Dear Constant Reader,
This past Thursday was our first live music show at Flying Embers and I think it was pretty successful! We had a pretty good crowd, especially for a Thursday, who seemed to be enjoying themselves. The bartenders were happy with everything, the band was terrific and I felt my performances went well.
Poor Scratch was run ragged, however. His assistant tested positive for Covid that day and our photographers bailed, so he ended up having to do pretty much everything himself — set up the lighting, work the door (checking reservations and vaccination cards), host the show, take photos, clean up some of the costumes, and run the FaceBook livestream.
The band played two sets — about an hour and a half total. Betty and I each did an act in each set. I went first with “Mina in Furs” and Betty closed out the set with “Lament”. She opened the second set with “Night Train” and I closed it out with a fan dance to “Harlem Nocturne”.
I was so into my fan dance and enjoying it so much that I ended with a big sweep of my fans and dipped my head, forgetting that I hadn’t yet sewn a comb into my headdress and the whole thing fell right off! It hung around my neck and I was able to sweep in back into place. Oh the glamourous life of a showgirl!
The show has a couple of challenges which keep things spicy. The first is, of course, live music. The band is terrific, but as with any live performance, you never know what might happen. As it turned out, everything was fine. The other is that there’s no real stage. We decided to perform in the center of the room, which means people were seated at tables around the taproom as well as at the bar. Performing in the round is hard. You are going to be seen from every angle and you need to make sure everyone has a good view most of the time. And don’t forget to make as much eye contact as possible. My fan dance is very directional, with either my front or back uncovered depending on which way I’m turned. I opted to perform directly in front of the band for most of it and come out into the center when I was covered front and back or entirely uncovered.
There should eventually be some photos and the whole thing was on FB Live (skip the first couple of minutes — it’s Scratch setting things up and there’s no way to edit a Live).
I’ll be back on February 3rd with Ava Fox and again on February 17th. I won’t be performing that night — I’ll be celebrating my birthday! I hear there will be cake.
Tickets are free, but reservations are suggested.
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