Aggressively Thriving and International shenanigans

 W-4, four days until I go back to the office.

Having four weeks off has been a game changer. Things that would send me over the edge a month ago are now mildly irritating or I laugh them off.  I can feel the stress in the corner of my eye, lurking and looking for a way back in.

Look everybody has been saying 2025 must get better but I think that it is unrealistic and I refuse to be interventionist in my thinking. In 2025 I am Aggressively Thriving in response to the craziness of the world.

Taking less sh!t, letting more of it go, understanding boundaries, and making amazing things happen in the world, for myself and for others.

The last bit is expressed through co-producing an international festival. Debbie my fellow Pinot Sister and I only committed to this late October, leaving very little time to plan it, really. But we're doing it anyway, 

We have an amazing team called the Glitter Council!  We have a Trello board, a google drive and we're using all the things many of us use in our day jobs, to plan. We've had amazing feedback from funding agencies about how well organised and articulate we are. I am very proud.

My Big Project!

By jingers it's a lot of work though! It's been nearly a full time job this past month. But thankfully all of that "do it once" admin is nearly complete and for 2027, we can focus on improving what we already have, and we have two years to do it in too. LUXURY.

On Wednesday Debbie, Jojo (funding manager) Ian (who is responsible for our gorgeous branding) and I piled into the car and took the two hour trip to Papaoiea, Palmerston North. Such a fun day of meetings and consolidating plans.

As for my other projects, the Summit Dress will still be there, I am slowly pottering away at two costumes for the Festival (I am Emceeing it) and I've made a Midnight Era costume for a Taylor Swift themed show in a couple of weeks time.

Photos will eventually trickle through of all the things!

Much love to you all in this creative time before life takes us all over completely and sweeps us into a new year.

The Week of Red and Gold

 After the rather expensive anti climax of moving out for no real purpose, I really wanted something to look forward to when we returned. So, we decided to re-wallpaper the feature wall. Actually we wanted to do the bedroom too, and I got paper for both from an emporium for $10 a roll! It's posh Canadian stuff, excellent quality, clearly bought as a joblot for next to nothing. I do love a bargain!

My dear friend Ross offered to hang it on a skill swap basis,and he got it all done in a couple of days. Such  hero.

HERE IT IS!!:

Red and gold! How surprising!!!

the completed job. Yes, our floor length curtains are also paisley. So are the dining room chairs, a different one again. Fight me!

With the dresser in pride of place again. With bonus detritus of moving!

We're all in. Well, all but a carload, or two. Yesterday I unpacked wine!

All sorted into wineries. I found things I had forgotten about!

Also, CDs and DVDs, clothes, glassware, all put away on moving day no less. Feeling pretty content, and sore.

Today I was cleaning at the rental. My lovely friend Nicole came to help, in denim short and 5 inch espadrilles, she brought glamour to the work! We're half way there, and hopefully all will be done and dusted tomorrow.

BECAUSE:

On Saturday 13 Feb, I will be on stage at the Wellington Opera House, performing to 900 plus people!! ARGH!!! It's the biggest indoor audience I've ever performed in front of, and at the end of this week, it's going to take a lot of coffee and pep talks.

The stage. The boxes will be full of the Mayor and his family, drag queens, glamorous burlesque performers etc. I've been in one of the lower boxes for all the shows so far, in full Seen from Space glory. To be in it is exciting and terrifying!

This is looking more or less the other way. EEP! This week they opened the Gallery, aka the Gods and it's filling up fast. The theatre has a 1200 capacity, and we are not anticipating a full house, but close to.

Oh, clerly it's the week of Red and Gold.

Family Resemblance?!

I've mentioned from time to time that I have adopted children, Jack and Penny. Both of them stage managers, makeup experts and generally the darlingest of darlings. They are fierce and funny and look after me and we are most definitely a team.
For months we've all talked about getting family photos, outrageous ideas abounded and giant inflatables kept coming into it. I put my foot down at these. Waste of plastic.But we all saw eye to eye on an "Addams Family" type shoot.
So when the clever David Rowe was in Wellington, we nabbed some of his time and he made these!

Addams Family?

They never got their legs from me!

They can both walk normally in those enormous heels. I don't think I've ever had that skill and now it's flats all the way. :)

What I've been up to...

 More Constance Ravings! Truth is, I am working a day job which I'm really enjoying but I can't talk about it even if it was interesting to do so, so Constance is the only interesting bit. Oh wait there's something else but that is for my next post!

 Golden Garters Awards, hosting with Mae de la Rue from Sydney, singing possibly the ROPIEST version of Razzle Dazzle em ever!!! We'd like to think it was so bad, it was good hehe.

