The HeART Beat Of Baltimore
LOVE STINKS
February 16, 2015
A week before Valentines Day. I'm sitting in the old Zodiac which is now The Yellow Sign Theater. The new owners kept the old incredibly atmospheric astrological wall mural. It sets a mood and really opens the place up. A working neon green clock in the center of a yellow sun encircled by half-naked deities. A hunky Neptune gripping his trident and a goddess wearing nipple tassels seems very fitting for the Twisted Knickers Burlesque, Love Stinksshow tonight. Packed wall-to-wall with people-sardines the show is sold-out. A huge, humorous salmon sign on the wall inside above the entrance reads, "Fresh Fish Today." I can hardly wait.
I have the best seat in the house. Lights flicker and dim, the show is about to begin. The emcee for the troupe is Hot Todd who is a very hot toddy indeed. Dressed quite dapper in a suit and tie with black wingtip oxfords. Not too shabby. I envy him. I want his wardrobe. He's an excellent emcee that knows how to work a crowd very well; making the place roar with laughter every step of the way. Not only does he know how to dodge heckler cat calls but he can throw insults right back and tame the misbehaving crowd with his microphone. Commanding his audience whip-smart he cracks more than just jokes.
Reverend Valentine is a sexy female Peppy Le Pew bringing the Looney Tune to life in ways I never imagined. Her horny skunk routine done to J. Geil's Band's, "Love Stinks" showing us just how much love really does stink with a clothespin clamped to her furry nose.
There's a chance to win prizes. Among these are a yellow stuffed Bad Girlfriend Voodoo Doll. (I could really use one of those.) The rainbow candy penis on a stick looks good enough to eat. Being a writer, my favorite prize is the Orgasm Pen. It moans when you write with it, but you have to turn it on first.
Hot Todd wow's us with his suspenseful, fun and sexy escape-from-a-straight-jacket dance routine. The Ramone's "Psycho Therapy" plays in the back ground while he flops about seductively making purposeful clumsiness gracefully hilarious.
Whiskey Joy's act was cute and sexy. It made me want to walk up to the stage, tip my cowboy hat and say, "Gimme some Whiskey."
Ruby Spruce blew me away with her conceptual performance art stone statue of an angel in a graveyard turned into a fierce fiery angel of passion! An arrow emerging from her statuesque body and then lacerating herself in the breast while "Angel" by Massive Attack played. A true performance artist. I admired her sexy alluring advant guard style, her depth, integrity and excellent choreography. It was obvious she had formal training. I could watch her over and over again and never get bored. Even if it's too deep for most audiences the performance was strong enough to still pull them in. The broken-hearted angel of stone imagery perfect for tonight's theme.
This show reminded me of a scene in the movie Gypsy where outrageously costumed burlesque dancers sang, "You've got to have a gimmick if you want to get ahead." That scene influenced my drag king Devin Hellfire, strip-tease, dance routines at The Hippo during the 90's.
That was when I met John Waters. We hit it off and went bar-hopping together while he was working on the script for his film Pecker. He asked me questions about what it was like being raised by bikers and my life as a drag king. The character T-Bone in Pecker who does a strip-tease in a biker bar was based upon my drag king persona Devin Hellfire. Unfortunately the film's producers wanted to cast a drag king from New York City for the part.
While watching the show at The Yellow Sign Theater I had an epiphany! I realized that I had been a drag burlesque performer for years and didn't even know it! This made me want to do my act again, only as a transman. I stared on with great enthusiasm. My brain a sponge sucking it all in, mesmerized by the power and presence of each performer.
Tapitha Kix, promoter of the troupe, tap-danced her dejected crush for the emcee across the dance floor like a pro with amazing skill and dexterity.
Last but not least; a masturbating avocado slowly lost herself, piece by piece, on stage.
These girls definitely have the fine art of burlesque down! I'm proud to say I had the pleasure of viewing what is probably the best burlesque cabaret in Baltimore.
Art Reviews by Devin Cherubini
published in the Baltimore City Paper
Woody Lissauer: Adventures In Loveland, Baltimore
January 3, 2015 at 12:25pm
PublicFriendsOnly MeCustomTransexual FetusMICA (Maryland Institute College of Art)See all lists...Maryland Institute College of ArtBaltimore, Maryland AreaFamilyBaltimore OUTloudGo BackI met Woody Lissauer back in the early 90's at Sowebo. His long blonde hair flaying in the wind, a pearly white smile and charming stage presence combined with amazing musical abilities made him stand out in the crowd of performers for me that night. I knew he had real talent and I liked him. We were introduced and hit it off immediately. We hung out at his place after the festival, talked for hours and he showed me all the various instruments he knew how to play. I was incredibly impressed.
