Beatles Burlesque April 12, 2010

My mind is all about the "Beatles Burlesque" show coming up in a couple of weeks! The band, Ticket to Ride, have been rehearsing and holy crap they sound so rock and so amazing. Honi came by yesterday to rehearse her song too. The gogo dancers are planning the costumes, the flyer is done, the web site done, the line up is settled, press has been contacted. It's all coming together so well.

I'm a happy camper for sho. Happy everyone is having a good time prepping and enthusiastic and if I can buy pizza to keep the boys fueled, I do. Matt had the idea of shooting the band picture in a Chinese take out restaurant being that this is a "Calamity Chang" production and all - I love it. It's kitschy and very much in the spirit of burlesque. The boys look yummy. I would want to sleep with them if I saw them play especially the one on the left. (I wrote that cause I know you are reading this, you know who you are!)


TICKET TO RIDE!

I'm also very happy to report that Honi Harlow has asked me to be a regular at her monthly show "Harlow's Hideaway" at Fontana's on Eldridge Street! This is my first regular gig outside of my own shows and I'm fuckin thrilled!!! You have no idea how nice it feels sometimes to just go and do an act and enjoy a show, and not be the producer, the MC, the one that has to keep time and keep things together. Now the first Mondays of every month will be my un-manic Mondays! I also love this opportunity because Fontana's is walking distance so that saves me cab fare.

This Sunday's line up at Chow Bar

Check out the line up this Sunday, it's BEYOND!

and check out my new clip from the IVANAHelsinki Art Factory party where I modeled 6 outfits from the designer's new collection and did strip teases using my black fans. Filmed and edited by Dan Kim (aka: Morning Bamboo Wood).

Smearey!

Just got home from the Nurse Bettie show and saw how smeared my lipstick was!!

The show was packed again! We did well and the crowd was really really great! They were so fun and enthusiastic. I opened tonight cuz my costume for Enter Sandman is too elaborate and Brassy wasn't here tonight to intro-me so I just opened. And I think I like it better! For one, I don't have to change. Second, opening with Sandman got the crowd immeadiatedly revved up. Many dudes told me how rad it was and how they didn't expect something like that. One person said they loved it cuz it was so dark. Stephen mentioned the religious iconoclastic imagery in my pieces. All this is Exactly what I wanted for this act. I thbk Sandman and the Nun are perfect for this show.

I'm supposed to get a write up in TimeOut next Thursday in the "free love" issue. Yes, in the print magazine not just digital text! I have permission now to hire more acts and paid gogo dancers! Stephen and I are both so happy and excited to continue building this show out cuz this baby is growing rapidly in a mAjor way evry time I do it. To think just four hours ago I wanted nothing more than to eat chicken nuggets and watch sitcoms in bed! I worked 12 hours yesterday on a pitch for work at an agency I haven't freelanced at in two years because they exhaust me creatively. But I love the people there and the work that come out are really top notch. Stuff you can be proud to put in your book. Anyway I digress. Tomorrow I design the HOT Beatles Burlesque flyer that Michael and I shot so late and spontaneously the other night while drunk. Love it when that happens! A true creative partnership is Thrilling!!!! Oh and tmrw I'm treating myself to Otto Dixs show at Neueu Gallerie and shopping at Mandees with my 20% discount card. Bitches!

My band!

I'm sitting in the floor of the rivington music rehearsal space watching the band rehearse for the first time all the songs we are doing for Beatles Burlesque and I'm getting chills listening to them. I heard Brassy singing Dear Prudence before I walked in and it was so beautiful to hear her voice try something so gentle yet soulful. Kenball is an amazing bassist. He teaches music during the day and it's absolutely invaluable having him be a part of this show. Our friend Matthew Egan of "Made of Babies" is one spectacular drummer. Hot fucking damn. I'm not going to rave about Michael on guitar cuz obviously I'm going to say he's great - I can say that it's liberating to hear him play loud and aggressive and in a proper music studio.
This show is gonna rock!!!

