Dr. Sketchy’s Baltimore – Page 24 – Dr. Sketchy's Baltimore

June 27, 2010April 23, 2013

La Bellissima Maria Bella

We have a new winner for my favorite photo ever taken at a Dr. Sketchy’s Baltimore. Russell should just go ahead and give Maria Bella his scooter, ’cause honestly, it looks hotter with her on it.

This was our official Two Year Anniversary session! If you missed it, well, you should just sit down right now and cry like an itty-bity-witty baby because Maria Bella, “Baltimore’s Sicilian Princess” and founder of Gilded Lily Burlesque, was absolutely gorgeous—if she had been a snake, not only would you have NOT missed her in the grass, she would have had her own late-night SciFi Channel movie where she gobbled up an entire village in the Congo or something.

And there were cupcakes from Sweet Sin Bakery!

Before we got the ball rolling, we had a mini-contest at 6:50 for a rail drink. The question was, “Can you name another member of Gilded Lily besides Maria?” Some lucky fellow in the back shouted out Sable Syn Cyr, which, while not currently correct, got “old school” points since she was a member until she moved to Wisconsin a little while ago. Plus, her picture was on the wall, so who are we to be sticklers?

With that, Maria Bella took the stage and the 1 & 2 minute poses began.

Our first contest contest of the evening—well, I guess it was the second—was the good ol’ “If you’re right-handed with your left, if you’re left-handed draw with your right, and if your ambidextrous, your calling is Kung-Fu, not drawing burlesque performers”.

A few more five-minute poses…

Next up were the ten-minute poses. The first pose was our third contest which was the best incorporation of an accordion with the winner receiving a $15 gift card from Atomic Books in Hampden, on Falls Rd. just off the Avenue.

R. L. May III

lanikei

The second ten-minute pose was the one we dragged Russell’s moped up onto the stage for. You’d think that wouldn’t be too difficult, but that stupid thing must weigh a ton. It got up there after a fair amount of cussing though.

Liz Beetem

Next up were the twenty minute poses and another contest which was the best incorporation of a drop bear with the winner getting Visions From Within the Mechanism: The Industrial Surrealism of Jeffery Scott from Baby Tattoo Books.

The weekend before Dr. Sketchy’s, Alexis, Maria, and I took a trip to Asheville, NC for the Asheville Burlesque and Sideshow Festival. Maria was performing and since my folks live in Asheville, carpooling seemed the cheapest and funnest way to mosey down there. Not only that, but the ten-hour car ride gave me plenty of time to run on at the mouth at excruciating length about the local fauna, so Maria would be prepared if a wild boar tried to chew off her leg or a snake popped out of her salad. (She actually saw 4 snakes over two days, though it was probably 2 snakes seen twice—wait, one of the performers was carrying around a snake, so does that make 5? I suppose it’s not important.) Anyways, this may sound like Jager-induced paranoia, but forewarning tourists is what stops people’s babies from being carried off by bald eagles and shit.

What we were talking about? Oh, drop bears. One of the many carnivorous hazards of my fair home state is the wily Drop Bearfirocicus. A sub-species of the normal mountain black bear, drop bears are basically black bears that are soooo fat and lazy they eventually get tired of killing mooses (meeses?), elk, and raiding old ladys’ trash cans. Instead, the climb up in a tree and wait, sometimes for days at a time, until some tourist, park ranger, or teenagers looking to have sex in the woods walk by and then BLAM, they fall right out of the tree and squish them flat with their big ol’ butt.

I’m telling you, it’s a god-damn zoo down there.

Knowledge is half the battle, folks.

So, best incorporation of drop bears . . .

Ben Carnow (winner)

Liz Beetem

Mike Hasson

Last up for the evening was a final 20-minute pose and a contest for the best incorporation of the World’s Cup with the prize being a slick frame from Artist & Craftsman Supply which is just across the street on the corner of North and Howard. (They’re open till 8 too, so if you forget your art supplies, for God’s sake run over there and tell them you came from us.)

Liz Beetem

Ben Carnow

Mike Hasson

We’d like to thank Baltimore’s Sicilian Princess, Maria Bella of Gilded Lily Burlesque, for making our second anniversary session a rousing success, and not only that, but driving us down to Asheville with her and for just an over all kick-ass weekend. We’d also like to thank our generous sponsors Atomic Books, Artist & Craftsman Supply, and Baby Tattoo Books for donating prizes for us give away. Thanks as well to Russell of the Windup Space for slinging drinks, CDs, and his moped up onto the stage; Jeff for the stunning photos you see above; and to Alexis for being our sardonic host.

June 14, 2010June 16, 2010

Don’t forget, Dr. Sketchy’s is tonight with Maria Bella!

