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.

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)

Why did it have to be snakes?


Photo by Alexis

Another week, another Dr. Sketchy’s Baltimore —wait, no it wasn’t, we had beautiful belly dancer Rio and a father-humping snake!  It was a night of mind-numbing, bone-calcifying sketching horror!

Well, Rabbi Loew to the Ground, the snake in question here, did yawn at Alexis once.  We think it was a yawn anyway.  A menace-filled “If I wasn’t sleepy I’d snack on your entrails” yawn.

Also, you can apparently use snakes as hats.  I. Did. Not. Know. That.  The next time I visit my folks in the mountains of North Carolina, I’m adding that to my to-do list.

1) Eat at 12 Bones BBQ.
2) Have a beer with friends.
3) Grab that stupid snake sunning on the porch and wear it as a hat.

Oh, and forget the snake, Rio was stunning. She had some gorgeous poses, and treated us to a fantastic belly dance performance—we’ll give you a little sample of that later on in the blog, so keep reading.

Anyway, let’s get to the 1- and 2-minute poses!

Photo by Jeff

Photo by Jeff

Photo by Jeff

Photo by Jeff

Shawn Adomanis

Photo by Jeff

Photo by Jeff

Photo by Jeff

Photo by Jeff

Shawn Adomanis

Jeff Lance

Photo by Alexis

Photo by Jeff

Photo by Jeff

Photo by Jeff

Lily Stark White

Photo by Alexis

Photo by Jeff

Photo by Jeff

Jeff Lance

Photo by Jeff

Photo by Jeff

Photo by Jeff

Photo by Jeff

Photo by Alexis

Jeff Lance

A quick break later it was time for the 5-minute poses, the first of which was the 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 draw with your snake.

[cough]

The two winners received mystery shots from Russell at the bar—I have no idea what they were but they looked tasty and no one fell over, so I think it was a win.

Photo by Jeff

Photo by Alexis

Lily Stark White

Photo by Jeff

Photo by Jeff

Photo by Alexis

Photo by Jeff

Gregory Jericho

Photo by Jeff

Photo by Alexis

Gregory Jericho

Shawn Adomanis

Fred Zeleny

Fred Zeleny

Then, it was belly-dancing time. I’m not going to post the full video of her belly-dancing here, you’ll have to go to one of her shows for that, but it was jaw-dropping.  Here’s a sneak peak Alexis caught with the 8 mm app on her iPhone.

God, I love that app.

After Rio had a second to catch her breath, we started back up with the two ten-minute poses. The first ten-minute pose of the evening was a contest sponsored by our brand new sponsor Flying Dog Brewery!  Yeah, they sponsored our anniversary session with Marla Meringue, but that was a one time deal then—now they’re sponsoring us for the foreseeable future!  Hot damn!  Not only were there specials on Flying Dog beer, but they brought a hand-bottled bottle of Raging Bitch for the winner that was bigger than my head.

Umm, well, all the winners to-date have been bigger than my head.  The bottle was bigger than my head.

Rio may or may not have taken the bus down to Baltimore earlier in the day, so appropriately enough, the contest theme was “Snakes on a Bus”.

Photo by Jeff

Photo by Alexis

Gregory Jericho

Shawn Adomanis

Fred Zeleny

Ben Wiser

Lily Stark White

Photo by Jeff

Photo by Jeff

Meanwhile, as we all sketched merrily away, a storm was a brewin’.  Literally.  Russell and I stepped outside to discover the Nothing was bearing down the Windup Space like an out-of-control Michael Bay explosion.  Oh, and when it hit, it hit.  Smokers scattered in gibbering terror, thunder drowned out the music, and Russell plunged head-long into a play list of nothing but “Blame it on the Rain”, “Purple Rain”, and the like.  If I could have lashed a steering wheel and myself to the door stand and screamed challenging obscenities at Mother Nature, I would have.

Instead, Russell cut me off.

And then it was time for the twenty-minute poses.  The first was a random noun contest, with the noun being Pandora’s Box.  The winner received Ricky Jay’s Celebrations of Curious People from  Atomic Books, which is located at the corner of the Avenue and Falls Rd. in Hampden.  Be careful—if you like books, walking in that place is like a crack addict getting locked in the evidence room at Central Booking.

Does Central Booking even have an evidence room?  I dunno, I haven’t been there.  (Momma gifted me with quick feet.)

Photo by Jeff

Gregory Jericho

Lance Philpot

Ben Carnow

Shawn Adomanis

Lily Stark White

Jeff Lance

Photo by Jeff

At this point the monsoon outside had subsided and everyone outside wanting a cigarette or a quarter had been washed away to better shores.  A five-minute break for Rio (who HAD to be in pain at that point), and it was time for the last 20-minute pose of the evening.

Since it was the day before Bill Cosby’s birthday, the contest was the best incorporation of pudding pops with the winner receiving Karen Hsiao’s Rubber Duck from Baby Tattoo Books, who, besides being an amazing publisher, run the Dr. Sketchy’s in LA, which is pretty awe-inspiring.  Apparently only ONE person was inspired by pudding pops, so they automatically won.  APPARENTLY the rest of the crowd wasted their childhoods.  Yeah, I said it.  Pudding pops rocked.  If Billy Cosby had been there, he probably would have cried.  On his birthday.

Photo by Jeff

Shawn Adomanis

Many, many, many, many thanks to snake-charming, belly-dancing Rio; many thanks to Rabbi Loew for not bursting through support beams and chewing up any high school principals; thanks to our sponsors Atomic Books, Flying Dog Brewery, and Baby Tattoo books; tons of thanks to Jeff and Alexis for the death-defying nature photography you see above; thanks to Russell for slinging booze and songs; thanks to our brand new Dr. Sketchy’s person Stiger for helping me and my busted-up hand with the set-up before and after and with the timer; thanks to Fred, Kerry, and, err, several other people who helped shove some of the furniture back in place at the end; and last but not least thanks to Alexis for being our host even though she has a phobia of snakes.

What’s next?

It’s our last session of the summer and it’s with burlesque performance artist, Femme 6!

(Photo of Femme 6 courtesy of Amy Hefter.)

That’s right folks, between some birthday/traveling shenanigans and the Windup being closed for a week in August, there will be no sessions until September!  Dum dum duuuuuummmmmmm.  Next session, Monday, July 25th with Femme 6 is your last chance to attend a Dr. Sketchy’s before the, umm, cold winds of September blast through Baltimore!

And, btw, in case you didn’t hear earlier, we got plugged in Bust magazine.