Expect the unexpected in November when the Sunday Show begins early – 9pm – and boasts the most incredible lineup of performers so far this year. Additionally, the show will be followed by a special night with Echo and the Bunnymen. Discover the true meaning of Thanksgiving with Legs Malone (living burlesque legend),Michelle St. Darling (baton twirling, fire eating), Nelson Lugo (sideshow master, expect to see him so something amazing like swallow razor blades), Michael Karas (master juggler), Justina Flash (exquisite fire hula hooping), Leta LeNoir (kitten and fabulous burlesque), Blacky 2 providing music and of course, your mystery, surprise host. We have a lot to be thankful for…and it shows. Surprise return performance by your favorite cast member, too. (Can you guess who it will be?)
I was barley awake when I took a picture the other morning. It really encapsulated the way that I would end up feeling the entire day (like there was a giant, wet pigeon following me). I am not sure why, but I am sure this has something to do with being an artist. Yes, I am both a business professional AND an artist.
The surreal image, totally pure and unedited, makes the pigeon appear to be gigantic and standing in the street below my window. It made me think of perspectives and how, like opinions and assholes, everyone has one. I took the picture because I was thinking about how often, as part of my life involves me being a performance artist, I am “pigeonholed”. I was also excited to see the pigeon on my windowsill, yet sad for it being forced to sit in the cold, windy rain and wait out the weather. Clearly I was having a very philosophical morning. And to be completely honest, I didn’t notice that the pigeon looked like some sort of “Japanese movie monster” bird in the street until someone later mentioned so on Facebook, where I post all of my pre-8am “Good Morning, Brooklyn!” photos. The perspective from my window made it seem like there was a giant bird outside of my apartment when all I was intending was to take a picture of the bird on my windowsill.
Thinking about perspectives in turn reminded me of a conversation with a friend the night before the pigeon appeared which revealed that David Lynch delivers the Los Angeles weather every morning from his home. Thrilled by this news, and after some investigation, it seems he has been religiously doing so for a few years now. My natural – and simultaneous – reaction: jealousy that I had not thought of it first paired with inspiration to do something even more simple/bizarre. (More on that in 2010.) After voraciously reviewing every clip I could find of him on the almighty Internet, I began to think of how many times David Lynch has been or is currently completely misunderstood by his peers, audience, lovers, friends, neighbors, mother and mailman. It happens to me, too, because of the Sunday Show. I have been called names not worth repeating by people not worth mentioning who have never even seen my show. I will not judge those people, but I will admit that that sort of ignorance deeply rattles my soul. It’s a truly strange existence when you create and share something so intimate, surreal, fantastic and raw because eventually you are immediately identified with all of the dark and twisted intricacies involved with those pieces or projects. Even if, on most days, you’re just a normal person who just happens to be commandeering a concept that makes people laugh, think, smile and break away from their ordinary lives, even if only for 90 minutes at a time.
For Lynch, it seems like most days he is totally normal. Coffee, cigarettes and pretty much the same weather report every day. But then some days he reports the weather with a bizarre twist, living up to the reputation with which he has been saddled as the director of some pretty amazing, albeit twisted projects. It just goes to show that you should never solely judge a person by their art, even if you think you can or should because you have set up google alerts or follow them on Twitter. No matter how much you study, will never know firsthand if those occasional fits of the bizarre you see – from me, from David Lynch – are actually the emergence of deep-rooted darkness in the artist or only taking place to keep you entertained and believing that in order to make something so eccentric, so edgy, so provoking, one MUST be somehow off kilter. I’m not telling if Lynch doesn’t. And that pigeon certainly isn’t talking, but he desperately wishes you to stop trying to put me in his hole.
David Lynch Daily Weather Report from 2005
David Lynch Daily Weather Report from 2006
David Lynch Daily BIZARRE Weather Report
And just because you probably have never seen this commercial for Opium, it’s a gem. This man is a genius, even though I am sure people fail to understand his mind. Maybe you’re just supposed to enjoy the work, not analyze the person making it. (Yes, I prefer this.)
I have always thought that Twitter is ridiculous. It serves a purpose for a lot of mobile businesses and artists, but it also frightens me how addictive it can be to otherwise normal people. And how nothing, really, is sacred when people experience something and immediately think about sharing that bit of information with their world. This recent NY Times article about Protocols is also worth a read. And the video below made me happy because it means I am not alone in my fascination with Twitter’s dark side.
