Tommy’s Showgirl

Well, in every Halloween career there are setbacks.

I love the Who, and I love their rock opera Tommy, and I love the over-the-top 1975 film by Ken Russell, who passed away a year ago in November.  After last year’s somewhat involved costume, I thought, I’ll take a year off and do something simple:  Showgirl in a Gasmask from the opening overture in Tommy. 

The showgirls picking their way through the rubble of the Blitz were based on a memory of Russell’s from his childhood.  Getting a period-appropriate civil issue UK gasmask was easy, and when I found a rhinestone bikini while in San Diego for Comic-Con, that seemed like a “gimme.”  I bought a nude bodysuit to wear underneath and considered myself ready to go. 

I put my gear on and headed to a party on Friday, and didn’t realize until I had left the house that, bodysuit or no bodysuit, I was pretty much naked.  Much more naked than I had thought I would be,  in my mind.   Don’t get me wrong.  Naked at a party is popular.  Everyone wanted a picture with the naked lady in a gasmask.

  Everyone has a different threshhold for public nudity, but I was raised Mormon and I still have some personal boundaries-  So, I went home, took some photos to document, and am retiring this beast. 

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In the end, I had to have a costume for work (and one of my employees dressed as me, which was in turns adorable and insulting), and so I went for Sweet Jayne Mansfield. Her head’s off, so she stuck it back on with medical tape, and she put a necklace on over it so you can’t tell, but people can still kind of tell.

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GOTHIXXX 3!


In which Bloodmeadow and Helfire discuss True Blood, Poseurs, the 2012 Election, and bargain hunting, and are visited by Robert Smith and Siouxsie Sioux!

Michael Clark, Not The Guy From Green Mile

I was extra disconcerted by the tweetplosion on the death of Michael Clarke Duncan because I thought it was Michael Clark, the Scottish modern dancer/choreographer who worked with The Fall, Charles Atlas, Peter Greenaway, Laibach, and Leigh Bowery, and I was not aware that he was that famous. No, it’s the big dude from Green Mile. That makes more sense. This has been a free peek inside my head.

Also, thank God that Michael Clark is still around being weird!

Edit: In later years, I met a British dancer who had an affair with Michael Clark and said he was a real arsehole!

Gothixxx, Episode 1

These two gothgirls explain it all to you.  You can write them with questions, gifts, and marriage proposals at gothixxxvlog@gmail.com!

Update: The third day in, they’ve got 470 views and would love more, in order to build their dark empire!  Please pass this video to anyone you think might enjoy it, or even if they wouldn’t!  And be sure and watch in Highest Quality, so you can really see where their white faces part from their pink necks!

Damned Dog

Sleevedog-Strawberries

This is the single most popular photo in my Flickr stream, the dying website that I have enjoyed for many years.  And why not? It is a sleeveface of my French Bulldog, Hazel, and her favorite Damned record. She is pretending that she is a pig.  Thank you for your time.

Interesting Drug

Dear All;

As part of my new rock and roll Los Angeles lifestyle, I attended a Smiths/Morrissey convention at the Avalon ballroom in Hollywood last night. 

I asked a few friends to join me, but t they were above that kind of shameless display, so in the end I went alone, which was entirely appropriate.

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I really didn’t know what to expect. In my head, I thought it would more like other record conventions I’ve been to, stacks of related records, bootleg DVD’s, t-shirts, and very little eye contact. 

What I Found

  I shan’t bore you with the blow-by-blow of Mozathon, but it essentially consisted of a rocking cover band from Dublin (These Charming Men, not to be confused with my personal favorite Smiths cover project, This Charming Band from SF*), a Smiths/ Moz karaoke contest hosted by the specialist outfit New Wave Karaoke, held on an unlit stage in an adjoining room, a room of PETA tables (hooray) and a few t-shirt salesmen and hawkers of various unlicensed Smiths paraphernalia. 

In previous years, Mike Joyce and Andy Rourke (the Least Famous Members of the Smiths, not like Johnny Marr) have attended, but that doesn’t seem necessary. 

The con has separated from the mothership of relevance and continues, with people showing up to hang out with each other.

What They Looked Like

There were two basic looks: Pompadours and eyeglasses for the boys,and Hispanic Bettie Page for the girls.   I joked with a fellow con attendee, who had traveled from Tuscon to check it out, that if he ever murdered anyone, he should come hide at a Morrissey event.  He did not find this as hilarious as I did, and to be fair, who would?

I approached a nice person in this shirt and asked if I could take a photo, because this Morrissey/Mayhem mash-up was the funniest thing I’d ever seen, and still is, mostly, even after this.