Not only that but tonight is our 2nd Anniversary Session! We’re 2 years old! The Terrible Two’s! We’ll probably start saying “NO!” to everything, sticking our fingers in unprotected electrical outlets, and eating crayons or something.

Maria Bella of Gilded Lily Burlesque, who seriously kicked some ass at the Asheville Burlesque and Sideshow Festival this weekend, will help us ring in our third year with style. Doors at the Windup Space are at 6 and everything kicks off at 7. If I was you, I’d be early. BTW, there will be cupcakes from Sweet Sin Bakery!

June 9, 2010June 25, 2010

Little Luna, at last.

I don’t know if you know this, but Little Luna of Gilded Lily Burlesque was scheduled to pose for us way back during Snowmageddon, which—with all the last-minute emergencies such as fires, arrests (not us), and traffic snafus—is the only session in two years we’ve ever had to cancel. Even worse, we couldn’t reschedule her immediately because nearly everyone after her was traveling from far away to pose for you.

I can’t count how many folks emailed or asked when she was being rescheduled. It was a lot. I’m pretty sure the wait was worth it. 🙂 Just between you and me (and you know, The Internet), if it had snowed again, we would have taken it as a sign that everyone’s favorite invisible friend in the sky with super powers hated her guts and all of us were a hair’s breadth from being turned into pillars of salt or something.

Oh, who am I kidding, salt, schmalt.

Our first contest of the evening was the opposite hand contest. If you’re left-handed you draw with your right, if you’re right-handed you draw with your left, and if you’re ambidextrous you should be behind the bar flipping cocktails for us, not drawing. The two winners got mystery drinks from Russell . . . which to date hasn’t killed anyone, but I’m warning you, they do look a little shifty.

Samantha Cimino

John Brewer

Brian Dugan

Next up was the random noun contest where someone from the audience shouts out a random noun, which this session was “octopus”. The prize was Animus by Seonna Hong, from Baby Tattoo Books who, besides putting out a whole slew of amazing art books also runs the Dr. Sketchy’s in LA.

Brian Dugan

Elstabo

The last contest of the evening was in honor of Pac-Man’s 30th anniversary, which apparently because of this front page on Google, cost the U.S an estimated $120,483,800 in productivity. The winner of the “best incorporation of Pac-Man” contest got TWO prizes . . . a Mini-Munny from Atomic Books in Hampden on the corner of Falls Rd and the Avenue . . .

. . . not only that, but the winner got a frame from Artist & Craftsman Supply across the street on the corner of North Ave. and Howard, with the stipulation that they had to put a drawing in the frame, right on the spot, to be included in the Dr. Sketchy’s Baltimore Art Show. The opening reception for the show (and for Voom!, an exhibit of stunning burlesque portraits by photographer J.M. Giordano) is June 9th (that’s tonight), from 7 to 9 pm at the Windup Space.

If, for some lame reason, you can’t make the reception tonight, you’ll have almost two months to catch the show, including Artscape weekend. And, of course, you can see the work at our next session.

The Pac-Man drawings (some of which are in the show) were pretty awesome.

Samantha Cimino

Brian Dugan

Tiny hats are awesome. Little Luna’s was made by the multi-talented Malibu, whose (literally) fiery performances are seriously amazing.

John Brewer

And here are some photos of Little Luna after the session, showing off some awesome drawings given to her by Elstabo (who also took these two photos). You can see these drawings in person at the Dr. Sketchy’s art show.

A trillion billion thanks to Little Luna of Gilded Lily Burlesque for not only making a hole in her schedule for your drawing pleasure once, but twice! (If you didn’t come see her, the rest of Gilded Lily Burlesque, and Mourna Handful perform on May 29th at the Windup Space, you seriously missed out on some serious sexy. Seriously.) Thanks as well to our generous sponsors, Atomic Books, Artist & Craftsman Supply (who also helped us frame a few additional drawings for the show), and Baby Tattoo Books; if it wasn’t for them, we’d have no prizes to give away. Also well-deserving of the thanking is Russell of the Windup for slinging drinks and songs, Bill for filming the documentary and bouncing creepy people out the front door, Jeff for taking all the great photos above (who, btw, has some work in the show as well), the artists who contributed work for this post, and Alexis for being your host. Conan should take her on the road with him.

So, the opening reception for the Dr. Sketchy’s art show is tonight, June 9th, 7 to 9 pm at the Windup Space! Don’t miss it, come down, have some drinks with us where, for once, we won’t be running around like chickens with our heads cut off. 🙂 Then, our next session (and second anniversary session!) is June 14th with Maria Bella of Gilded Lily Burlesque, who will be fresh back from performing at the Americana Burlesque and Sideshow Festival in Asheville, NC—with us in tow, in fact . . . so if the car breaks down, y’all are screwed. —Aaron