Resolutions, do they accomplish anything?

While most people are looking forward to their resolutions for 2014, I have to wonder what did I actually get accomplished in 2013?  Did I keep any of my 2013 New Years resolutions?  I looked, I couldn't find that I made any resolutions last year.  Was my 2012 resolution to not have any?  I'm super goal oriented so not making any resolutions doesn't mean I didn't accomplish things and move forward, I just didn't treat them as resolutions of "this will be different in 2013" because my goals didn't really change that much from the year before.

The biggest thing I accomplished in 2013 was I finished my last semester to get a degree in Technical Theater from Georgia Perimeter College.  This was a goal, but not a specific 2013 goal, I started going back to school while I was working at the law firm back in Spring of 2008 before I was laid off and then I started again once I was eligible for a Pell Grant in Fall of 2011.  Much more of a long term goal then one of a resolution for 2013, but since it happened in 2013 does it count?  I worked for a long time to keep up the straight As I got from Fall of 2011 through my final semester.

I did get to do my first professional (paid) lighting design for Lady Lay at 7 Stages Theater.  This is why I've been going to school.  So I would have enough skills to keep myself employed regardless of what the job openings were.  Stage Manager, Costumer, and now Lighting Designer.  I was also thrilled to add Production Manager to this list this year as well.  The only way to stay employed in theater is to be able to do ANYTHING so they can use you regardless of what they have available.  Make yourself invaluable and they can't help but want to keep you!

Syrens of the South lost a venue and then found a new monthly home at The Shelter and 7 Stages.  We had two super successful show at 7 Stages with Syrens celebrating its 6th birthday (we're now in our 7th season) and a SOLD OUT 7th Annual Tits for Toys for Tots show.  We ran a wonderful monthly show at The Shelter from May through Dec that brought together the community a great deal with helping fund Southern Fried Burlesque Fest as well as an outlet for performers new and old to test out new acts and get videos of performances.  Sadly, as of tonight the Shelter is closing but it has been very good to us over the past 4 years as we've performed there MANY times since they opened as guests, features and sometimes just because we were getting rowdy as customers.  But notice that it's a 4 year relationship with The Shelter and our 7th Anniversary.  We moved to 7 Stages because I started working there in 2012 and that relationship is what led to our shows being there, again not a 2013 only decision.

Southern Fried Burlesque Fest, I launched a Kickstarter to pay off the 2013 festivals bills and raise the money for the down payment for the 2014 festival and it was successful.  I was shocked, we even went a little over so we were able to pay off the SFBF credit card as well which was amazing.  We've actually already been able to pay $4000 of the $8500 we have to pay for the hotel space (not including air fare, hotels rooms, performance fees, etc...) which is a huge leap from where we normally are.  The Kickstarter may be the only thing that was thought of and executed in 2013, but Southern Fried has been my baby since 2010 when I began working on the 1st one that took place in 2011.

In January I began working at Studio Burlesque which later became The Atlanta School of Burlesque under Ursula Undress' leadership.  Not my first time teaching (obviously since Ursula was once a student of the Syrens of the South ABCs and 123s of Burlesque back in the day) but my first time having it be a main source of income and a steady job with a schedule.  A nice evolution of things I have been working towards since I started teaching in 2007.  (WOW, has it been that long already?)

So these were my big life changing things in 2013 which all happened due to YEARS of hard work rather than a major change in 365 days.  Maybe that's the point of this post, these things don't happen over night, they don't happen in the span of a year, everything we do leads us to our future and those are years in the making.  I think it is good to have goals, I like lists to check off to have a feeling of accomplishment when I am working on things.  Everyday we make choices, those choices pile up into our futures.  Instead of trying to change over night make one choice each day that makes you better than the day before and eventually you'll be the person your resolutions say you are.

And on that note, I guess I should have some resolutions that are doable.

1. Exercise for at least one hour three days a week.  I actually am usually pretty good about this and seeing as a teach two 45 minute classes per week this is a pretty easy goal.  I would like to get my yoga DVD back on my schedule and I think not having an 8:30am class will definitely help with that.  Also, I like short, easily accomplished goals so me and the 30 day challenges are going to probably become friends again.

2. Eat more vegetables.  I actually really like vegetables, my problem has been I have been super busy and my eating habits have been kinda crap.  I just generally need to pay more attention to what I put in my body.  I am not giving up anything or denying myself anything, I just need to add some healthy things in there as well.

3. See my friends more.  I have been so busy with work and school many of my personal relationships have suffered.  Even if I just go hang out once a week with someone I'll be doing infinitely better than I have been able to do.

4. Do more things...I need more adventures.  I need to say yes to more things instead of being weird about wandering out by myself or feeling silly.  Silly feels awesome and should be embraced more.

5. Organize my existence more.  I need structure to get things done, that's what being in school has taught me.  I work best with a schedule.  All of my other goals will be more easily accomplished if I do this one thing.

5 resolutions seems like a nice number so I'll stop there.  Am curious as to what other people's resolutions are/will be and how many other people accomplished from the year before.

2013-12-15 RIP Peter O'Toole

Peter O'Toole passed away today at age 81.  I am sure that most people will be talking about his Academy Award nominated performance in Lawrence of Arabia , his triumphs as Hamlet on the British stage before he was discovered, or his final Academy Award nomination for Venus.  However, those aren't the things that made me adore him as an actor and spending the rest of my life excited when I saw his name associated with a project.  No, I discovered Peter O'Toole through one of my favorite movies, High Spirits.

You know the moment I said the title of that movie you paused, remembered it fondly and smiled, or maybe even chuckled just a little bit.  The story of the drunken family failure Peter Plunkett trying to save his ancestral castle by creating fake ghosts and high jinx in-sue when the actual ghosts decide to give him more than he bargained for.  It's amazing, it's cheesy and it's fun.  That was how I first discovered Peter O'Toole and that is always the character I will first think of whenever his name comes up and it is always a fond memory that makes me smile.  I was 9 when that movie came out, so that will always be with me as part of my childhood.