Since I create and wear costumes while often acting as a dead person in public, I tend to confuse certain people. Public desire to label and file me away as any one thing is convenient for many but confusing. It is true that I hate being called a “burlesque dancer”, one commonly misused label that I constantly strive to separate myself from. If anything, call me a performance artist because that is what I am. This pigeonholing also really annoys Madonna who once said “I think of myself as a performance artist. I hate being called a pop star. I hate that.” Mind you this is not because of shame, insecurity or fear but for the sake of my sanity. I am also a producer and a writer. So one might assume that I would be thrilled by the advent of a platform like Twitter in which I can share, through writing 140 characters, all of the self-indulgent, intimate morsels of my life with the hungry, nosy world.
I never really understood the point of Twitter and basically shunned the concept. After being interviewed about the MTA Service Specialist project receiving a cease-and-desist from the MTA’s lawyers, TJ Rosenthal of East Village Radio’s TJ AND THE TUX, roped me in and created an account for me. I was reluctant but on the heels of a 5am interview on Good Day New York and a sleepless, nervous night. And that is how it all started. Soon, my ex boyfriend’s mother requested to follow me. And then my own mother. And then Britney Spears. It was then I knew that I was getting in too deep.
This is another good video.
When I decided to transform myself into Courtney Love for the October edition of the Sunday Show, I thought it might be best to step into her shoes. I started using my Twitter. And sadly, just when I was getting into the random blurts of insanity, Courtney went and deleted her account. So, as a method actor, I followed suit and set forth to delete my account, too. I barely used it and don’t really understand the CULTural phenomenon associated with it, so this was not a big loss to me.
In the process of my disengagement, I did find out about some features the site provides which I never used. None of which could win me back.
When I visited the site intending to permanently depart, the hot topics featured scared me. Much like when leaving a less-than-stellar relationship (why would his mother want to follow me after all of this time, anyway?) or putting back that second helping of cupcakes, I knew that I was making the right decision. I mean, the KKK? What is wrong with you people?
So I eventually approach the final stages of breaking up with Twitter. I am faced with a tearful cartoon bird asking if I am sure I want to leave. Yes, little bird. I am sure. Do people really want to know what I ate for dinner? Will I really stop what I am doing to share what I ate for dinner with thousands of people I don’t even know? And why do they care? Are they just waiting for me to divulge some secret information on there, like who I went to the museum with on Sunday or what panties I decided to put on this morning?
I took a screen shot of my last Twitter feed (including musings from Moby and Samantha Ronson) and, with a few clicks, became one step closer to Courtney. (This feels better than one might initially imagine.) The Sunday Show on October 25th was an incredible success. And today, I am still alive, well and free from “the tweets”. Of course, I can’t completely free myself from the Twittersphere as I have ahit show on my hands and an audience that loves to know what is happening behind the scenes. This being said, you can follow THE SUNDAY SHOW on Twitter @sundayshownyc. However to follow me, you can kick it old school and…send a text.
Trick, treat…it doesn’t matter when you’re dead. In October all the glitter, fire, death and magic of The Sunday Show are delivered to New York City like never before: When (g)host Courtney Love makes a very public attempt to conjure the spirit of her late husband Kurt Cobain, all hell – literally – breaks loose. Featuring performances by world-renowned extreme(ly hot) juggler Marcus Monroe, the fire-hooping “razor blade in your apple” Justina Flash and bad-to-the-bone, original burlesque pieces by the ghoulish, gorgeous and incredibly talented B.B. Heart, Misty Lux and Leta Le Noir. This cutting-edge, rotating collective is dedicated to the exploration of life, freedom, lust, death and the American Way in what the New York Post calls a “Bacchanalian strip-show-cum-sideshow by way of a speakeasy…” and an experiment in interactive, indulgent and totally uncensored live entertainment.
October 25th, 2009
10pm www.sundayshownyc.com
The Slipper Room
167 Orchard Street, NYC
New York City’s unemployment rate is now reportedly well over 10%. The terrorist attacks on 9/11 were eight years ago but there is still no commemoration at the site. Obama’s approval rating has fallen. Students return to school – some are murdered in Ivy League laboratories – and autumn arrives as climate change week meets Yom Kippur. Reality television and nightly news distract us from the fall of our own empire…and Queen Cleopatra of Egypt has returned from the afterlife intent to rule over NYC before it is destroyed.
Joined by Coco La Pearl, Michelle St. Darling, Hard Cory, Misty Lux, Jared the Conjuror, Blacky 2 and more, the legendary seductress Cleopatra guides this months audience through a crash course in surviving global and local catastrophe while atoning us from our sins and tempting us with forbidden fruit.
