Glinka4Sale

I have been taking a breather from the blog and from the Internets in general, attempting to work on my Money/Creativity issues.

Bottom line is: I can't continue to "give away my creativity for free" anymore.

:-/

Details to come.

A Very Sequin-ny Valentine's Day!

Yesterday was pretty awesome, all things considered. I decided not to care that I'm Tragically Single, and focus instead on all the positives in my life all day.

So I was cheerfully going about my day, and I went out in search of a chair, 'cause I'm having some company over tomorrow night and I could use one more chair in my new butch/ eclectic/ post-moderne Bachelor Pad...

First I went to this one creepy thrift store in my neighborhood and they had nothing; everything for sale in there seems like someone died while wearing it or sitting on it.

Then I went into this other store called "Muzzy's Attic;" a gaggy name, and they're on the overpriced side, so I usually don't go in there. I browsed around and didn't see any chairs I liked and/or could afford, but then I saw a cool old brush and hand-mirror set that I thought would be great as props for Madame G. When the store-owner "Sam," a very attractive young woman, asked me who I was buying them for, I told her they were for my drag character. Then she went over to an armoir in the back and proceeded to pull out this hideously ugly/beautiful robe/gown thing made of pearlescent sequins and this strange chenille trim, shaped into gigantic ugly flowers with seed pearls inside the petals, in an oriental-style dress design. Oy, oy, oy!

She said that she'd had it out for a long time but hadn't found a buyer, and she knew that it had to go to someone like me. But we're talking the "Outer Avenues" here, not the Castro, so someone *like me* doesn't come along that often!

My peeps: she gave it to me for free!

Granted, she probably never could have found someone to actually buy it, because it's such a bizarre garment, but it's very cool and perfect for the bizarre Madame Glinka. She thought it'd be good karma to give it to me, and it will be, because now I'm going to recommend her shop to every Queen I encounter.

I think I have to put an ensemble together with this piece as sort of an overcoat, with a chiffony gown or pantsuit underneath.

So that was my ultra-romantic Valentine's day!!!!

:-) :-) :-) Wooo-Hoooooo!

Bad Poetry for RE:ality TV Addicts

There once was a girl named Moana

who acted just like a piranha.

Her parents were mean;

They wrecked Travis's self-esteem.

But he's still into her and The Drama!








Happy Valentines Day, everyone!!!

You want Fame? Well, Fame costs. And right here is where you're gonna have to start paying for it... WITH SWEAT!

Above, a Dell'Arte School of Physical Theater class. Can you picture a 47-year-old, slightly out-of-shape Gay Guy trying to do this stuff???

La Danse Update: There were some snafus with the rehearsal space Chr. had lined up for La Danse, so we haven't had our first rehearsal yet. We did hang out yesterday afternoon and look at videos of his past work, and some videos of my past work in Bad Theatre.

As for Chr., the boy can choreograph, which is a relief, as I must be extremely careful who I perform with in my post-New York City Ballet career! Just because I'm not dancing Aurora or Giselle anymore, doesn't mean I need to get sloppy!

Meanwhile, on the training front, I'm still considering The Dell'Arte School, the one-year Professional Training Program. If it were in town, I'd maybe just go for it, but I still can't wrap my brain around the idea of plunking myself down in some tiny town in the middle of nowhere to learn how to be a clown...

Chr. suggested that I spend the whole year in the Training Program as Madame Glinka, but I'm afraid that I'd swallow way too much lip-glitter if I did that.

Also, I am sure that Clown Classes would interfere with my RE:ality TV watching. !!!!! (I'm working on a new poem about Moana.)

Hey, btw, sorry I haven't been blog-jogging much. I've been on an Internet Diet.

La Danse

My life seems to be entering an exciting new phase, and I have discovered that my *instrument* is The Dance...

The big news: My pal Chr., who fancies himself the next Mark Morris, is choreographing a piece on me. No joke! Well, actually, he's gonna be in the piece too, as well as another mutual friend of ours. (Well, someone's got to be there to help me with my balances and Swan Dives.)

Our first rehearsal is this morning. I have to get off the 'puter soon and purge my breakfast so I can look extra-cute in my pink rehearsal leotard and leg-warmers. Gelsey Kirkland, watch out!

We have seen two impressive dance performances in the past two weeks; one avant-guarde modern and the other ultra-classical. The first was a performance by Anna Halprin & Group-- Ms. Halprin is an 85-year-old (!) dancer/performer who was a very influential figure back in the '60s with other modern dancers in New York, part of the Judson Church movement-- dancers who used more "ordinary" movement in their works-- standing, sitting, walking, etc.

For this performance, her troupe performed this section of a piece from 1965 called "Dressing and Undressing, " where they basically... dressed and undressed repeatedly. Down to their birthday suits. It was quite amazing. The dancers in this piece were young and pretty. Um, yeah. Apparently, in the '60s, Halprin was almost arrested for the nudity in this piece.

The second piece they performed was with Anna herself and three older dancers. It was about hospitals and dying... very intense and angst-y. (I'm not doing these full justice with my descriptions, I'm afraid.) I have to give mad props to anyone still creating work at age 85! As a performer, Anna still had it going on.

So then, this past Saturday night we were at the Opera House to see San Francisco Ballet do "Swan Lake." Wow, was this breathtaking. I feel incredibly blessed to be able to see such excellence in dancing. SF Ballet has a beautiful production of this work-- the sets and costumes are utterly gorgeous... My dear balletomane pal, who must remain nameless, works in the SF Ballet Box Office, and had invited me out, so I got to sit in the Grand Tier, Row A, Center. From that amazing vantage point, I felt like I was seeing a Degas painting come to life.

