeah,
we worked together. Yeah, we had worked there and I
came on board. We worked together over some years.

Speaker 1 (22:07):
We worked together at Housing Works. We were kind of
like we were competing stores. Managers of competing stores, but
we weren't like me and him were in competition. We
were like the competition, you know what I.

Speaker 5 (22:17):
Mean the business business wise, we were like you were rivals.

Speaker 1 (22:23):
Yeah we were cross town cross town, but yeah we
we That's how we became buddies. And then all of
a sudden years later I found out that he was
beforeing and I was like, oh my god, let's let's
do something together. And now we make every month I
see him pretty much.

Speaker 5 (22:40):
Yeah, and it was I mean, I really do want
to say that, like I had experimented. I've always experimented
with bor less because I've been I'm a dancer and
an actor, and I really wanted to take this bur
last character, which is Darling Toby, and just like put
it out there in the world because I had touched
on it in a show and I saw Chauncey had

(23:01):
posted something for a freak out at Stonewall and I
was like, I'm just gonna ask him, like if I
could submit something, and He's like, yeah, come on, like
here's a space. And it was my first time really
performing in this character was that night at Stonewall, and yeah,
and it was so I'm not sure if you realize
what you did for me that I'm forever, forever grateful.

Speaker 4 (23:24):
That's a wonderful opportunity.

Speaker 5 (23:27):
And freak Out continues to be such a just an
awesome show every time.

Speaker 1 (23:32):
For those that don't know, freak Out is my monthly
variety show at Stone Wall. We're in our ninth year now.
But it's just basically a place where I let people
come and like kind of try something new, workshop something
We usually every month we raise money for a different
charity or bring awareness to different charities. But it's very
community based and all that. And I've gotten to meet

(23:53):
so many amazing people and all that, and knowing Toby
from the past and then seeing them like what they
do when they're on stage is like wow, Like it's
so cool that we're kind of in our like our
second life together almost in a way.

Speaker 4 (24:06):
I love that.

Speaker 2 (24:07):
I kind of love that too.

Speaker 4 (24:09):
I love that.

Speaker 2 (24:10):
That's a beautiful story.

Speaker 1 (24:13):
It's really it's really fun. Like freak Out one of
the best things that's part of my like whatever you
want to call it, my repertoire, repertoire legacy, whatever you
want to call I've gotten to beat so many people
and the coolest thing is when people come to the show.
It started out as a comedy show with a little
bit of music, and now it's mostly music queen musicians
with a little bit of comedy, a little bit of
our lesque. But it kind of flipped what it originally was.

(24:36):
And the cool thing is when people that meet at
the show and then they go off and collaborate together.
That's like that gives me like the ultimate like artistic borgasm.

Speaker 4 (24:44):
Yeah, and I have so many awesome artists I've been
able to.

Speaker 1 (24:47):
You know, it's just cool and hill and no attitude.
Everyone's very supportive of one another. So it's a really
really fun environment to be creative. And yeah, sometimes we
used to we used to do it. We did a
couple of times. We did it all Madonna, but there's
so much Madonna going on this month that we're not
doing that this year. You've performed at Madonna Worship what
like three or four times now.

Speaker 5 (25:05):
Right, Yeah, yeah, about four times.

Speaker 4 (25:08):
And I was there last year at three dollar bill.

Speaker 1 (25:11):
Because of Madonna's tour, we did it. We did a
bunch of extra parties, so a lot more opportunities for
different people to perform. But yeah, two years ago it
was our first time doing it the fifteenth anniversary. I
want to go big, So we started at three dollars
bill and last year was just as successful and then
now our seventeenth year. It's crazy that something is seventeen
years old that I've been doing is this year on

(25:31):
the fifteenth of August. Stevie, when did you When was
your first Madonna worship like coming.

Speaker 2 (25:36):
And COVID in person right after COVID, and then during
COVID you had did you did it digitally?

Speaker 1 (25:45):
Oh my god, that was crazy?

Speaker 2 (25:46):
You did it digitally?

Speaker 1 (25:47):
Yeah? It was Madonna worship worldwide and I thought there'd
be a lot people tuned in, but it was still fun.
It was all the people I know.

Speaker 2 (25:54):
And well that that was the beauty. That was kind
of beautiful. During COVID. How people used to do digital
drag shows or I'm sure there was digital you know,
streams of burlesque shows like hey, I'm going to do
a performance, like you know, hey, if you could tit me,
tit me, like I used to go on and support
my drag you know, my friends who did drag like.

Speaker 1 (26:14):
Yeah, it was wild because like you you, like everybody
had to learn how to suddenly be like an online producer. Yeah,
and learn the tricks of the like you know, all right,
this is a mirror image, so if I put something
on the screen, it's going to be on that side
for the audience. Like it was very like I'm in
the extream yard kind of gained in popularity, and then
you know, obviously zoom was I remember for Stonewall, we

(26:37):
used to do a Stonewall happy hour where I would
DJ and there was a way to set it up
where while you're djaying everything that you hear, you click
a certain setting and your computer would sound like it
was playing the music. So it wasn't like you're listening
to like a what you m'll call it like a
FaceTime and someone's playing a song like it actually came
out of you or your computer. So that made it

(26:59):
more like you can hear the music better. So there's
just so many tricks that we kept learning. But did
you do a lot of digital for Lesque Orno?

Speaker 4 (27:07):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (27:07):
I did a lot of digital performance stuff with Pioneers,
and we actually turned this show that Pioneers Goas's experimental
fever collective based in the city that I worked very
closely with, and we actually put this show together that
kind of introduced this character. But we first just had
a film iteration.

Speaker 4 (27:27):
Of it like we do different monologues, put.

Speaker 5 (27:30):
It all together as a film, and then once COVID
was over, we put it on at Judson Church.

Speaker 4 (27:38):
Yeah, I believe you came to that.

Speaker 5 (27:40):
Yes, so we have workshopped via zoom and virtually and
then finally it came to life.

