Friday, November 30, 2012

Erykah Badu

I cannot wait for 2012 to end because I will be spending it with Ms. Erykah Badu at the Fox Theater in Oakland.

Oh lord, Ms. Badu turned me out in 1997 with her debut album - Baduizm.

My fondest memory of listening to her music was while attending Haskell in Lawrence, Kansas., it was 1998 and we were partying with Peggy Carney's neighbors in her apartment behind Dillions and as soon as I heard Ms. Badu come on the radio, I took Peggy's blanket comforter off the floor, wrapped it around my head and gave them Ms. Badu for days.

xoxo



Sherman Indian High School 1991

Wow, talk about taking a page out of my life book, this is from my Junior year at Sherman Indian High School in Riverside, California. *1990/1991*  These pages are from the sophomore class and its nice to see their old faces.

This isn't my yearbook because I'm pretty sure Leland didn't sign it.  This is so weird because I was just randomly thinking of Amada Martinez the other day.  And look, there goes Mavis James from Oakland too!

And there goes Larry at the very bottom, giving a Angie a hug, Larry was my very first roommate at Sherman.

Seems just like yesterday these pics were taken and now mostly everyone on this page started their own families.

For as long as I could remember, I would always dream about this place. This place left a huge impact on my life, I can see why, Sherman changed my life for the better.

One thing is for sure, there was a lot of hairspray being used in these pictures.

xoxo






Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Hella Gay Comedy Show Swan Song

It is with a grateful heart that our live Hella Gay Comedy Shows will not continue for 2013, at least not in the form of a continuous stand up comedy show series.  We will however be branching our shows to neighboring towns and cities for one offs.

Since April, I've had the fortunate task of producing all of the Hella Gay show themes and booking our fabulous performers.  All of our shows were met with a great response from audiences far and wide because we were onto something special, we had visitors from other states, terrific local support, and the occasional, "where the fuck am I" ?  Our show also boasted the best diverse audiences, mixing together groups of people who wouldn't normally be caught hanging out in the same curb.

The reason why we always got great crowds was because all of our shows and performers were packaged in a unique way.  We competed for comedy audiences in San Francisco and what set us apart from everybody else was the imagination and innovation behind our show themes.

Where else in San Francisco could you see comedians performing in their underwear, a barrage of funny drag performers packed into one great night of hijinks, an amateur strip sketch which left an audience member titillated, a comedy duo singing a Sonny & Cher cover of, "I Got You Babe" , where one of the comedians quiefed along with the song, funny fag hags, a theme night featuring bisexual and metrosexual comedians and so on!

I put these shows together for a couple main reasons, the first is that I wanted to give back to the SF Comedy Community and provide valuable stage time for up and coming performers just as many of the comedians did for me when I started in the Bay Area. 

I can also proudly say I booked all my performers based on their talent, not once did I book a performer because I knew they could, "bring" , people.  My main goal was to create a supportive and inclusive atmosphere where my performers could hone their craft and feel good about themselves, which to me is more valuable than trying to make a fast buck.

As everybody knows, my shows weren't money makers because I gave away a lot of comps, did that lower the production value of my shows, absolutely not.

So with much admiration and respect, its time for me to pass the torch to the next wave of great comedy show promoters in the Bay Area.

And don't miss our last show of the year:

December 7th, 2012.

Hella Gay All Stars - featuring command performance from 2012!

The Stage Werx Theater
446 Valencia 
SF, CA 94103

Show @ 7:30pm
5$ Cover
16 & Over

xoxo




Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Jared Leto - Tranny AIDS Hooker

Jared Leto is something of a method actor, he is one of those extreme performers who will metamorph his body appearance to capture the essence and spirit of the character role hes portraying.

For his role as a transsexual with AIDS in "The Dallas Buyers Club," Leto pushed his body through a brutal transformation. - Yahoo News

For this role, Jared shaved all of his body hair and lost a lot of weight to play a young person living with AIDS.

For those of you unaware of his work, Jared use to play, "Jordan" , on ABC's now defunct, "My So Called Life" , a show about young teenage angst set in the early 90's.

If the picture below is any indication of his dedication to his craft, I cannot wait to see this movie.

xoxo




Feminista Comedy Show Photos

Hey guys, check out these photos from last nights, "Feminista Comedy Show" , at the Rebel in SF! Pay attention to the lighting in these photos, they're very artsy and give the comedians a lot of depth! Good job to our house photographer - Andrew Moore 

But before we go to the photos at hand, we did a ladies comedy competition at the Feminista Comedy Show because I wanted the ladies to give their best and what better way to do that than to offer a cash incentive.

There can only be one and tonight Eloisa Bravo killed it with 90% of the crowd vote shown here with the audience tally, congrats again Eloisa!

And thank you to all the ladies who performed in the show, everyone was fabulous! 

xoxo
                                         Eloisa Bravo
                                         Loren Kraut
                                         Jennifer Dronsky              
                                         Sandra Risser
                                         Kate Willett
                                          Kollin Holtz
                                         Eloisa Bravo
                                         Shanti Charan
                                         Veronica Porras
                                         Carrie Avritt
                                         Colleen Watson
                                         Ali Brown

Monday, November 26, 2012

Feminista Comedy Night Review

Oh wow, I just got home from another fantastic, "Hella Gay Comedy Show" , at the Rebel bar in San Francisco, California.

