His picture does, anyway.
Wednesday evening, people sauntered in through the curtained doorway, making their way to seats around the stage.
They were there to watch “The Song + Gong Show,” a talent show reminiscent of variety shows from the 1970s.
Instead of celebrities, locals took their seats as judges and waited for the deviant talent show to begin.
They were not disappointed. Two women took the stage in the first act. Their names were “Smooth G” and Lorie Canada. They were the Satanettes.
They wore “mock-Pentecostal” clothing. Their hair was piled onto their heads in styles that would have been current two centuries ago. Their denim skirts were long enough to skim the floor, their black t-shirts loose and flowing. But on the fronts of the otherwise modest shirts were Pentagrams painted in white.
They began to shake the black pom poms in their hands.
“Satan, Satan, he’s our man, if God can’t stop him, no one can,” they cheered. “Gooooo Satan!”
One of them stumbled and fell as she tried to split her legs in a jump mid-air. There was laughter, and an awkward silence.
“Well, we didn’t expect to still be up here right now,” one of them said. “We expected to be gonged right now.”
They chanted impromptu Satan cheers. Finally, a gong rang. Everyone laughed in relief.
The judges began scoring them.
One judge introduced himself as Chad.
“I’m Chad,” he said. “My hobbies include —“
Someone else stopped him.
“Thanks Chad!” called a woman’s voice. He got no further in speaking until it was his turn to evaluate the Satanettes.
“You guys had a lot of spirit,” Chad said. “But you need to work on your ?execution.”
Overall, Satan’s cheerleaders received ratings of five out of 10.
One of the Satanettes spoke up.
“I’m disappointed we didn’t get a 666,” she said.
With a last little shake of their black pom poms, they descended into the darkness backstage.
Melinda Danielson said she came to the Back Door because she had enjoyed the original “Song + Gong” shows on TV. She sat with Shawn Fleming, who spoke to her suddenly.
“What was up with those protests earlier?” ?Fleming said.
Danielson wasn’t sure. But they said they knew a counter protester had been arrested earlier.
Danielson laughed.
“If you didn’t get ?arrested, come on over,” she said. Fleming laughed too.
“Come to your neighborhood gay bar for some wholesome fun,” he said. Fleming had been chosen to be a judge that night.
He was the one whose gong ring had cut the Satanette’s cheerleading performance short.
“I don’t know why I was asked to do this,” Fleming said. “This is my first time at a Gong show.”
Danielson said she liked the atmosphere of the Back Door because it gave acts like “The Song + Gong Show” a home.
“They’re pretty open to all kinds of art,” Danielson said.
