Dear Constant Reader,
I’m pleased to report, after my note about arts funding being slashed in Massachusetts, that the state legislature has voted almost unanimously to override the Governor’s budget cut!
Friday Tip
Dear Constant Reader,
Happy Friday! Here’s your tip!
Support the arts!
Joyce Kulhawik gave a great speech last night at The Thalia fundraiser on the importance and power of the arts. She’s so right. And yet something so vital to thought and creativity and community is perpetually underfunded. I mean, we naturally assume “starving” precedes “artist”. Here in Massachusetts the governor recently announced that he’s going to slash the arts funding budget by more than half, back to where it was 20 years ago.
So, please support your local arts scene, especially the smaller and fringe artists. Donate, go to shows, buy artworks, &c. If you can’t support artist with your dollars, do so with your voice. Spread the word about events, tell your friends about your favorite artists’ projects, actively seek out new artists, &c.
Like this tip? There are lots more in Miss Mina Murray’s Little Book of Better Burlesque.
In the Kitchen: Sekanjabin
Dear Constant Reader,
It’s mighty hot here in Boston. I haven’t been working in the Manor kitchen much lately, but I have a great recipe for days like this. It’s not mid-century, but much older.
Shrubs — a syrup made with vinegar, sugar, and fruit, then diluted — have become popular lately, especially for cocktails, but the concept goes way back. The ancient Greeks drank oxymel (literally “vinegar-honey” and exactly what you think). The sweet and sour makes for a very refreshing drink.
The vinegar-based shrub is an American beverage, dating back to colonial days. A contemporary is switchel — water with vinegar, sweetener (might be brown sugar or molasses), and ginger. European shrubs are made by steeping fruit in alcohol. They’re also very good, but not exactly thirst-quenching. Maybe I’ll delve into that sort later.
One of my favorite summertime beverages of this type is Sekanjabin, from Persia.
You need:
4 cups sugar
2 1/2 cups water
1 cup vinegar*
big handful of fresh mint**
Put the sugar and the water in a saucepan and heat until the sugar dissolves. Bring to a boil and add the vinegar. Simmer for about half an hour. Take it off the heat and add the mint. Let the syrup cool. Strain out the mint and pour syrup into a glass bottle. It will keep without refrigeration.
* You can use red or white wine vinegar or cider vinegar. I don’t recommend balsamic or distilled white vinegar.
** There’s only a token mint sprig in the picture because I already denuded my mint plant.
To serve, pour a splash of syrup into a glass, add ice water, and stir. Perhaps garnish with a little mint. Proportions are up to you, but generally about five parts water to one part syrup is good. I also like it made with hot water in the winter. It’s particularly soothing when one is suffering from a sore throat.
Friday Tip
Dear Constant Reader,
Happy Friday! A few commercial plugs before we get to your tip…
1. This coming Thursday there’s a fund raiser for The Thalia. It’s going to be great time with music, an auction, and a dessert bar. Get your ticket here. If you can make it, please consider donating to the Kickstarter campaign. Please support The Thalia — we desperately need more performance venues in the Boston area!
2. Applications to The Great Burlesque Exposition of 2017 (#BurlExpo) open August 1st! For the first week, they’re completely free!
3. The Boston BeauTease are taking over The Teaseday Club! If you’ve missed seeing us (and we’ve missed performing for you), come to The Davis Square Theatre on August 2! Tickets available here.
4. I’m teaching THREE costuming workshops in August! Learn to make pasties, a shimmy belt, or a g-string. Come in with nothing, leave with a beautiful costume piece that you made yourself! I’ll probably show some burlesque movies while we stitch. Register here.
And now for your tip…
Unplug.
I know many of us are always hustling — looking for gigs, promoting, communicating with clients, &c. — and our computer and mobile devices are a lifeline. But they are also an anchor. Take some time to get away from that tether. I like to take a walk every day sans phone and let my mind wander. It helps so much with relaxation and creativity.
Like this tip? There are lots more in Miss Mina Murray’s Little Book of Better Burlesque.
Friday Tip
Dear Constant Reader,
Happy Friday! Here’s your tip.
Stop a stocking run with soap.
Everyone knows you can use clear nail polish to keep a run in your stocking from getting worse (you knew that, right?), but you can also use soap.
It’s so much more convenient when you’re out and about. I don’t have room in my tiny evening clutch to carry a bottle of nail polish just in case, but there’s always a ladies’ room around. Just dab some liquid soap around the run or rub it with a moistened bar of soap — those bitty hotel bars are the perfect size. Let the soap dry and continue on your merry way! It’s not as permanent a fix as nail polish, but it can save your evening.
I’ve also heard you can use hair spray, but I’ve never tested it.
Like this tip? There are lots more in Miss Mina Murray’s Little Book of Better Burlesque.
Exciting News!