You grow up and discover that he was also in Caligula with Malcolm McDowell who is one of my favorite actors.   He was the Pope in the television show The Tudors which was an amazing series, but I have to say that I loved him as the voice of Anton Ego in Ratatouille.  The hardened food critic whose heart was soften by a cooking rat and a boy who finds his confidence.  I bring up these particular roles to show the insane amount of versatility that he had as an actor.  If you look at his IMDB page there is never really a gap in his resume, he was constantly working and bringing his art and flair to all of his projects.  I am saddened by this loss, but I am grateful for the years of entertainment and joy that he brought into my life as an artist.

RIP Shelter: End of an Era...

Syrens of the South has been performing off and on at The Shelter since it opened 4 years ago and since May we have been doing a monthly Tease Tuesday show as a fundraiser for Southern Fried Burlesque Fest.  New Year's Eve, December 31, 2013, will be The Shelter's last night open.  Sadly, it is not that the club failed, that it wasn't popular or that it had fallen out of fashion, it is for reasons out of the club owners control...stupid plumbing and the owners of the building will have to gut everything to fix it which is why we're loosing our home.  I guess it's better to go out the hero than stick around long enough to become the villain.  The Shelter is definitely going out the hero! 

This past Tuesday, Dec 10th, was our final Tease Tuesday there.  It was a fairly packed house, especially for a Tuesday, and we had a great last show.  Many of us are planning on spending out New Year's Eve at The Shelter so we can be surrounded by our friends in one of our favorite places one last time.

We are pleased to let everyone know that Tease Tuesdays aren't dying.  Syrens of the South will be at Red Light Cafe on January 14th with special guest Paco Fish headlining.  This will continue to be a fundraiser for the Southern Fried Burlesque Fest March 20-23, 2014.  We hope to see you there and see if Red Light Cafe can be our new home for our monthly endeavors!

2013-08-03 RIP Dixie Evans, the Marilyn Monroe of Burlesque

Dixie Evans, The Marilyn Monroe of Burlesque, press photo.

Dixie Evans, The Marilyn Monroe of Burlesque, passed away yesterday morning, she was 86.  Dixie was an amazing burlesque performer and performed Marilyn Monroe tribute routines due to her very similar look.  However, even though her career as a headliner was very impressive, what she did in her retirement would inspire generations of performers.

After Jennie Lee's passing, Dixie took over the Goat Farm and created the Miss Exotic World competition which would later become the Burlesque Hall of Fame.  The museum, the legend shows and panels, classes and sense of family that these events have brought to the burlesque community through out the world is because of Dixie.  I have learned more about the history of burlesque by sitting in panels, drinking at bars, and just being around the amazing legends that this weekend draws each year.

Myself, Dixie Evans, Talloolah Love and Siren Santina at BHoF 2008.

Dixie, herself, was a petite woman who was a class act all the way.  She was gracious whenever she met anyone, always willing to pose for a picture.  She wanted to meet everyone and was always encouraging newer performers to express themselves and make their act their own burlesque.  Dixie loved burlesque and the fact that it was evolving into something new, a cross between the classic elements and the influence of modern times.  I encourage everyone to read Jo Weldon Interviews Dixie Evans.  It is an amazing article from how she got into burlesque, becoming the Marilyn Monroe of Burlesque and the evolution of the Museum.

Thanks to Dixie keeping the art alive and available to future generations I will always know exactly where I was when I heard the news, I was at the Syrens of the South 6 year anniversary show.  The show I produce has been running for 6 years, it can now go to kindergarten.  With out Dixie's inspiration and love of burlesque we may never have even known about burlesque.  Burlesque has given me some of my most amazing memories, stories I will definitely be repeating while I'm in the old folks home, and friendships that will last a life time.  It is this amazing part of my existence and I have Dixie Evans to thank for that.

When Dixie suffered her stroke a few months ago the entire burlesque community came together from around the world to create Dixie Evans Week.  Syrens of the South's show is scheduled for August 27th at The Shelter in Atlanta.  We will still be doing that show in her honor because that's what she would have wanted.  There is discussion of having a legend's fund to help the burlesque legends with medical bills and such or it will be donated to the Burlesque Hall of Fame to keep her dream and what she started alive.

On a side not, Marilyn Monroe passed away on August 5, 1962.  Dixie Evans, the Marilyn Monroe of Burlesque, passed away on August 3, 2013 during Marilyn Memorial Weekend.  We got an addition 51 years of Dixie.  I know it's just a coincidence, but I prefer to think of it as dedication to her art, she stayed in character until the end because that's what class acts do!  We love you Dixie!

2013-07-28 RIP Eileen Brennan

Eileen Brennan will always be Mrs. Peacock to me.  Clue has been one of my favorite movies since I first saw it in the theater.  We must have gone to go see it a dozen times in the theater trying to track down the brilliance of the alternate endings that were sent out to different theaters.  It is one of the best ensemble cast movies ever made and there isn't a weak link in the entire cast.  Mrs. Peacock was the eccentric ditz whose mismatched wardrobe walked the fine line between rich and crazy cat lady which only made you love her more.

Her career was more than this one amazing role, she was the Drill Sargent in Private Benjamin with Goldie Hawn and won an Emmy when she reprised that role for the TV series.  She was also in The Sting with Robert Redford and Paul Newman and The Last Picture Show. She was a Broadway star, she was the original Irene Malloy in Hello Dolly, and turned movie and television actress.  She was on almost ever major television show during the past 30 year from Murder She Wrote to Blossom to Taxi to Tales From the Crypt.  She was even the crotchety voice for many children's cartoon characters including the cartoon Dennis the Menace.  Eileen Brennan was amazing actress has moved on due to losing her battle with bladder cancer at a hospice in Burbank, CA.  She was 80 years old.
 

