Jonny Whiteside
Troy Walker is a one-of-a-kind showstopper. The diminutive, defiantly queer, foul-mouthed, big-voiced, gender-bending phenom has been bringing Los Angeles audiences to their knees for the better part of six decades and remains as moving, hilarious, brilliant and provocative as ever. Back in the day, Phil Spector would dispatch goons with reel-to-reel tape machines to bootleg Walker's Sunset Strip shows, so he could rip off the song arrangements. Walker's celeb fans included Lux Interior, Louella Parsons, Elvis Presley (“Oh crap, the King is here, the queen better sing!”) and Ronald Reagan, who hired Walker to perform at two private parties at his Santa Barbara ranch. To this day, Walker's presentation, a feverish, stream-of-consciousness blitzkrieg of pop, country, soul and rock & roll, interspersed with witheringly delivered put-downs and ribald gags, is second to none. One of the Hollywood underworld's true royals, Walker appears at Cody's Viva Cantina every other Monday. No cover.
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