Uncategorized – Page 446 – The Designer Monologues

September 5, 2006

KCRF 2006 First Weekend: The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

First off, has his gallery of first weekend pictures up and available for purchase, here. Some great images there, so check them out.

There are some lovely shots of Veronica and Beatrice in the parade, as they walked through the lanes, parasols catching the sun.

A really good picture of Beatrice on the bridge…

…and some shots of Casanova, bestowing his attentions upon a lady in the lanes, who appears to have enjoyed being “Giacomoed”, and was left quite satisfied.

Now, on to this weekend’s report:

The Good:

Pretty much everything. This was, without a doubt, the finest opening weekend in memory. The weather, sunny and in the mid-70s, was more than we could have hoped for….some 20 to 25 degrees cooler than in recent years, which gave every performer much more energy, giving us the strength to make it through three days, maintaining a high level of performance for the patrons who attended.
As a result, one of the best parts of the weekend for me was getting to see friends performing at the top of their game. Wonderful.
The Courting Italians are a hit. Word spread quickly among the cast, and by mid-day on Saturday, we were being greeted and reverenced by all and sundry. Casanova’s routine with the ladies was so successful that it got back to me that patron women had been correcting the hand-kissing of the court gentlemen, insisting that they do it “the way Casanova does.” Awww yeah, baby. Giac-daddy in da hizzouse.
The eldest daughter is working out at Festival this year, as the assistant to in her shop. Minion, as she has been dubbed, had a blast, and I love the fact that this experience is something we can share.
Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth is a pleasure to work with….a sharp improvisational performer, and bawdy as all hell, while still maintaining a commanding regality. You can see everyone respond to her, and morale among her subjects is through the roof, which makes a palpable difference in the lanes.
The whole place has taken a major step back towards how things used to be, and away from the recent “family entertainment” conservatism. Hooray for tits and beer! As said, it’s like we’re channeling 1988 again. Lovely.
in her courtesan outfit. Just sayin’.
, and I were sitting on the bridge, singing some songs in three-part harmony (primarily to practice for the Last Huzzah, which we host). Who should walk by but the owner of the Festival….who stopped, watched us with a smile on his face, nodded and went on his way. Score!
Last year, I felt like the fat old guy. A year later, about 60 pounds lighter, and some more flattering clothing, and that has been well and truly dispelled for me. The weekend was filled with blushing women, countless compliments, quite a few ass-pats, and even a “daaaaaaaaaaaaaamn.” It’s been quite a long time since I’ve felt this good about my looks. I have to admit — I like feeling like the “hawt guy” for a change.

The Bad:

The former queen seems to think that she’s supposed to be “helping” me run the Last Huzzah. Sorry, I don’t think so. Got so bad that she was actually trying to tell me what songs we’d be doing. I think that I’m going to have to put a word in a certain ear on this topic, and get her be-ribboned gypsy ass back in line with the other musicians. ‘Cuz that’s how Giacomo rolls, yo.

The Ugly:

Getting slapped by a drunk bride. No, I’m not kidding. I did my Casanova routine for a newlywed couple, who were attending in costume, with the smell of wine wafting off from them in waves. They both responded very well, laughing and playing back….until the end of the schtick, when the bride says “Come here,” and grabs me by the lapels, pulling me down to her. At which point, she hauls off and literally bitch-slaps me — forward and backhand, in rapid succession. *whap-whap!* I could tell she was trying to be playful and do a stage-smack, but, being drunk, it was full-on. I stood back, and recovered with “good thing you’re married, signora….because I think I’m in LOVE.” They both laughed and walked on….at which point I turned to my fellow performers and said OW……

13 more days like these, please.

September 1, 2006

Shoot Me In The Head

Behind schedule on a major Adamant release.

Was supposed to be finishing up a freelance assignment for another publisher today.

So of course, RPGNow has a major hard drive failure yesterday. Which means that today is filled with me (in the guise of RPGNow custserv) handling several hundred customers whose orders were glitched because of the outage.