Speaker 1 (27:47):
Okay, So I didn't know that was connected to Toby.
That's interesting. Yeah, that was that was good. Have you
been to Judson Church, Stevie. I have not. It's kind
of near Washington Square Park, Okay, and you would never
know that. There's this huge like it's almost like the
where the like where the actual church would have been
with all the pews and all that, but it's that's
all been taken out now it's a performance venue. So

(28:10):
it's really cool.

Speaker 4 (28:11):
Interesting you actually still have services there.

Speaker 1 (28:14):
They do.

Speaker 5 (28:16):
It's such a beautiful space, and I mean I remember
we were in residence there for like three weeks and
just going up into the steeple and taking like the
spiral staircase. There's just so much history, so much history there.
It's an absolute honor every time.

Speaker 1 (28:33):
Yeah, next time we're walking around. Next time me and
Steven when we're walking around, I'll show you the church
and maybe we might be able to go in. But
it's a really cool space. And the coolest thing about
like doing a performance inside a church is that they're
that you're talking about history, Like there's such a like
there's an echo and there's like a like the walls
are just there's a lot of marble and there's a
lot of like just a lot of material that most

(28:55):
buildings aren't made of.

Speaker 2 (28:58):
Maybe for the eighteenth Madonna worship, you should you should
do it in a church.

Speaker 1 (29:03):
Maybe we'll do it, and that would be really Oh
my god, that's such a great idea.

Speaker 2 (29:09):
I mean just saying, I mean it's kind of fitting.

Speaker 1 (29:14):
Oh my god, what a great idea. That'd be really cool.

Speaker 2 (29:17):
Have you done burlesque at the church?

Speaker 4 (29:20):
I did strip at the church. I did.

Speaker 5 (29:25):
I did, But it wasn't a full on how like
this is a burlest number.

Speaker 4 (29:29):
It was a monologue where I like took off my
clothes and my makeup.

Speaker 5 (29:32):
But so yeah, it was in a burlesque realm, but
it was more focused on a monologue.

Speaker 1 (29:38):
The monologue that brings up a question that I've seen
a lot of burlesque, and a lot of burlesques happened
at places I've worked at, But like, what's the difference
between stripping and burlesque.

Speaker 5 (29:49):
I don't think that there is a huge difference. I
think when I speak to my burlesque, I think that
I'm constantly trying to tell stories and be metic right,
and I am literally stripping. But I think more so
in the art of the teas is where stripping lives
with or less so when I'm speaking of this show

(30:10):
in particular, and Lucky Star was a dance piece and
then it was kind of an abrupt like I'm taking
this costume off, So there was a burlesque influence to it,
but I think it fit more in this performative, like
the focus was on stripping this character down, So it's
one and the same, yes, but it was more so

(30:33):
that this character was the monologue was the focus of this.

Speaker 4 (30:37):
Character, and that kind of bringing down.

Speaker 5 (30:39):
From this heightened confidence and this this this, the feathers
and the glance and just kind of just like tearing
it all apart into that raw like human motion. It's
definitely influenced by burleskan, there's a less element.

Speaker 2 (30:54):
But I feel like there's a lot of layers.

Speaker 5 (30:58):
And what I love about lessons because there can be
you know, it allows space for comedy and allows space
for sensuality. Sensuality also flat out like stripping. You know,
the art of tees. If you look at burleskan powers
starting to wear, you know, a woman exposing her ankle

(31:18):
at a certain time was taboo and today where we're
so lucky.

Speaker 4 (31:24):
To be c liberated in our bodies.

Speaker 5 (31:27):
So there's a lot of I think that there's a
lot of different weights and stories.

Speaker 2 (31:31):
When did you start doing burlesque.

Speaker 5 (31:34):
I started doing burlesque years probably around two thousand and
six and seven. I've always been I've always been obsessed
with stripping since I was a boy.

Speaker 4 (31:46):
I was I loved the idea of strippers.

Speaker 5 (31:49):
I loved Chippendale's, I loved the costumes, and I've always
been upsided with the circus, and so I started to
do I was with a collective.

Speaker 4 (31:59):
We were O Mega Jordan and then Shadow.

Speaker 5 (32:01):
Lover and we were it was a collective of musicians.

Speaker 4 (32:06):
It was a band.

Speaker 5 (32:07):
We did a lot of live video art and I
was like the dancer and I would just start.

Speaker 4 (32:13):
Doing the less performances out of these.

Speaker 5 (32:15):
Costumes and it had this very like punk underground aesthetic
to it. From there, I just continued on with dance
and then spent like a good like ten years or
so with Pioneers doing more, focusing more on storytelling and
these characters with some elements or less, because it's what's

(32:35):
always inspired for.

Speaker 1 (32:37):
Yeah, because the character Darling Toby definitely has like a
circusy kind of old time energy and even a lot
of your like your photographs and like your your like
a lot of your content on social media by the way,
you can follow Toby at Darling Toby very simple on
Instagram Darling Toby. But even like a lot of your
like artwork and your content and like the things you

(32:57):
play around with, like stuff, it has this old timey,
like classic circus feel to it, like there's like a
miss mischief, mischievousness and uh like like a taboo energy,
like you're like you're seeing something that you're you're not
really supposed to kind of feel too.

Speaker 4 (33:14):
Thank you, thank you.

Speaker 5 (33:14):
I kinda my tagline is putting the teas in Timeless,
and I love to kind of take these tropes in
these characters and loving the circus and like collecting a
bunch of like random Marty Garvey jects from my visits
to New Orleans, like a bunch of random costumes and
putting them together is what like bought this character to life.

(33:39):
I'm also very heavily inspotted Josephine Baker and jose Savaganza.
Oh wow, th combos being able to specifically, I mean
like in madonnald World looking backing this ship, she's on
the bed and Josey and Louise I believe.

Speaker 4 (33:57):
Are the background dancers and the cone brons, and she's
like stole me.

Speaker 1 (34:04):
For the.

