Dear Constant Reader,
Last night Betty, Devora, Stella, Scratch, and I put in an appearance at the 1st anniversary party at Carrie Nation. Last year we were hired for their opening gala just to walk around and add color. We ended up doing some impromptu dancing and singing with the band.
This year we planned on a little performing and asked the band in advance to add a few of our standards into their playlist. It was still mostly improvisational, as we didn’t rehearse with the band, their arrangements were not always the same as we use, and we weren’t stripping.
Betty danced to “Midnight in Moscow” and “Night Train”. Devora took a turn with “Blue Prelude”. Stella serenaded us with “Ain’t Misbehavin'” and “Paper Moon”. I strutted to “Minnie the Moocher” and “Harlem Nocturne”. Scratch asked us to close out the night to “Little Brown Jug”. That’s the first half of Factory Girls — so Betty, D.D. and I did the choreography as best we could, sans gloves, overalls, and pink boxes. It was fun, but a little crazy trying to read each other’s minds as to how we should modify things on the fly.
The “Harlem Nocturne” act was a tad logistically complicated for me. Our dressing room was across the street in a secured building, but we found a safe place in the restaurant to stash my fans (and costume change) for most of the night — under a banquette by the musicians. It may be awkward to tote around a hard plastic box full of fans, but at least there’s peace of mind that they’re not going to be accidentally stepped on. The real challenge was fighting my way through the crowds (the joint was packed!) to get to the ladies’s room and back to change.
The food looked fantastic, like last year, and once again I promised myself that I have to come back when we’re not working. There were some really impressive folks burning up the dance floor with vintage dances. I lost track of how many picture we posed for. It looked like everyone was having a great time!
Happy anniversary, Carrie Nation! And many more…
All photos from last year’s event, courtesy of Carrie Nation Cocktail Club.
Oh, The Glamourous Life! 
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