TVocalizers — Shirley Temple Bar

Shirley Temple Bar

This month, Transvocalizers goes back across the pond to feature another Irish lass by the name of Shirley Temple Bar, from Dublin, Ireland.

She is primarily a rapper, but also does comedy and dance.  Originally born in the U.S., she was raised in Dublin, and studied economics and marketing at Dublin City College.  After college, she moved back to Dublin in 1996.

The name Shirley Temple Bar is a hybrid of Shirley Temple and a district in Dublin called Temple Bar.

“My character was a Dublin school girl,” Shirley said.  “A working class girl who had dreams of becoming a child star.  Shirley Temple was obviously a child star, and Temple Bar is the center of Dublin, so it had the local and the glamorous.  Ironically, the name worked, as in a couple of years Shirley Temple Bar was a household name in Ireland.”

For any other drag performer to utter that last statement, well, to put it kindly, it would normally be regarded as pure hyperbole. (Or in the common vernacular, used on both sides of the pond,  pure B.S.)  However, Shirley has more than earned the right to be a little boastful.  She has a TV show in Ireland, plus her regular weekend gigs.  She has also done videos with another well-known Irish drag performer by the name of Veda.  Add to all this the fact that Shirley Temple Bar is a past winner of the Alternative Miss Ireland pageant.

Shirley from the "Dynorod Man" video.

“The Alternative Miss Ireland is actually a fund-raising event for HIV/AIDS charities,” Shirley said.  “It has been in existence since the 1980s and its format copies the traditional beauty pageant.  But that’s where the similarities end . . . it’s more about creativity, originality and entertainment than it is about gender illusion.  My character was a comedy character, but over the years winners have been dramatic, artistic, or just plain gorgeous.”

Shirley says she has no desire to enter the pageant again, and because of her schedule, she does very little touring. “I’ve performed in the U.S. (San Fran and NYC), but touring is a real drag.”   (Bad pun, we know.)

“I have too many commitments at home to get away much.  That said, if the right offer came along, I”m there!”

By incorporating many different elements (rap, comedy, dance) into her performances, Shirley has been able to work steadily and has found that audiences respond positively.  “I’m a very visceral performer so I get a strong reaction,” she said. “It’s been like that from the start, so I’ve never really had to think about carving a niche for myself.  It just happened organically.

“If you know why you are doing something, you won’t get sidetracked by pointless and irrelevant things.  Ignore the haters and begrudgers because no matter how successful you become, they’ll still be there.  Caring about what they say only gives them oxygen.”

Shirley has a film that is due to be released soon, but she’s not saying much about detail just yet.  She also plans on directing another film and perhaps even doing more video work.  Be sure to check out YouTube for videos of her and Veda.

Shirley’s website is currently being revamped.  She can be reached on twitter at twitter.com/shirleybar, and emailed at shirley@shirleytemplebar.com.  And of course, there is YouTube.

ALSO THIS MONTH

There’s a lot going on with, upcoming gigs for artists featured in this column as well as our companion Perpetual Change column,  new videos, new dance albums and remix disc, so for your dining and dancing pleasure. . .

Coco Peru

MISS COCO PERU  will be appearing October 14-15 at Re-Bar, Seattle, and in New York City on November 3,4,5 at the Laurie Beechman Theatre. Check out Coco’s website.

ROGER ANTHONY YOLAND MAPES and ROBERT URBAN have been scheduled to do an encore show of their Still Crazy After All These Years show, which celebrates their ten years of working together.  The show is scheduled for Friday, September 30, 9:30 p.m., at The Duplex,  212-255-5438)

By now,  most of our readers have seen, if not heard, about LADY GAGA’S latest performance on the recently aired MTV Video Music Awards.  GAGA, in full tilt male drag as Jo Calderone, sort of resembled the late actor Sal Mineo from the (1955) James Dean flick Rebel Without A Cause.  Her opening monologue pretty much set the tone:  “She left me.  She said it always starts out good and then the guys . . . meaning me, I’m one of the guys . . . we get crazy.  I did.  I got crazy. But she’s f*****g crazy too, right?”  It’s rumored  that GAGA prepared for the role by visiting and hanging out in the men’s room.  That must have been fun.

NATALIA KILLS PERFECTIONIST CD review

By current standards for dance music, this is actually kind of a short album in length.  Executive produced by Will.I.Am and Martin Kierszenbaum, the project is definitely all dance material, with a few of the album’s 10 tunes having some excellent production moments.

Will.I.Am is featured on the tune Free, which is an all out dance track.  The best tracks are Love Is A Zombie, which has great production; Mirrors, which while a dance track, is probably the most musical tune on the project, and also the best produced, and Acid Annie, which quite frankly is dance music meets rock.  To me, the only real negative moment on the entire project is the over-use of the autotune on Zombie.  Check out her website.

LIZ PRIMO EXPOSED EP review

A lot of newer singers aren’t song writers, especially in the dance genre.  That’s not the case with Liz Primo.  All the tunes on this project were penned by Primo, with production credits being shared by Justin Trugman, Rob Fusari, and Michael Bradford.

The standout tracks are:  Candy Man, which is vocally the most interesting. It’s part rap, part actual singing, and a great deal of very good harmony.  Primo’s vocal approach to the song gives her voice almost a little girlish quality.  Wind Me Up, has perhaps the best production of a backing track on the album, but the autotune is definitely annoying, being used throughout the entire thing. In order to understand just how good a vocalist Primo actually is without any gimmickry to distract from her quality, Won’t Dance offers the best example of what she can really do.  This is more of a pop tune than straight up dance fare.

The projects main tune that’s getting all the radio and club exposure is State Of Amazing, which is definitely what will be heard on dance floors around the country.  There is a remix disc available containing several mixes of this tune.

SPEAKING OF REMIX — the following remix discs have currently become available.

Push It remixes from JESSIE AND THE TOY BOYZ album Show Me Your Tan Lines.

Don’t Hold Your Breath remixes from former Pussycat Dolls lead singer NICOLE SCHERZINER’s  upcoming album Killer Love.

JENNIFER LOPEZ’s new remixes of her single Papi, taken from her recent album J Love is also now available.

Just released by LEONA LEWIS, remixes of her single Collide.  This is the first new music by her since her 2009 album Echo.

A remix of Israeli artist MEITAL DOHAN’s Yummy Boyz single is now available. Downloads are available on iTunes, and an accompanying video is now on YouTube.

SPEAKING OF VIDEO

WYNTER GORDON’s new video for Buy My Love, taken from her With The Music I Die EP, is now on YouTube.

Another Isreali artist featured here before, ADERET,  has now released a video of a live performance of her newest single, Extraodinaire on YouTube.  For more information on ADERET, contact Hit-rec@netvision.net.il.

NEON HITCH has put a new spin of the Internet hit of Gucci Gucci. Check it out on YouTube.

CALPERNIA ADDAMS has released several new videos.  She performs with voice and auto harp on He Moved Through The Fair, and Illusions.  There is also another YouTube video for the song Demons.

Okay, that’s it for this month. Thanks for your indulgence.

Tags: featured, music, Musician

Category: Music