Babies are great....I just can't eat a whole one

If you type "Royal Baby" into Google you get "About 2,100,000,000 results (0.30 seconds)".  It is a headlining story on ABC, CBS, NBC, USA Today, Washington Post, etc...  Everyone is royal baby crazy.  My friend Kells Hildebrandt had one of the best reactions that I have seen:

"I mean, I know it's exciting when people have babies, but are we really celebrating that a university educated woman gave up a career to become a welfare recipient, and spend the rest of her life dependent on public criticism of what she wears and what offspring her uterus produces? Indeed, let's fucking reinforce the patriarchy a little more. And also, we should wait with baited breath until the baby's name is released after christening, a tradition that dates back to days when individuals actually didn't have names until the Church recorded them. What century are we in?"

Yet, as we are judging and wondering why it's all over the news and why people care, we're talking about it too.  Sure, I really don't care what the name is, unless it's something crazy like Obadiah, Ishmael, or Eleazar...really there are any number of awesome old Biblical boys names that would be interesting.  However, I think that we as America care about the Royal Family because there's part of this country that will always be connected to England because it wasn't that long ago that we were a colony and it was part of our culture.  We're barely over 200 years old as a country, we're young.  We moved out of the house and we're living on our own, but as a country we still not really adults yet.  It's like we're occasionally calling home to hear what the old gang is up to while we're finding ourselves at college.

We don't have a royal family in America.  We've elevated celebrities to this status because we want to believe that there are people out there who are better and more interesting than we are and traditionally this role was filled by the monarchy.  It's in our nature to want to believe that there is something better and that getting a glimpse of it makes us connected to the objects of our obsession.  And yes, I just called people objects because that's what we turn them into when we believe we have the right to know every detail of their lives and to judge them for it, because the rest of us are obviously perfect.  We relate through faults because it makes us feel like the people we idolize for their talents are just as human as the rest of us.  We judge and make fun of them because we're jealous that they're lives seem better then ours.  If we were secure and happy in our lives we'd leave them alone, but we're not.  No one is contented and that's why we watch Jerry Springer, why we read tabloids, why we care that a woman that we have never met, thousands of miles away has just had a baby just like thousands of other women did at the exact same time, but since this one's going to be a Prince and may someday be King, we care.

Me, I'm just going to keep reading the only tabloid I ever had a subscription to, Weekly World News!

Moving into the 21st century!

I am so very angry at Comcast. We need to have internet access because if I do not have internet I will murder everyone not be able to do my homework and for a little bit extra we got basic cable.  Basic cable means we get the bare minimum, sure no HB-Ho, Skinamax, or Show-me-time, but also no FX so I can't watch Archer or American Horror Story, no bunches of other channels that I didn't realize were fancy and most recently they just took away TBS.  I live in Atlanta, the home of Turner, and we don't have Turner Broadcasting Station...seriously, that's really messed up.  What am I going to watch when the History Channel isn't running a marathon of serial killer documentaries, cult docudramas, specials about zombies, Caligula and giant snakes?  (And that marathon is seriously how I spent this past Saturday, everything mentioned was played all day!)
I have an ancient 32 inch TV that I bought when I first moved to Atlanta.  It was bought for a Superbowl party at the Gothic Halfway House(TM).  The TV was too big for the entertainment center so we twist tied a a jug of water to the back of it to keep it from toppling out.  It was a wonderful engineering design of those in their early twenties.  I eventually got an entertainment center that the giant TV fit on and it's been a faithful TV for many years.  The last few years the picture started flickering, the sound occasionally bounces off and on so I starting thinking that when it dies I should get a new TV. So almost 2 years ago I inherited a 50 inch flat screen TV.  For almost 2 years it has been sitting on the floor of my junk area dining room just taking up space and blocking my ability to get to the bottom shelves of my bookcase waiting for the 32 inch TV to die so I can replace it with a beautiful 50 inch flat screen modern technology.  However, the loss of TBS (among other channels) prompted me to want to rearrange the everything I do from eat to use the computer to do homework and work living room to make room for the giant 50 inch tribute to modern technology and have it close enough to the router so I could hook up the internet to the Blu-Ray player.  I always said that once we rearranged the the living room to accommodate the internet I'd get Netflix...turns out I may not have to!
So I plug everything into the internet and it asks me if I want to sign into my Amazon account.  I have Amazon Prime because it's cheaper then all of the shipping I would have to pay with all of my school books I have to order each semester.  Turns out that along with free two day shipping I get a bunch of movies and TV shows live streaming for FREE!  I am a cheap ass bitch and love getting things for free.  Finally I will be able to watch Downton Abbey which I have been missing since it started because I don't have a DVR and I'm never home when it's on.  Tonight, I watched American Horror Story for the first time.  It was awesome, the entire first season is free!  Sure, I may be behind, but at least I can catch up rather than not get to see it at all.  I realize that this is old news to most people, but I am excited about getting to watch television shows that I haven't been able to.  Maybe now I will quit threatening to cut a bitch if they tell me how a series is going to end because I may actually already know for a change.

**EDIT**  Add TNT to the list of channels they just took away...

Dementia Juice at Dad's Garage June 21 - July 27

So one of the perks of working at a theater is sometimes you get free tickets to other theaters, that whole professional courtesy thing.  In this case it was, "hey, come help take the 7 Stages Youth Creates program to Dad's Garage to see a play" ...so for the rest of this review please keep in mind we had around 32 children ages 9-19, six of them from Holland and three of them from Israel with us in the audience.  (Explaining some of the phrases that didn't quite translate was both awkward and awesome)

If you are unfamiliar with the amazing experience that is Dad's Garage, it has been one of my favorite theater's since I moved to Atlanta.  With productions like Debbie Does Dallas the Musical, Reefer Madness the Musical, drunken midnight puppet slams, classes and amazing improv workshops and shows it has one of the most active and creative theaters in town.  If you're going to/have make/made it as an actor in Atlanta Dad's Garage is somewhere on your resume.  And in August, Dad's Garage is moving into 7 Stages because they've lost their lease so these two amazing forces will be combining for a ton of awesome!  However, this means that Dementia Juice is the last show that will ever be in the current Dad's Garage space.  It's change and it's kinda sad.  The first show I ever stage managed in Atlanta was at Dad's Garage so it hold a special place in my heart.

