He’s got legs—he knows how to use them!

That right there may very well be my favorite pose I’ve ever seen.  If you told me you’ve had the opportunity to draw something like that before, I’d call you a liar to your face.  LIIIIIAAAAAR.  I love how you can see the stars shining though the wings from the back, too.  Fucking beautiful.

Man, if Paco Fish had toppled, he would have taken out the banners, Alexis, everyone in the first two or three rows—it would have been like the Hindenberg coming down.  You have to picture it in slow motion, arms flapping, and someone screaming a deep, distorted, “NOOOOOOOOO!”

Alexis took one look and said, “Oh my God, it’s like . . . like . . . a burlesque Batman!”

Let’s not get ahead of ourselves though: first, there were the 1- and 2-minute poses, and a nearly overpowering urge to make some sort of Heroes reference.

Cecilia Strakna

Cecilia Strakna

We took a quick break so Paco could get a breather and folks could grab a beer (hopefully a Flying Dog one), and then it was time for the 5-minute poses.  The first one was the ol’ opposite hand contest, where if you’re right-handed you draw with your left, if you’re left-handed you draw with you’re right, and if you’re ambidextrous you get shivved.  The two winners received a mystery shot from the bar—God help them.

Cecilia Strakna

Cecilia Strakna

John Schloman

John Schloman

After another break, we jumped into the 10-minute poses, the first of which was a best incorporation of “Black Friday.”  The winners received either a Sticky Buns Burlesque t-shirt or a limited edition Ralph Steadman tote bag from Flying Dog Brewery.

We took another break, and then it was time for Paco’s performance.  I’d show you a video, but sadly, the video camera’s battery died, so you’re out of luck.  Here’s a photo or two, though…

Then it was time for the 20-minute poses, the first of which was our last contest of the evening: the best incorporation of  The Exorcist.  The winner received Overkill: The Art of Tomer Hanuka from Atomic Books.

Todd Gardner

Last 20-minute pose of the evening…

Cecilia Strakna

John Schloman

And that was a wrap.  Thanks to Paco Fish for doing a stunning job of posing for all of you; thanks to our sponsors Atomic Books, Flying Dog Brewery, and Baby Tattoo Books; thanks to Jeff for the photos you see above;  thanks to Styger for helping at the door and helping push things around; thanks to Fred for helping push things around too; and thanks to Alexis for manning the mic.

Only ONE Dr. Sketchy’s Baltimore left this year!

December 12 with performance artist and contortionist Rebecca Nagle! After this session, we’ll be on a break until January 23, so if you miss tonight’s session, it’s going to be a long, bleak, Sketchy-less winter for you.

(Photos of Rebecca Nagle courtesy of RaRah.)

La Bella Muerte

Holy Mictecacihuatl.  Well, Nona Narcisse of Slow Burn Burlesque out of New Orleans was [ 5 pages of expletives removed due to space considerations and Aaron’s repetitiveness – Alexis ], fucking amazing.  If you were there for our Day of the Dead session, you know.  If you weren’t—well, remember that Christmas where you really, really, really wanted He-Man’s Attak Trak and when you got up that morning, not only was the Attak Trak under the tree, but your dad robbed a Toys R Us after you went to bed and left everything under the tree, THEN, stormed Mattel headquarters and left the senior executives tied up under the tree so you could personally place an order for shit they hadn’t even thought of yet?

IT WAS LIKE THAT.

But, umm, in a way that was kind of scary in a “You don’t think she’s really Mictecacihuatl, do you?  I’m kind of scared to look her in the eye” way.  (Which, to be fair, is somewhat similar to that “Oh shit, one of these execs has a GPS bracelet on!” moment about 30-minutes into that Christmas morning oh so many years ago.)

So, best Dr. Sketchy’s ever?  I don’t know—maybe Nona Narcisse and Reverend Valentine can have a face-off session and settle the matter with knives or something.  I’d draw that.

By the way, we’ve NEVER gotten this many drawings sent in for a session.  It took FIVE HOURS to download them all and insert them in this post, so let’s get rolling, cause, folks, this is a LONG post.  Go make a cup of coffee, I’ll wait.

Ready?

We started off with the 1- and 2-minute poses.

