Put a Lid on It

I began a new series of dance classes yesterday. The first number we are learning is the Charleston, performed to "Put a Lid on It" by the Squirrel Nut Zippers. A few of the girls performed this at the last Uptown show so it probably won't get any play for a while. I am excited to learn it though because the song is really quirky, not to mention that the costuming consists of a black flapper dress (check!) and fishnets (check!).

Later on in this course we will be learning the steps to "Miserlou." This dance will be particularly
important to have on hand as it is the Burlesqueteers entry for the Miss Exotic World Pageant in Las Vegas. The girls will be going for three nights in early June. I hope I will be up to par to go too!

The Trannyshack

Last night Katie and I went to the Trannyshack, a weekly midnight drag show at the Stud in SOMA. This week's theme was "Rock Bitch" with each act featured a fist pumping song. There were a half dozen performances - many I can't remember - saving Renttecca's lip sync to "Vietnow" by RATM, which really tugged at my heart strings. The finale was quite impressive: Kegal Kater and the Extremity, dressed as a fat Courtney Love with Kurt and Francis Bean, singing "Violet." Drool! The crowd was quite moved, especially when Kegal started throwing pills from a massive prescription bottle at the audience. Once the show ended, the DJ rolled out songs from the Riot Grrl canon, including a few favorites from Bikini Kill. We boogied down until they took our drinks and kicked us out. I was so lucky to get a picture with K.K. on our way to the taxi stand!


Francis, CL, KC belt it; CL, FB with pills and booze


Biggest fan!; Kurts shotgun wound - that ain't right

Thank you Roomie for these pictures.

Ghostwriter

The Press Democrat, the newspaper of Sonoma County, published our L2E today! Fantastic!:

Doctors Rx

EDITOR: We, the doctors of the Santa Rosa Family Medicine Residency, are disappointed to hear of the massive job cuts that are going to take place at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital and of the closure of the last mental health inpatient facility in Sonoma County.

We are particularly concerned with the announcement that Memorial is slashing 200 health care jobs from its hospital. As doctors, we know that having support staff is critical to the delivery of quality patient care. At every other major health care institution in Sonoma County these are tumultuous times, but decisions must be made with our patients and health care professionals in mind.

We reiterate the message we sent in a letter to the Sisters of St. Joseph of Orange in November, when we urged the sisters to cease opposing the efforts of workers at Memorial to have an effective voice at work. If health care workers were able to have an effective voice at work, our community, patients and workforce would be much better protected.

We call on St. Joseph’s to understand that there is a better way.

Sit down with your workers and the community and let’s figure out how we can make health care work in the county.

DR. ERIN LUNDE and DR. JOSEPH EICHENSEHER

(Also signed by 22 other physicians)

MSTRKRFT

Saturday night Erin, Daniela, Pete and I along with Alex and Ben caught the MSTRKRFT (aka raging HPSTRFST) show at the Mighty in Potrero. The opening DJs were pretty corny but the headliners were great, even if they group essentially consists of just two dudes and a powerbook. I pushed my way to the front at the beginning. Erin later joined me. We had a wild time harassing the dudes backstage for free beers. I forgot how easy it is to get into that screaming groupie mentality, even for a group that I don't live and die by. They were pretty tight asses about letting us on stage but eventually surrendered. Erin, myself, and two other girls held it down (made a fool) for the rest of the show.

Here is a nice review (and photo!) from Spin.


Photo credit Misha Vladimirskiy/ spin.com; Photo credit Chadn/ flickr.com

More photos to come as they surface on the internet.

Guruji

The set; SSRS and Krasny

We ended our trip on Saturday with a talk from international guruji Sri Sri Ravi Shankar (not to be confused with the sitarist) at the Nob Hill Masonic Center - the ultimate California experience. You can imagine our reaction when we entered the theater and saw this set: A massive orange flower set in front of a starry light backdrop (whoa!). Michael Krasny led an interview with the guru. It was great to see Krasny, host of the beloved Forum on NPR, in real life. He asked SSRS questions mostly about his global humanitarian work and then took questions from the audience. SSRS satisfies the guru aesthetic in his long beard and white robe. He answered Krasney's questions thoughtfully; he seemed to ooze an enlightened energy. SSRS then led the room in some of his meditation exercises. At one point the entire audience was chanting; it reverberated beautifully in the acoustics of the auditorium. I was really impressed with SSRS and his philosophies. He didn't seem to be pedaling any gimmicks. I have to say I agreed with more or less everything he said. I am thinking of taking a course with his organization. What is this state doing to me??

Here are two videos of SSRS so you can see for yourself:

A Trip in Golden Gate Park

Phillip and I went on an adventure on Saturday afternoon since I am going to be out of town for the next couple of weekends (CO this weekend then NY/TX/FL for the following two). We started off at the entrance to Golden Gate Park in Haight-Ashbury and trekked the three and a half miles through the park to where it ends at the Pacific Ocean.

We first saw the flowers at the Conservatory. We went see the outdoor sculptures at the de Young. We walked though the Botanical Garden. Here we saw the strangest sight of the day: Real grown-ups pretending to be horses in a sort of fetish play (apparently called Pony Play). I had heard of this practice but to see it in real life was something else. There were about ten adults picnicking, half dressed in elaborate horse costumes, lead or ridden by plain-clothed friends. We spied on them a bit then continued past Stow Lake to the Buffalo Paddok. I was hopping to get really close to the buffalo but they were far back from the fences. It was really stange to see such beasts in the middle of a city park. I cant imagine something like this in New York. We paused at the Dutch Windmill and emerged at the coastline. I felt like the champion of Oregon Train! We continued along the beach, blowing in the wind, up to the ruins of Sutro Baths. It is beautiful and creepy.



Conservatory of Flowers; a carnivorous plant


de Young


Botanical Gardens; Ponyplay in action (!!)





Buffalo Paddok --> are buffalo bison?


Dutch windmill. This was psychedelic


The wind blew our faces off


These signs are poetic


The Cliff House; Sutro Baths


Sutro ruins

Leap Year

Thanks to Pete's last minute Craigslist score, Daniela, Pete, Phillip and I saw Magnetic Fields at the Herbst Theater on Friday night. Herbst Theater is a pretty formal venue, usually reserved for refined events such as operas and ballet performances. Though once the show started, it was clear that the music, with its cello, piano, mandolin, and accordion ensemble, lent itself nicely to this type of performance space.

I generally prefer a more participatory concert experience: I like to stand in the front, song along, laugh, cry and hold hands with other serious fans. I like to scream out song requests, hoot and holler. This behavior was limited at the show on account of both assigned seating and Stephin Merritt's vinegary personality.

The band played two 45 minute sets, drawing from their dozen disc repertoire in addition to a few songs from the Gothic Archies project.

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I made these evil monster cupcakes (with love!) for a special friend. There are a rip-off of a superior set I saw on Boing Boing.