• Rodrigo (Lucky Yates, left), Helena (Amber Nash), and Daniel (Tom Rittenhouse)

So, Dementia Juice...the write up for press states, "When you meet your girlfriend’s parents for the first time, you want to make a good impression, right? Unfortunately that’s pretty hard to do when the walls are melting, everyone’s faces keep swapping, and her dad catches on fire right in front of your eyes. Either you just walked into a Dali painting or you’re on a serious acid trip."  A young scientist who may have found the cure for dementia gets ready to meet his beautiful fiance's eccentric parents and shows that there's a fine line between being insane and being on drugs.  This show is a combination of puppets, live acting, the best use of the main stage space and curtain system I have ever seen there and a custom toilet that you have to see to believe.  Sure, there's partial nudity, incest, Polyamourous Satanic Masons and a little plant sex, but that's what I've come to expect from Dad's Garage over the years.  There were so many moments during the show I was laughing out loud, a few times I was laughing so hard I was in tears.  It's a little bit like Animaniacs and Evil Dead II got drunk during a vintage horror convention and this was the result...did I mention there's an awkward dance number?

Written and directed by Kevin Gillese, the Artistic Director of Dad's Garage and Michael Haverty, the Associate Artistic Director of 7 Stages, I hope that this is a sign of the amazing things to come when the two theaters share a home for a while.  Also, if you're into the show Archer, Helena is played by Amber Nash (voice of Pam Poovy) and demented/dementia ridden Rodrigo is played by Lucky Yates (voice of Doctor Krieger) and they do a wonderful job as the in-laws-to-be.  Their zany hi jinx was a wonderful balance to the young scientist Daniel (played by Tom Rittenhouse) who has a great journey from mousy scientist to acid tripping defender of love along with his baseball referencing fiance Rachel (played by Perry Frost) as the semi-straight men in this show.  This is an amazing high note for the building to go out on...I am sure that the weird energy of Dad's Garage will be a legacy in the condos they will be building on it's rubble.  

Dementia Juice Through July 27. $7-$21. Thurs.-Sat., 8 p.m. Dad's Garage Theatre, 280 Elizabeth St. 404-523-3141. www.dadsgarage.com.

Southern Fried, Lady Lay, Taste, and other things that will amaze you!

After Southern Fried Burlesque Fest...which was amazing and I cannot say enough good things about everyone that was involved.  Frankly though it deserves it's own post, but I just am so far behind that's just not going to happen for me.  Our special guests: Roxie D'Lite, Russell Bruner, Toni Elling, Juith Stein, Orchid Mei, Talloolah Love, Kisa von Teasa and all of our amazing performers in all the showcase and the competitors for the crown.  So proud that Atlanta's own Lola le Soleil won the Southern Fried Queen.  It's our first time keeping the crown in state!  The hotel was amazing and we will be going back next year, our dates are March 20-23, 2014 and we hope that you will all save the date.  In lieu of the fact that I'm so far behind, go see the pretty pictures that StunGun Photography took, you can click the link and see their awesome show shots.  They were also nice enough to take some studio shots as well.

So why have I been so far behind?  Well, as I started to say before I got distracted...after Southern Fried Burlesque Fest I immediately started working as Lighting Designer for an awesome production over at 7 Stages called Lady Lay.  This was moderately terrifying as I had never designed a full show before, especially of this magnitude.  There's stuff flying in from all over the place, crashing all around and ruining all of my standard sites lines and creating shadows.  So that was what I had to work around.  Did I also mention that the last two weeks of tech were on top of my finals for school?  Yeah, that was fun.  So I get the show open, finish up my finals and then there are more events!

Taste of Theater is 7 Stages annual fundraiser which somehow, during all of this craziness, I agreed to help out with by booking and wrangling performers, helping herd cats (aka stage manage), costume about 15 people and make sure everything was loaded out at the end of the night.  Lady Lay opened on April 27th, my last final was on May 2nd, Taste of Theater was on May 3rd.  It was a lot of fun and we raised some money for the theater and everything was amazing.  There were performers from Musee de Couer, The Imperial Opa Circus and many Syrens of the South alumni.  The thing I love the most about Syrens not being a troupe is that we get to work with everyone.

So yeah, that's been my past month.  Coming up?  Tonight I am going to a fundraiser for Southern Fried Burlesque Fest...oh yeah, I'm producing it so add that to the list of things that I've been working on the past month.  We still have a few bills to pay off from 2013 so we need to get those straightened out ASAP.  $3000 and then we need $2000 to get the deposit for next year, total of $5000.  I sadly just can't do out of pocket any more so here's hoping that everyone has really enjoyed the past 3 years so we can raise the money to keep it going.  It costs around $15000 to put on the festival, it's a lot of money but it's a lot of fun too.  Sure, I don't get paid for it, none of us do,  and the fest owes me a little over $10,000 for the past four years of work, but we have a great time and it's the most expensive b-day party I could possibly have!

Hopefully things will be calmed down enough for a minute that I can get caught up on life.  So many people I haven't gotten to see, more theater gigs coming up, more burlesque shows and teaching more classes at Studio Burlesque.  It's crazy and it's busy and moderately insane, but I love it and it makes me happy.  If I could seriously just get paid to be in a theater all the time and make a living that way I would.  Someday....but until then I'm going to continue being insane and having a great time doing it.

Evil Dead

I was lucky enough to get free preview passes for Evil Dead last Tuesday before it was released to the public.  I have been a huge fan of the original Evil Dead series for years and have the collector Necronomicon versions of ED 1 & 2, the 1st one is even autographed by Bruce Campbell!  I saw Army of Darkness in the theater with my dad back in 1992 when it was released.  I have t-shirts, mash-up tees, action figures, etc... So yeah, I'm a fan.  I knew walking into it that it was not going to be in the same story arc as the original.  It's set in modern times, there is no Ash, and it's not supposed to be funny.  I like to think that 20 years later someone not quiet as awesome as Ash found the book and this is what happened.  So treat it as a new story line and let it stand on it's own.

