Oh, The Glamourous Life!

Dear Constant Reader,

Only 3 days left! It’s your last chance to vote for The Boston Babydolls for “Best Theatre Group” and B.A.B.E. for “Best Dance Classes“!

(Just joining us? Here’s Friday.)

Saturday began with the search for breakfast. We like diners, but Scratch had found a donut shop that sounded amazing. Then he discovered that we had crossed the IHOP/Waffle House line. Waffle House it would be*! And the donut shop had a location in Johnstown, so we’d save that for the next day.

Fortified with pecan waffles, we tried to visit a vintage clothing shop, but failed. On the road again! The drive to Johnstown was pretty easy. And there was surprisingly little roadkill compared to the last trip through Pennsylvania. At that time (because we were mostly delirious) we had come up with a game that if you saw roadkill, you grabbed someone’s boob. Remember that Betty wasn’t on that trip. Also, she spent most of this trip on her laptop, madly coding the new Great Burlesque Expo website. So, I call out “Roadkill!” and from the back seat I hear a scream as Brigitte gropes an unsuspecting Betty. From then on, if we saw roadkill, Brigitte just screamed.

We arrived at Art Works, unloaded, set up our dressing room in an enormous room, and figured out how we were going to set some of our bigger numbers on the little stage. On the recommendation of our hosts, we repaired to The Phoenix Tavern for some dinner. There were signs all over the place reminding us that they had chicken balls. This was an intriguing mystery which I will explain later. Suffice it to say, it’s not something you want to eat before a show.

Sadly, I don’t have any pictures of the show to share. A photographer was going to be there, but he was in a massive car accident the day before. He’s okay, miraculously. However, that kept him from making it to the show. And he was the ride for Abbey, our fabulous stage kitten/merch girl from The Rex, so she couldn’t be there either. Much sadness. Fortunately, we got a volunteer stage hand, who did great, especially on no notice.

First up was the Whiskey River Panhandlers, so we got to listen to some awesome music while we got ready. The show went just fine. We didn’t have a Special Guest for this iteration, so Scratch did another magic trick to give everyone time to change and Betty took the SG spot in the Act II opener.

You can’t please all the people all the time. Although the majority of the audience had a really good time, I did overheard Scratch apologizing to an indignant audience member that we hadn’t intended to offend anyone. Uh-oh. What had we done? I feared Brigitte’s Still Life act was to blame.

As it turns out, it was one of the numbers I think is cute and (relatively) wholesome. Our finale involves artist’s canvases with only the blank backs visible for most of the number. When we finally reveal the paintings, the first 2 are the same (and always get a big laugh, but I’m not going to give away the joke here) and the 3rd is different (which gets a different laugh). It happens to be a painting of a Renaissance Madonna and Child**. And that was the problem. Not Brigitte deep-throating a banana. The Blessed Mother at a burlesque show. There’s a first time for everything.

After we packed up and loaded out (and thanks to everyone who helped out!), we went back to the Phoenix Tavern with some folks. All Brigitte could talk about was trying a chicken ball.

It’s shredded chicken and stuffing formed into a ball about the size of my two fists, dipped in batter, and deep fried. It’s served on mashed potatoes and covered in gravy. Brigitte & Scratch did let me have a taste before they devoured it. I’m told the banana split cake was pretty fab too***.

And then bed. Morning was going to come very early…

Tomorrow: home again!

* A new experience for me.
** Chosen because it was visually the best contrast with the other two. No other reason.
*** You know how I feel about bananas.