After seeing Maria Konner’s most recent live performance, I have come to believe that a true woman of rock and roll should always open her show with “FUCK YEA!”

On Friday, November 14th, the popular East Village music venue Pangea was the setting for a raucous celebration of the soundtrack to author/songwriter/musician/activist Maria Konner’s book Girl Shock!: I Dressed as a Girl for Halloween but then she took over my life! (Whoa!)  The title, of course, already says a lot about Maria’s trajectory of finding herself as both a woman and as an artist: in her own words, going “from straight to fabulous & naughty!”.  A mix of provocative (and sometimes adults-only!) storytelling and hard-hitting musical numbers like the title track Girl Shock! and Fuck Yea! (FYI: One of the selections from the soundtrack is actually named You’re Osmotically Sucking Brain Cells From My Head!), the night was not just a showcase of renegade talent.  It was also an important, no-holes-barred slice of life about finding both personal and professional happiness– merely by being true to oneself.

Ms. Konner was accompanied by Burnice Bellows on accordion, Mercy Be on saxophone, and her friend and frequent creative collaborator Jackson Sturkey on vocals.  In the musical based on Konner’s book, which features 22 songs, Sturkey plays the part of, and sings as, Maria’s male persona.  His character is simply known as “Dude” (Not “THE Dude”, just “Dude”!)  The show opened with a recreation of the first scene from the musical: Maria is applying her makeup, thoroughly loving the transformation.  The scene raises the question, “What is makeup?”  Is it a mask?  Is it war paint?  Or… is it a way for people to see the REAL Maria?  Maria used to be a married straight man living in the suburbs and “chasing the white picket fence”… but to paraphrase words of the titular anthem Girl Shock! (More about that later…), she soon came to the realization that “My insides and outsides are NOT the same!” A visit to a fabled transgender bar/nightclub called Divas followed. Soon afterward, in Maria’s oft-repeated words, life just became “better, and better, and better!” Konner’s feelings were so wonderfully put to music with the show’s second number Living As a Girl…  But let’s not jump ahead!  The opening song was named Everything, which expresses the performer’s desire to explore her female persona: “Please show me everything; I want it, I want it, I want it! Please show me everything, I want it so bad!  Please show me everything; I want it, I want it, I want it! Please show me everything, it’s more than I’ve ever had!”  

Sturkey also got the opportunity to go solo, and the song he gave the audience was Excuse Me Mr. Hayward, a story put to music about an unforgettable visit to an unnamed bar that was “way, way downtown”!  His performance was achingly romantic and absolutely exquisite, accompanied by perfect sax by Mercy Be. Later on in the evening, Sturkey gave the audience another solo, Dude’s Lament, was also an affecting display of Sturkey’s inimitable vocal skills.  But perhaps the best musical display of Konner’s and Jackson’s artistic chemistry was Maria’s phenomenal anthem of sexual identity, Girl Shock!  This song is a guaranteed banger, and it was also the high point of the evening. As one of Maria Konner’s most emblematic works, Girl Shock! is always an audience pleaser.  Speaking of audience pleasers: Fuck Yea! is about the unapologetic, unabashed joys of sexual freedom which our heroine experienced after discovering her true gender identity.  Maria Konner may have found her artistic spark in The City by the Bay, but Fuck Yea! 100% embodied the true spirit of the women of late 70’s-early ’80’s-style New York City punk rock: Debbie Harry, Patti Smith, Poly Styrene, and Jayne County.  It’s not just in the lyrics, but also in Konnor’s “bad girl” delivery and vocal style.  

Normally I don’t give away the final numbers of any show, but this time I will make an exception: The final number, You Are Me, is about reconciling the two sides of one’s personality: Maria and “Dude” come together.  As something of a love song to oneself–despite how compartmentalized one’s spirit can often be– it’s amazingly provocative and, dare I say, even “sweet”.  It’s also yet another display of the musical talents of the four artists on the stage that evening at Pangea.  Konner and Sturkey’s vocals have never sounded better, and they are perfectly adorned by their equally talented supporting musicians.   

As told by Maria, whether via printed words or live on stage, Girl Shock!: I Dressed as a Girl for Halloween but then she took over my life! is provocative, titillating, and occasionally, true to its name, shocking.  At the same time, it’s a universal story about finding true joy and happiness through the discovery of one’s true sexual identity.  That’s a message that EVERYONE can appreciate– whether or not you’ve ever tried “living as a girl”!  

You can listen to the soundtrack for Maria Konner’s Girl Shock!: I Dressed as a Girl for Halloween but then she took over my life! on YouTube here:   [ACT 1 BEGINS] Everything – Girl Shock! – YouTube  You can also download the songs on Apple Music here: https://music.apple.com/au/album/girl-shock-i-dressed-as-a-girl-for-halloween-and/18518625.  Also visit Maria Konner’s official website at:  http://www.MariaKonner.com.