Let me start by pointing out they had a lot to live up to.  Every die hard fine knew that this was supposed to be a legitimate horror movie and most of the die hard fans are also rabid horror movie watchers, so not only did they have to live up to the Evil Dead franchise, they were going to be compared to every other horror movie ever made!  I really enjoyed the over all story arc, it was true to the already established universe and still managed to stand on its own.  There were some wonderfully done special effects, one of my favorites was something you couldn't yet see, you just heard it for a good 30-40 seconds before you saw what was happening.  You knew what you were about to see, but the anticipation and hearing the wet sticky sawing as the camera creeped closer into the flickering darkness...yeah, it was a great moment.  There were a couple of great moments, some were gory, some just creepy and some were laugh out loud funny.  There are some amazing tributes to the original series in both some of the cinematography as well as little things like a beloved prop or two and some very familiar injuries as well as a special moment for die hard fans at the end so stay through the credits...all of them.

I really enjoyed the movie and it's already set up for a sequel...this makes me happy.  I'm probably going to go see it again because it was fun and I like a horror movie to be scary.  Everyone keeps trying to make vampires sparkle, werewolves be brooding boys next door, and zombies to have a heart that they're not trying to eat.  It was nice to see the monsters be monsters; manipulative, vicious, and evil.  Nothing sparkled or wanted to talk about feelings, thank God.  So to wrap: go and enjoy; you'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll scream!

2013-02-22 Topher Payne's Angry Fags

As many of you already know, I've been on team 7 Stages since I was hired to be the stage manager for Dracula: The Rock Opera almost a year ago.  Since then I have been honored to work with some amazing Atlanta artists and gotten to see some amazing shows.  This past weekend was the World Premiere of Angry Fags written by Topher Payne.  Yes, it deals with some very serious issues such as terrorism, equality and what it means to start a revolution.  It also deals with love, compassion, revenge, bath house fluffing, Steal Magnolia's and the importance of Julia Sugarbaker.  Everything you would expect and love from the Atlanta gay community.  They're here, they're queer and they're not going to take it anymore!

Topher Payne's script was amazingly well written.  The comedy was gold and the emotions were intense.  The inappropriate humor secured this play as being one of my new favorite black comedies.  There were multiple moments during the show that the words were so at odds with what was happening, these times made it seem darker and more real.  The nervous chuckle you accidentally let slip as the body count climbs and shivers stroll down your spine to keep you in the moment, it's that awkwardness that we have all felt when you have tried to not laugh during a moment of silence or cracked a joke at a funeral.  It constantly walked the line of good taste and occasionally blurred it in way that made you safely uncomfortable so you could really understand the message of the play, we're all people and we all deserve to be happy.

Jacob York gave an amazing performance as Bennett Riggs, the political savvy executive with a job as a political speech writer for the first lesbian state senator.  It is the lead, and hardest, role in the show with a full gambit of emotional trials and tribulations.  The most touching scene was in the hospital room, I don't want to give too much away, but the soliloquy he gave was heart felt, touching and chilling to the bone with it's love, sadness and sincerity. Bennett was often the straight man for Cooper Harlow, Bennett's flamboyant and fabulous roommate.  Cooper, played by Johnny Drago, was the stereotype gone commando.  Cooper was full of life, dreams and a rage that is beyond the average bitchy queen.  Cooper embodies the anger of the oppressed who only want to be looked at as equals and are stick of fighting to be treated like real people.  The entire cast was amazing; you hate who you're supposed to, love who you're supposed to and have mixed feelings at all the right moments.  The set was this amazing, modular alter to media that showed the importantance of political spin during what should be personal, intimate periods.  It was a series of amazing moments which kept me on the edge of my seat and I often found myself alternatively holding my breathe with concern and gasping for air between laughs.  The show runs through March 17th, I HIGHLY recommend everyone go to see Angry Fags before it disappears.

2013-02-09 Vixen's Valentease Burlesque Show

Each year Syrens of the South's two biggest shows are our Toys for Tots show and our St. Valentine's Day show.  I get the Toys for Tots show, it's the holidays, you don't have to be around your family and you get to help bring joy to children who would other wise not get anything for Christmas.  Valentine's Day, you're dragging your date out to watch other people get naked...I feel like we're either a preview for their evening or acting as a fluffer to help get them in the mood.  It's the most intimate I feel with our audience every year, either way I'm involved in the naughtiness that may be going on later in the evening.

Each show we pick a charity, this show's charity was Good Mews.  Good Mews is a no kill animal shelter that takes in cats and either cares for them there, finds them foster homes or permanent families.  They have been around for 25 years and have found homes for almost 7,000 cats.  A friend had told me that they had just lost their ability to get free litter for the cats so that was what we decided to have people bring to get in for half price, cat litter.  Sounds weird, right?  Well it kind of was, but it was for a good cause.  

The show itself was amazing!  I am so thankful to have so many amazing performers willing to come get naked with me on a Saturday night!  Special thanks to The Five Spot, out MC Cutty McGill, my Stage Kittens Victoria Rose and Sarah Femme, Lah Lah Luscious, Tru Bliss, Chad Sanborn, Edie Akimbo, Post Modern Collapse, Sally Strumpet, Evelyn Harleen Cassidy, Vivian Kyle, Secret City Burlesque, Moxie Minx, Sadie Hawkins, Persephone Phoenix, Sham Wow, Fonda Lingue, Lola LeSoleil, and The Gentlemen Callers.  All of these amazing people put together an amazing show to a sold out, standing room only audience.  We were able to fill up our Good Mews volunteer's car full of kitty litter to help them with their amazing efforts.

It is so amazing to be in the six season of Syrens of the South shows.  Hard to believe how time has flown by, here's to another six!

