Glenn Soukesian
Colton Ford Introduces Glenn Soukesian
The Duplex, NYC, November 24, 2019
Reviewed by Bart Greenberg
Glenn Soukesian is a very popular and talented performer of dance music with some ventures into R&B. Colton Ford is a very popular retired star of gay porn videos. They happily share the same body and evidently the same fine sense of humor. It also seems clear that Soukesian is a musician who became a porn star rather than the other way around. He was clearly unapologetic about his past career without relying on it, making only quick and light references to it. Of course, it was a sensual performance with plenty of hip action when he was dancing around the limited stage space of The Duplex, and his hands tended to stray toward his crotch throughout.
Soukesian is also an accomplished songwriter who writes much of his own material. He offered up some of his hits, such as “He Ain’t No Good” and “That Don’t Make It Right.” The former was his rousing opener, after which he removed his stylish sunglasses, announcing that this was his only costume change of the evening. Both numbers displayed a fine, high tenor voice over which he had complete control. “Won’t Look Back” was written about someone who requested that no song be written about him (one of his many delightfully snarky comments). A great deal of heat was created by his duet with one of his guest stars, the explosive Antoinette Roberson, on another of his compositions, “Now’s the Time.” The songs, while perfect for the dance floor, showed a flaw in a cabaret setting of not building dramatically in any way. There was also an issue of his performing to highly produced prerecorded tracks that occasionally overwhelmed him.
And then Soukesian invited jazz pianist David Raleigh to join him on stage. With a distinct shift in style, the two gentlemen duetted on the classic “Misty” giving it an intimate jazzy performance that traded lyric lines back and forth. The star then followed this with a surprisingly sentimental and lightly delivered “The Christmas Song.” These two numbers suggested he might consider expanding his repertoire to include some more traditional material.
Soukesian certainly knows how to work a room with both charm and humor and is terrific at working within the genres he’s comfortable in. Hopefully, in the future he’ll take some more interesting chances.