 My Golden Garter for Favourite MC. Behold how masterfully I manage microphone, clipboard AND award. Those skills got me where I am today hehe.

And THEN there was the NZ Burlesque Festival last weekend, three days of mayhem, music, musings and mugging on stage!!

 Thursday night's Meet and Greet, Clever and I broke out our best Weimar? Vy not? look...

 Yip, we were channelling our best look!!

 And then Mr Lola Illusion joined us for a moment of filling viewing that reminded me of..well, I found the pic!

On the Saturday I taught a workshop in the afternoon but that was it really. So Mr Lola and I went hand in hand to the show- please note the matching cape thrown over his shoulder - he made it from the offcut of my dress! We caused quite a stir, it was a lot of fun to be this EXTRA and not have to perform. Which is fun to, but not three nights in a row thank you!

So that's what I have been getting up to when not doing boring things to pay the mortgage. Cos, well, ain't nothin' going on but the mortgage!

Award Winning MC apparently!!!

Look! I won another thing! I'm so excited because I never win anything, let alone three years in a row. It means a lot to me. And after a week of amazing experiences.

This wee baby is going on my wall soon. ALL the glitter!

So the week before on Thursday 21 March, Leo and I got to MC at the ILGA World Conference dinner. When we walked into the venue and saw how big it was, we had a giggle! 450 delegates, 40 tables of gorgeous humans from all around the world! It was so much fun to get up on stage and look out at them.

Leo and I hosting the ILGA World Conference Dinner

 Me before the show in the shade hence the blue tinge. Prize for best use of a $2 lawn ornament? ;-)

$2 lawn ornament head piece!!!

 This is me with Ross Weistroffer! Who is Ross Weistroffer I hear you ask? (Unless you know him and Googled his name and this came up in which case HI!!!) He is a Research Analyst from UCLA who hunted me down at dinner time to sit and chat because he loves drag queens. What a poppet! I adore gorgeous Gay American men so we're a match! Ross took the photo of Leo and me on stage, bless him.

Ross Weistroffer and me

We had an amazing night with incredible food, dancing, speeches, food, dancing.

Dessert Unicorn!!!

On Saturday 23 March I was up in Auckland, sans lawn ornament, co-hosting the NZ Burlesque Industry Awards with the ravishing Mae de la Rue from Sydney. No photos as hosting an awards is a huge and busy night, so my phone hardly got touched. When the photos come out, I'll post some. It WAS fun!!
Right now I have a rotten cold but I'm dragging myself into work anyway, dosed up on Codral. Trying hard not to cough on people. Don't judge me; it's my second round in three weeks and I don't have time to be sick again!

London and Proper Ganda

 Well, after my lovely sojourn at Livingstone Lovell, I was back in London!
My first gig was at Proper Ganda, held at The Others club in Stoke Newington.
What an amazing event! I shared the stage over the evening with rap poets, singers, a short film, comedians - it was amazing.
The Others is a big space with couches and a bar made from old doors. It's very laid back, reminds me of the Paisley Stage in Napier. Actually it's very Wellington in vibe. A perfect first gig for this slightly nervous colonial.

This is a tiny snippet of video my brother in law in law Martin took.
A few hardy local friends came along - Felix from University and his wife Alexandra which was a lovely surprise, Martin and Moises, and my old school chum Belinda, her partner Michael and friend Flore. It turned out that Belinda and Michael were no strangers to Proper Ganda, talk about a small world!
It was great to do two sets and get a warm reception but the highlight for me was meeting Liam, The World Wide Welshman. What a lovely human, and a great band too! At the top of the gig before anyone arrived we had a chat about music and I expressed an interest in singing backing vocals for them. I love that. He was all YASS!!!
So I did. All original material but a jam is a jam, you know?
No photos of this crazy, but here is Liam:

The World Wide Welshman -you can find him on Facebook

After, I got to debunk to Hackney with Belinda for a few days. But more on that later.
Thank you Alzira for having me and to the whole Proper Ganda team. It was RAD!

WIGSTOCK - The last night of the Gardens

Starring PollyFilla and ME [and a bunch of other people] ;-) PollyFilla now lives in Melbourne and is the most recent recipient of entry into the Melbourne Drag Hall of Fame, which is a huge honour; makes me so proud to be his friend and mentee. Polly wanted to do a huge drag show to finish the Gardens Magic series of concerts that Wellington City Council operate each year. While he was in Aus up to his eyelashes in shows, we got a cast together and the rest is herstory!
The largest crowd ever (so I am told) gathered to watch us. Must have been nearly 2,000 people! Age range from babies to great grans.

 Synching to the Grass Is Always Greener from Woman of the Year. Me and PollyFilla

 Backstage, Polly (top) and Ellie Kat doing last minute sewing repairs. Two extremely talented (and qualified!) costumiers in their own rights.