2013-02-02 PinUp Girl Cosmetics Photoshoot

So back in January, Pinup Girl Cosmetics was offering a special Valentine's photo shoot for only $150.  The $150 included hair, make-up and eyelashes, styling, props, 2 edited photos plus champagne and tasty snacks which would normally have been over $200 and you wouldn't normally get snacks!  Did I mention there was cheese and shrimp?  SHRIMP!!!!  Sorry, I don't eat shrimp very often because of the cholesterol so I get excited!  So yes, with my Christmas money, I bought the package so I could have some new pin-up/burlesque publicity photos since my last ones were done in Jan of 2011 when Ursula Undress and I did the cover of Pin Curl Magazine.  I love that thanks to burlesque these are BUSINESS EXPENSES!!!  There are perks to everything!  It was as if the stars were aligning to help me out for the shoot, Secrets in Lace was having a 30% off all their clearance items which is wear the amazing out fit I am wearing in the photos came from.

So day of photoshoot, I get up super early (9am) so I can dye my hair to make sure that my color is even, bright, shiny and new!  I get done dying my hair JUST IN TIME to jump in the car and haul butt over to Studio Burlesque so I can teach my 11am Go-Go Shimmy Shimmy class, which is quickly becoming one of my favorite things to teach.  You should come see me for it sometime, it's silly!  Anyway, after class I fly back to the apartment to gather up my clothing choices for the shoot.  I had a few ideas in mind, but then realized that I couldn't remember what the back ground color was going to be and the last thing I wanted to do was clash or blend in, so I just packed everything.  Everything consisted of: 2 bullet bras, 3 garter belts, 2 demi cup bras, 3 pairs of stockings, 4 pairs of shoes, 3 pairs of opera length gloves, and 6 pairs of panties....all by Secrets in Lace because I have a love of pretty lingerie and honestly I was packing light, that is what happens when you are unsure of what you're walking into.

After the packing it was time for the nail salon!  I know a lot of people have mixed feelings about acrylic nails, myself included, but I am going to explain why they're important.  My world, 90% of the time, consists of school and work.  Neither of those things requires, or even encourages me to have long beautifully painted nails.  However, look at the top picture, look how well my nails pop against the white on the garter belt.  The picture at the bottom, it would look weird if my piggies weren't painted with those open toed shoes, even with the stockings on.  If you're going to go for a look you should go all the way; especially, as in my case, since these are professional publicity photos.  So yes, I got a mani/pedi, a foot and leg mud wrap, a full set of acrylics and an eyebrow wax, it takes a lot of money to look this cheap!  Finally, I was ready to go have my picture taken!

Pinup Girl Cosmetics is a well oiled machine.  One girl was having her pictures taken as another had just finished hair and was going to go get in costume so I could plop myself directly in the chair of hair goodness.  Kellyn, the owner, is the Hair Whisperer.  If you see a picture of me with amazing hair it's either Lee Press On Hair (what I call my wigs and pony falls) or Kellyn did it!  She got me in curlers and then sent me to make-up.  Gina did my make-up, she was super sweet and very efficient!  After make-up I was sent back to Kellyn so she could finish my hair and then I scampered off to change.  I was being a bit indecisive  Kellyn helped me pick out my outfit and then loaned me the necklace and earrings since I had forgotten accessories in my rush.  I went from off the street to a fully realized pin-up in around an hour.  Seriously, they have the transformation down to a science!  One of the things I loved is that the other girls and I all looked like individuals.  We were not all done the same way, we had hair and make-up that showed our personalities and that was flattering to each of us as individuals.  To be that efficient and still keep each girl fresh is what was truly impressive.  My shoot itself was about an hour of well directed poses to make sure that I was comfortable.  I got to do some with and with out my gloves and some with and with out the super awesome gold antique phone they had.  It was fun, relaxing and they took requests!  This was my third photo shoot with Pinup Girl Cosmetics and I highly recommend them.

I was chatting with everyone after my shoot since the girls scheduled after me were running behind and they had a moment.  There are approximately 200 pictures taken for each girl.  200!!  You are given the choice of a proof sheet or trusting Kellyn to pick out which ones she thinks are best.  I always let Kellyn pic, she's never let me down.  The photo shoot came with two (the ones posted here) and in a few weeks I'll have the additional 3 images on a disc with the ones shown for a total of five.  It was only an extra $25 and I feel it's worth getting the extra 3 pictures.  You've already gone through all the hair, make-up and costuming, you might as well get the extra shots.   They do a few special shoots like the Valentine's one I did with them a few times per year so keep a look out to get the extra bang for your buck.  If you're super lucky you'll find a Groupon on Living Social deal which some of my students bought for me a while back which is how I got my Dracula photo shoot I did back in October.  So keep your eyes peeled and let them make you look and feel like a princess...and maybe eat some shrimp and drink some champagne while you're at it!

2013-01-30 RIP Patty Andrews, The Last Andrews Sister

Patty Andrews was the last surviving member of The Andrews Sisters.  She passed away at age 94 in her home in Los Angeles.  She was the lead singer of The Andrews Sisters.  They recorded over 400 songs and sold more than 80 million records during their long career. You can check out a lot of their amazingness in The Best of the Andrews Sisters.  Known mostly for their work with the USO and entertaining troops over seas, they held a special place in the hearts of many of the service men they entertained and brought hope to during those dark times during World War II.  They were the first sister act to break away from being huddled around a microphone singing to dancing to the music during breaks in the songs which really brought up the energy and made it more of a stage show which put them ahead of the other acts of that time period.  They were also recorded with popular bands of the time period, such as Benny Goodman and Glenn Miller.  Patty was preceded in death by her husband and both of her sisters. LaVerne Andrews died in 1967 of cancer and Maxene Andrews died in 1995 of a heart attack.

I was always a big fan of the Andrew Sisters thanks to my grandmother's love of music.  When I first started doing burlesque I was in a period themed troupe and I tried to track down everything I could as far as music from the 1940s.  Every single compilation or box set I could find was full of their hits.  The Andrew Sisters were everywhere and had songs that ranged from up beat messages of hope to slow sad ballads that were full of longing to be at home with your loved ones.  Each beautiful song held meaning and frozen moments of time for a war where so many passed away and would never see their loved ones again.  They spread their songs from base camp to base camp helping bring a little piece of home to all of those soldiers over seas.  It's a sad day that the last piece of history and American Patriotism that was The Andrews Sisters is now gone, hopefully they're doing beautiful trios in the afterlife.