Speaker 4 (34:06):
It's a very young boy.

Speaker 5 (34:08):
I mean, I got in trouble on the school bus
because I had all my girlfriends and to school. This
is the part in the Vogue video where is just
like twirling and turning and there's a fan on him
and the shirt is open, like I'd rip open my
Catholic school shirt in time, and my friends would like

(34:30):
fit so I could vogue for them and I could
get in trouble all the time. But whatever, I was
living free. But I love and it's a part of
why I love Madonna so much. And although you know,
I kind of discovered her in the like a virgin
era just from MTV and like watching MTV with my grandmother,
but really started to see myself and understand like her

(34:52):
impact on my.

Speaker 4 (34:54):
Life and on culture around.

Speaker 5 (34:57):
Me, immaculate era and kind of going into vogue and
then obviously to erotica, but seeing blonde ambition and truth
or dare like that was the first time I saw
myself like I saw an opportunity for me to express
myself freely. And it was in those two characters in
the cone Bras and Jose and Louise that gave me

(35:18):
such freedom.

Speaker 4 (35:19):
And I mean, I don't.

Speaker 5 (35:21):
Even think I can really articulate how clear I saw
the world and my autistic opportunities after experiencing that as
a small boy.

Speaker 4 (35:31):
So I tried to always pay homage to that in.

Speaker 5 (35:34):
Some way with incorporating my other loves for an inspirations
like thosepeen Baker, just Vaudeville.

Speaker 1 (35:44):
Yeah, so the Girly Show must have been really, thank you,
impressive for you.

Speaker 4 (35:47):
Then the Girly Show was super impressive for me.

Speaker 5 (35:50):
And you know what I think about the Girly Show,
the Girly Show, I feel the same way about.

Speaker 4 (35:54):
George Michael's Older album.

Speaker 5 (35:56):
When it came out, I loved it, but I I
knew I was like, there's something that I'm really going
to tap into and appreciate when I'm older. And it
did take me some time to like go back, and
I'm going back now.

Speaker 4 (36:11):
In the past decade, I've watched The Curly Show all
the time and I have so much influence from it.

Speaker 5 (36:17):
But it really it as something that resonated and it's
something I saw that I thought there were so many
different layers to it that I was almost I looked
forward to always having that piece of art with me.

Speaker 4 (36:30):
And I think that that's what McDonald does so well,
is that.

Speaker 5 (36:34):
She creates these things, these these time capsules and these
moments that really do last forever. And it's not this quick,
disposable sells. Do this put in inmage out. It really
does cement culture, opportunity and hope and community. And so yeah,

(36:56):
I think I hold the Gurly Show really very highest.

Speaker 1 (37:02):
That was my first Madonna concert. Oh wow, yeah, I was.
I was seventeen. I was. That was like dream come true.

Speaker 5 (37:09):
I remember the opening scene where the topless dancer is
like falls back on the pole and just winds all
the way down and like this is this is just yeah,
this is it?

Speaker 2 (37:20):
Carry in And Kevin was that you could dance right, No,
that's it's Dancing with the Stars dance. She's she's one
of the judges on Dancing with the Stars.

Speaker 4 (37:32):
I love that.

Speaker 2 (37:35):
It's crazy to watch, you know. Now it's like, oh
I I watched you, you know, topless.

Speaker 1 (37:41):
And yeah, yeah, I love that.

Speaker 2 (37:45):
I have your bodies on laser disc.

Speaker 1 (37:49):
Lasers. That's hysterical. It's really cool that. Like what I
loved about the Girly Show the most as a as
a young gay or whatever, is that she made all
the boys and girls kind of look alike, Like she
blended that way back then. You know, it was nineteen

(38:10):
ninety three and she really took that whole like androgyny too.
I mean she was so like sinewy and muscular but
an ambition. She was very like this like warrior, but
like Girly Show, she was like this.

Speaker 5 (38:20):
Like solid, there was something, there was a she was
definitely tapped into this like masculine part.

Speaker 1 (38:27):
Yeah, she was so like even even as sexy as
it was and as feminine as she was, she was,
she was so strong but you know what, She's never
really been like on stage. It's very rare that you
see her like in a dress. Really.

Speaker 4 (38:41):
Yeah, that's what I loved about her.

Speaker 1 (38:43):
Also, she's always like beating up her dancers. She's always like,
you know, the head bitch and charge.

Speaker 2 (38:48):
You know, I watched that tour recently. I watched it
maybe a week ago, two weeks ago, and I was
the first time I've watched it, like really sat down
and watched it in a long time, and I was like, God,
she was so like they were all soaking wet, they
were so sweaty.

Speaker 1 (39:05):
It was so hot.

Speaker 2 (39:07):
Here's the heart, you know, in sweltering Australian heat.

Speaker 1 (39:12):
Oh, it was so hot, amazing. Luca Thomassini wash. So
he's my favorite back then. Yeah, no, she that's that
show definitely like cemented. I mean, that show couldn't have
existed without un ambition. But it was such a and
you know what, I didn't know this back then. You know,
she was dealing with the whole backlash from the Sex
Book and Body of Evidence and erotica. She like punished

(39:35):
America and like only did like what she did, like
six shows in America.

Speaker 2 (39:40):
Yeah, wasn't it like three in New York and like,
was it three in New York or only two in
New York.

Speaker 1 (39:45):
He's like, Oh, you're gonna give me a hard time.

Speaker 4 (39:46):
You're gonna Yeah, she was probably exhausted.

Speaker 5 (39:48):
Yeah, that show here you are like being punished for
just like expressing yourself in creative and then but look
at the impact and it's not even many years later,
it was in stiff like constantly everything kind of fell
in line, like she's always just.

Speaker 4 (40:05):
Been a pioneer in a trailblazer.

Speaker 1 (40:07):
See these kind of conversations make you realize that I'm
not crazy and worshiping Madonna is not a strange thing.