Dazzling acts include daring fire performances, baton twirling, burlesque, boylesque, dance, film shorts, comedy, music and more as we celebrate what is left of life in our great city at this month’s monumental Sunday Show. Always uncensored and accept no imitations; this is THE collective, underground show you’ve been hearing about. Censored even by the NY Post! Doors 10pm show 10:30pm. $10.
An experiment in interactive, uncensored entertainment.
Special guest: Jared the Conjurer
Here is the only portion of last month’s show available that does not violate YouTube’s Terms of Service with its content. In this clip from The Sunday Show Presents: Ricky’s a Cheat!, Lucy and Ethel put their plan to crash Ricky’s big audition (in order to break into showbiz, of course) into action.
Fear not, for the worst is over. If only for one night!
The recession ends Sunday, August 30th at the Sunday Show.
While times are tough and the mercury continues to rise, join NYC’s top performance artists in this acclaimed uncensored cabaret. This month’s theme – recession, guilty pleasures, depression and obsession – whisks audience members back to a simpler time when America lived in black and white with Lucille Ball as host and performances by Legs Malone, Queen LaQueefa, Nik Sin, Misty Lux, Leta Le Noir and including special guest appearances by Hard Corey, Bea B. Heart, live music by Josh Henderson Trio, Blacky 2 and more. Featuring burlesque, sideshow, music, dance and scandal, come experience the show the NY Post calls a “Bacchanalian strip-show-cum-sideshow by way of a speakeasy…” and the monthly event regularly censored by Facebook and YouTube.
In an unforgettable image from the July show, a sexually liberated Sarah Palin reacts as Madonna – played by Queen LaQueefa – delivers a singing telegram to boyleque perfomer Hard Corey in honor of his birthday.
America is the land of the free and the home of the brave, especially at this month’s installation of THE SUNDAY SHOW!
What happens when you blow a presidential election for the Republican party, are the laughing stock of the media and are about to join the millions of unemployed Americans after stepping down from being Governor of Alaska?
You host the Sunday Show!
July 26th’s installation of “The Sunday Show: America the Great SUPER!”, hosted by SARAH PALIN, features performances from her appointed cabinet reminding us about the wonderful freedoms we have as Americans – and how she plans to dismantle them. Starring freedom-fighter Queen LaQueefa, the lovely and dark diplomat Magdalena Fox, brave boylesque sensation Hard Cory, pride enforcer Lefty Lucy, product of a corrupt society Misty Lux, the all-American beauty Miss Kristen Lee, Blacky 2 who is now appearing on IRAQ’S GOT TALENT! and a very special guest, the legendary Coney Island Chris! It’s summertime and the living is sleazy; Palin is hellbent to change all of that. Who will resist her? Come and defend your right to our uncensored display of freedom, fanfare and the American way!
10pm
$10
www.sundayshownyc.com
Bubbles Corvelay the World's Greatest Daredevil thrills the crowd at the June Sunday Show held at The Slipper Room in Manhattan's Lower East Side
NEW YORK — Across the country as people react in stunned disbelief after receiving news of the untimely passing of “The King of Pop” Michael Jackson, the eclectic cast of the Sunday Show have vowed to gather their strength, faith and courage: after all, the show must go on. The highly-anticipated performance, scheduled to take place June 28th at 10pm at The Slipper Room (167 Orchard Street) in Manhattan’s Lower East Side, will likely pay tribute to “Jacko” in addition to the production’s June performance theme of Coney Island, Gay Pride and the “Rites of Summer”. The Sunday Show takes place the last Sunday of every month through August.
In an official statement, The Sunday Show’s creator Kiki Valentine admires that Jackson remained in touch with his inner child despite a difficult childhood of his own, saying, “In the spirit of places like Coney Island, Neverland Ranch and circuses around the globe throughout history, Michael reminded us of the importance of the preservation of our youth and the joy, wonder and amazement that can be a part of our everyday lives through art, music and dance. Outside of the fantasy, vulnerability, scandal and life ‘under the microscope’ we must inadvertently commit to when opening ourselves up to share our ideas, dreams and talent with the public as artists, Michael Jackson lived an extraordinary life. His legendary career spanning four decades touched the lives of millions the world over through music, charitable acts and love. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family, friends and fans who love and will miss him.” Cast member Queen LaQueefa demonstrated a memorable tribute to Jackson in the show’s April installation but could not be immediately reached for comment.