We kept in touch over the years and even played on stage together once doing a cover of Sympathy For The Devil where I played the harmonica and sang with him in an add hock band that night. He always had a way of inspiring me to create music myself even though I have no formal training. I always felt that he believed as much as I do that we are all innately musical. We all vibrate music on a spiritual level and anyone can learn how to make music.
Woody has an extensive music background. With a degree in music composition from Towson University. He was in The Gordon Michael's Band on A&M Records. He went on the road with Strangelove (Chrysalis Records) and Crack the Sky (Lifesong Records.) When Vigil producer Sam Praeger introduced Lissauer to Baltimore socialite Mark Davison they formed the band Cubic Feet. He is best known for his work with Cubic Feet. But, I personally think his solo work is his finest yet.
Woody has a large following from folk music fans in the LGBTQ community. Even more specifically; lesbians in the Maryland area seem to really dig his music.
When I was host and coordinator of roving art event, From Our Lips, a poetry, performance art and live music happening that took place in the 90's at Lambda Rising, Adler Gallery and Cafe Metropol in Baltimore. Woody was a featured performer there and the audience adored him. I always knew I could count on him to bring in a good crowd. I've followed his career through the years. He still never fails to give the audience an excellent performance no matter where he plays.
After Woody finishes a set he always asks the crowd if they have any requests. It's remarkable how he can cover almost any song at a moments notice. My favorite covers of his will always be Bowie songs from the album Ziggy Stardust. No one can play Bowie quite like Woody can. When he plays a Bowie song it takes me far away from this earthly plain. I feel like Major Tom ignoring ground control a million miles above the stratosphere where nothing can harm or break you. Like a tree in the wind, you will bend. You may even be a little bent but never broken.
I proudly own a copy of his first solo CD, 'Woody Lissauer' (2004) and his most recent solo CD "Adventures and Misadventures in Loveland," which contains the song 'Hard Times' and won the Searchlight Songwriting Competition. My favorite song from the same album is 'Bent, but not broken,' which has an impressive music video. Woody filmed himself with fixed cameras then combined that footage with roving shots by well-know Baltimore Photographer Bonnie Schupp & room cameras filmed by David Salyers. Woody filmed, edited and produced this inspiring music video about life in Baltimore. Featuring splendid scenes from all over Baltimore City. The song speaks to us about determination of will in the face of adversity.
Music video project for another excellent song; Send In The Clowns was shot at the infamous Mermaid Parade in New York City. Filmed entirely by Baltimore film maker Ravene Noir (Mayor Kurt Schmoke's son; Gregory Schmoke.) Woody is seen dancing in merriment with drag queen mermaids and all kinds of other colorful people! This song is about embracing diversity. There are two versions of the music video. The one published Feb 24, 2013 on Youtube was done with HBO's Creative Director Karen Sands as Executive Producer & Ravene Noir as Director and Cinematographer.
Woody is also featured on the Baltimore Songwriter's Association compilation CD.
Woody was born July 9, 1959 in Baltimore a musical child prodigy so it is no surprise his work has come this far. We can only expect an even brighter future from this ever rising native star.
Let Me See That Pretty Beaver
October 2, 2014 at 12:59am
"Let me see that Pretty Beaver!" May sound like the cat call of a dirty construction worker in an alley of Baltimore City. The innuendo is exactly what you think it is. But, Pretty Beaver is the title of an internationally published comic sprung from the cynical, sardonic loins of Baltimore.
It's even been published in "StripBurger" of Slovenia, Yugoslavia! And another publication from Montreal Quebec, "Fish Piss" has a cover illustration depicting green, beautiful, angry fish squabbling.
During my interview with the writer of Pretty Beaver; Mary Knott, she had strewn hundreds of colorful publications all over my couch and desk. A rainbow of controversy, magic and mayhem in print.
This LGBT comic is raw, confrontational and funny. All of the stories are conceived by Ms Knott; Baltimore writer, poet, performance artist & singer of local band, "The Dirt" with masterful musician Mike Bell on guitar. Mary writes the lyrics of songs the duo has performed at Baltimore art venues such as The Pow Wow and SOWEBO Art Festival. "The Dirt" has put out several albums that have gotten air play on New York City radio.