Speaker 5 (40:15):
You're not crazy, because I think will and she says it,
and it's one of my favorite lines. I think it's
from Nobody Knows Me American life, Like it's so hard
to find someone to admire. We are all just looking
for someone to admire, right, I feel, and like popular culture.
She made it so easy because she was able to
pull from all of these other influences and really celebrate

(40:37):
culture and wasn't afraid of that. And you know, she
I say this all the time. She made me feel seen.
I didn't know.

Speaker 4 (40:47):
That I could be out and gay.

Speaker 5 (40:49):
I didn't know that I could dance the way I
felt the most free, you know, until I saw her videos.
I didn't know that like my weird kind of imagination
and seeing something like Justify my Lover even erotica, and
being so young and being very Catholic and being very

(41:10):
afraid to even think about sexuality, like, I'm not sure
that I would have been exposed to any of that
in my small town had it not been for like
Madonnathans or you grew up. I grew up in Norwich, Connecticut.

Speaker 1 (41:26):
Oh I was still here local.

Speaker 4 (41:29):
No, I grew up in North Connecticut. I came to
New York ninety nine.

Speaker 1 (41:34):
Oh wow, yeah, f that's actually when I moved to
New York too. I mean, I grew up in Jersey
like path train right away, but ninety nine was when
I actually like my first Queen's apartment. Funny, were you, Steve?
Were you in Brooklyn in ninety nine?

Speaker 2 (41:49):
No?

Speaker 1 (41:50):
No, were you? When were you in Brooklyn?

Speaker 2 (41:52):
I was in Brooklyn? Which time, like as a child.

Speaker 1 (41:56):
Or that's when you were? Where was it another time? No?

Speaker 2 (41:59):
I move back after high school, so I came back
to Brooklyn from two thousand and seven, two thousand and
eight to twenty ten.

Speaker 1 (42:11):
Oh okay, all right, so I was back.

Speaker 2 (42:15):
I had a brief stint after high school. I mean,
but I never really even though I left, I never
really left. Is that weird?

Speaker 1 (42:22):
Yeah, that makes sense, Like it's kind of it.

Speaker 2 (42:25):
Was always there, Like I slept up here, but I
was always you know, whether it was like as a
child traveling to visit family or on the weekends, or
you know, as I got older, you know, just traveling
by myself into the city by you know.

Speaker 1 (42:39):
Yeah, once the city has a grip on you, it
never really lets go.

Speaker 2 (42:42):
So it's always kind of been there. Like people think
I'm nuts because like I don't. I don't hang out
where I live. I just sleep here.

Speaker 1 (42:50):
You know.

Speaker 2 (42:51):
I'm here Monday through Friday. And then it's like, wait,
you're here again. I'm like yeah, yes, Like like people
are like floored there, like you drove. I'm like yeah,
I mean I take what I could. I could take.
I could take a train. Sometimes I'll take the train
if I'm feeling lazy.

Speaker 1 (43:10):
You know, even there's up north a little bit.

Speaker 4 (43:13):
So yeah, they were, they were.

Speaker 2 (43:16):
It's uh, you know, but now do do you feel
Madonna was like your gay awakening.

Speaker 5 (43:22):
I think Madonna was my awakening to culture, life awakening,
life awakening would okay, and then obviously because of the
gay folks that she introduced me to through her work,
then yeah, I.

Speaker 4 (43:37):
Would say there was an awakening there, But I think
of it.

Speaker 5 (43:40):
More as like a cultural arts and cultural awakening.

Speaker 4 (43:44):
Definitely. And I also, I mean I related very much
and on the whole Catholicism part of her work.

Speaker 1 (43:51):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (43:51):
I grew up very Catholic. I went to Catholic school.
My great grandfather built one of the smallest churches in
the country in his backyard in nineteen twenty six, Denny's Chapel.
It's tiny.

Speaker 4 (44:02):
It's so tiny it still exists, exists, there's a replica
in my hometown. He built it in his.

Speaker 5 (44:09):
Backyard because he came over here from the Cabird Islands
as an immigrant and was like, I need my family
is going to have to assimilate. We're going to lose
a ton of our culture, and I want my family
to have a foundation and a faith.

Speaker 4 (44:22):
Right.

Speaker 5 (44:23):
So, although I think there's always controversy around Catholicism and
religion itself, I always looked at that foundation, in that
base that my great grandfather built for us as just
something to believe it, whatever that meant for us, you know.
And seeing Madonna's kind of playfulness with the Catholicism and

(44:45):
the sadness that I think came with that as well,
whether exhibited in the Blonde Edition tour or Like a Prayer,
which is one of my favorite albums ever, and the
packaging everything about that album, I think it's just so
like next level, and I felt like it was like
a just a I don't know, a peek into what

(45:08):
the world could be like if you were able to
accept and believe and understand spirituality, but also like align
it with all of those things that not religion or
not God, but people that are involved in religion will
tell you are wrong.

Speaker 4 (45:27):
So watching her in Blonde Ambition dance around.

Speaker 5 (45:29):
With a cross and a priest code like that, it
was that it was like, Okay, here's my opportunity.

Speaker 4 (45:37):
These are things I find beautiful. I wanted to be
a priest when I was a little boy.

Speaker 1 (45:41):
That was very short lived too.

Speaker 4 (45:43):
You know.

Speaker 5 (45:44):
I loved rosary beads. I still love them. They're hanging
on every single doorknob in my home. And although I
don't have to view this as something that is against me,
but I can take from it the good intentions and
put it into.

Speaker 4 (46:00):
My heart and my way of living.

Speaker 1 (46:04):
Yes, I think there's something romantic about ritual in general. Yeah,
and just like the idea of like this necklace holds
like your mother's power. This this necklace holds like you know,
has a blessing from someone. Like there's something about that
energy that you kind of like like it's you know,
it's very pagan, it's very you know, it's not but

(46:25):
it's it's it's it's nature. It's it's physical, but it's
also metaphysical. It's really you know, the right wing extremist
Cherry Pixer and things from the Bible in order to
hold us down. I just pick things from the Bible
and things from religion that like elevate me, you know.