Studio Burlesque Atlanta

Back around the end of November, beginning of December, I'm sitting in Ursula Undress' kitchen and she's about to explode with excitement.  For a few months she had told me that she'd been working for a new client, what I didn't know was that the client was going to change the face of Atlanta burlesque.  She had been approached by a gentleman that wanted to start the first all burlesque studio in Atlanta and she had many meetings and had become the Artistic Director of what would end up being Studio Burlesque Atlanta.

She said she was a little nervous about talking to me as I've been running the ABCs and 123s of Burlesque Classes through Syrens of the South for years and have trained a great majority of the Atlanta Burlesque scene at this point.  However, we no longer had our own dance space and relied on other studios to allow us rental time in order to be able to have the classes.  I spent a great deal of time working on classes schedules, wrangling teachers, press, and having to try to wrangle up students.  I love teaching, I really do, but I got paid just like all the other teachers, any additional money went to studio rental or in the kitty to make sure that we had money in case a class came up short.  It was very stressful.  The idea of just getting to show up somewhere and teach was wonderful.  So I closed up shop and threw my hat in with Ursula and hoped for the best as she began collecting additional teachers.  (I do still offer private one on one classes and group classes for parties and stuff, I'm just sayin')

One of the things that Ursula and I have been pushing for is a greater sense of community in the Atlanta burlesque scene.  That was one of the reasons we've worked so hard over the years to get the Southern Fried Burlesque Fest up and running and now she had the opportunity to bring in performers from all over Atlanta and give them a home in which they could teach their individual styles of burlesque and give students and opportunity to find the teacher that suits them best since not every teacher and every student are going to be that perfect mesh.  People teach differently and people learn differently and you need all types to get everyone in the game.  I think this is going to be an amazing opportunity for not only the students, but for the more experienced burlesque performers in town to share their love and knowledge and to give out of town guests a place to teach when they pass through.

The studio opened on January 7, there is currently a Living Social deal for 5 classes for only $29 (saving you $46 or 61%) if you get it before Tuesday, January 22nd.  Some take some classes for cheap and find your burlesque style!  Wednesdays I teach Beginning Burlesque at 6:30pm and Fun and Flirty at 8:30 (Sadie Hawkins' GoGo class is sandwiched between) and Saturday at 11am I teach GoGo Shimmy Shimmy (I tend to go more Shimmy and Sadie's more GoGo) which is sandwiched between Ursula's Fun and Flirty at 10am and Beginning Burlesque at noon, so you can come take from me or one of the other amazing teachers at the Studio.  Personally, I'm addicted to Fonda Lingue's Ballesque class at 6:30pm on Mondays.

2013-01-17 7 Stages Home Brew Series: Mass Transit Muse

On Monday I received a phone call from Heidi Howard, the new Artistic Director of 7 Stages, asking me if I could hop in to Stage Manage a show she was directing this week because the person who was going to be running it had a family emergency.  I was told we'd have rehearsal on Tuesday and the show would be on Thursday.  Of course I said yes because I love 7 Stages and I love a challenge so it sounded like an amazing opportunity to jump into something new.

So I show up on Tuesday with no idea what's going on, what the show is or at this point that it's just a workshop and we're not actually putting on a full production in one rehearsal because, after, these things have happened before.  The gig turned out to be for 7 Stages new Home Brew Series where new plays are being work-shopped before becoming a full blown production.  The show is Mass Transit Muse by Michael Molina, he is a wonderful spoken word artist originally from New Orleans that wrote a book with the same name which he was using as the basis of the play.  It was amazing to come in to see how quickly it developed with Michael doing the spoken word, Dorothy Bell as the Musical Director and singer for the production and Lillian Ransjin as co-choreographer and lead dancer and Manny Rivers on guitar.  The production team was rounded out with Keiron Bone as co-choreographer and Jessica Caldes doing Set and Video Design.  The rehearsal flew by with amazing movement and vocal choices and listening to Michael's haunting words about one of my favorite cities, New Orleans.

Wednesday, we did not have rehearsal, I decided to head over to head over to Java Lords after teaching over at Studio Burlesque and ran into Heidi in the parking lot.  (figuratively, not literally)  She kidnapped me and we headed over to The Highland Inn Ballroom for Write Club since Michael was invited to be one of the spoken word artists.  I had never heard of Write Club before, they give spoken word artists topics and have them compete against each other, two at a time, with the audience voting with applause and a panel of judges determining who received the loudest audience reaction.  The winner of each bout got to have money donated to a charity of their choice.  Michael did a spoken word section from Mass Transit Muse and was the champion of his bout, his winnings going to 7 Stages for which he also had a chance to plug the Thursday night workshop.

On Thursday we did a brief run through before the show at 7:30pm.  The weather was terrible and we'd already received many calls that people were afraid it was going to ice over or *gasp* snow, no time for theater if the white horror is going to fall from the sky, time to stock up on milk and bread for all those milk and bread sandwiches everyone always eats in the winter.  (Seriously, I have no idea why it's milk and bread)  However, we had about half the space full which was more then we were expecting with the weather so we were very pleased with the turn out.  The show was amazing, maybe a third of the script had blocking and music, the other two-thirds were on book but there was still some song and movement through out when ever the cast felt inspiration hit them.

After the show there was a Q&A section where the audience could ask questions and give feed back about what they thought of the performance.  Overall, everyone else seemed just as in love with the performance as I was, lots of comments about, 'I hate spoken word, but this was amazing."  There was a lot of discussion about the other and everyone's perception of the other and the distance we put between ourselves and the unfamiliar and unknown.  I think the audience had some great questions and there was some great feed back for everyone to take back with them to improve.

Mass Transit Muse is currently slated to be the closing production for 7 Stages 2013-2014 season in April/May of next year.  I am thrilled to say that I will be stage managing this production when it hits the main stage next year!  I cannot wait to see where it goes with such an amazing start!