Wonton Tacos

• 11th Avenue
• $20 cab ride
• A slippery stage
• Zipper malfunction

That about sums up the first part of my Saturday night at the Cain Luxe show! The space is beautiful adorned with what I assume to be faux elephant tusks as giant pillars surrounding the room and antelope horns as doorhandles. In the center of the room is a skinny long catwalk flanked by loungey sofas on either side. The lighting technician was great. He was professional and helped me figure out how to find a chair for one act (the club did not have a chair to use as a prop). The bartender...not so great. She ignored me and another girl while she was busy making googly eyes with the manager. We must have asked her for a drink three times before she finally turned around and was like, "Oh, sorry..." Whatever! The only sorry here is your brain, lady! This kind of attitude only further confirms my belief that Meatpacking nightclubs only attracts ugly people and it also further affirms my decision to not venture west of 7th Avenue and north of 14th Street (except when having to work or go to Conway or to fabric stores or see a film or try a new hot restaurant or visit a good friend).

I did meet the other performers who were cool, funny women. There was a modern dancer named Jasmin and this girl had the BEST sculpted thighs I've ever seen. You can tell she's been dancing all her life just by her legs. They were like thighs you see in anatomy books where you can see every muscle group. There was a belly dancer named Elektra who I really liked too. The show was billed as "Belly Dance vs. Burlesque" but it wasn't a real competition. At the end of the show the MC decided it was a tie. Scout Durwood was there too but I missed her act because I had to change. My first act was the nun and the only "stage" big enough to fit a fold-up chair was above the speakers which meant there wasn't enough room to walk around the chair, and it was very hard climbing up and down the platform on six inch platform vinyl boots. This is Suck Part Uno.

Suck Part Dos: Second act debut of Enter Sandman. The catwalk is slippery. Too slippery to really be suitable for performing. Elektra and Jasmin both danced barefoot and said it was slippery for them. I slipped a little climbing onto it. (Again, why am I climbing in the first place???) First minute goes well as planned. Prop opens as planned. Gloves come off as planned. Dudes love the song so that's already working in my favor. The costume is elaborate, another plus. When it came time for the zipper, STUCK STUCK STUCK!!! The little motherfucker would NOT budge and if this skirt doesn't come off the rest of the costume wont come off. I finally had to just throw out all choreography or structure and just improvise. Thankfully for the group of enthusiastic Metallica heads on the side, I asked one of the guys to open the zipper and sure enough, he unzipped it lickety split with one swift pull and ended my misery. Oh, sweet death.

After Cain, I headed over to Floating Kabarett at Galapagos dropping another $20 something in cab fare. Too many props and I hate taking public transportation in drag. I was so happy to be there and see Brassy, Michael, Diane, and Rosebud. It was a good night there for most part except sound was off cue most of the night. I did Sandman again at Kabarett and I realized that doing Cain was good because if the zipper fuck up happened here instead of there, there would be NO audience nearby to help unzip me. I would have been FUCKED and probably never get booked there again! The burlesque gods must have been watching out for me. Thank you! The last act was messed up because sound didn't have the overlay track that was supposed to play along with Brassy and Michael. So they stood there for a seemingly infinite amount of time on stage waiting for the track to start, then finally sound just played the original track and I just had to come out and dance. Brassy and Michael had to just step off to the side of the stage. I was pissed about that. Bjorn and Olga covered this slip up so good though. They said, "Wow, that was so postmodern." Haha. I was a total pomo-head in college and I love that kind of theory humour. Bjorn and Olga introduces me as someone who they found in the midwest eating wonton tacos. Then he was telling me that "wonton tacos" really exist at Applebees!
If that's not proof that we have finally made the cross-over, I don't know what would. Wontons at Applebees! It's time to start the Chinese Pride Parade!

After the show I hung out with Rosebud because she's in my Beatles Burlesque show at Public Assembly on April 12. We talked about the acts she is doing for it and I can't wait to see them! The show line-up is intense! Confirmed performers are Gal Friday, Stormy Leather, Honi Harlow, Madame Rosebud, and Broadway Brassy. Then I realized I was STARVING!! The only thing I ate that day was 4 chicken nuggest and some fries at noon. So we called Arecibo and went to the only place open 24/7 in Lower East Side: Remedy Diner. I had a turkey sandwich and Michael had a burger. I thought it was really good! The lettuce was crisp and clean, the bread was good, and I loved sitting at the counter overhearing drunk people's phone conversations with other drunk people on the other line.

