Moving the Cabaret Lounge Into the Hall

The Scene: Sunday night’s installation of “The Lounge Hall of Fame” at the Golden Monkey nightclub in Santa Monica. The first inductee was bandleader and lounge performer Louis Prima, whose medley of “Just a Gigolo” and “I Ain’t Got Nobody” predated David Lee Roth’s version by about 30 years. The evening was presented by SHLC (the Society to Honor Lounge Cabaret), an organization that describes itself as “dedicated to promoting interest in the lounge aesthetic,” and the main attraction of the evening was an act by neo-lounge performers Joey Cheezhee and the Velveata Underground.

The Buzz: It may be an aesthetic from Las Vegas, circa 1958, but the irony level was strictly from the ‘90s. The intense presence of newspaper and TV coverage at the event ensured that if lounge music isn’t already a trend, it will be.

The Club: The Golden Monkey is one of several new supper clubs in the downtown Santa Monica area (which, by the way, is almost indistinguishable from Westwood). It’s about as far from a Vegas lounge as you can get, with high ceilings, low lights, plants, bartenders in tropical print shirts, and a 3-D surfing mural on one wall.

Who Was There: SHLC President Bill Neimeyerz; actors Catherine O’Hara and Barbara Bain; KXLU-FM deejays Senor Amour and Cyrano, who play lounge music on their Tuesday night show; and, straight from the Dresden Room in Hollywood, L. A.’s own favorite lounge duo, Marty and Elayne.

Dress Code: Diehard lounge fans came in cocktail attire--vintage suits, sharkskin, lame. Most of the crowd, however, settled for the usual--ponytails on the men, short skirts on the women and padded shoulders on both.

Fashion Statement: Joey Cheezhee’s gold lame Rollerblade skates, which came in handy for skating through the crowd while he performed. He also sported a gold-painted cheese grater as a belt buckle that would have looked right at home on Elvis.

Favors: The first 100 guests received a CD or cassette of Louis Prima’s greatest hits.

Sign of the Times: Front and center at the club’s coat check was a basket of condoms.

Triumphs: Cheezhee can handle traditional lounge tunes like “Nights on Broadway,” but what really got the crowd excited was a medley that included numbers of the Sex Pistols, the Clash and the Ramones.