My favorite part of all  conventions is how friendly and approachable everyone is.   Everyone is happy to talk, happy to talk about Moz, happy to be there.  And that’s what I most enjoyed.  That and watching a deadpan lesbian sing “First of The Gang To Die.”  Those were my two favorite things.

Karaoke Friendships

I was sorry that I was not available to hang out long enough for the karaoke contest, but I was interested to see that Queen is Dead was on the songlist.

I am only familiar with Queen is Dead as a Baby Ketten Karaoke jam (with all instruments and vocals by Mr. John Brophy, Esq). 

  I followed up with a visit to the New Wave Karaoke in Bellflower, and was delighted to learn that they had acquired the selfsame version from a friend of Brophy’s in the O.C.  (Kevin Karaoke, Natch)

The rest of the list is quite good, with more Bauhaus and Love and Rockets and Dead Can Dance than I’ve seen elsewhere, as well as nuggets like Dexy’s Geno, The Cramps’ Human Fly, and the goth dancehall classic once only available on the soundtrack for Married to the Mob, Q Lazzarus’  Goodbye, Horses*. 

In other small world news, evidently the KJ is a friend of my friend My Young’s,  who is from Plano, TX.  It’s my world.  Just to say, I already know everyone worth knowing, which is why I don’t need any friends.

*Trivia Fact: Although the original lead singer, the great Orlandissey, has left This Charming Band and has been replaced by a younger dude, I will still talk to almost anyone about my love for them at length. 

**Trivia Fact: Because “Goodbye, Horses” was not featured on the soundtrack for Silence of the Lambs, in the pre-Internet age the only way to have a copy was to track down a copy of 1988’s Married to the Mob, until Kevin Smith used it in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.  YOU CAN’T IMAGINE HOW HARD WE HAD IT!

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  Here’s a nice picture featuring myself, KJ Jay Tando, and the Baby Ketten logo on the Queen is Dead video.

Amazing FACTS about LABYRINTH!

I am writing to tell you all the amazing facts about Labyrinth, the film in which a great many Muppets talk directly to David Bowie’s crotch. It is showing this weekend at the Egyptian theatre in Los Angeles, as a double feature with Dark Crystal.  Holy Hoggle! What an Easter Treat!

Here are some questions that you might enjoy looking at the answers to.

Q. Where have I heard that whole “You remind me of a man. What man? The man with the power” business before?

A. You haven’t, but it was an old vaudeville bit Cary Grant, Shirley Temple, and Myrna Loy enjoyed in the film “The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer”.

Q. Do you know the scene with the cleaners, where Hoggle’s voice changes for no reason and sounds exactly like Harrison Ford saying “You Sure Got His Attention” to Princess Leia in Star Wars? Do you think that George Lucas allowed them to sample the line from Star Wars?

A. Yes. I think so. I have no proof of this.

Q. Was it helpful that George Lucas was a producer?

A. Possibly.

Q. Who made the stupid baby-gurgle noises in the same “Magic Dance” song?

A. Dame David Bowie had to, because the baby they brought him was of the non-gurgling type.

Q. I notice that the baby’s name is Toby, and that the actor’s name is Toby Froud. Is this a coincidence?

A. No- the baby was supposed to be named Freddie, but the actor-baby would only respond to his own name, which is only part of why babies make such terrible actors.  The baby was also played by the art director’s baby, because nepotism.

Q. Are you obsessed with the Magic Dance song?

A. Yes.

Q: Did you one time see an adult Toby Froud sing Magic Dance at Baby Ketten Karaoke, the best karaoke in the world?

A: Yes.

Q: Was Michael Cera also there?

A: I don’t think he was this time.

Q. Did you realize that Sarah invented nerd cosplay at the beginning of this film?

A. No, I sure didn’t! Thanks for pointing that out!

Q. If you buy the Jareth The Goblin King figurine, how do you prevent him from losing his crystal juggle-ball?

A. I had to glue mine on.

Q. What does the little elf-person who turns Sarah’s marked tile over say?

A. “Your mother is a freaking aardvark!”

Q. Did you know that the glass-ball juggler in the film is the inventor of what is now called “contact juggling”, Michael Moshen, who started juggling clear acrylic balls that he borrowed from his friend, fellow juggler Penn Jillette?

A. No, I didn’t know that.

Q. I didn’t think you did.

Q. Is Labyrinth still the best movie featuring David Bowie and Henson’s Creatures?

A. You bet your glittery, felt-covered muppet ass! Get out and see it!

Postscript: Later,  I discuss many of these facts with Jackie Kashian on the Dork Forest!