What's this, Another Charo Article? Geez.

There's a vaudevillian quality to Charo -- the laying on of audience flattery, her slapsticky persona, jokes you can see coming from miles away, and all that glitz and innuendo. It's a style you might call Vegas-kitsch -- well, Reno-kitsch, at least. Flashing lights! Backup dancers with heaving bosoms, both male and female! Not-entirely-topical jokes about Joan Rivers' plastic surgery! Sounds like fun to us. And after our delightful chat with the eccentric, guitar-playing spitfire a few days ago, we couldn't wait to see her Saturday evening performance at the Herbst.

Several years ago, there appeared a Charo-themed article in the fabulous (and now sadly defunct) local cynicism-zine Bringdown. Writer Jay Owens travelled to Reno for Charo, and described a geriatric-crowd-pleasing first act of b-list pop music and goofy monologuing, followed by a more sophisticated second act of classical guitar (with synth accompaniment). That formula must've worked well, because it hasn't changed: a pop-song barrage, then a costume change ("I can't play the guitar looking this cheap," Charo said of her bright red sequined dress, before changing into a bright-yellow sequined pantsuit) and some intricate finger-acrobatics on the guitar.

Charo's simply stunning as a performer, in the sense that her frantic barrage might addle onlookers' brains. Can she possibly be for real? Er, forgive us, but we're a little skeptical. (After decades of living in the US, what person sincerely says, "it gives me bumps on my goose"?) But you know, so what if she's a bit affected? Charo's gotten a big thumbs-up from far more musically qualified analysts than ourselves, and made a superb centerpiece to a night on the town in Hayes Valley. Viva la Coochi.