ruby fuerza: me first and the shimmy shimmies: Tokyo, Japan: Better Late Than Never

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Tokyo, Japan: Better Late Than Never

Outside festival outside of Yasukuni-Jinja; traditional/modern life

Obama candies?/peace cranes at a Buddhist shine in Ueno Park

Ueno Park

Buddhist shine on January 2nd; no karaoke at Uneo Park

Akihabara; Hachiko landmark Shibuya Station in our neighborhood

The Emperor and Imperial Family at the Imperial Palace for their annual appearance

A strange religious gathering on New Years Day

Large Buddhist temple grounds on New Year's Day

Sumida-gawa

Tsukiji Market

Harajuku teenagers

Line outside of A Bathing Ape

Prada Aoyama designed by Herzog & de Meuron

Maid Cafe

Shibuya at night

Piano Bar

Roppongi with Mr. Takara

Phillip ate a fish eye/brain

I have been back from Japan and back to normal life for three weeks now and it gets harder and harder to fill this post (which has been in "save draft" for many days) with all of the notes and observations from our rich trip. Let me just put these pictures up now and revisit the commentary (specifically around nationalism and fashion!) at a future date when time and attention permit.

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PERFORMER BIO

The combustible Ruby Fuerza exploded out of the Bay Area burlesque scene in January of 2008 and has been regaling a diverse audience of punks, prisoners, and perverts with her sizzling – and silly - performances. Part Gilda Radner, part Emma Goldman, this brunette bombshell thrives on sexy satire and lustful hilarity with a politically conscious twist. As a dancer and choreographer, Miss Fuerza stokes her creative fires with fabulously original numbers that include colorful costumes, bizarre props, and irreverent comedy.

Miss Fuerza, AKA Lucille Brawl, was bred and raised in Morningside Heights in the heart of the exotic Isle of Manhattan. Born into the New York City mayhem of 1984, Ruby already had a flair for rebellion and glitter. She skipped school, shoplifted sunglasses and silk kimonos, read Das Kapital, and danced Violeta Parra protest songs in Spanish Harlem. She once got arrested for sneaking into a Lou Reed concert as an old man in a wheelchair. Throughout high school, she was a true fire-starter, protesting wars, sweatshops, and corporate greed. She organized youth brigades for anti-globalization demonstrations, coining guerilla chic in dark glasses and a face bandana.

At 18, she left the Big Apple to lead a dull, unsatisfying life at an Ivy League university she doesn’t like to talk about. She finished her degree in three years, and got the hell out of academia forever by 2006. She packed up her vintage sundresses, curling irons, and work boots, and headed south. With style and grace she worked alongside cafeteleros in Zapatistaland, Mexico. She marched with picketing telephone workers in Buenos Aires. She harvested yucca in solidarity with Cubanos in Havana. She waited around at a lot of airports (but never without lipstick).

After these travels, she landed a job as a union organizer in San Francisco and finally took her passion for theatrics and stage make-up to the big Bay stages, enrolling in Bombshell Betty’s School of Burlesque the day after she moved to San Francisco. In 2008, she began performing with the Burlesqueteer Troup and has been moving crowds to ribald ecstasy ever since. She has performed at Stage Werx Theater, Benders, Annie’s Social Club, and the Uptown Club in Oakland. She is world-renowned for her parodies of Carmen Miranda. Her Frida Kahlo act subtly engages in the politics of immigration. Her Bearded Lady act asks the audience to question its notion of gender. In her most recent performance, “Caketease,” she devised a homemade 4-foot cake for a steamy homage to cake strippers, diabetics, and anyone with a sweet tooth for Jerry Lee Lewis.

ruby fuerza: me first and the shimmy shimmies

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Tokyo, Japan: Better Late Than Never

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INTRODUCTION

LOVE LETTERS//HATE MAIL

DON'T DREAM IT//BE IT

LOS ARCHIVOS

LOVERS

STRANGERS

PERFORMER BIO

WORLD'S SMALLEST BURLESQUE CALENDAR