Alas, the article went without us, as it turns out it was far more steampunk-oriented than the New York Times interviewer implied. It's true, however, that since it glowingly includes mentions and quotes from SalonCon's Deb, that we'll still get exposure from it.

Plus I have someone from the New York Times who in the recesses her brain knows who we are.

It's still pretty decent.

Experienced tough money problems, but I got my check. After a few overdraft fees, it's not as substantial as it once was, but there's always Friday. I will be a traveling fiend starting Friday, anyway, and will likely need the cash considering I will be going to Somerville to see Dad & Michele and then Andrea's show; staying with Andrea on Friday, then (I think) going to South Jersey and then to Connecticut on Sunday. Or we're going directly to Connecticut on Saturday, which is more likely. But I honestly have no idea.

Pop Pop's 80th birthday is on Sunday and I will be there for it. It will be ice to see both he and Mom Mom as I did not have the opportunity to see them in April, and I will not have an opportunity to see them any later than now in May.

This is a big week. I have to:
- get together with Sandy and Genevieve to complete our number for Rockstars and Strippers
- get together with Randi to complete our number for Rockstars and Strippers
- firm up and complete the setlist recording for Rockstars and Strippers to send out (I made myself a promise that every show's music would be set no later than a week before the performance)
- nail down the other R&S people and make sure they and I know what we're doing
- e-mail Jamie from R&S to make sure we know when we go on
- work on the Wonderland script for June so when I come back from Connecticut, I get those voiceovers started
- finalize the setlist for Rochester's show and tell everyone what they're doing (and be certain who will actually be there). Alas Rochester's throwing a gear in my wrenches by asking for the music sooner than 1 week before. I've worked with less in less time, so I'm not crazy in hell about that, but I just gotta do it.

...and that's just burlesque. I have crazy work stuff to do that will hopefully involve upwards of 3 signed contracts. More nailing people to the floor, really.

I did enjoy some relaxation with Angie on Saturday, where we also determined what she'll be performing for R&S (and probably again for Rochester) and also Sandy, who I never did get to talk to about what we're doing. But we all hung out, drank a lot, watched Practical Magic and The Devil Wears Prada (the former Sandy had never seen and the latter Angie had never seen). We all got reasonably blitzed, but not sick (bonus for not throwing up, points lost for that meaning all those calories are still inside me... ah well, life's booze's a trade-off).

Sunday was quiet, more or less. I spent a lot of time just listening to the Scissor Sisters, and wandering the internet. Then watched a lot of The View on TiVo. Due neither to Scissor Sisters or The View, I was pretty funk-tastic, and just feeling fairly low.

Monday's already here. I should get to sleep.

Genevieve and Michael got married this past weekend. I didn't expect to cry during my speech, but I did. I cried during writing it, which sucked even more. But it was a lot of fun after that! I tore up the dance floor, got down with sexy ladies (and Richy to boot), and even sorta-jitterbugged with Joyce. It was over far too soon. I don't experience enough dance parties. The third week if not sooner I get a theatrespace for White Elephant, Viktor's having some monthly dance parties.

I got an e-mail at the WE Burlesque account, for someone marked as "R [last name omited]." They left their address, phone number, and e-mail address. The e-mail address was marked "nytimes.com" They wanted an interview for the Styles section.

Wait, what? Seriously? After some Google search, I determined to be a real person. Whether or not someone from the New York Times was actually trying to interview someone at the Society, I hadn't determined. So I gave a call.

And yes, yes, they were. I spoke to her about burlesque's re-emergence (if it ever did go away), briefly about our performances, what I thought about the spirit of burlesque, and also gave her info for Deb from SalonCon as she was also curious about steampunk.

It was surreal. But awesome.

I think White Elephant may (and only may) end up in a New York Times article.

In about 5 minutes am heading to Colorado Springs for tradeshow...

BUSY week. Several WEBS events in flux in planning stages, wedding stuff for Genevieve, plotting for this upcoming week ahead which will also be busy.

Still, it seems to get easier every time.

Other stuff:
- Wicked Faire was a big hit.
- Made a new friend.
- eLiz moved out.
- Anniversary and Valentine's Day came and went. I was too busy to be sad.

More to keep coming down.

Someone out there, give me strength.

Awakeawakeawake...

I could probably blame the nap I took between 6 and 9 for this late night.

Oh, a yawn! That's good news. Yawns usually precede an hour or so before I'm actually pretty tired. Feeling restless, but not very interested in doing anything. Matt and Jamie are asleep in the next room and don't want to bother them with me on the trampoline... that would probably wipe me out.