No 85-year-old ballerinas, but I still enjoyed it.

There, Chr., I did the Dance Blog Entry... and now I think I'm gonna be late to your rehearsal! Please don't fire me.

Sequins is the New Black

Over the weekend I was involved in a conversation about *The Big Game* and I tried to put my two cents in by mentioning the Winter Olympics coming up, and how much I was looking forward to the wonderful sport of Figure Skating.

I said-- to the straight guys I was with-- "I am only into sports where sequins are involved." They chuckled.

Then I actually watched part of the Super Bowl. It's Pop Culture, and so I am interested. I mainly wanted to see the halftime show, because you never know when something ridiculous or blog-worthy might occur during this bloated, over-produced "entertainment" spectacle. IE: Wardrobe Malfunction or something.

I'm not a huge Stones fan, but they were okay. The main thing I noticed was that Mick Jagger, who is oddly perserved in his unique post-adolescent time-warp, was wearing a T-Shirt with sequins on it!!!!! It was black, and SPARKLY on the top.

You Go, Mick!!!

(Accompanying pic is a closeup of my Ballet Gala Macy's Womens' Department Sequinned Scarf.)

This One's for all my "Copper Queen" Fans in Bisbee, AZ

Great yakking with you on the phone last nite, Jeff!! If you keep up all the words of encouragement, maybe I'll dedicate my first full-length Commedia Clown/ Queer/ Activist/ Performance Piece to you. :-)

So, where exactly is the Bisbee Opera House in this pic?????

I just found a link to the MadHats party that I attended two weekends ago, with exactly 200 photos on it. There was not a single photo of Madame Glinka or of my friend Kat, her bf and girlfriend. Bizarre. I know we had at least a couple of pics taken of us when we walked in the door and plunked our ten bucks down. That evening was cursed (for MOI, anyway).

Onto more important subjects, such as what I watched on the T.V. last night.

Dr. Phil had a show on about compulsive hoarders. I kind of hate Dr. Phil, he's such a friggin' scold, but the show was interesting. I truly think that this is a mental disorder that probably should be treated with a combination of therapy and anti-anxiety meds. Oprah already covered this issue last year and I think she did a better job with it-- because she had a psychologist on who specialized in treating this problem. Her guest was this "perfect-looking" woman living in the suburbs who let her dogs poop all over her cluttered home. Yikes! Calling FlyLady!!! When Oprah did a follow-up visit, the poor woman was still allowing a little poop in the shower stall. Oy Oy Oy! I'm so happy I changed Speedo and Sunshine's litterbox yesterday!

I looked around at my own clutter as I was watching Dr. Phil last night-- it's much better now since I've moved to a freshly painted new home that I like, but I totally understood the distorted thinking of the guests, afraid or unable to throw anything away.

As an artist/performer, I use a lot of my old collected stuff in current projects, but it's always good to let old things go and make room for the new.

And it's definitely always a good thing to get rid of the pet poop!!!

True, there's an artist who has risen to fame using elephant dung in her work, but that's not what I'm into, thank you.

California Boyfriends & Other Hot Topics

I bought a new room-sized oriental carpet last week at California Carpets-- on sale for only $199.00 + tax! :-) It is obviously not "real," but it's a pretty nice-looking fake.

The home decorating aesthetic that seems to be developing in my new place is Post-Moderne Eclectic Shabby-Chic On Sale. I'm still holding true to the desire to not go too fruity, to be The Butch. That part's been tough!

This is a pic of my kitty Speedo inaugurating the new carpet with his fur-esome presence. Now I can be neurotic about the new carpet, instead of being neurotic about the ridiculously impractical beige carpeting underneath. I'm still movin' furniture around; that's why the edge is sticking up slightly.

So I was talking with *a friend* on the phone last night about the new carpet and saying that it would be really cool if there was a store called California Boyfriends where I could buy a boyfriend on sale for $199.00 + tax. He told me to write a blog entry about it. So here it is.

Okay, I know there are parts of The City where you can buy a "boyfriend" for even less than $199.00 + tax, but that's TOTALLY not what I'm talking about, so get your minds out of the gutter!

Wot Else? On the Re:Ality TV front: The Bachelor in Paris has narrowed his choices down to the final four:

1) The BrunetteBitchWithBigBoobs
2) TheNiceBoringGirlFromHisHometown
3) TheBeautyQueenWannabeActress
4) TheQuirkyCanadianWithAnAnnoyingVoice.

In the last episode he got rid of:
1) The"Crunchy"GirlWithADiceyPast
2) TheRed-HeadedDrunk.

Just in case you missed it.

Aunt Nub sent me some delicious chocolate chip and Valentine's cookies in the mail, and we talked on the phone for awhile yesterday. This was fun! Me and Aunt Nub share a passion for sparkly stickers (butch, huh?). It's difficult, at least in the Bay Area, to find a lot of people over the age of twelve who share this interest.

It's a bit hard to believe, but I still haven't met any AOL-ish bloggers/journalers face-to-face. And, I have been making efforts to limit my time on the Internet somewhat, and have also been feeling that I "give away" too much of my creative output for free, so I'm kinda sorta wanting to blog less. Thus, it would be wise for my many fanz to consider reaching out to me (and vice versa) in other non-cyber ways. Is this unrealistic?

You could fly on over here to 'Frisco and crash on my new carpet!