Ex-con Gloria Trevi plays S4
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| GAY QUEEN: Trevi is already a gearing up for Pride 2008. |
Gloria Trevi’s reputation could shock even Courtney Love.
Much of what the public knows about the Mexican superstar has come through the grapevine. And it’s tough to sort out what’s hype from what’s real.
The facts of Trevi’s career are simple: Born in Monterrey in 1968, she moved to Mexico City as a teen, hoping to launch a career in pop music. By the late ’90s, she was one of the biggest female stars in Latin America, recording six top-selling albums and starring in films and TV specials. With her ripped fishnet stockings and wild-grrl gesticulations, Trevi became a pop-culture Latina feminist. During concerts, she’d invite a male audience member onstage only to remove his belt and beat him with it. The nickname “Mexican Madonna” has stuck to her like glue.
Trevi’s popularity increased tremendously. However, she was ruthlessly criticized by conservatives. Her song and video “Todos me miran” was about about gay men coming out, which became a No. 1 hit on Mexico’s billboard chart.
But she encountered severe troubles in 1999, when Trevi, along with her husband-manager Sergio Andrade, was accused of kidnapping and brainwashing young singers and turning them into sex slaves for Andrade.
For two years she tried to fight extradition while jailed in one of Brazil’s harshest prisons. During her incarceration, Trevi supposedly impregnated herself using a syringe made out of a ballpoint pen and sperm smuggled from a Brazilian drug lord.
In 2004, Trevi was released, only to be acquitted for lack of evidence. And it’s been speculated that Trevi’s overtly sexual image, along with her liberal views on abortion, gay rights and sex out of wedlock may have contributed to her trouble in her conservative homeland.
In 2004, she played the Smirnoff Music Center and earned rave reviews. Since then, she’s become a regular performer at LGBT Pride events in the U.S. Along with Erasure, Trevi is already scheduled to headline San Diego Pride 2008. On Thursday, she performs what promises to be an especially intimate gig at S4. She’s only expected to sing about four or five songs from her new album “Una Rosa Blu.”
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Madonna movie to debut in Berlin
The first film directed by Madonna will have its world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival, Feb. 7-17. “Filth and Wisdom,” a romantic musical comedy reportedly based on the star’s own experiences, is Britain’s entry in the festival’s Panoroma section, but will not be in line for an award in the main competition.
Get this our dear Madge isn’t the star of the film. In fact, she doesn’t appear in “Filth and Wisdom” at all: Eugene Huetz plays the lead role.
Wanted: Madonna drag performers
An off-Broadway cabaret game show in New York City called “The Ultimate Drag Off” seeks men and women to do their best Madonna impersonations singing live or lip-sync. The talent call is for MadonnaLoveFest to be held Feb. 2. Performers do two songs, and the audience votes. Submit your best Madonna photos or video clips.
For information, visit TheDragOff.com
GREET GLORIA
Trevi performs at Station 4, 3911 Cedar Springs Rd. Jan. 10. Doors at 9 p.m. $17. For information, ClubPapi.com
This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition January 4, 2008