"You Know, She Painted My Mic White!"

This past Monday, Amy Matheny and I recorded another episode of The Windy City Queercast.

And, par for the course, we podcasted while eating. And drinking. This time at Halsted Bar & Grill.

We were joined by the uber-talented and ultra-fabulous David Cerda - - the Artistic Director of Hell in a Handbag Productions and member of my favorite band, The Joans.

And after chatting / interviewing Davy Joans, I almost got to enjoy showtunes at Sidetrack with Barbra Joan Streisand.

That's right. Barbra Streisand. At Sidetrack. This past Monday. Almost.

As you may or may not have seen last week, Barbra flew into town to tape "The Oprah Winfrey Show." And after the taping, La Streisand was going to come to Sidetrack. So that she could thank her fans.

That's actually the reason her people gave for Barbara's possible gay bar appearance. To thank her fans. And as cliched as it sounds, who else sat through "The Main Event" and bought "The Movie Album." That's right, the gays. Me included. And we gays love all the Barbaras. From bad perm to bad perm, and everything before, between and after.

Unfortunately, Streisand was flying into Chicago from Rome (this is total hearsay, but an unconfirmed rumor is good enough for me) and the flight was delayed. She landed at 6:30 p.m., the taping was supposed to begin at 7:00 p.m., and thirty minutes is barely enough time to get from the airport to Harpo Studios. Add to that the whole "Barbra Has to Sit on the Side of the Stage Oprah Usually Sits On" thing and the taping (I assume) started late, ended even later and kept La Streisand from her gays.

Oh well, I was still there when Bea Arthur hit Sidetrack. And truth be told, I'm more Bea than Barbra. Yeah, yeah... Shut up, Rose.

And while we're on the subject of going to a gay bar to thank your fans, I wonder if Oprah and Gayle are going to borrow Barbra's line. I can totally hear Oprah saying...

"Gayle and I are here this evening at Les Beaus to listen to some Indigo Girls music, watch "Personal Best," and show off of our new Birkenstocks, not because we're lesbians, but because we want to thank our fans."

Sure, Oprah. Sure. Whatever lets you sleep at night.