A Study in Scarlet (and Black)



Anybody see that Three Musketeers trailer where the lady is jumping around and sword fighting in a 18th-century ball gown?  We should have given Valeria Voxx some swords—that is a bad-ass dress. That corset ain’t bad either.

Not only did Valeria do a top notch job on Sept. 26th, but our photographer Jeff had a brand new camera to play with as well. (I wanted to play “catch” with it when he arrived—from the scuffle that ensued on his arrival, I now take it that was just a euphemism. Never said I was here for my smarts, folks—I’m pretty sure I’m just kept around for my looks.)

[No one dissuade him of that, or God help us, or it’s going to be nothing but man-child crying jags for a week.—Alexis]

Let’s crack open a can of 1- and 2-minute poses—if you don’t know what that sounds like, it’s like cracking open a cold beer after mowing the lawn, but instead of foam, picture a spray of ice-cold lingerie and glitter.


That first can always goes too fast, doesn’t it? We took a short break so folks could snag a second drink, smoke a coffin nail, or pee out that first can (you don’t want to know what that looks like—it’s kind of like when your dog eats a towel and I’ll leave it at that. [Oh dear God.—Alexis] ), and it was time for the 5-minute poses, the first of which was the non-dominant hand contest where if you’re right-handed you draw with your left, if you’re left-handed you draw with your right, and if you’re ambidextrous we chop one of those suckers off cause we don’t put up with witchcraft bullshit at THIS Dr. Sketchy’s.

The two winners each got what looked like a White Russian from Russell at the bar, but to be honest, Lord knows what was actually in those things.

(photo by Alexis de la Rosa)

(photo by Alexis de la Rosa)

Another break, another mad rush for the bar (where you hopefully took advantage of the $3 special on Flying Dog Brewery’s Raging Bitch) , and it was time for the ten-minute poses. The first was our second contest of the evening which was the dreaded random noun contest, where people shout out random things until Alexis hears something that amuses her. This time around it was “tentacles”. The winner received a Gil Elvgren pinup calendar from Atomic Books.

The winner actually did a blog post about her session, if you want to take a look.  She won the second contest, too—a rare event, but sometimes the audience just knows who they like.

Seeks

Fred Zeleny

Tim Kelly

Adam J. Tolman

Tim Kelly

Anyway, the first 20-minute pose was another contest, this one being the best incorporation of Muppets in honor of Jim Henson’s birthday, with the winner receiving James Jean’s Rift from Atomic Books. Yup, this was the second prize from Atomic Books this evening, because they are just that awesome.

Seeks

Fred Zeleny

Tim Kelly

Our last 20-minute pose of the evening was our last contest as well, this time being the best incorporation of time travel, with extra points if you found a way to add an astronaut into the mix. The winner (who properly guessed that we were trying sneak in our favorite show in another contest—if you’re not caught up, lucky for you her drawing wasn’t included here because it was full of spoilers, sweetie!) received Miss Mindy’s Sassy Paper Doll Bonanza from Baby Tattoo Books, who, besides just being a bad-ass book publisher, runs the L.A. Dr. Sketchy’s.

Adam J. Tolman

Tim Kelly

And that was a wrap.

Couple “business notes” real quick—remember to clean up after yourselves, if you can. Alexis, Styger, and I don’t actually work at the Windup and we’re not waiters. There’s about as much money in this thing to pay our bar tabs at the end of the night. We love you to death—but we don’t want to pick up your plates, used tissues, glassware, shell casings, and etc. If you have a drink (Flying Dog!) or fire off a gun (no sponsor there yet), please take the glass or shell casing up to Russell afterward.

Also, keep in mind that former (and often soon to be again) Dr. Sketchy’s models can be anywhere. They’re like Commies—they could be your neighbor, your boss, or your arresting officer. A lot of them stop by Dr. Sketchy’s, even when they’re not posing, either to plan a future session, do shots with us at the bar, or drop off a summons. Which means you never know who’s standing behind you.

Watch One Life to Live folks. Personally, I don’t watch it, but I can’t tell you HOW MANY times Starr has said something about helping her father, Todd Manning, escape from jail right as her brother Jack walks into the room behind her and gets upset because he’s convinced Todd killed Victor Lord, Jr., Todd’s somewhat evil twin, who raised Jack while having been brainwashed into thinking he was Todd while the real Todd was locked away in a secret CIA prison!

Watch your back folks. Watch. Your. Back.

So, what’s next? Oh, it’s a good one. Really good.

(Photo of Reverend Valentine courtesy of Stereo Vision Photography.)

If you’re an astute Baltimorean, you saw Reverend Valentine perform at Ottobar a few months ago, or perhaps in DC at some point—I consider her one of the best burlesque performers we’ve seen, and well, we’ve seen a lot.

