ruby fuerza: me first and the shimmy shimmies: THIS IS HALLOWEEN

Sunday, October 31, 2010

THIS IS HALLOWEEN

Happy Halloween from the most halloweenie place on earth! It sure beats this place!

It was super exciting and satisfying to spend my first Second Favorite Holiday in the Crescent City. I dressed as an elephant tamer on Friday night to celebrate at the Skull Club then at Mimi's. Beloved Pete's bffff and I had a cosmic run-in from across the bar after so many missed connections, though I may have mortally offended his 3l girlfriend by cracking JD jokes. FTR: was laughing "with" not "at"! I'm relieved that local vocabulary has yet to be poisoned with the inclusion of the term meangirl. Fewer people - including the lot of esquires in training - wore costumes than expected. Fortunately for everyone in sight, our gang was out in full pageantry.

The following day I was the vuvelezist in an eight-piece mariachi band for the holiday marathon. We kicked off Saturday with a filigree-sewing/dranks party at Diné's house, posed for beaucoups photos at the parade on Decatur, took over a beautiful garden home in the Quarter, and caught the homecoming performance of HFRR at Always Lounge. Masha and Emily were in town and Stella finally moved back so there were extra juicy characters to reckon with. The night ended at the street party on Frenchmen that was still roaring when I left for the second time at 4am. I've never seen so many Snookis/sexy bumble bees/wonder women/Brees fangirls dancing on the roofs of parked cars in my life. Guess I'll have to wait until Mardi Gras?

I was planning on debuting Bernhard's sequin mermaid tube skirt today but we spent the afternoon picnicking on the Mississippi (at the Fly!). By dusk it was time for me to head home to hit zee books for tomorrow's Physiology exam. Sigh.

The task for All Saint's Day is to collect the various articles of costume on loan to friends across the city. I easily outfitted at least five homies with items from the Ruby Fuerza Archives (the fruit hat was stoked to finally get some action). A lifetime of costume hoarding finally gives back to the community!

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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

Sunday, October 31, 2010

THIS IS HALLOWEEN

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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