Speaker 4 (46:43):
Absolutely, to use.

Speaker 1 (46:44):
Something that's so beautiful and so interesting and so like
to attack it's so weird.

Speaker 4 (46:49):
To me to weaponize it's it's it's ludicrous.

Speaker 2 (46:52):
Well, it's an easy it's an easy tool for them.

Speaker 4 (46:55):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (46:55):
I don't know if I've ever talked about this. Did
you grow up religious.

Speaker 2 (46:57):
I did for a little while. Yeah, Catholic. Catholic.

Speaker 1 (47:01):
I made my.

Speaker 5 (47:02):
Communion me too, my theatrical debut, as I like to.

Speaker 4 (47:10):
Like, you couldn't tell me anything to pinstripe suit. It
was a very expression.

Speaker 2 (47:15):
I actually, you know, I still have my communion suit.
It's hanging in my closet. It doesn't fit me anymore,
but I still have it.

Speaker 4 (47:24):
I love that you have it.

Speaker 1 (47:25):
I do. I do.

Speaker 2 (47:26):
I still have it. I never I never made it
to confirmation. I'll be honest with you. I called bullshit early,
I said. I said, nah, no, you know what it
was in was it fifth grade? I think it was
fifth grade. It dawned on me it was. It was

(47:48):
like Sunday school, you know. And I'm like, wait a second,
if Jesus was Jewish, why are we Catholic? And I
asked them. I was like, I that was an honest
to goodness question. I asked them, and they wouldn't answer
it for me. I said, but there has to be
a reason. And I remember asking my mom and my
Mom's like, oh, I don't know, I don't know. And
I was like, oh, you can't answer that question for me.

(48:10):
Then this is I'm wasting my time. And I was
like I'm not going back, like I don't want to
do this, and so I didn't. Like my mom's like
you have to. I'm like, no, no, I'm not going
to do that. And she really didn't. She fought me
on it a little bit, but not like she didn't
like really like fighte me on it. She wasn't like,
get your asked to church like it wasn't. It wasn't

(48:32):
like that. She's like, all right whatever, and that was it,
so choice right, everybody else in my family did, you know?
And I feel like that was like kind of like, oh, oh,
I can't believe you didn't do that. I'm like, well,
tough shit. I mean, it wasn't until much later on
where it popped in my mind, you know, was like
I should google that. I want an answer, And I

(48:52):
did google it, so now I got my answer. Yeah,
but I still didn't go back and get my confirmation.

Speaker 1 (48:59):
I don't.

Speaker 2 (48:59):
I don't think I don't care that much.

Speaker 4 (49:01):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (49:02):
I always feel that, you know, the tree of life
or whatever, like the apple like that was that. I mean,
I know that I'm not being like we're making a
breakthrough right now. I think that was knowledge and information.
They didn't want you to question things, and that was
their way of saying, don't question thingsuse you'll be like
even Adam and Eve Starden, So like just play dumb

(49:24):
and just follow along.

Speaker 2 (49:25):
You know that's not good enough for me, So I'll
be I'll be eating. I'll be like naked in the woods,
covered in grape please, eating, eating.

Speaker 1 (49:34):
And covered in snakes, eating pork chops and apple sauce.

Speaker 2 (49:44):
I don't like pork chops.

Speaker 1 (49:45):
I love pork chops.

Speaker 2 (49:46):
I don't eat pork really really yeah, no, not really.
I mean I like pork fried rice.

Speaker 1 (49:52):
You know, Michelle, don't eat pork. That's funny.

Speaker 2 (49:54):
You don't eat pork chops.

Speaker 1 (49:55):
Okay? Do you are you? Do you have a strange diet? Toby?

Speaker 4 (50:00):
Yeah, I don't eat meat, okay in a very long time.

Speaker 2 (50:04):
Are you vegan or just vegetarian?

Speaker 5 (50:06):
I'm I'm lean more vegetarian, okay, vegan for a very
long time.

Speaker 1 (50:12):
I do you know that?

Speaker 4 (50:13):
More vegetarian?

Speaker 2 (50:14):
So do you eat cheese?

Speaker 4 (50:16):
Yeah?

Speaker 5 (50:16):
I think that's what it is, like cheese once in
a while, So I think I haven't consumed enough of it, but.

Speaker 4 (50:23):
I don't necessarily want to.

Speaker 5 (50:25):
Say I love cheese, and I am in no way
you know, I'm just like, yeah, I just don't.

Speaker 2 (50:35):
That's that's okay, It's all right. As long as you
eat cheese, were good, still be friends.

Speaker 1 (50:43):
So I mean, well, I'm really excited to find out
what you do this time. Oh, I'm like, you always
managed to pull out like a like kind of like
a like a deep cut, or you pull out like
a like something that people probably wouldn't expect a b
lessed performer to damn too, So can you give can
you give the listeners like a hint or anything.

Speaker 5 (51:05):
Yeah, I'm toying back and forth between two different numbers.
I think there's an obvious, there's an obvious, there's an
I think erotica is on my mind, and I think
that that might be very obvious to people for burlesque,
but it's not.

Speaker 4 (51:23):
What I'm thinking is not. And then there's a ballad,
because we love a Madonna ballad.

Speaker 1 (51:31):
Oh, like she's she's really one of a kind when
it comes to our ballads.

Speaker 4 (51:35):
She really is.

Speaker 5 (51:36):
So there's something that like brings me back to, you know,
being this young theater queen that would like practice crying
on cue and I would listen to this song in
the kitchen and like.

Speaker 4 (51:48):
Slide down the cabinets.

Speaker 5 (51:50):
And like it always worked with this song, So I
think I want to to the stage. So I'm battling
between there's two. But I love erotica, and I was like,
the only reason I haven't tried to do it before
because I don't want to play into like it's sucksy,
Like there's something about it that that song that is

(52:11):
so weird and bizarre to me, So I'm trying to
I'm I'm cooking something.

