Oh, The Glamourous Life!

Dear Constant Reader,

Happy Friday! Here’s your tip!

Appreciate your tech people. Without them you’d be standing on stage in the dark and silence.

We can’t perform well without lights and sound. Be nice to the tech people before the show and say thank you afterwards. They make you look good on stage and get none of the glory.

On a personal note… I’d like to thank our tech crew of The Wrathskellar and The Woman in Black for all their hard and invisible work: Allison for lighting design, Caitlyn for sound design, Josiah for load-in and carpentry, Emily for stage management, and, of course, Hunter, our long-time technical director.

As long as I’m thanking people….

A special thank you to Stacey, one of my students, who designed the angel & devil we draw every night, and made the Lost Girl’s dollhouse look so eerily beautiful.

Also my appreciation to those who are doing double-duty by performing on stage as well as being ushers and stage hands *and* taking abuse from the principle characters night after night: Alice, Eva, Heather, Jennie, and Gabe.

We could not do it without you.

Dear Constant Reader,

Happy Friday! Here’s your tip!

Play nice. We’re all in this together.

It’s hard enough making a go of it as an artist without also enduring negative actions by fellow artists.

There are stories back in the day of burlesque performers sabotaging the acts of their rivals. Tempest Storm says she was removed from a show because the headliner, Lili St. Cyr, who danced barefoot, accused her of dropping pins on stage. It’s said that when Rosita Royce and Tirza were both performing at The New York World’s Fair, Rosita had the shower of Tirza’s wine bath plugged up with gum, so Tirza retaliated by having Rosita’s doves shot at with a BB gun. Evangeline the Oyster Girl took an axe to Divina’s tank (right).

Those days of sabotage on stage seem to be gone, but in their place is behavior more insidious and just as damaging, oft done anonymously: bad-mouthing other performers (especially to producers and venues), removing other artists’ promo materials, hacking social media, blitzing ticketing services so tickets can’t be bought, &c. It sounds crazy that anyone would go to such lengths, but it has all happened to performers I know (including my troupe).

Sydni Deveraux, The Golden Glamazon, wrote a bit about trash-talking today. You should read it.

There is room enough in the world for everyone. Trying to take down a “rival” by damaging their reputation and/or their show is the action of a petty person with no confidence that the quality of their work can stand on its own merits. Surely one has better things to do with one’s life.

Spend your energies building up yourself and your art instead of trying to tear others down. Be better.

Dear Constant Reader,

Happy Friday! The Wrathskellar had its preview last night and maybe, if I’m not too exhausted, I’ll tell you all about it later today. But first, your Friday Tip!

When wearing wigs, use the right pin for the job

You should use at least 4 long pins, one in each of the pin curls you made. For extra security use small pins around the hair line.

I have four wig changes in The Wrathskellar, so I only use the minimum 4 pins and jam them in as securely as possible and pray. I have really thin, fine hair, which means it tucks nicely under a wig cap, but doesn’t give me a lot to fasten into. Those of you with thick hair may have the reverse problems.

Happy pinning and may your wigs never slip!

Dear Constant Reader,

Happy Friday! Here’s your tip!

Keep a snack in your dance bag.

You never know when you might be hit with a blood sugar crash at rehearsal or when traffic on the way to a gig is so bad that you don’t have time to grab dinner.

I like nuts because they keep well, are high in protein, low in sugar, and aren’t messy. I can just toss a small packet into my bag until I need it. Fruit is pretty good too, but it’s not like you can just keep an peach in your bag for a couple of weeks until the need arises.

Last year I shared my recipe for a nut mix. These days I make it with hazelnuts instead of walnuts and often cut out the chocolate. I buy raw nuts in bulk and toast them, but that’s just me. I think they taste better toasted, but some like them raw.

If you’re buying packets of nuts, make sure they’re not prepared with oil (greasy!) or salted (just what you don’t want if you’re performing…) or sweetened (we’re trying to avoid crashing).

Dear Constant Reader,

This tip is a hard one to practice, probably the hardest one I’ve given you yet. I have a lot of trouble with it myself.

Don’t take rejection personally.

Dear Constant Reader,

Happy Friday! I just discovered I missed noting my 200th Friday Tip, so let’s celebrate magical number 203! Here’s it is!

If you spill beads or rhinestones on carpet, put a old stocking over the end of the hose attachment on your vacuum cleaner and suck them back to safety.

Spilling your sparklies is no fun at all, but it happens. If your workspace has a hard floor, you can easily sweep them up, but carpet pile traps your tiny shiny things. No one wants to pick them up one by one. Fortunately, it’s easy to rescue them!

Secure the stocking foot over the hose with a rubber band. Don’t stretch it too tight; you actually want a little of the stocking to get sucked inside the hose to make a cup. Then start vacuuming. Before turning the power off, turn the end of the hose up, so the rhinestones don’t fall out once the suction is cut off. Then turn the hose down over a container and the stray stones will fall out. Repeat until you’ve gotten all the little buggers out of the carpet.

And that’s why they call me The Martha Stewart of Burlesque.