Pretty Beaver comics are drawn by Baltimore mixed-media artist and fashion designer Beppi Isbert. Mrs. Isbert's fabulous designs have been featured in many Pride Day drag shows throughout the years. As well as The House of Frau commissioning her to single-handedly design a fashion show for them. Beppi enjoys working in a wide variety of mediums and textiles in order to keep the artwork fresh.
This tasteless tidbit (at the bottom of this article) is just a small example of the raucous humor of Pretty Beaver equivalent to Mad Magazine meets Hothead Paisan with a little John Waters trailer trash humor thrown in for good measure. The work is vibrantly unique visual art hilarity.
During our interview; Mary reminisced how the title of the comic was partly inspired by her mentor and close friend Blaster Al's influences. Blaster Al was a very beloved and nationally renown local Baltimore writer who recently passed away on St. Patrick's Day in 2013. She smiles through her tears when speaking fondly of him. Remembering the way Blaster would teach her how to use a catch phrase technique to grab people's attention in story-telling.
Sometime in 1985 Mary came up with her own similar but very radical female version of this famous Blaster Al spoken word technique.
She would be standing on stage dressed in sexy outlandish outfits, wild hair and wide eyed. Her sweet almost innocent cherubic face with crimson red lips reading her work aloud to the large crowd. When suddenly she would half chortle out, "My Beaver! My Beaver!" In order to rattle the audience to attention just in case anyone had drifted off. This tactic was a success! It became her trademark. She instantly won the hearts of many fans in the local Baltimore writing scene.
Several years later, in 1996 the comic Pretty Beaver was born! A very queer and strange reflection of Baltimore life. The satires are sexual but not sexy, fun and not always funny, but always poignant.
When asked why she chose the actual words for the title Pretty Beaver. She smirked a little, laughed and quipped with a side glance, "It was better than calling it Pretty Pussy."
Mary's first piece of writing was an article published on the front page of The Federalsburg Times when she was only sixteen. This gave Mary the courage a young girl needs to pursue a career as a professional writer.
Mary received a degree in Literature at Towson University in 1990.
Her very first illustrated publication of crazed creativity was in Nude Polariods in 1996 with art by Baltimore artist Pat Hornberg. Eventually as destiny would have it the two sisters found their collaborative niche the following year when Beppi replaced Pat as the artist for Mary's writing in 1997.
There are actual Baltimore places & people in Mary's writing. Things very familiar to both Beppi and Mary. Commonalities that appear to be a kind of super glue holding the comics together making them strong, powerful and direct.
Beppi has collaborated with other writers over the years, but according to her; Mary has always been the writer that has been the easiest for her to work with. When asked about this processBeppi says," Most writers go into a collaboration with a sense of ownership and cannot let go of their vision … Mary gives me a stack of writing and I do whatever is in my head. Keeping the artwork fresh and alive … it is a true collaboration, not a dictatorship."
Hand printed by Beppi are also a wide variety of Pretty Beaver inspired T-shirts featuring many of the comical characters inspired by real life native Baltimoreans. These crazed caricatures are drawn with a very confident and bold line quality juxtapositioned with various interesting and unique patterns and shapes that bring the composition together very nicely.
Beppi, her husband Stephen & their son Gunnar shared the cover of the Baltimore Alternative once along with other LGBT families during the 90's. In my interview with the artist she laughs; telling me she was once even mistaken for a drag queen. Describing it as her, "badge of honor" and still proudly adhering to all the drag queen fashion tips taught to her by some of the best queens of Baltimore. She lists them for me; 1) before leaving the house, add one piece of jewelry 2) go big or go home 3) always keep them guessing 4) from the moment you wake up, put on make up 5) stay strange!
The exciting, wide variety of stories that Mary brings to life never seems to cease in aiding Beppi's creative illustration process. Setting the stage for Ms. Knott's characters to flourish and thrive.
Mary Knott's writing is the backbone of Pretty Beaver. The core of the comic. Knott's creative story-telling is the skeleton and bones of the visual experience. Although startling at times; there is never a dull moment when reading a copy of Pretty Beaver. So, next time you're at Atomic Books tell them, "Let me see that Pretty Beaver!"
Here is an excerpt panel from the episode; Sex Goddess Slut-divine Venus Deluxe in "What To Do About Queen Calligula!"