Dear Constant Reader,
If you’re in the Boston area, you probably know that there’s a dearth of small to mid-sized theatres. And there is no shortage of performers looking for space. We’ve been there…
I am so excited for the opening of The Thalia, a performing arts complex opening in Central Square, Cambridge. It will have a 99-seat theatre, a rehearsal space, and a lounge. It’s being built by theatre people for theatre people, so you know the backstage is going to be great.
I’m especially excited because we’re going to move B.A.B.E. to the rehearsal hall. While I have some regrets giving up our exclusive-use studio, having our classes right in the heart of Central Square is a win for everyone.
As with all arts projects, The Thalia needs your support, so it can turn from a vast and dingy basement into a fabulous performance space. There are three ways you can help:
1. Contribute to the Kickstarter campaign. No matter what, you should go watch the video to get the full story on The Thalia.
2. Come to the Summer Fun-Raiser on July 28th. Desserts, silent auction (including a little something from B.A.B.E.), music from Samantha Farrell, and keynote speaker Joyce Kulhawik! Tickets here.
3. Spread the word! Tell your friends, your enemies, your rich uncle about The Thalia!
I’ll keep you posted on the progress! And thank you for your support.
Happy Anniversary to Me
Dear Constant Reader,
WordPress reminds me that it’s this blog’s 5th anniversary. That’s five years, 59 book reviews, 246 Friday Tips, and a real live book. Thank you, Constant Reader, for reading. Without you, I’d just be talking to myself.
Friday Tip
Dear Constant Reader,
Happy Friday! Here’s your tip!
Safety goggles are for the sewing room as well as the workshop.
Having a broken machine needle fly in your face is an experience most sewers don’t soon forget! When sewing particularly tough materials (canvas, leather) or ones with hard little bits (sequined or beaded fabrics) or sewing through lots of layers or near metal bits — any time you’re likely to break a needle — wear safety goggles. They may not be chic, but they are sexier than an eyepatch!
Like this tip? There are lots more in Miss Mina Murray’s Little Book of Better Burlesque.
Book Review: The Night They Raided Minsky’s
Dear Constant Reader,
I have a backlog of books to review and I’ve even started reviews for most of them, but I never seem to find the time to finish writing said reviews. It’s a failing. Of course, this is the newest book in the Manor collection…
The Night They Raided Minsky’s: a Fanciful Expedition to the Lost Atlantis of Show Business by Rowland Barber (1960).
It is an undisputed fact that a burlesque show at a Minsky’s theatre was raided in the 1920’s. The rest of the details chronicled in this novel are up for debate. Many of the characters are based on actual people, some more accurately than others.
Our story climaxes on April 20, 1925 with the police raid of the evening burlesque show at the Minsky’s National Winter Garden. The novel traces the stories of the principal players in the drama while counting down to the raid itself. We meet Louis Minsky, the hardworking patriarch who hates burlesque, and his showman son and world class troublemaker, Billy. Then there’s Mlle. Fifi from Paris, the former Betty Buzby of Philadelphia, whose father, who hates her love of dancing, has finally caught up with her. Plus, of course, all the family members, chorus girls, comedians, and hangers-on directly and indirectly involved with the show.
The story is fast-paced and heads inevitably toward the raid, like a pushcart rolling downhill. On the way there, the reader is given a tour of the Lower East Side of the day, complete with dialect. I particularly liked the scenes of overheard conversation at the theatre as the chorus girls gossip and the comedians rehearse in their respective dressing rooms. Post-raid, the story runs out of steam as the author crams the remaining history of Billy Minsky and his brothers into a meager few pages.
Quite entertaining and well captures the time and place, if not the reality, of the heyday of Minsky burlesque. Now I’ll have to watch the movie and see how it compares.
Friday Tip!
Dear Constant Reader,
Happy Friday! Sometime very soon I’ll tell you all about my trip to Chicago (spoiler: it was fantastic), but for now I’ll just give you your tip!
Wear kneepads when practicing floorwork.
It is so much easier to effectively learn and drill floorwork when your knees aren’t bruised and aching. Since I started using kneepads, I can practice longer and get more out of a rehearsal session and really refine my technique. I got these great looking zebra-striped ones. You’ll want to stop using kneepads when you are actually running your number as you would on stage, so you get used to the feel in bare knees.
Of course, there’s a exception to every tip…
In “The Duel” which was part of R&J: A Shakespearean Burlesque, I have to drop to my knees to crawl between some legs and then again to duck a punch while simultaneously ripping off Betty’s breeches. I was wearing kneepads in rehearsal, since I was crashing to my knees over and over again as we developed and rehearsed the choreography (and we were rehearsing twice as much because Devora was performing at The Expo and Brigitte took over the role in R & J). Scratch decided that I should just keep wearing them, just in case, and it’s a pretty silly number, so that just adds to the ridiculousness. D.D. is wearing her own pair, since she also hits the deck in the act.
Like this tip? There are lots more in Miss Mina Murray’s Little Book of Better Burlesque.