A whole lotta stuff

Tomorrow night at Nurse Bettie is going to be crazy! I can see the show becoming popular on a week to week basis. Last week, it was so packed I couldn't even move around the bar during intermission. Tomorrow night I have booked Akynos, Lil Miss Lixx, Tansy, and Brassy. I also know that my friend Kelli is having her birthday drinks there so you know it's gonna be a mad house! Maybe I should take Friday off from work? I love going out to grab a bite to eat and a few drinks to wind down after a show. Ummm tempting tempting.

Saturday night I'm doing two shows back to back. First is Alter Ego at Cain in Chelsea then right over to Floating Kabarett. I am doing Enter Sandman at both plus 2 other numbers. The act has finally come together and I am very pleased with it.

Sunday night at Dim Sum Burlesque I am having Jezebel Express, Honi Harlow, and Minnie Tonka, all new to the show at Chow. I am SO excited about this powerhouse combo and can't wait to see what they'll come up with. Honi is also in my Beatles Burlesque show at Public Assembly on April 12 - I love her! She's so great.

Victorian Studies

I am working on a new number to Metallica's "Enter Sandman" that will be debuting this Saturday at Galapagos' Floating Kabarett. There is still quite a lot to be done but if things go well, I may debut it at Nurse Bettie on Thursday and do it at the Alter Ego party on Saturday before I do Floating Kabarett. This number is the culmination of years of reading about the Victorian era. Specifically death, mourning, and the nascent of visual culture studies through the mediums of photography, the printing press, and mechanical reproduction of art works (Walter Benjamin is a huge influence in my academic interests). The act is about death and mourning, and it touches on the tradition of death portraits. The Victorians took portraits of loved ones who have died, and the setting of these death portraits are usually done in the parlor where the corpse is still dressed as if living and propped up on chairs and positioned as if they were still living. There are a lot of things out there about this practice and in the last few years there has been more interests in popular culture. For instance, in the film The Others (starring Nicole Kidman) her character finds photos of her servants in death portraits but she doesn't realize they are death pictures and just thought they were terribly... strange. Here's an example of what they look like:

Working on this number has allowed me to dig out and indulge in all my Victorian books from photography as medium (Met exhibition from years ago) to graphic design costume books to old factoid books about life and times of Victorians. I get to make a giant size memento mori locket as a prop AND I get to design my costume ALL in black. Dame Cuchifrita has helped me tremendously in developing this character and act. We had a couple of glasses of wine one night, she did some sketching, and we hashed it out. I realized that maybe I'm a closeted steampunker. That's more really frightening to me than these death portraits.

Last Night's Show @ Public Assembly

Was tremendous!!! I was nervous because it was a new venue and a MUCH larger venue with a real stage waaaay up there. Although I've performed many times here on my own and knew the space, it was a whole other monster hosting the entire show and running 12 acts. I really felt grateful having Brassy there because our bantering on stage took some of the pressure off of me during the first set. The lights are quite bright at PA and I couldn't see anyone in the audience. I feed off primarily from the audience, on their body language, their response, and I was thrown off a bit because it was just a dark mass out there except for the table of girls in the front from Georgia who were boisterous and burlesque virgins. Having a real sound booth and Jesus working the sound booth was SUCH a luxury and being able to hear the guitar the way it's SUPPOSED to sound like during Michael's duets with Brassy (House of the Rising Sun, Magic Man) made me so happy. I ran the show in 2 big sets of 6 acts plus a drinking game and a mini-gogo song dance where I poured Bud Light all over myself. I got positive feedback and I can't wait for next month when I do "Beatles Burlesque" with a live band! I am casting and finalizing the songs. I'm happy to announce that so far the line-up includes Honi Harlow, Madame Rosebud, and Broadway Brassy.