Run up to December

After the Tease on Tour show in Queenstown last Monday, we experienced an unprecedented amount of audience curiosity and fandom! Over several hours around a fire pit, I got asked a lot of questions and got given a LOT of amazing compliments, which was lovely. It was an amazing way to round out a fantastic night and it got me thinking about what I will have achieved by the end of this year.
This includes:

• performing and hosting about 40 times in seven New Zealand locations! - Queenstown, Dunedin, Christchurch, Hamilton, Te Mata, Tauranga and Wellington;
• four countries: New Zealand, Canada, US and Australia (next week!);
• hosting 20 events from shows to a conference dinner, a carol service, some private corporate events;
• hosting in venues from an intimate 45 to a sold out 400 seat theatre, 400 dinner delegates, and everything in between;
• winning the Golden Garter Award 2019 for Favourite Emcee for the second time of three consecutive nominations;
• increasing my musicianship considerably from three guitar chords to 11 in a whole new type of performing for me;
• being invited to perform in the Menagerie in 2020 with my precious partners in crime, Leo and Clever.

One of the things I am proudest of is that Debbie and my DIY Burleskiwi show has jumped the ditch to Australia! To be known there as DIY Burleskoala, the inaugural show is on Thursday 5 December. Debbie and I are going to judge and host respectively. Jack is going to kitten, Artem his lovely boyfriend is going to be generally useful and amazing. A family busman's holiday! This year's DIY Burleskiwi winner Amourous Ava is also coming over.

Random encounter in a bar in Queenstown at 1am with Jason, it turns out we know lots of the same people! "Only in NZ"

 One of the cutest things that has come out of the stats is this. In 1983 I went on a tour of NZ with a show we would now call burlesque. I had made the costumes and was operating the spotlight. The show went to Queenstown and Dunedin among other cities and having hosted Tease on Tour in those towns I realised it was the first time since that tour I'd been to either of them! And two of the cast of that show now live in Sydney and I get to hang out with them next week when I am there.
How's that for a full circle.