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Non-Bravoholics are not wrong to question why one would see a jewelry designer in her mid-50s with no nightlife background do a DJ set. Revolution Hall sold out on Thursday regardless as Portland turned up and turned out for the girls, gays and theys’ middle school dance fantasy. (Rev Hall’s history as a former school only compounded this vibe.)
Real Housewives of Salt Lake City star Meredith Marks—Mer Mer, Big Mer or Mother Marks as fans call her—took on the turntables for a respectable full-length set of mostly 2010s and 2020s pop remixes, such as Rihanna, Lizzo, Kim Petras and Lady Gaga (with some Cascada and millennial Madonna sprinkled in for that classic Y2K gay touch). Everyone seemed to wonder what were they for this night. Online videos showed Marks stiff with low energy onstage in other cities, yet nobody had claimed they had a bad time. The final verdict? Marks could easily laugh her way to the bank, but she respected her audience’s time and the nocturnal ecosystem.
OutLoud, a queer and ally pop festival in West Hollywood and Boston, helped bring Marks’ Naughty and Ice Tour to Portland, and likely helped tie together other core elements of her show. Geometric patterns gave way to sleek loops of Marks connecting with the camera in a bubble bath (somehow her preference for baths is a multiseason defining personality trait) or posing in a feather-sleeved garment against the Rocky Mountains. Local opener Jess the Ripper heated up the dance floor as it filled with anticipation for Big Mer’s reveal. He dug a little deeper through his catalog than Top 40 and got slightly more complex with his beatmatching.
DJing is easier than ever thanks to modern software, which is likely how Marks caught up (one of the opening songs she played, Lindsay Lohan’s “Rumors” with snippets of her RHOSLC audio, very closely resembled a track posted to YouTube by New York DJ T. Kyle). My guest, the wife of a professional DJ, observed that Marks (clad in dark sunglasses and a glittery red strapless top) appeared appropriately in tune with song transitions, suggesting that she did more than bop around and press “play” on a fully preprogrammed set.