The next Home Brew Series is Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow by Nathaniel Lachenmeyer on Sunday, January 20, 2013 at 6:30pm at 7 Stages in the Black Box theater.  Price of admission is FREE, though they will gladly accept donations towards the theater and this program to help new works get to the stage!

2013-01-13 Kitty Love's Sultry Sunday Lucky 13 Show

This past Sunday I was lucky enough to get to be the Mistress of Ceremonies for an All-Star Show here in Atlanta, GA!  Kitty Love began her Sultry Sundays at Red Light Cafe two months ago and for her third show she pulled out all the stops.  With the Reigning King of Burlesque, Russell Bruner, along with Mistress Kali from NOLA coming to town, she booked a show to match the amazing talent level coming in!  The show included the belly dancing talents of Madame X and Haideh, the sultry songbird Lah Lah Luscious, The Magic of Chad Sanborn, Stormy Knight, Sunny Midnight, Talloolah Love, Ursula Undress and of course Kitty Love.

The show was amazing!  Everyone brought their A game and the show really was everything that is wonderful about Atlanta Burlesque.  Since it was Russell's first time in Atlanta everyone was excited about being in the show and even the performers that weren't in the show were excited to come be in the audience!  The crowd was almost as star studded at the stage with Kisa von Teasa and Rosey Lady of Salome Cabaret in town from Knoxville, TN, Sadie Hawkins was easily as entertaining in the audience with her intermission exhibitions as some of the acts on stage, Bourgeois Betty, Lola le Soleil and the Mouth of the South Miss Mason were all in attendance.  This was the glitterati of Atlanta Burlesque, who knew all it took was a little royalty to bring everyone together!

Red Light Cafe, it has some good and bad points.  Good: nonsmoking for all you nonsmokers and also means it won't make your costumes smell if you're a performer, beautiful red curtain backdrop, decent lighting and site lines, easy going very nice staff, free parking, lots of seats!  Bad: location of the stage is really far from the dressing room so you have to walk through the audience but it does give them a thrill while you do it, the stage kind of small and carpeted so just make sure you have the right shoes on for that kind of stage, drinks and food are a little pricey, but they are all super tasty!

I think the show has a lot of potential, Kitty is still very new to producing and has a few things she needs to work out, but I think it could go well.  Though the turn out wasn't bad I think it could have been better with some marketing or at least a press release going out.  The city of Atlanta had an amazing show and I don't think enough people knew about it and ended up missing out on something special.  I wish her the best and hope to get to come back as Mistress of Ceremonies again sometime as it was the most fun I've gotten to have in a while!

Stungun Photography was there to take lots of amazing photos, including the one of Russell shown here.  You can see more of the photos in their gallery HERE.  They're the amazing photographers that shot at Dracula and AXA in addition to countless other shows.  I am a huge fan of their work and am always excited to see them snapping away in the audience!

Happy Holidays

Pic by Studio Adrian

So the holidays happened.  I really wasn't in the holiday spirit at all.  Maybe I was disappointed the world didn't end because that meant I had to go Christmas shopping which I had put off because of being too busy with everything else.  After AXA I had the plague and pretty much missed Christmas by living on my couch pretty much from Saturday after AXA closed until Wednesday when it was pretty clear that if we were going to make it up to Tennessee to do the family rounds remotely during the holiday season we'd have to get going.  So we left Wednesday night and went to Oak Ridge, Newport, Knoxville, Chattanooga and then home by Friday night so we could get some rest since Good Golly Svengali had a show Saturday night.

Highlights included getting to see The Hobbit.  I don't actually remember the last time I saw a movie in a theater.  It was awesome, reminded me of my childhood from where my dad read me the books and I would watch the cartoons on the amazingly old VHS player (that I am pretty sure my dad still has) and sing along to the songs with my animated friends.  Also, I made my dad a Sockthulhu which is a Cthulhu done in the style of a sock monkey.  Probably the most awesome present I gave anyone this Christmas.  Dad thinks I should sell them, maybe I'll work on that later this year.  I ended up making three, two prototypes to make sure I knew what I was doing before the final one that I gave to Dad.  The Good Golly Svengali show was a lot of fun, they opened so it was a short set but lots of fun.  We ended up at a friend's house for an impromptu holiday party.  It was a great time and I got to see lots of people I hadn't gotten to hang out with for a while for a lot of silliness!

Sockthulhu I made for Dad

New Years ended up being a whirlwind starting out at Java Lords then two different friend's houses to do run-bys to be social.  Over all it was a nice way to spend NYE.  I typically avoid going to bars and clubs because all the amateur drunks come out and make my life hell by being really annoying because they have no idea how to drink with out making an ass of themselves.  Yes, I realize that kind of makes me sound like either a drunk or an alcoholic.  However, that who drinking responsibly it exactly what I do, I don't slam shots, I space out my drinks and I know what my tolerance and limits are and that's what I drink.  Seriously, it's so rare that I am actually drunk, let alone black out stupid drunk, that some people I know don't believe it's possible.  (It is possible, but it's not pretty which is why I don't let it happen very often)

Jan 1st I spent alternating between being lazy and productive so that's a good sign for 2013.  I'm a fan of balance.  I've been asked a few times about resolutions...I have mixed feelings about resolutions. People usually pick goals they can't achieve because they're unrealistic.  There will be no I will work out 5 days a week as that's unrealistic.  I go back to lyra next week and am going to try to do my yoga DVD once a week.  I'd like to do one photo shoot a month to help build my portfolio.  There are some burlesque fests I would like to at least apply to since I missed a bunch of application deadlines last year and had to resign from a bunch due to Stage Managing Dracula.  So nothing overly stressing or unattainable and fairly realistic and if it doesn't happen because I get super busy and other things come up, that's fine too.  Things happen and who knows, maybe something much cooler will come up then anything I had planned.  That's what happened with Dracula and that was amazing!

Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday and I hope that your 2013 is amazing!