By the way, I said “one of the best”, I did not say “the best.” I’m not insane. If I see any burlesque performers lurking around our apartment with a length of pipe/baseball bats/what-have-you, I *will* call the police. Us and the police? We’re like *this*. [holds up two fingers squished together]

If you’re lucky, maybe she’ll do a performance for ya.

Maaaaybe.

We’d like to thank Valeria Voxx for a extraordinary session; our sponsors Atomic Books, Flying Dog Brewery, and Baby Tattoo Books; Russell of the Windup Space for slinging booze, tunes, and occasionally trash cans at us; Jeff for the stunning camera work above; Styger for shoving around furniture and ladders with me; Alexis for wielding that mike like I wield a bottle of jager—NO FEAR; and last but dearest to my heart (umm, except Alexis), thanks to everyone who helped us shove furniture back around at the end so I could get to my beer.

Dahlia Derriere Does Desert Dames

(Photo by Jen Swanson)

Holy Moly.  I really need to try harder to do some drawing myself at Sketchy’s once the door slows down and the poses get longer.  You don’t get opportunities to draw folks like Dahlia Derriere, or any of our other models, that often.  If Dahlia doesn’t inspire your pencil, well, maybe you should put your time into something else.  I honestly can’t think of anything else to say besides that, so let’s just jump right into the 1- and 2-minute poses brought to you not by one, but TWO photographers, Jen Swanson and Jeff Schock. Dahlia’s first look for this desert-themed evening: a Vegas showgirl.

(Photo by Jeff Schock)

Jeff Lance

(Photo by Jen Swanson)

(Photo by Jeff Schock)

Stewart White

(Photo by Jen Swanson)

(Photo by Jeff Schock)

Stewart White

(Photo by Jen Swanson)

(Photo by Jeff Schock)

Stewart White

(Photo by Jen Swanson)

Stewart White

Jeff Lance

(Photo by Jeff Schock)

Jeff Lance

(Photo by Jeff Schock)

Stewart White

(Photo by Jen Swanson)

A quick break for folks to empty their bladders and fill their glasses (pints of Flying Dog Beer for 3 bucks!) and then Dahlia took the stage again, this time as a cowgirl, for the 5-minute poses. As always, the first of these was the infamous opposite hand contest, where if you’re right handed you draw with your left, if you’re left handed you have to draw with your right, and if you’re ambidextrous, you have to do it with a beer balanced on your head.  The two winners got a mystery shot from Russell at the bar.

(Photo by Jeff Schock)

Gnarly Artly

(Photo by Jeff Schock)

(Photo by Jen Swanson)

Tim Kelly

Gnarly Artly

Ann Marie Brokmeier

(Photo by Jen Swanson)

Tim Kelly

Jeff Lance

(Photo by Jeff Schock)

Tim Kelly

Gnarly Artly

Fred Zeleny

Tom Symonds

Jeff Lance

Another break and it was time for the 10-minute poses and another contest, this time a tribute to Johnny Cash, since it was the anniversary of his death. The prize was Rubber Duck by Karen Hsiao from Baby Tattoo Books.  No photos for this these two poses, but here are some sketches.

Tim Kelly

Gnarly Artly

Jeff Lance

Jeff Lance

Next was a pair of 20-minute poses, another contest, and a seriously ambitious pose from Dahlia, who wore a heavy shamadan on her head as part of her belly dancer look. Since it was the day before Molly Crabapple’s birthday, we went with a birthday theme for this last contest.  The prize was Viva’s Pinups: Bullet Bras and Backseat Betties, a stunning collection of pinup photography by Viva Van Story, who contributed the photo for the flyer for this session. This absolutely amazing prize was generously donated by Atomic Books, which was recently confirmed as Baltimore’s “Best Independent Bookstore” by both City Paper and the CP Readers Poll.

(Photo by Jeff Schock)

Gnarly Artly

Fred Zeleny

Jeff Lance

(Photo by Jeff Schock)

(Photo by Jen Swanson)

Tim Kelly

Gnarly Artly

Charlotte Bunting Floyd

Jeff Lance

Ann Marie Brokmeier

Special thanks to Dahlia Derriere for being our fantastic model; thanks to our sponsors: Atomic Books, Flying Dog Brewery, and Baby Tattoo Books; thanks to Jen Swanson and Jeff Schock for the photos above; thanks to Russell for slinging songs and booze; and thanks to Alexis for driving the microphone.

Next session is Monday, September 26th with Valeria Voxx!

Get there early or I’ll drink all the beer.

Cherchez la Femme

As I write this, we sit in the midst of the great Dr. Sketchy’s drought of 2011.  Our last session, which seems a lifetime ago on July 25th, with Femme 6, was our last hurrah before we entered these dark times, and unfortunately it’s still over a week before Dahlia Derriere brings back the rain on September 12th.  I don’t know what you’re doing to pass the time—keying paddle boats in the Inner Harbor?  Attacking vicars with long-tailed cats?  Watching Weeds on Netflix?