Adam J. Tolman

Fred Zeleny

Adam J. Tolman

Fred Zeleny

Our photographer Jeff is seriously knocking it out of the park with the photos too.  Probably the best he’s ever done—Lord knows it would have been hard to take a bad photo with all this, but still.

We took a short break so folks could flex their drawing hands, get a drink, a smoke, pee-pee, whatever floated their boat, and then it was time for the 5-minute poses.  The first was the traditional opposite-hand drawing 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 spend most of the pose crying quietly in a bathroom stall because you’re different and we can only support so much “being different” at Dr. Sketchy’s before we turn into a middle-school cafeteria and give you a swirly.

The two winners received a mystery concoction from Russell at the bar.

Tim Kelly

John Schloman

Fred Zeleny

Daniel Govar

Fred Zeleny

Cecilia Strakna

John Schloman

Fred Zeleny

Clarice Jones

Cecilia Strakna

Tim Kelly

After that, it was time for a second break, and then, once everyone was safely squirreled away in their seats, the lights dimmed, Nona performed one of the best burlesque routines I’ve ever seen in my life.

Watch.  If you skip this video, I don’t even understand why you’re reading all this anyway.

Here are two photos Jeff snapped during the performance as well :

After Nona’s well-earned break, it was time for the 10-minute poses, the first of which was the random noun contest where the audience calls out drunken gibberish.  This time around it turned out to be “David Bowie.”  The winner received Miss Mindy’s Sassy Paper Doll Bonanza by Miss Mindy from Baby Tattoo Books.  Baby Tattoo runs the LA branch of Dr. Sketchy’s; if you’re ever out there, check ’em out.

Tim Kelly

John Schloman

Clarice Jones

Tim Kelly

Seeks

John Schloman

Edward Williams

Clarice Jones

Adam J. Tolman

Next up were the 20-minute poses—and whoa nelly, did these produce some amazing sketches.  The contest for the first one had the appropriate theme of “Voodoo” with the winner receiving a Flying Dog Limited Edition barrel-aged Gonzo Imperial Porter from Flying Dog Brewery, who not only provided THAT, but had Flying Dog beers for sale all night at insanely cheap prices.

Seeks

Tim Kelly

Fred Zeleny

Edward Williams

Clarice Jones

Brian Dugan

Last pose of the night . . . the contest for this one had the theme “Occupy Dr. Sketchy’s” with the winner receiving Day of the Dead : El Dia De Los Muertos by Antoni Cadafalch from Atomic Books, our longest-running sponsor and the best damn indie bookstore you’ll find in Baltimore (right up there in Hampden on the corner of the Avenue and Falls).

Tim Kelly

Seeks

Fred Zeleny

Daniel Govar

Clarice Jones

Brian Dugan

Adam J. Tolman

(This next photo was of Nona watching the finalists get picked.)

Last, but not least, there were a few drawings that for the life of me, I couldn’t figure out where they belonged in the night.  They were pretty cool, so I didn’t want to leave them out.

Tim Kelly

David Wright

David Wright

David Wright

Adam J. Tolman

More thanks than I could possibly express to Nona Narcisse for posing for us while she was up from New Orleans; thanks to our amazing sponsors: Atomic Books, Baby Tattoo Books, and Flying Dog Brewery; thanks to Russell for slinging drinks and booze and hosting us at the Windup Space; thanks to Jeff for turning out the best photos he’s done yet; thanks to all of you for making it a great night and sending in the best selection of drawings we’ve ever seen; and thanks to Alexis manning the mic regardless of the quite real peril of being devoured by an ancient Aztec goddess.

So what next?  What could have a chance of towering over what’s come before?

What about Paco Fish ON STILTS???

Have you ever drawn anyone on stilts?  I sure as hell haven’t.  Not only that, but he’s got a slew of costumes you’ve never drawn before and a performance that will rattle you in your shoes.  I could go on further (and I *did* on the event page—if you’re coming, you should go let us know).  In any case, next session is Monday, November 28th at the Windup Space.  Doors at 6, start at 7, show up early if you want a good seat.  18+ to draw, 21+ to drink, 55+ for fisticuffs.  Only two sessions left this year, folks!  Get it while the gettin’s good.

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.