At the Museum at F.I.T. Couture Council summer party on Wednesday, Real Housewife Alex McCord raised an eyebrow when we asked if she’s planning any stunts for the upcoming Fashion’s Night Out, like singing. “Am I going to sing?” she asked in disbelief. No, she is not. But! “I’m going to sing this Friday night,” her husband, Simon van Kempen, chirped. “At Gumbo Dumbo, which is the second anniversary of Gumbo, which is a gay night at the Galapagos Art Space,” Van Kempen added. “I will be singing ’I Am Real,’” which, he says, is a song that “has an eighties vibe, it’s cheeky, it’s self-deprecating and it takes the piss out of reality TV.” The engagement came about when party promoter Ben Harvey contacted him through Facebook, and Van Kempen referred him to his booking agent. (Simon has a booking agent!) “And funnily enough, we ran into each other at the GLAAD summer event two weeks ago, and we cemented the deal that night on a handshake, and here we are. I’m singing ‘I Am Real,’ and it’s the best househusband song there is.”
Simon’s costume for the act will be pleather pants, in either red or blue; he’s still making up his mind. Pleather? we asked. In August? “Pleather, yeah. You get sweaty bollocks that way. Goes down well in a gay bar.”
