20.2.10

I HAVE ARRIVED 2.20.2010

In an effort to support the local arts and my friends, I stopped by a store opening this Saturday afternoon. Local artist and friend, Lynn Rosskamp, and a few other collaborative artists were holding an open house just a mile from my neighborhood. Lynn is most famous for her ultra cool & fun hats. Of hats she does wear many. She is an accomplished hat maker, painter, multi-media artist, greeting card maker, and yes – burlesque dancer. Lynn and her friends were presenting “Absolutely Fabulous”, a retail and studio space atop Queen Anne Hill. I walk in and it’s packed to the brim with friends, customers, art, hats, purses, and even cashmere stockings. I spot a delicious looking Lynn and she is very excited to proclaim, “Kitty, YOU have a hat!” Huh? I have a hat?

One of her big sellers is a plush black number with cute pink kitty ears. This is very popular with kids, teens, and ladies I hear. It was originally named “Eartha Kitten”. Apparently most of her customers didn’t get it. She decided on a new name and a bit of Seattle flavor. This adorable hat is now named “Kitty Baby”. For Real! It’s a huge honor to be included in Lynn’s art. I have so much admiration for her. Before you imagine I am feeding my own ego, it was she who stated, “You have Arrived!”

Lynn sells hats under the name Pingi Hats and creates other art under Three Cats Designs.

(I have arrived, part two) If you find yourself at Highway 99 Blues Club and in need of a tasty libation, order the Miss Kitty Baby: Pearl Pomegranite Vodka, Triple Sec, muddled limes and Cranberry. I can’t drink, but I hear it’s delicious!




24.1.10

PRETTY FOR A CAUSE 1.23.10

A few years ago I started using my pin-up superpowers for a greater good: helping others. Along the way I get asked to do really cool events to benefit my own charity and other charities too. 
  
Recently we were asked to help out with the Gay Bingo event because the theme was “Bootcamp”. This event benefits the Life Long Aids Alliance and the Chicken Soup Brigade. There was a 700+ room full of attendees and volunteers in various forms of cammo and military costume. It was also my first interaction with the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. They were a mixture of drag, nun-ery, essential volunteer, and all around awesomeness. Their costumes were not only creative and spectacular, but their face/drag make-up was particularly intense. A whole lot of work goes in to their look.

Toward the end of the event I stumble upon this particular Sister VixXxen. Sister V was drenched in pink cammo and had one of the best faces in the room. We collided and demanded a photo together as I had a pink cammo thing going on too. Our get-to-know you conversation included a rash of fawning over how pretty and fabulous each other was. This led to the technical aspect of theatrical makeup application and the time it takes. Then of course we started bragging (or confessing) about how long it actually takes.

Sister VixXxen took the conversation for a turn. She talked about how every minute it takes to get in character and apply her face is worth it when she makes a hospice visit to cheer someone up. Or when someone calls to say they are just lonely and need a friendly voice to help them get through a hard day. Sister VixXxen says “Of course I will. Be right there.”

This just melted my heart. It reminded me why I do what I do. That our beauty is only make-up deep, but we can really make a difference when we take the time to use it to help others.



Sister VixXxen/Marcos Chavez III & Miss Kitty Baby



21.1.10

A POLITE AUDIENCE 1.12.10

Have you ever gotten a tickle in your throat and gone into a coughing fit before it goes away? Even when you drink water or try to regulate your breathing, it seems to only stop torturing you when it’s good and ready. Your friends hover around you asking if you are ok and you nod and gasp as you become more embarrassed by this little fit your body is having. You try a drink of water and it seems to sooth it, but only for seconds. It never really does the trick. Only a good four to five minutes of spazzing out generally ends this chaos.

Imagine you are sitting in the front row of Naked Girls Reading. This would be the inaugural Naked Girls Reading event in our wonderfully creative city of Seattle. Michelle L’amour, it’s founder, has flown in from Chicago and is part of the cast on stage. Michelle and the other Naked Girls - Polly Wood, Heidi Von Haught, and Jesse Bell Jones are so lovely, poised, relaxed, and confident. We are now in the third act. Heidi is reading a passage from ‘Howl’. This is probably the most important reading of the night, because tonight’s theme is banned books. Not being much of a literary fool, I haven’t even heard of it. I am savoring every word of this poem that simply blows my mind for about 1000 reasons.

…and then I feel it. A horrible tickle in the right side of my throat. I am in the middle of a really yucky cold that has attacked my throat, lungs, sinuses, and left me constantly fatigued. So this tickle is not going down without a fight. My best defense would be coughing it out. This is NOT an option! The room is totally silent as the controversial obscene tales of Howl flow from Heidi’s mouth. I fight to suppress this coughing fit. If I breathe too deeply I will cough. If I close my mouth, I can’t breathe because my nose is stuffed up. I fight and fight and fight. The tears are running down my cheeks. Snot is flowing out my nose and I was probably drooling. For anyone who has experienced CS Gas training…that’s pretty much what I looked like. Should I leave the theater? Even though I am in the front, I am on the end. I could sneak away. Yeah right. The room has hardwood floors and I am wearing very solid heels. If I move even one inch from my seat the whole audience and Miss Heidi will become distracted and the magic of her reading will be gone. Luckily my table mate had a bottle of water. I tapped her on the shoulder and motioned to it with desperate eyes. The water helped, but only a little. Luckily when this began, Heidi was 2/3 finished with her reading. I have no idea what she read during that last part, but I am sure it was amazing. As the applause roared, I coughed my little heart out and breathed long gasps of relief that I didn’t ruin the show. Only my table mate really knowing what happened…

Not so fast! As we mingled with and loved the readers at the end of the evening, Miss Jesse Bell Jones complimented me for being such a trooper. She had seen the entire fiasco go down from her poise on the stage! Well, I can only hope I built up some good points with future audiences of my own.