Tonights theme was, "Feminista Comedy Night" , featuring the Bay Area's funniest ladies.  To recent, female comedians have been getting a bad rap for not being funny, so tonights show was to prove to all the haters wrong.

All the hardwork of putting this event together paid off because we got a nice review for this show:

"This was the best the ever! It was AMAZING to see such great female comics perform...there was such a wonderful variety. The winner got chosen by the audience. Kudos to Charlie Ballard for continuing to bring us these incredible shows that keep us laughing... and the audiences are getting bigger to"

I got to the Rebel early to set up and it was a good thing too, part of the stage needed to get taken down and all the chairs needed to be folded out.  OMG, I was literally dripping sweat from moving, folding, & stacking chairs for the first 30 minutes.

Big up's to Corie Crispin from Baystandup.com and Andrew Moore of Sylvan Productions for all their help tonight.  Together they were shooting pictures and capturing video, I cannot wait to see how the end product from tonights show turns out!

To up the ante, we turned tonights show into a mini comedy competition, I wanted the ladies to give their best and thought a money incentive would do the trick.  For the most part, my shows are not money makers because I give away so many comp's so all I could give was the money from tonights walk ups.

Hosting tonights show was Kollin Holtz - a Minnesota transplant who is ever so charming behind the mic.

First up is one of our Hella Gay favorites - Kate Willett.  What can I say about Kate that I have already not said in another show revue, shes amazing.  After her set, I told Kate that she needs to be working out in L.A., yup, shes that good.

Next up is another Bay Area favorite - Shanti Charan.  Shanti gave her usual strong performance and garnered 2nd place in tonights competition.

Coming back for another go around with Hella Gay is Carrie Avritt, who has credits opening for Loni Love and D.L. Hughly.  Carrie was a breath of fresh air and fun to have on the show.  She asked me before the show if it was okay to push the envelope and I was like, "uh.. yeah" .

Tonights comedy competition winner was Eloisa Bravo and rightfully so, her stage presence is very high energy and she commands the stage from the get. She won 90% of the votes tonight, go Eloisa!

Coming to the stage next is a new comedy promoter - Loren Kraut. Loren co-produces a new comedy variety show called, "Life with Laughter" . Look for it, it sounds like a great show!

Next up is Eloisa's partner in crime - Kimberly Rose Wendt. Eloisa and Kim co-produce a new all womens comedy show in San Francisco called, "Bitch Slap" .  Kim was a pleasure to have on the show!

Another Hella Gay regular hit the stage - Jennifer Dronsky.  Jennifer has been with our shows since last year in Oakland and has turned into a solid performer.  She was just featured in a recent blog for SF WEEKLY summarizing her Lesbian femininity.

Some of our lady comics are competition ready and we could all tell Sandra Risser was ready to throttle the stage by the way she was doing her warm up exercises before her set and she did just that.

The new kid in town is Ali Brown because her material is so unexpected and funny.

Jessica Sele first show with us was the Hella Gay All Star back in April because shes a high caliber comedian.  Other comedians have passed on being on our All Star show for their first outing because the pressure is overwhelming, not Jessica, she embraces the challenge!

Pulling up the rear was Veronica Porras who has opened for Dave Chappelle.  Veronica is a class act and we all look forward to seeing more of her!

Headlining our, "Feminista Comedy Night" , was Colleen Watson, who has opened for Dave Atell and many other noted comics.  Colleen's humor is smart and she fit into our show very nicely, thanks Colleen!

Thank you to you to everyone who came out and supported our ladies tonight!

xoxo










Sunday, November 25, 2012

Native American Heritage Month 2012

As another Native American Heritage Month comes to a close, here are some great iconic images celebrating American Indian culture, enjoy!

xoxo












Saturday, November 24, 2012

Thursday, November 22, 2012

Native American Thanksgiving


Can't Miss FryBread

My mom made frybread this morning for the Fruitvale community dinner that the All Star Liquor Store puts on every year.  This year she said they had tons of meat and where short on bread, so my mom came thru and made them frybread, heres her recipe:

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Beulah John's Can't Miss Fry Bread (thanks to my friends from Oklahoma and South Dakota for their influences in this recipe)

One 2-lb bag of All Purpose Flour (32 oz)
One envelope Instant Nonfat Dry Milk (3.2oz) (makes 1 quart)
2 T Baking Powder
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp Sugar
4 cups Hot Water
Shortening for frying

Thoroughly mix the first 5 ingredients in large bowl. Gradually, add hot water & mix all ingredients until the dough starts pulling together. The trick to making a good dough is to knead for 5-10 minutes until you have a nice firm dough consistency.

Cover bowl and let rise until it doubles in volume.

Heat shortening in heavy duty cast iron skillet, very slowly to 350-370 degrees. [check temp by frying a small piece of dough to see if it turns golden brown]

With floured hands, flap out with your hands or use a rolling pin out to flatten 20 - 25 pieces of dough about the size of a golf ball each, drop in hot shortening till golden brown and flip.