 Polly opening the show!

 Here's a bit of the enormous crowd who came to watch. This is family friendly drag!

 Me on stage singing Perhaps Perhaps Perhaps. I had already done the lipsynch duet with Polly but I was still blown away singing to so many people!

 A close up taken by some lovely person on Facebook

Ross caught this moment with the breeze slightly lifting my skirt. It was a sensational evening - cool and calm which is always a huge relief when you are painted to the max and trussed into a tight frock!
All of the performers were amazing. It's surprisingly hard to find photos of us all though, and no word of any official photos as yet. So I'm not filtering out the other fantastic artists on purpose. I love them all!

Courage vs Confidence

People are always admiring my confidence, because I will do mad stuff like this photoshoot in undies. The thing is, it doesn't work like that, I'm sharing this not to blow my own trumpet, but because I think it might help people who are scared of giving these things a go to understand how it works:

I do it because I am scared, but I screw up my courage and have a go. The confidence comes FROM this, it is not the beginning of the cycle. Experience has taught me that this will mostly happen, although sometimes the outcome is awful and humiliating and terrible, just as I fear it may be. But I live through it and have another go.

ANYHOO! THIS photoshoot is to publicise our show at Art Deco Weekend in Napier; KABARETT presents NacktMusik 

 This is a thrown together look that I am improving on for the show. YES, I am in a bra and cami knickers and I will be on stage. This is a really terrible idea in many ways but I'm doing it anyway. It is a terrible idea because in spite of knowing it is perfect for my character, some people will be very judgy about it.

 Especially when I am surrounded by these babes all evening! Spending a day with them all being so gorgeous in their scanties for this shoot was nerve-wracking, even though we all love each other and it is a very safe space full of trust and mutual respect.

 There's nothing typically sexy or titillating about this.

But, we will have fun and it all makes sense. Clever Hansel and I are married in this show. A somewhat unconventional relationship that is probably not a legal marriage, given my character's actual assigned gender is probably not the one I am identifying with here.

It is a Cabaret of weird, sexy and unexpected acts, tied loosely together by snippets of insight into the lives of the cast - their loves, losses, addictions and confusions.

I could have taken an easier path with this show and worn more clothes. When I first started performing, I would no more have done this than run naked down the street. But, the courage-action-confidence cycle has moved me a long way from then, and I hope that this show will be one of the wins. I am sure it will, actually, as it is something special.

Bra Busting!

People when you are my size, bras with stage appeal are non-existent.
But, I can sew! So recently in Christchurch when I had some time for once, I found this bra.
The stripy sheer fabric has a good Art Deco vibe. However, it lacks the slapper-like qualities needed for the character I am portraying. So, I hacked it!
Modesty forgoes an in situ photo of the process but basically I put it on and attacked it with the scissors, much like the red line, without cutting through the elastic and lace edging. I also cut away the black net lining so it is more transparent. Then I laid the edging back over the newly cut line and zig zagged it. It wasn't long enough but it doesn't matter as I then added a heavy lace strip along the top to hide it all. This is all for stage so the fairly rough approach is fine.

 I felt it needed some bling so I hauled out a sieve from the kitchen to act as a 3D mold to keep its shape.

 One sieve, one bra cup and off we go!

I could only do one cup at a time to let the glue dry (Aleene's Tacky is the best thing for sticking on rhinestones ever)

I haven't covered the whole cup as I just want to add some sparkle. The stones are black diamond so low contrast.
When it's all dry tomorrow I can try it on and decide if it needs anything else.
The photos are all at night so a bit rubbish. But not as rubbish as unpicking black lingerie was!
I bought this corset on half price sale and it fits perfectly in the front, just not enough to wrap all around moi, so I've unpicked the fastenings from down the back in order to add an extra panel of black power net on each side.

Jeepers all this naughty gear is a bit confronting. I'm not sure if I will be wearing ANY of it on stage as yet, but if I do it will be in a humorous context. :)

The Fastest Costume ever!

Tonight I went upstairs to alter a bra for a show and as I was fossicking around looking for some sequins, I grabbed what I thought was a bit of trim in a pile and pulled out a dress!
Yes, this is an insight into the chaos of my studio!
Amanduh La owns the dress, I think, and I think we were going to alter it to fit her as it is a bit big, but it was so utterly perfect for my next big show, I set about embellishing it.
My go-to was a length of hideous 50cm long ombre fringing. I mean really, what WAS I thinking when I bought it?? I originally attached it to a mini skirt to wear with the outfit below when Polly filla and I did Queen vs Queen. But I couldn't do it.

 Me NOT wearing hideous fringing skirt because...

