Four events of the third full week in July, offering diverse fare, at the Ice Palace, are considered here: Shequida's July 19 show; Whip It Out Wednesday, with Shay, on July 21; and Kamikaze Kabaret, featuring an appearance by Greg Walloch, followed by the Fire Island debut of campy Cuban diva Margarita Pracatan, on July 22.

Apart from the dancing, the 'commercials,' and the dance contest, of interest to some of us are the songs Shequida sings during her freewheeling and varied Monday night show. On the night discussed here, she lent her Juilliard-trained talent to her versions of "Doncha (wish your girlfriend was hung like me);" "Private Dancer," sung as "Tranny Singer," complete with welcome high soprano variations; "Let's Fall in Love," perched on an audience member's lap; and a cappella bits of "Hatikva" and "Haveinu Shalom Aleichem." DJ Chuck McTague assisted on this night and on Thursday.

Two nights later, the featured dancer at Ken Braun's Whip It Out Wednesday was Shay, the hot, handsome Israeli. Rhett Kalman was the bartender and DJ JonJon Battles was responsible for the music.

At Kamikaze Kabaret, the following night, which hostess Ariel Sinclair, in a fantastic, black Follies costume, opened with the magical mysticism of Grace Slick's "Dreams," comic raconteur Greg Walloch made a long-awaited return, sharing pithy observations about his gangster neighbor, vacationing with his parents, celebrity sightings in New York City and a strange experience with the now-homophobic Steven Baldwin, 99-cent-store pregnancy tests, how hetero men relate to a differently-abled gay man, and getting locked into Tomkins Square Park.

Next, Daniel Nardicio presented a performance by singer and keyboard player Margarita Pracatan, the 21st century's answer to Desi Arnaz's Ricky Ricardo, who charmed us with her red feather headdress, her boas, and her birdcalls, but especially her idiosyncratic take on a dozen familiar numbers, such as "Mamma Mia," "Simply the Best," "Copacabana," "I Will Survive," "Bad Romance," and "Alejandro," sung without pause. She often invited us to sing along with her, but with her unique pronunciation and phrasing, we couldn't always tell, right off, what the song was. Margarita's encore was Kander and Ebb's "New York, New York."