Speaker 1 (52:19):
It's that jungle boogie sample, the jungle boogie sample, it
is always so like in the normal jungle boogie, it's
not spooky, but for some reason, when it's in erotica,
it's so twisted and freaky.

Speaker 5 (52:33):
Yeah, Like erotica to me is like a haunted song.
She just happens to be saying erotica. But I don't
even think about sex when I listened to it, I'm
just kind of just like, oh my god, I feel
like I'm being possessed by something.

Speaker 2 (52:46):
It is a little dark sounding.

Speaker 5 (52:49):
It's very dark, and I think it's like I'm a
huge like nineties trip hop fan, and I think it
definitely falls into that bucket for me, Like I listened
to Ratics as a track, Like I listened to like
Tricky Tricky's Maxine Quay, Like it's.

Speaker 1 (53:06):
I wish she worked with Tricky back then. That would
have been cool.

Speaker 5 (53:08):
Yeah, I wish she did. But I think it's such
such a weird bizarro song. And to me, it reminds
me of like a carnival, like on the last day,
Like whenever I hear it, I think of just like
you know, everyone came to the carnival, everyone spent all
the performers are tired, and like there's tickets on the
floor and there's old tars working and like you know,

(53:34):
the snakes are out of the cage and the two.

Speaker 4 (53:36):
Headed lion is roaming around.

Speaker 5 (53:39):
It's it's I'm in there. That's where I'm at, That's
where my head space.

Speaker 1 (53:43):
That's awesome. I love that. I love how deep you
go into the song. Just the song Erotica, not even
the album.

Speaker 4 (53:50):
Wow, I mean Erotica. The album is like I don't
know what I would do without that album.

Speaker 1 (53:55):
That was that was my coming out album. Yeah, I
was I was hanging out and I was sixteen, seventeen
sixteen going on seventeen. So I was hanging out in
the village, but it was like and sneaking into the
bars and the clubs. But that was like I remember
Fever being Fever was really popular and like at the
rock scene stuff.

Speaker 4 (54:13):
I love Fever. I was so excited that she.

Speaker 5 (54:16):
Was playing with red hair, yeah, because I was still like,
you know, I was early teens, like waiting to like
I had to wait for the videos to come out,
and I was so excited when my video came out.

Speaker 1 (54:27):
Yeah, that was her. That was her weird like nineties video,
so good, Like how many characters can I play in
one music video? Like try me? I mean exactly, like
put a flower on my vagina, my hair pink? Now
do this? Now do that? Now, paint me silver?

Speaker 2 (54:43):
Can you imagine how hard it was for her to
get all that silver paint off her body and the hair.

Speaker 4 (54:49):
That hair is such a cool.

Speaker 1 (54:51):
That was so badass though. That was like your hairt
No matter which way she turned, her hair was shooting
out the wond direction. So cool.

Speaker 2 (54:59):
I feel like, Okay, I just got like a vision
in my mind of being a child and breaking open
an etch a sketch and covering my hands in the
like silver metallic really yeah right, I don't think maybe that.

Speaker 4 (55:18):
Was so cool when it was broken open, but yeah.

Speaker 2 (55:21):
I for whatever reason, that just popped in my mind,
and I remember rubbing my hands together and being like, ooh,
but love. If I knew then that, no, we should
we should buy an etches sketch and try it, and
we could. We could film sketch on the curve. We
could do fever. You know what, I'll do it at
at freak out next time.

Speaker 1 (55:42):
There you go, I love your.

Speaker 2 (55:49):
Love, Just cover myself in the silver toxic you know,
paink poetic?

Speaker 1 (55:56):
Like what is it though? What is it made out of?
Is it like? It's like I'm.

Speaker 2 (56:00):
Sure, I'm sure it is. It's like a it's powder
and creamy powder. I feel maybe I don't think I
made that up, but that definitely happened because I can
I can see it in my mind down my hands.

Speaker 1 (56:14):
I've never heard of anyone busting sketch open. That's so
wild to me, Not to fever.

Speaker 2 (56:19):
I didn't do it to fever, but.

Speaker 1 (56:21):
I would never even think of I would never even
think that it could be busted open.

Speaker 5 (56:25):
In my mind aluminum powder, since that creates the visible
lines on the screen screen.

Speaker 2 (56:34):
Well, you know what, I think that's that's gonna be
my talent for for freaking out fever.

Speaker 1 (56:40):
They're gonna close Stevie etch sketch box. That's right, You're
going to write on your on your on your insides.

Speaker 2 (56:50):
That's right. You have to turn the knobs though.

Speaker 1 (56:52):
Yeah, invented the eches sketch. That's what a stream of
thoughts to get to that point.

Speaker 4 (56:58):
Brilliant.

Speaker 5 (56:59):
Really, my friends that could just like create, could just
let me do my name.

Speaker 1 (57:05):
And yeah, exactly. All right, Well, we're very excited. We
always we always try to keep these conversations short, but
there's always so much to talk about.

Speaker 4 (57:15):
I loved this.

Speaker 1 (57:16):
Four hours later, four hours later, we're like, oh, that's right.
Me and Stevie will never have short episodes. And we're
we've just we're just accepted that. But I'm very excited
to see what you do this year. I love the
stage at three dollars Bill.

Speaker 4 (57:29):
It's so good, the stage different, so you.

Speaker 1 (57:33):
Know, it's really funny. Though every time Madonna Worshill comes around,
like two weeks prior, I always do my little I
freak out and I think, oh my god, nobody's coming.
You know, Stevie heard all me complainings this morning, and
I'm like, no one's coming. What happens if nobody comes?
And I get all nervous. But there's always like it's
like a pattern that I do. Or like two weeks
before the show, I freak out and act nuts, and

(57:56):
then the day of and the show, like I'm not, like,
I guess all my frustrations out. But the one thing
that I forget all the time until like ten o'clock
that night is like, oh, you're also hosting the show, remember,
And I'm like, shit, why do I remember that? Every
year at like ten oh five. It's so funny. I

(58:16):
think if I if I, if I rehearsed, or if
I planned, then you know when you plan stuff like that.
I know other performers. I know Madonna really well. I
know most of the people in the audience. So it's
like it's not me going up and giving like a
ted talk at like a college, you know.