 ...it looked like a Kapa Haka skirt, as shown on these two poppets. Cultural appropriation much??

Also, I hate associating fringing with the 20s as it really wasn't a thing, contrary to millions of costumes that say otherwise. But, also I couldn't resist putting black and white with black and white.

Here we go! The big white butterflies are in my stash and just give it a bit of extra lift. LOL
The dress is SO itchy as the sequins rub though the very thin lining and trying it on nearly drove me demented. But I will have slippery things on under it so it will be ok. I NEED to wear some shapewear with it as it is a very firm fit indeed.
I think once I'm done with it I will give it back to Amanduh. But don't tell her I'm borrowing it!

That's Amanduh over my left shoulder. Oops i'm wearing one of her costumes here too! But she does borrow mine quite often... ;-)

Sister Act

Well jumping around, back to Christmas Eve, I was waiting for some photos but meh, instead I've taken some screen grabs of the live video I made for Facebook. That was fun! I only discovered how to do it by accident too.
I can't link the video here but it really is pretty terrible. Here's the "highlights":

Me pointing out the scaffolding on the church, which is being "de-earthquaked."

 Jo, showing us her eye makeup. she's a really good makeup artist for "real lady" looks, and she got into my glitter! She also, obviously, got into my Christmas costume! With multo safety pins too.

 Us mugging it up for the camera. The imbalance of face was because I couldn't work out how to put the camera into selfie mode while it was live so I was guessing.
Silliness indeed!

Mary Poppins rides again.

Now I know that green eyeshadow, glitter and pink lipstick are far from the usual Mary Poppins look but Drag Mary is a different story! Also I climbed out of this costume into others.
You can't see it but I nailed the fake eye crease look finally. It's where you draw a new crease above the natural one and it's used on stage to make one's eyes look bigger.

Makeup is such an odd thing. I personally have very little time for it and my only concession is lipstick. The whole idea of painting on a face every day just to go to work, or out to dinner, bored me, it's a tedious chore. But using it to do crazy things like moving my eyebrows up, contouring etc for a character - that is interesting to me. I don't aspire to look beautiful or sexy, but to look like Constance, who is neither - like clown makeup.
Hey ho!

My August!

 I'm starting at the most recent and working backward. Last Sunday we had a photo shoot for our Time Travel Cabaret air raid shelter show in November. I am utterly stuffed to the gill with pride that my baby sister is joining us FINALLY. She sings like a dream and has so much stage presence. I've dug her out of suburban family contentment. She's not unhappy about it. Here we are in full quasi 1944 gear.

Here's the whole crew. We've not got the proper pics back yet, so it's selfies for now. 

Since my last post, I've started a 25 hour a week IT contract on top of the shop, so I am using my time with more...determination? I feel a little squeezed in, like my life is wearing shapewear. It's not terrible, but it is slowing down my blog reading and writing. Bah

AND, I have acquired my first ever knee high boots! Look! They fit my huge calves. Bliss! They were a swap.
AND, I attended the New Zealand Burlesque Festival. What an incredible experience that was. If I was a different person I would have five posts full of photos to show you all how incredible it all was. Set in the little village of Devonport on Auckland's North Shore, we had an amazing time of it. But I am terrible at photos and so you'll have to take my word for it. Here's a couple of shots of me on stage at the Saturday Spectacular Tease show

 Doing despicable things to my hookah

A close up dressing room selfie that shows my Mad Hatter makeup better. My most fun face to do!

The curtain call. Son Jack is the lithe figure in black at the right end. I am fourth right along the back, just where the black panel finishes. I still had my weird makeup on. 

Sunday started with a brunch at which the national Golden Garters Awards are handed out. These are by voting only, and I was totally blown away to be nominated for two - Favourite MC, and Faovourite non-Strip Tease Act with Clever for our Foodtard Song. Hans (Clever Hansel) couldn't come to the Festival so I took along his photo - seen here propped against my water glass at the brunch table. SoundBitch and Sharne are deep in talk - probably about life with a ponytail and black T-shirt aesthetic lol. 

 Well, the upshot was that I won Favourite MC, and here is my very gold award on the Wall of Amazing Things in my living room. Foodtard lost out to the act I voted for so I was stoked about that! it involves synchronised swimmers, a pole and Bolero. It is AMAZING.

This award means a lot to me as I am a tireless campaigner for Emcees who are entertaining but also respectful and do not take over a show. I must say the Emcee for our show, Miss La Vida, was FANTASTIC and hopefully will appear on the finalist list next year.

So that's me for now. I am tired, sore, contented, stressed, honoured, busy, challenged. Many more less readworthy things are happening and I may touch upon them if I get to post more often.

Thank you for reading dear ones xo