Each side will take approximately 1 - 2 minutes to brown.

When golden brown, remove from oil and drain on paper towels.

Out of Debt Bitches!

I'm so happy to report that I am finally out of debt since the beginning of this year.

I'm actually in the plus, not by much, but it feels nice not owing anybody money, especially my creditors.

A comedian friend of mine once said it seems like we're all just trying to get to zero, meaning most Americans are seriously in debt and will always be in debt, so if any of us can ever get out of the minus column, then its a personal win.

I do not regret any of my expenditures this year, ie going to Orlando for Gay Days or going to Vegas to see Margaret Cho because those are some of the people and places I really wanted to visit.  I can honestly say whatever force was pulling me to those places, I finally got them out of my system.

When we went to Michigan to pick up my moms truck this Summer, I remember meeting with the Native Bone Reader at the Mt. Pleasant Powwow and she said, "I had money issues" .  I can understand how she read that because when I was shaking the bones out in front of me, I could feel the big silver coin drop to the floor, which I'm pretty sure represented my finances, sure enough thats what it was about.

Amazingly, even after losing my job at the beginning of Summer, I was still able to keep my finances in check.  I told myself I'd probably be clear of this years debt by Christmas and I was right.

Not bad for somebody whose relatively poor and unemployed.

For 2013, I'm going to make a promise myself to be a better piggy bank and not spend on money on shit that I don't need.

I can feel my next money cycle coming and I refuse to handle it the same way I did for 2012.

My hope is to raise a lot money, buy a car, find a nice job, move, and live out the best years of my life in the City of Angels.

Hopefully I'll be skinnier by then too.

xoxo



Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Gay Native Americans Part II

I saw this print ad in a Gay publication and all I could think was, "someone is totally giving me way more credit than I deserve" .

xoxo



Million Trans March 2012

Today was the Million Trans March in San Francisco, which was a march to honor the contributions our Trans community members have made towards the LGBT movement.  This march is also a remembrance of all our Trans brothers and sisters who have past and helped pave the way so our movement can continue.

We started at City Hall in SF and marched to the Harvey Milk Plaza in the Castro where the Trans flag was raised in their honor.

Fun Fact:  It was the members of the Trans community who first rebelled against the police during the 1969 Stonewall Riots in New York, thus ushering in a new social era of LGBT activism and pride.  Think about that the next time you see a Trans person and thank them for their courage. 
















Monday, November 19, 2012

Madonn'a new perfume - Naked

Finally, after 30 years in the business, Madonna decides to brand her own perfume.

Her perfume is called, "Naked" , which is an understatement for Madonna.

Truth or Dare by Madonna Naked is a provocative and sexy scent that reveals Madonna's sensual inner qualities. Blending a sense of richness and flirty femininity, the fragrance is playful yet confident. A bold combination of creamy woodiness is paired with addictive vanilla nuances and sparkling florals, for a scent that is immediately captivating.
  • Top Notes: Honeysuckle, Peach Blossom, Neroli
  • Mid Notes: Sensual Vanilla Orchid, Cocoa Flower, Lily of the Valley
  • Base Notes: Texas Cedarwood, Oud Wood Accord, Sandalwood Australia
Hmmmmm....???

This ad campaign would have been fierce 30 years ago when she was in her prime and it feels like she still hasn't grown up yet.

I love everything about Coco Chanel's #5 perfume because that lady is inherently classy, I just don't get that from Madonna.

xoxo




I'm Sorry

this evening somebodys dog tried to come home with me.

I went to the QuickMart to get a soda and some Chinese food from the Pak Kitchen, so when I had everything and started walking back towards the house, this dog with a collar started following me from the gas station.

This cute black guy putting gas in his car called to the dog and was ignored.  I asked him if it was his and he said no but I could tell he was interested in the dog.

For whatever reason, the dog continued to follow me, even as I crossed the street.

That hound was still behind me and wouldn't you know it, that dog was smiling.

I've seen dogs smile before so I started to laugh when he began walking beside me with a gleaming smile, thats when I stopped in my tracks and said a Supai word to chase the dog away, "summa" !  It worked because the dog stopped in its tracks and when I walked into my driveway, the dog was no longer behind me.

We use to have a cat back in the 80's, Kitty Bear, and we loved that cat.  When that cat died we all took it pretty hard and never had another pet since then.

My brothers been wanting a dog for a long time so it might be time to get attached again.

xoxo

Sunday, November 18, 2012

Channing Tatum's Ass

People magazine just released the Sexiest Man Alive and this years recipient is Channing Tatum.

If anyone saw the opening scene of, "Magic Mike" , a movie about male strippers, then you would why Channing Tatum easily won this years award for Sexiest Man Alive.

And who cares if Channing Tatum has a lazy eye.  Was anyone in the audience, besides me, really watching his dead eye in, "Magic Mike" ?  It wasn't that distracting but lets just say there were times in the movie where he had me looking at the exit signs in the theater because I wasn't sure which way he was staring.

So here are a couple movie and modeling shots of Channing's money maker, literally.

Enjoy!

xoxo