Speaker 4 (58:32):
I mean it was very natural and joyful.

Speaker 1 (58:34):
Yeah, it's fun.

Speaker 2 (58:37):
Yeah, it's my baby, But it's always a blast, Like
I can honestly say, there's never there's never a low point,
it's like, oh this is boring, Like everything from the
performers to the music, you know, just the vibe, the
overall vibe is always amazing.

Speaker 1 (58:55):
And this year the Sisters my Sisters are coming to
sell Raffle tickets where we're raising money for Translafe Line
and we're giving away. As part of the raffle, we
have two copies of the Madonna songbook that just came
out six eight months ago. It's terrom These this this
guy in Italy pretty much every single song she's ever

(59:18):
put out as like some sort of description and he
got like a good amount of fans. Me and Michelle
both have an entry in it. She does a little
entry about rescue. Me and I do vogue, so we're
actually in the book, but we're doing two copies of
that that are part of the Raffle. We're also raffling
off a guest spot on the podcast. I'm sure everyone's

(59:40):
going to line up. I want to win that. That's
just you know, like what podcast and like the one
you're supposed to be listening to. And then we have
some promo stuff that we're putting a couple of promo
packs together. So you know, since since I moved the
party to Stonewall, I always try to do something philanthropical
in her honor. We used to do the Madonna Reinvention

(01:00:03):
Concert before the dance party. We had like a two
hour concert of everyone you know doing live performances or
lip syncs two different songs. And that used to be
the money, like the fundraiser, and then ten o'clock on
that was the party, you know. So now that it's
moving around to different locations, I still want to keep
some sort of fundraising aspect or you know, raising awareness

(01:00:24):
to a different charity. And obviously the suicide hotlines and
the hotlines in general taking a beating from our great
administration right now, so I want to shore that. You know. Yeah,
it's funny me and how we met pretty much raising
money for people. That's kind of how we That was
our job at.

Speaker 4 (01:00:39):
House role for the people.

Speaker 1 (01:00:41):
So we just kind of, you know, that was our
our job. So it's just ingrained in us, I guess,
you know.

Speaker 2 (01:00:47):
And it's you guys are still doing it to this day.

Speaker 1 (01:00:50):
So we used to work for Housing Works, right so yeah,
So I mean I'm very excited to see what you
do where, whether you go to the ballot route or
the erotica route. Well maybe bold yeah maybe yeah.

Speaker 5 (01:01:02):
Yeah, I'm like I'm cooking some things up. I'm really
excited about it. I had, like, I went on a
really good run the other.

Speaker 4 (01:01:09):
Day and I was trying.

Speaker 5 (01:01:10):
To, like I build a little playlist of just inspirit
like Madonald's songs that me and the songs that I
want to perform to, and then songs that I.

Speaker 4 (01:01:19):
Like wouldn't perform to, like trying to like figure out
what to do, and it just like hit me. So
I think, I.

Speaker 1 (01:01:26):
Because I must say, like every time I've seen you
do burlesque, it's not you know, like the numbers are
not the same, you know, like you definitely like bring
the gorilla character kind of makes an appearance here and there,
but it's still so so different. Even this past freak
out you performed, you pulled out like a whole different.

Speaker 5 (01:01:42):
It was a genie feel like the sun beaming on
dunes of sand.

Speaker 1 (01:01:47):
Yeah, it was pretty awesome.

Speaker 4 (01:01:51):
I just wanted to dance with a snake. I always
just want to dance with a snake.

Speaker 1 (01:01:58):
So that's so Yeah. Always it's always like unexpected and
always beautiful to watch your perform. So I'm excited to
see what you're gonna.

Speaker 4 (01:02:05):
Thank you so much, just.

Speaker 1 (01:02:07):
Bring to the children next week so much.

Speaker 4 (01:02:11):
I'm really excited about. Thank you. This was nice.

Speaker 2 (01:02:18):
Thank you for coming.

Speaker 4 (01:02:20):
Absolutely, you're a week late, but you know.

Speaker 1 (01:02:25):
Last week he was like, oh you met tonight?

Speaker 4 (01:02:29):
Where you were like next Tuesday? And then I was like,
oh my god. And I was totally not in a
position to join a call like in that.

Speaker 1 (01:02:37):
I asked him like on the street across the street
from Stonewall, like fifteen minutes after freakout ended, and He's like, yeah, sure,
And I was like, I don't know whether he understood
exactly what I what I was, Well, I thought you
meant today.

Speaker 2 (01:02:48):
Well it's okay, you know, better late than pregnant exactly.
But well, I'm so glad that you came on, and
me too. I'm excited for to see what you do
for Madonna worship.

Speaker 1 (01:03:03):
Yes, I think we're all.

Speaker 2 (01:03:05):
I'm on the edge of my seat. I can't wait
to see what everybody does.

Speaker 1 (01:03:09):
Don't fall off. Don't fall off, Stevene.

Speaker 2 (01:03:11):
Well, if I do, you know, hopefully I have my
life alert, handy.

Speaker 1 (01:03:15):
Your life alert. Oh my god, we got.

Speaker 2 (01:03:21):
Help I'm falling and I can't get up.

Speaker 1 (01:03:24):
Oh my god. When I was a kid, when we
first got my brothers bought my parents a VCR camera
like a camp quarter camp quarter. Yeah, And basically we
chipped in and we bought it for ourselves, but we
disguised it as a gift for our parents. And we

(01:03:45):
used to make Me and my friends used to make
uh commercials all the time. We used to We used
to do the I can't get up commercial like in
various like places, like my friend Orlando used to like
pretend fall down the stairs. We recorded and like I
followed and I can't get up.