I enjoyed my dinering with Regina and Dante. They came over to go over their next number for WE Burlesque. We go on live on the 8th at Wicked Faire. I am very happy with the setlist, the cast, and the progress made. Some stuff to work out still, but there will continue to be until we go on. Not stressing.

We have a good learning curve for burlesque; we are learning what works and learning what doesn't. I am learning to take the opinions of others and channel them into something better. Michael said something interesting about "Script Language" about a week ago... it's the number where Genevieve and I seduce Jordana. He said he thought it was depressing; it looked like we were draining the life out of her and that it was "anti-burlesque" (or something to that same token; something that did not fit into the pro-sex attitudes of burlesque). I thought about this. Y'know, I understand that. In context, in it's original form at a vampire event, it was less drain-the-life and more eat-the-little-girl. We did not change the format at the two later events we performed it at; it was out of context and suffered for it. We learned.

However, that said... "anti-burlesque" (the second time I write that, I am further certain that is my term and not Michael's) is interesting. I remember Sarah, when she performed with us, that she didn't think the material we were doing was "burlesque enough." This basically meant not brassy enough; not enough horns, not enough feather fans, and in her own words, too much emphasis on the lyrics of the songs. I get her point. I don't exactly agree, but I get her point. I know that Danielle has had similar thoughts, although she and Sarah have different opinions as how far burlesque can stretch in terms of sound; Danielle is a bit more liberal with the terms. And that's cool and all; Genevieve and I haven't made many bones about it: we aren't in the 1920's. We respect them, but there's SO MUCH MUSIC out there that make us want to tell a story or take off our clothes. Or both.

Michael commented on the subject matter of "Script Language"; I am proud alone that a number of ours was worth analyzing. It has occurred to me that our burlesque routines do involve a lot sex-positive material, if not precisely in the lyrics or context of the songs. In fact, a lot of our material has featured a number of shenanigans that aren't very positive: grifting (Madame Jinx), multiple murder ("If You Go Away"), extramarital affairs ("Lions Roar"), theft (the upcoming "Otto Titsling"), and materialism ("Rivolta Silenziosa").

I remember Genevieve being hesitant to premiere "Wicked Woman, Foolish Man" with Sarah and Regina because it featured a satirical D/S relationship because she was concerned it would be taken incorrectly by the audience, as if it was making fun of the culture or devaluing it by making it seem like the submissive is not in control of their destiny. In fact, her concerns turned out to be fair but inconsequential by the time it played. It's still one of our best numbers, and had Regina not played the submissive with such relish--truly enjoying the treatment she was receiving from Sarah--it would have definitely been taken differently. It was smart casting that matched the great song. Context was everything.

I know I like the darker side of our follies. I co-directed "Rivolta," which is on the surface a farce that features clowns removing clothes to reveal high society duds, but coupled with the lyrics, essentially about politics and "selling out." I perform "If You Go Away," where I murder 4 men in a row with increasing violence when contextually, they give me no reason to except an empty possibility of them leaving me. I admit, I am in something of a dark mood as of late. I think originally "Lions Roar" was going to end in death as well during very early plotting. I wanted to show the consequences; these are little fluffy morality tales, really. It's not just girls! girls! girls! taking it all off. One of our next numbers, set for Wicked Faire and starring Randi, features a plot similar to the original "Lions Roar": the lover shoots down the husband (he had it coming, it could be argued); but even then, doesn't Get The Girl. Waannh, waannh, waaaaaannhhh... Fooled you.

I want the balance. And it's through seeing how things go and audience reaction (they will Let You Know when they don't get it or don't want it) that we'll determine appropriate context.

Every day, Genevieve and I turn to each other and say "we should do a number to this song!" Eventually, we probably will! Already, our favorite upcoming number approaches politics again and is set for SalonCon '08.

As for the joyful gusto of the girls! girls! girls!--we've got plenty of that too coming up. Angie continues to amaze with her poise and gracious dedication, Dante and Regina have a number that is positively late night Cinemax, Jordana and I worked very hard on her first dance solo that shaped up to be a great tribal bit, and Sandy can grind like nobody's business. And I think Jeremy may very steal the entire show.

I am very proud of all of us for taking the risks. And glad for everyone else for saying anything about us, positive or negative--it all gets saved and keeps me going. It's important to note that Michael's comment spurred my writing, but he has been tremendously supportive in everything White Elephant does. In fact I believe his comment is additionally supportive, coaxing consistency.

I stalled and stalled finishing the Sweeney Todd review I was going to make. I tried to encourage myself to complete it by leaving the LJ window open with it in it, knowing it would be lost if I didn't do anything with it. Fooled me. It's gone now. So, in short: awesome. And made me pretty obsessed with the material, especially the relationship between Todd and Lovett. I now own the 2005 revival and Concert version (love LuPone) and the original Broadway is on it's way.

