***Good Goddess, Kids! I don't think I've EVER had a week like this one, and we just set a World Record two-and-a-half weeks ago!!!***

You could say a lot about my life, but you couldn't use lackluster as a description. Tuesday we headed for Atlanta, with an overnight stop in Greenville, SC to sleep and collect our friend Joe for support (moral, immoral or otherwise!) on our next adventure. We arrived at our venue downtown on Wednesday to find the rehearsal had been cancelled that day. So with a free day to play, we passed the time ogling Leafy Sea Dragons and angelic, White Beluga Whales at The Georgia Aquarium, the largest of its kind in the world. We stopped afterward briefly in Centennial Park, but the withering 100+ degree heat pushed us on to find our hotel room.
Rested and ready on Thursday, we headed back to "The Atlanta Event Center" to begin bodypainting our hostess and the models. I must expand on the venue; it really was gorgeous! It was a case study in preserving a glorious old theater for more modern applications. Lovely old stage, three-level stage room with balcony and glassed-in VIP room, 5 or so bars, lounge style couch seating and quiet area, and this was just the inside. Outdoors, flanking a long reflection pool and fountain with an arched granite footbridge were 8 or so semi-private, furnished candlelit cabanas with champagne buckets standing at the ready. Utterly charming!
We started to bodypaint in the quiet bar area in the back. Though our designated space was not wanting for air-conditioned comfort, days of grueling local temperatures exacted a toll on our models. A 6+ ft tall male ballet dancer passed out cold, landing face first on the ceramic tile! Not long after, one of the two girls, who I loved painting especially because of her beautiful shaved head, became ill mid-way through her paint experience. Troopers, they managed to rally in time to fulfill their roles in "Collage Allujia", a wonderfully immersive, multi-media, live music/performance piece showcasing the talents of creating band, "The Human Bent".
Scott and I were part of the stage act, too. We stepped into the spotlight to perform a painter/model live bodypaint performance. Scott covered my base coat of silver paint with bold black swirls as I twisted and turned to the music. The models, a trifecta of bright paint and ebony skin joined us onstage for the dance. The other female model was a burlesque dancer, something we bonded over while I painted her, in several Queer venues in Atlanta and had one of the most hilarious stage names I've ever heard, "Vagina Jenkins"! I have to find a way to lure her here to do a gig sometime, just so I can put up posters all over town with that name.
Unfortunately, we had to leave to return home that night. We stopped for a few hours of sleep at Joe's home in Greenville and rolled back into town for an 11 am meeting on Friday. I readied a guest room for the impending arrival of the inimitable Sharon "Mama" Spell, who was wrapping up her comedy/lounge act tour with a stint in Winston-Salem at "The Garage" before returning home to Pittsburgh. We headed to Winston a bit early, so as to enjoy gallery-hop night before her gig. I strolled the streets in face-paint, with a "Mama" Spell poster pinned to the front of my favorite vintage dress and informed everyone I passed about the show. A last stop at social central, "The Silver Moon Saloon", revealed a small party of my "Velvet Glove Kabarett" cast mates who were planning to catch "Mama" Spell in action, so we headed around the corner. I've seen larger crowds for shows at "The Garage", but "Mama" won over those in attendance with her trademark wit and charm.
Saturday after breakfast, we bid "Mama" Spell adieu, collected my costumes, and headed toward Charlotte, picking up another Velvet Glove performer, "Pajama Don" in the process. Arriving early for our gig with "Big Mamma's House of Burlesque", we were able to spend time checking out the cool, artsy district that venue, "The Spot" was situated in.
During our inspection of the historic Plaza/Midwood neighborhood, we were fortunate enough to cross paths for the first time with "Little Shiva"; a resident Charlotte force-of-nature famed for, among other things, her "Make Charlotte Weird" social movement! Though not based in Charlotte, we were seemingly nonetheless suitably weird enough to catch her attention and enjoyed conversing briefly then and later on at the venue.
Back at "The Spot", I prepped (primped) for my burlesque appearance. I was a late addition to the bill, having met "Madame D" (Big Mamma), the producer only two weeks prior at "Transformus", The headlining girls, from "Big City Burlesque" in Atlanta were doing one performance each at midnight. Pajama Don and I covered five acts, two solos each, spread out over the evening, and "Love and Torture" together to close the show.
The evening was an extremely eclectic mix of performances, from first-timers to more seasoned pros, spread out at first with an act going on every half hour. A certain amount of protest from the audience about the time between shows closed the gap to about 2-3 songs in between. Still, doing it this way extended the show length to a full four hours, which is a long time in 7-inch heels!
All in all, it was good fun, though. The comedic acts carried quite well with the rowdy, standing-room-only crowd. DJ Spider, a fabulous woman who won "most outrageous" in the Dawn Contest at "Dragon*Con" in Atlanta last year, did a great job with the tunes, keeping the cool cats hopping all night.
The "Big City" girls, "Veronica Lashe" and "Diamond Ice" were very true to the elegant 40's roots of their troupe, doing polished, lovely, classic burlesque revival. Pajama Don made the most of his two comedic bits, as well as an unplanned trip onstage to "cut a rug" with beautiful Big Mamma!
As for me, I was just plain ON that night! I did a singing striptease to "Minnie the Moocher" that connected perfectly, "Forbidden Fruit" went off without a hitch, and "Drag Don" and I knocked 'em over (Almost literally. When I asked for a volunteer, a cute redhead's friends launched her forward face-down onto the stage!) with the "Love and Torture" finale!
Of course, the real torture came around 4:15 am as I climbed into the driver's seat in Greensboro after deciding that Scott was no longer fit to drive the rest of the way! We made it home, safely, to experience yet another sleep-deprived day of bodypainting. We had models, Rachel and Cristina coming to be painted before Rachel departs for Spain. Though I was tired and thus, crabby, I tried my best to get down to business. It’s a tough job, I know!
I eventually lightened up (with the aid of caffeine) and it actually ended up being more fun than work. They were lovely girls who took lovely pictures, which is, of course what we wished for. Aside from that, they were down with the whole bodypainting experience in a big way, much more so than I think we realized!
That is, until they decided to walk out our front door, down the sidewalk and into their car, driving off (to find whatever excitement there is to be had on a Sunday night in Greensboro) COMPLETELY NUDE, aside from the paint! The last plans I overheard involved visiting the drive-thru at "Cook-Out"...
Can you say, "Want some fries with THAT SHAKE?"