atomic books – Dr. Sketchy's Baltimore

February 7, 2013February 18, 2013

Let’s have a KiKi.

KiKi Allure was the last model of 2012 and she was absolutely amazing. I’d never heard “Let’s Have A KiKi” by the Scissor Sisters before, but it might be one of my favorite songs now. Well, this month anyway. I wanted to use it in the video below, but figured it wasn’t worth getting us sued out of existence.

We had contests with prizes from our sponsors Atomic Books and Dupenny. I don’t know if you know this, but Atomic Books has been our sponsor for four years, which is almost from the very beginning. This was their last session sponsoring Dr. Sketchy’s and I just wanted to say it’s been an honor working with them, not only because they’re amazing people, but because we consider it a feather in our cap to be sponsored by what, in our opinion, might very well be the best indie bookstore in the country. If you haven’t visited them yet (they’re on the corner of Falls Rd and the Avenue in Hampden), you should. It’s like a toy store for grown-ups and is about as addictive as heroin.

Dupenny was a new sponsor for this session, and donated a snazzy burlesque-themed plate for us to give away as a prize. They design and produce exquisite wallpaper, beautiful homewares and fine ceramics with a refreshing twist. You should check them out. I think we’re going to get some coffee mugs. 🙂

This was also our last Saturday session for the foreseeable future. For most of our 4 1/2 years of doing Sketchy’s, we’ve traditionally had our sessions on Monday evening, the thinking being that there weren’t many other events to compete with and folks were often free. Over the years, a lot of interest was expressed in doing a Saturday afternoon session, so we gave it a shot for a few months. Unfortunately, the attendance just wasn’t as good as Monday with all the various interesting things going on in Baltimore on a Saturday afternoon, like, umm, hangovers and whatnot. Not only that, but Sketchy’s take so much time to set up and take down, that in the end, it basically equated to everyone involved only getting one day off that week, which made pastimes like going to the bookie, finding misplaced cars from Friday’s late night shenanigans, and hunting rabid nutria along backstreets of Fells with .357’s and a bottle of Jack EXTREMELY difficult.

Not impossible, but difficult.

Also, no more Saturday sessions unless there’s a special event going on that calls for it. We’re also reducing our sessions to once a month in 2013, versus the previous twice a month format. An individual session requires a lot of work on the front and backends to put on, to the point where we were finding it impossible to find time to improve things. Basically, our time was going to keeping the machine running with nothing to spare to make each individual session better and better. Plus, Alexis & I are getting married this year, and we need time to plan that monster out. 🙂

So, no more Saturdays, and only once a month from here on out, unless something special comes along (it always does).

Thanks to Kimberly Keyes Stark, Daniel Govar, Stephanie Burgee, Christian Tribastone, and Brandon Peavey for sending in the sketches below.

Special thanks to KiKi Allure for being our artistic muse of the evening, thanks to our sponsors Atomic Books & Dupenny, Zack & Russell of the Windup Space, Maeve for holding down the door and helping set up and take down, Alexis for hosting; and to all you folks who showed up to draw.

January 9, 2013January 9, 2013

Death-defying drawing with the Junkyard Dolls

The only way this session could have gotten any better was if Russell had gotten hip-checked through the front window.

Actually, you can say that for every session.

Or even going out for dinner and a movie.

The Junkyard Dolls roller derby team didn’t just bring “It”, they brought all the “Its”. They brought every pronoun that had even been seen in public with “It”, was in “It’s” little black book, or “It” had ever listed as a reference on a resume.

Watch the video, you’ll see. Really, watch it. If you don’t, I don’t even understand why you’re reading this.

Wow. I don’t even want to contemplate what various aches and pains haunted them for the next 3 days. I get back pains when I put too much mac & cheese on my plate, much less from HOLDING SOMEONE UP IN THE AIR FOR WHAT WAS PROBABLY FOREVER.

Atomic Books and the Junkyard Dolls provided amazing prizes for folks to compete for–you can actually see one of the contests starting to derail in the stinger clip at the end of the credits. If you don’t know Atomic Books, it’s a cool indy comic shop in Hampden on Falls Rd right off the Avenue. You should check them out. If you don’t know who the Junkyard Dolls are, well, I’m really confused at this point. They’ll have matches starting up soon. You should go watch one.

Thanks to Christian Tribastone, Craig Hankin, John Schloman, Kathleen Parker, Kimberly Keyes Stark, Omandi Consolloy, and Stewart White for sending in the drawings you see below. (If someone has a website I’m missing linking to, just let me know.)

And LOTS of thanks to the Junkyard Dolls, specifically. . .

Adrenaline Junkie
Quickshot Kitty
Federal Kill
Canadian Bacon
Holly Gohardly
Smearinoff Ice
Xena Paradox
Bellatrips LaSmashya
Trixy Von Doom
Brawltimore Hon
Red Pepper
Free Radical
Hal
Slack Kerowack
Natty Bones

If I missed someone, for God’s sake let me know. 🙂

Thanks as well to our sponsors Atomic Books; thanks to Jeff Schock and Alexis for taking the photos you see below; thanks to Russell of the Windup Space for slinging booze and tunes; thanks to Maeve for not only holding down the door, helping set up everything up and take it down, BUT also dealing with someone acting shifty at the door that evening; and of course thank you to Alexis for emceeing.

Kathleen Parker

December 24, 2012August 4, 2017

Boom goes the dynamite.

Photo by Alexis de la Rosa

When I put together the Dr. Sketchy’s videos, after I’m done with all the pretty sexy stuff and the clips of folks drawing, and after I’ve tacked on all the logos and whatnot at the end, if I can, I’ll dig through the footage for something funny or weird to stick on the end of the thing. Valeria Voxx’s session? Jesus Christ, there must have been twenty minutes of stuff I could have thrown in.

Not only was Valeria Voxx of Black Tassel Boolesque bursting at the seams with amazing poses, not only did she put on a sexy and hilarious performance for the halfway point, but she managed, between her, Alexis, & Russell, to generate enough hilarious footage that I was in tears by the time I finished sorting through all of it. Obviously, I couldn’t use all of it in the little recap clip, but it’ll end up in the documentary or something before all’s said and done I expect.

Valeria put on a doozy of a session, folks—not only that, but a lot of Dr. Sketchy’s Baltimore sessions would be like wrasslin’ a big ol’ den of rabid badgers if she didn’t exist. She’s also pretty damn good at dragging passed-out bartenders away from the prying-eyes of the po-po in a pinch—but shhhh, I didn’t tell you that bit.

Atomic Books sponsored this session with some amazing prizes for our contests. They’re our favorite independent bookstore – check them out on Falls Road right off the Avenue in Hampden.

Thank you to the artists who sent in their drawings: Darcie Brook, Tim Kelly, and John Schloman

Thank you to Valeria Voxx for being her glamorous self for our drawing pleasure (and a bad-ass performance!); thank you to our generous sponsor Atomic Books; thank you to Jeff Schock for many of the great photos you see below; thank you to Russell of the Windup Space for slinging the booze and tunes for us; and thank you to Alexis keeping a hold of the mic so it didn’t get loose and maul anybody in the front row.