Very much enjoyed Depp and Bonham Carter. There will always be things you wish they would also do, but it's rare, especially in musicals, where you don't wish that they didn't do something. There wasn't really any part of the film where I went "No! Don't do it that way!" Instead, I went off thinking "Awesome! They could have also done this!" So, no real grievance.

I was in a Voltaire music video, "Happy Birthday, My Olde Friend." Jordana, Genevieve, Regina, and I went, supporting White Elephant, and I even got an actual bit within the video. I am a doorman, asleep at his post, who unwittingly allows the events to unfold. I also got to funk and swerve in the crowd scenes. It was tremendous fun. No word when it goes up online, but it should look pretty great. Voltaire himself was VERY NICE to us and entertained us with Sweeney Todd parody songs. Seriously, that man needs to get into the studio and release an EP now.

(Yes,) Virginia is this weekend, where Genevieve, Christy (Genevieve's sister, with whom we stayed with during the Memphis excursion of 2003), and I are going to see the Dresden Dolls. I missed them, and it should be a lot of fun! During the road trip, Genevieve and I will have lots to gab about and lots of musicks to listen to.

This seasonal change (a bit early considering it's January) of weather is making my sinuses a bit slick and moist. Not a fan.

Wicked Faire's around the bend, and planning for that is in full effect. I have to make some e-mails to people, but I am excited about the line-up we have for WEBS and the set list that I have been tossing around. We will be on the MAIN STAGE this year and be on from 10-11. Word.

I had dinner with Joyce tonight. The dinner was nice, despite the car ride that reminded me why I never liked her driving me anywhere (she gets anxious and tantrum-y when she doesn't know where she is). We spoke about things going on in my life, the most prominent of mine being the HOH disaster, the Matt fiasco, the work stress, and the true blessing that is WEBS.

Cheers to the Elephants, whether it be on stage or off; it is they that got me through 2007 when no one else could.

Dinner with Joyce was the first of the December Festivities of Uncertainty. The only thing I know for certain is I will be in Connecticut for Christmas proper, which I am looking forward to, predominately so that I can be catty with Amy, Michelle, and Wendy. I have invitations from Dad and Michele as well, and from Amy2 and Andrea for other December days. I don't know what to expect day-to-day anymore so I'm not sure exactly what Matt is doing.

Jamie is back in New Jersey after deciding that Guadeloupe turned out to be a lonely, frustrating, and barren wasteland. I understand this decision.

Work in the morning... much to do and worry about. In addition, I've got to score presents for the holidays and several of them have to be in the next week or so if I am in fact seeing other family members before Day.

(copied from the webs blog)

Floating World has come and gone. After all the prep work that went into it, it would be nice to relax. That's not going to happen... SalonCon is less than a month away.

As for FW, it was a fun event. There was some trouble getting there this week, between cast interaction and not getting direct answers from the venue for what to expect. Sound did not work out as we hoped or expected. In fact we had to use a boombox that didn't carry sound very, very well so who knows what the audience actually heard. But we had an audience! And they clapped! It was certainly my worst Viktor ever; I gave up banter after about a minute and a half of blank faces. But they got way more into during the performances.

"Tell Me" was largely improvised by Regina and myself. We had an idea going in what we wanted to do, but it all came together on the stage. My favorite moments were throwing Regina to the floor (hot!) and taking her against my hips and twirling her around, her hair flying (hotter!).

Genevieve and Danielle rocked the hell out of "#1 Crush" and Sandy pulled off "Closer" very well (I felt so bad that she couldn't hear the music as clearly; with a song like "Closer" that is largely monotonous, that's killer), and Angie mesmerized for both "Poison Ivy" and "Why Don't You Do Right." Jordana, Genevieve, and I got through "Script Language" without a misstep and I think it looked really good.

Truly, the whole set worked out brilliantly. I would love to do the exact set again (next time, as Danielle pointed out, with a stronger final song-- "Why Don't You Do Right" is a lot of fun, but a more energetic track afterwards would've sealed the show a bit better), and we very likely may for the Labyrinth show (more on that another time--but I'm hoping it will feature both irony and ironing) or October if I get my way. The exciting November show is also still on the horizon...

The rest of evening featured our cast participating with Midnight Seduction. After the extremely quick show we just performed, I'm not sure everyone was really gearing to have a low-key roleplaying session with strangers, but we all ended up having a lot of fun. It was far more interactive (and voluntary) than we had realized, and the time flew by. We met a lot of great people, several of whom may be coming to our other upcoming shows or may be able to hook us up.

After the show, we packed and headed to a diner where we gabbed for quite a long time.

As always, a bit of post-show depression (it was over too fast!) but that's good--gets us ready for the next one.