Time to do anything else? ZERO.

Festival starts tomorrow, and it’s a 3-day performance. Which means that additional customer problems (and there will be, I’m certain), will have to wait until I get back in the evenings.

Shoot me.

September 1, 2006April 19, 2010

Friday Music

A special edition of Friday Music for you today. In honor of the launch of , every song this week is chock full of New Wavey goodness….and we’re not talking the usual assortment of “TOTALLY 80s NOSTALGIA FLASHBACK WEEKEND ON K-R-A-P” stuff, either. I went for lesser-known stuff that I like — less well-known artists, and less well-known singles from the big artists. So, without further ado:

My favorite track from Berlin’s 1982 album Pleasure Victim, which featured the much-more-often-played singles “Metro” and “Sex (I’m A..)” How the group went from this to producing smarmy movie-soundtrack ballads like “Take My Breath Away”, I’ll never know. Berlin – “Masquerade.”

One of the first singles from INXS, who, as you all know, went on to become a supergroup in the late 80s. As much as I like tracks like “Need You Tonight” and “Suicide Blonde”, I still prefer the early stuff like this: INXS – “Don’t Change.”

Another installment in my effort to demonstrate that Men Without Hats were far more than “the Safety Dance” indicated. Another brilliant track from the same album, The Rhythm of Youth: Men Without Hats – “The Great Ones Remember.”

One of the few instances where the cover of a song is far better than the original. This was originally done by The Call (better known for “The Walls Came Down”, which I posted a few weeks back), and was covered by Tina Turner’s saxaphone player, Tim Capello, for a sequence in the movie The Lost Boys: Tim Capello – “I Still Believe.”

In case you never noticed, we spent a lot of time in the 80s singing songs about our Communist enemies (“Russians”, “Soviet Snow”, “Der Kommisar,” etc.). Here’s one of the few songs of that sort that wasn’t about the Soviet Union: Red Rockers – “China.”

When I was a lad, I had a mix tape comprised of nothing but songs called “Gloria” — I had the Van Morrison version (“G-L-O-R-I-A, glooooria!”), the Laura Branigan version (“..the voices in your head, calling Gloria…”), the U2 version (“Gloria, in te domine. Gloria…exultate..”)…and this version, from a little-known Detroit band: Figures on a Beach – “Accidentally 4th Street (Gloria).”

One of the things that pisses me of is the entire output of really good bands has been forgotten (usually by people who are engaging in “nostalgia” for bands and songs that they never listened to when they were actually in the 80s….but that’s another rant). It pisses me off that Flock of Seagulls now equals “I Ran” and jokes about haircuts. Here’s one of their forgotten songs: Flock of Seagulls – “Wishing.”

When Songs From The Big Chair hit big in 1985, I had the insufferable smugness of one who has arrived at a thing first, and now everybody else has shown up. I was a fan of Tears for Fears from their 1983 debut album, The Hurting, which I still like more. Here’s one of my favorite tracks: Tears for Fears – “Pale Shelter.”

I can’t remember who first exposed me to this, but it is one of my favorite lesser-known artists and singles. Peter Godwin was one half of a group called Metro, almost entirely unknown except for the fact that Bowie covered one of their songs (“Criminal World”) on Let’s Dance. Later, Godwin went solo, and this was the one song that made any degree of splash–I remember hearing it once or twice at dance clubs, but that’s about it: Peter Godwin – “Images of Heaven.”

When the New Wave sound took off, even older artists gave it a spin. I leave you now with this slice of cheese, which I really do love — it’s the last hit single by 70s darling Olivia Newton-John, the single from the soundtrack to her 1983 “reunion film” with John Travolta, Two of a Kind: Olivia Newton-John – “Twist of Fate.”

There you go, kids. We’ll return to my standard mix of genres next week. I hope you enjoyed this special installment.