I don’t know.  (I’m hoping it’s better than what we’re up to—we’re somewhere off the coast of Newfoundland, the wireless is spotty at best, and Alexis just killed a narwhal with a 12-gauge and it’s a MESS.)

Whatever nightmare is going on with you, block it out, pop a Quaalude, stick a chair under the door handle and let’s reminisce on that last day before screeching cats and before Alexis went all fucking Ahab.

Oh Femme 6, we miss you.

Shawn Adomanis

Shawn Adomanis

Now, if you were in Baltimore and had a lick of sense, you attended Femme 6’s Poetry and Pasties at Mobtown Theater on August 14th.  Apparently the thirsty horde who showed up drank ’em out of beer before the intermission started, forcing a late-Sunday-night beer run—which to me sounds like the definition of a rousing success if there ever was one.

If you want to know a little bit more about the multi-talented Femme 6, especially why she’s called that, check out her art manifesto here.

Anyway, after a quick break that night we rolled into the 5-minute poses, the first of which was the illustrious opposite-hand contest, where if you’re right-handed you draw with your left, if you’re left-handed you draw with your right, and if you’re ambidextrous you . . . uh . . . ummm . . . damnit.

The two winners received a mystery shot from Russell at the bar—FYI, he no longer empties the beer mats into them.  We put our foot down.  Don’t worry, we got your back.

@annmariebrok

Fred Zeleny

Jason Haza

Shawn Adomanis

@annmariebrok

We took a quick break, and hot diggity damn, it was time for Femme 6’s performance, which you can see an itty-bitty bit of here.  If you want to see more, you’ll have to go to one of her shows.

Here’re a few stills . . .

Ten-minute pose time, the first of which was a “best incorporation of an ’80’s cartoon.” The winner’s reward for remembering obscure kids’ shows from twenty years ago? A copy of Mark Schultz: Various Drawings Vol. 5 from Atomic Books in Hampden. BTW, seriously, click the link and check out this book; it’s full of some really fantastic pulp-style sketches. It hurt so bad to give that book away, we ended up going back to Atomic and picking up a copy for ourselves.

Shawn Adomanis

Fred Zeleny

@annmariebrok

Seeks Corey

Another break for folks to fill up on Flying Dog beer specials, smoke, call someone on the phone and argue—whatever it is they needed to do—and then it was time for the 20-minute poses.

For this pose, we asked the crowd to incorporate a Stanley Kubrick film into their drawings, since the next day would have been the director’s birthday.

Shawn Adomanis

Fred Zeleny

Craig Hankin

Seeks Corey

The winner took home a copy of Miss Mindy’s Sassy Paper Doll Bonanza, courtesy of Baby Tattoo Books, who also runs the L.A. Dr. Sketchy’s, so if there’s a trip out there in your future, definitely check them out. The second 20-minute pose was simply stunning, and simply a contest-free pose.

Fred Zeleny

Craig Hankin

Charlotte Bunting Floyd

And that was a wrap, and unfortunately the start of the horrible dark period we are in now.

Thanks to Femme 6 for a jaw-dropping session and performance; thanks to our generous sponsors Atomic Books, Flying Dog Brewery, and Baby Tattoo Books; thanks to Russell for slinging drinks and songs; thanks to Jeff for the eye-popping photos above; thanks to Stiger for helping set up and man the door so I don’t go whole-hog crazy; and thanks to Alexis for hosting the whole shebang.

We’ll be back on September 12th, when lovely pin-up model/belly dancer Dahlia Derriere returns to Dr. Sketchy’s to pose for your drawing pleasure in a desert-themed evening. Doors open at 6, and drawing starts at 7, but really, show up early for a good seat. A drink or three before we get started will make those first post-break drawings not look too bad, too.

“Oh, Aaron, I don’t know how I’ll survive until the next Dr. Sketchy’s!  What do I do now??”

I’m glad you asked, for there are a few oases before Dahlia Derriere rescues us.  First off, there’s the Gilded Lily School of Burlesque Showcase at The Windup Space this Saturday (which, sppppptttt, we’ll be celebrating Alexis’s birthday at as well). Then, on Friday the 9th, Sticky Buns Burlesque presents an Evening of Variety at Illusions, a gorgeous magic bar that is itself well worth a trip to [gasp] Federal Hill.

That should help ya.  What else?  Well, somewhere in there, there’s, umm, some sort of race car thing, and then, uh…

Oh, you’re screwed, you’re never going to make it to the 12th.

(Photo of Dahlia Derriere courtesy of Viva Van Story)