Speaker 4 (01:04:05):
She was an icon though that older.

Speaker 2 (01:04:07):
Lady wasn't her name missus Fletcher?

Speaker 4 (01:04:10):
Oh I didn't. I don't know.

Speaker 2 (01:04:11):
I think she has a name.

Speaker 4 (01:04:13):
She was.

Speaker 1 (01:04:14):
Really that's so funny. And once again, you could follow
Toby a Darling Toby d A R L A n
G t O B Y on Instagram. I follow all
the different amazing performances that they do and just follow
them around the city or follow them around the internet.

Speaker 2 (01:04:32):
Follow them around the follow them around the state around
that follow.

Speaker 4 (01:04:35):
Me around the state, please around?

Speaker 1 (01:04:37):
Then that's right.

Speaker 2 (01:04:40):
The Darling Toby world tour.

Speaker 4 (01:04:42):
The Darling Toby Show. Thank you all, thank you, thank you.
Excited to see you next week.

Speaker 1 (01:04:49):
Ten days, ten days.

Speaker 3 (01:04:52):
Wow, well that was great.

Speaker 2 (01:05:05):
I really do adore Darling.

Speaker 1 (01:05:08):
Toby Toby's amazing darling.

Speaker 2 (01:05:10):
Toby Toby is a darling, A true darling, A true darling.

Speaker 1 (01:05:14):
We get such a I love getting such an in
depth look at how much some of those Madonna what
started it all, you know, where they're what they what
they think of her, like, what they consider her like.
It's so cool to hear that from fans and especially
performers were fans because they use they're inspired by her
in their work. So and you see it, you know,

(01:05:35):
like it's so cool to see what she's what button
she's pressed in different people's minds, you know, to make
them do what they do when they're on stage.

Speaker 2 (01:05:43):
And what it means to them, you know, mm hmm.

Speaker 1 (01:05:46):
So and how much how many people like had a
Catholic upbringing and that she affected them that way like that,
you know, she like allowed us all to be freaks.
She allowed us all to be wild and who we
wanted to be. And like she you know, she let
us know, you know, some things are weird and some
things are okay, you know, all that kind of stuff.

Speaker 2 (01:06:05):
Well it's all okay, yeah, you know.

Speaker 1 (01:06:07):
Yeah, So I guess everyone, we'll see you at Madonna
Worship next episode. We're gonna have one more special guest
before the actual night. You can follow us at Madonna
Worship on Instagram Stevie vox s T E v I
E v o X and DJ Shaun c D. That's
d J C h A U n c E y D.
Make sure you follow the podcast. And uh, where can

(01:06:29):
they get tickets to Madonna Worship Stevie, I.

Speaker 2 (01:06:31):
Think it's I think the link might be in your
link tree.

Speaker 1 (01:06:34):
In my link tree.

Speaker 2 (01:06:35):
That's in your link tree if and uh you.

Speaker 1 (01:06:39):
Can also uh, if you go to link link link tree,
you Madonna Worship right. That takes you to all the
different places.

Speaker 2 (01:06:45):
That takes you where the podcast is.

Speaker 1 (01:06:48):
Yeah, so if you want to tell anybody about the podcast,
and also if you see one of our stickers around
the city, take a selfie with it and send it
to us.

Speaker 2 (01:06:57):
Take a selfie, just take a picture of it and
and tag us please. And I'll have some stickers I
ordered more so I'll have some stickers to pass out
Madonna Worship.

Speaker 1 (01:07:07):
Madonna Worship. Three dollars bill August fifteenth, ten tons of
amazing performers. Raffle prize is goodies, the promo goodies. It's
gonna be a wonderful night.

Speaker 2 (01:07:18):
So it's going to be a blast. I'm super excited.

Speaker 1 (01:07:22):
Catch your tickets. They get pricier at the door, so get.

Speaker 2 (01:07:24):
Them before you go. Definitely, and we'll see you there.
I'll see you there, you know what, But I'm sure
I'll talk to you before then.

Speaker 1 (01:07:31):
Yeah, we'll definitely talk. Be for them because you have another.

Speaker 2 (01:07:34):
Call me, call me, have you over for coffee.

Speaker 1 (01:07:37):
Call me in.

Speaker 2 (01:07:38):
Miami, Miami YOUREAMI or Miami Madonna.

Speaker 1 (01:07:42):
This is Madonna, peep, this is Madonna, Junior. This is Madonna.
I don't know.

Speaker 2 (01:07:49):
I think longtime fans will know what that is, and
I don't think new New Wish fans might not know.

Speaker 1 (01:07:56):
This is Madonna. This is Madonna.

Speaker 2 (01:07:59):
Maybe you could play it if I played that night.

Speaker 1 (01:08:01):
Yeah, that's yeah, you can play.

Speaker 2 (01:08:02):
You can play Why is this so hard? Love makes
the world go around? And if Madonna calls.

Speaker 1 (01:08:07):
Yeah, I think that's perfect.

Speaker 2 (01:08:08):
Back to back.

Speaker 1 (01:08:09):
Oh, that's a true test of my DJing. Skills.

Speaker 2 (01:08:12):
I think I have faith in you.

Speaker 1 (01:08:14):
I know you do.

Speaker 2 (01:08:14):
I have faith in you. I believe in you. All right,
all right, well Chauncey, I will talk to you soon.

Speaker 1 (01:08:22):
Yeah, I talk to soon. I'll talk about I'll talk.

Speaker 2 (01:08:23):
To you maybe maybe after we're done recording.

Speaker 1 (01:08:25):
Yeah, in just a few minutes.

Speaker 2 (01:08:26):
Yeah, yeah, all right, all right, well listen, have a
good night, and we'll hopefully we'll be back next next
week with another episode with another performer.

Speaker 1 (01:08:37):
Yes we will. Good night, Stevie, good night, by h
You want to dance, You want to dance.