Holy moley, even thinking of Johnny Blazes’s session makes me blush all over again. If never-ending quest to make every session different and hopefully better than the last, we decided to experiment by having a 5-minute performance by Johnny halfway through the session. Sabrina Chap had played a few songs for us a few sessions back, and, well, that had gone so damn amazing that we thought, “Could it work for anything else?”
Well, great googly moogly, Johnny Blazes’ performance was akin to someone rolling a holy hand grenade of drag, burlesque, and honky-tonk right off the stage and into the crowd. For two years now we’ve been tickled pink with how the sessions worked, but honestly felt there was something missing, i.e., it’s one thing to see, say, Paco Fish on stage in his frozen glory for the benefit of your sharpened pencils and it’s an altogether different to see that glory when the game of Red Light/Green Light is no longer stuck in red.
See, our woe has always been that you, for the most part, really never get to know any of these great performers. Sure, there’s some occasional chatting with the audience, but you don’t get to see what THEY are good at, their art, that flare that they’re famous for in various performance houses up and down the East coast (and sometimes places as far away as Australia).
It’s no secret, but Alexis and I are burlesque junkies. It’s rare you won’t see us in the crowd at various shows around Baltimore hooting and hollering for all the folk you’ve seen modeling the last two years. If you check out our calendar page, you’ll see the various upcoming shows we know of. We tell you about them during the sessions and we try to tweet as many of them as we can.
Folks come up to us all the time and say, “Wow, I really love Little Luna, she’s an amazing model!” or “I could draw Maria Bella all day long!”
. . . and we’ll reply, “We know!! S/he is amazing! Have you seen her/him perform?”
“Umm, errr, no. S/he performs?”
“DUUUUUUUUUDE!”
Well, maybe not “dude!”. Unless we were tipsy. Come to think of it, at that point, we’re often tipsy….WHETHER WE SAY DUDE OR NOT ISN’T IMPORTANT.
What is important is that for now on, if the model is a performer and they’re up for it, they’ll give you a five minute peek during the middle of the session at WHY they’re posing for Dr. Sketchy’s and why Alexis and I squeal and titter like three-year-olds over the fact that they’re posing. These guys and gals who pose for you are some of the smartest, most talented, creative people we’ve ever met. To be blunt, they’re just damn COOL, and we want you to see why.
Now, Little Luna won’t be able to do one this Monday since she’s doing two performances this week anyway, but she WILL perform this Saturday with Gilded Lily at the Windup. More on that later, though.
Anyways, on to the show! (And believe me, Johnny Blazes brought it.)
And with that, someone pulled the pin on Johnny and all hell broke loose….to the tune of “Honky Tonk Badonkadonk” by Trace Adkins, no less. She was moving pretty fast, so most of the pictures were pretty blurry, but here’s the best one Jeff was able to get.
After a cold glass of water and maybe a shot, we started the five-minute poses and contests.
The first contest, for two mysterious drinks from Russell’s mysterious (i.e., scary) brain, was the opposite hand drawing contest. If you’re righty, do it with your lefty; if you’re a lefty do it with your righty; and if you’re multi-handy you’re cheating and are going to be rewarded with a drink for your shiftiness.
Second up in contest land was best incorporation of Monty Python, since it was international Monty Python Status Day, with the prize being a Johnny Blazes t-shirt.
(Gift to Johnny Blazes from an anonymous artist.)
Brian Dugan
Brian Dugan
The third contest was in honor of Frank Franzetta with the two winners getting either a beautiful frame from Artist & Craftsman Supply right across the street at the corner of North and Howard, or a Mini-Munny from Atomic Books in Hampden on the corner of the Avenue and Falls. Why a frame from Artist & Craftsman? If you just asked that, I’m going to cry. I will sit in the middle of the next session and sob. Trust me, it will be embarrassing for all of us.
So, why? Because June 9th is the first-ever Dr. Sketchy’s gallery art show along with an exhibit of the stunning photos of J.M. Giordano! Do you have a drawing or painting that was done or inspired by Dr. Sketchy’s over the last two years? PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE bring it to the next session with Little Luna on May 24th (you can bring them after that, too). Want to know the specifics? The blog post right below this one has everything you need to know, just scroll down. If you’ve EVER drawn or painted something at Dr. Sketchy’s, PLEASE bring something in. We want a salon-style show, i.e., want the wall stuffed with as many pieces as possible, touching frame to frame if we have to. All it has to be is ready to hang.
Where were we? Oh yeah.
Here’s what a Mini-Munny looks like….they’re customizable DIY toys that you can paint/draw/mold into anything you want.
(Another gift to Johnny from an anonymous artist, who won first place in this contest and chose the Mini-Munny.)
Brian Dugan
Last up for the evening was our Baby Tattoo Books contest, who you should know by now runs the L.A. Dr. Sketchy’s. The prize was a copy of Shag’s newest book, Autumn’s Come Undone, for the best incorporation of Mad Men.
Brian Dugan
And that was that for the evening. Easily one of my favorite sessions. Special thanks to Johnny Blazes for making an amazing session amazing. Thanks as well to our sponsors Atomic Books, Artist & Craftsman Supply, and Baby Tattoo Books who without our contests wouldn’t be possible. Thanks to Jeff for the always stunning pictures, Russell for DJing and slinging drinks, not to mention having us at the Windup, and of course to everyone who came out to make Johnny Blazes feel welcome.
Our next session is Monday, May 24th (tomorrow!) with Little Luna of Gilded Lily Burlesque! Little Luna was supposed to pose months ago but got SCREWED by that whole Snowmageddon bullshit . . . a lot of folks have been waiting for to come back, so make sure to come early to get a good seat!
Don’t forget, Little Luna & the rest of Gilded Lily Burlesque will be performing this Saturday at the Windup Space . . . if you haven’t see a show before, come out, pull up a barstool beside Alexis and me . . . I guarantee it’ll be one of the best Saturday nights you’ve had out in a long while. Plus, we’ll be giving away two tickets (well, spots on the guest list, technically) for this show at tomorrow’s session!
Anyways, that’s it. Monday night, the doors open at 6!
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Dr. Sketchy's Baltimore 