The Hen Also Rises

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Bohemian Carnival and Hollis

Last weekend we finally managed to attend the "indie circus orgy" known as Bohemian Carnival. I took the opportunity to don my "Stripey Fraggle Klown" outfit (spot the Aubergine adornments!) and gather the gang to run off with the circus for a night. I even managed to tart up my lovely friend Grace, who had thus far not indulged in the type of festooned debauchery I'm prone to.

I was a wee bit disappointed with how many spectators in plain-clothes were in attendance, and not all the acts were to my fancy, but it was a rousing time nonetheless. Stache took some pictures of our beloved burlesque buffoons Fou Fou Ha performing, which was certainly the highlight of my evening.

We also saw Klown-Fi band Gooferman for the first time, which was a delightful spectacle... and there were some lovely aerial acts.

Photographer to the stars Mr. Nightshade caught me backstage with Mama Fou, sneaking a sip from the clever and handy guitar flask of Vegas the Klown.

Originally conceived by members of Circus Metropolus and nouveau acrobatics troupe Vau de Vire Society as a gathering for the Bay Area underground circus community, and denizens of Burning Man's Red Nose District, the event has been growing for the past year or so. Curly wigs off to the organizers for the wickedly good time!

As a final sad yet hopeful note on this circus-ish post, I'd like to mention the plight of Hollis, a woman from our beautiful community (that is, the Bay Area Circus Burner Freak Activist community, of course) who was in a dreadful motorbike accident in India, and is now in a coma. Her family and friends need to raise $150K to airlift her home for treatment. Read more about it on Coilhouse, and if you can donate at all, please do it here. And spread the word!

Seven in One Blow

I tend to avoid blog tagging... it feels too much like a chain letter, and those give me hives. So I heaved a great sigh when Down & Dirty Designs tagged me - I knew it was inevitable. I decided to succumb, so - seven random things about me, but sorry, can't abide by ALL the rules.

{one} I still make hand-made valentines for everyone in my family and my dearest friends.

{two} At six years old, I tap-danced on the table at my grandmother's well-attended 60th birthday bash and sang Comedy Tonight.

{three} I was on a team of about 8 people that built a 35-foot-long, 15-foot-tall glowing blue iceberg stage/chill lounge/bar/DJ booth with a life-sized polar bear on top, and drove around in it in the desert.

{four} When I was a senior in high school, I wrote my college entrance essay on the benefits of having seventeen grandparents.

{five} Less than four years ago I was in the countryside outside Bucharest, trying to organize a staged battle between Romanian extras dressed as Celtic warriors, led by a warrior queen, and British Roman re-enactors, complete with chariots, horses, weapons, and armour.

{six} I was in a TV ad for a menswear at the age of three. I sat in an over-sized armchair and said to the camera "The men in my life wear Rochester Big and Tall." No copies exist that I'm aware of...

{seven} And in honor of Valentine's Day: I had the best, most colorful wedding in the world to the most amazing man ever. During the ceremony, he wore an electric blue vintage suit, I wore my grandmother's wedding dress, and my one and only "bridesmaid" didn't decide what to wear at the wedding until the night before ~ and she ultimately chose a traditional dress from Afghanistan that had been hanging on my mom's wall, and was only a little faded. She was also barefoot. I loved it.

Happy Heart Day to you all!!

Red Letter Day

Yesterday was an unusually lovely day for me. Not only was I recognized with an award at work, which was wonderful, but an interview with me was published on the Steam Team blog! Thanks to Hyla for letting me wax poetic about my work.

Here's me basking in my fleeting Interwebs glory. Actually, it's technically me basking in Burning Man glory, but, you know, basking is basking.

And as if that weren't enough, last night we had the pure joy overload of seeing David Byrne in concert, from the second row. Suffice to say, it was a wondrous performance, and served only to confirm to me that the man is a genius. Everyone should acquire his newest album, and soon. The only thing that could have made it better is if he had played "Burning Down the House" accompanied by the Extra Action Marching Band, which I hear he did at the San Francisco show.

And this weekend, Baby Seal Club plays at Decompression, closing out the Circus Stage. Should be brilliant, and with any luck, we'll cross paths with Fou Fou Ha and the Golden Mean again.

Unpaid Bills & TuTus

The aftermath of Burning Man is always challenging. How does one reconcile oneself to the capitalist treadmill, the numbness, the schedule-shuffling of the Default World after a week of hedonism and emotional joy-riding in the desert with like-minded souls?

Blissful with Lord Hopton and Cosmo, my first year at the Burn. I went through a pretty serious depression after my return that first time - sitting at a desk and staring at a computer felt like torture. I couldn't settle for the rat race after the easy-wide-open-heartedness and absolute freedom of the Playa, as evidenced by this 2006 blog entry from the archives of Cliffypop.

And here I am again, staring at the dusty piles of things yet to be cleaned and put back into place after the chaos of the Playa, the unpaid bills and tutus covering every available surface in my studio. It's amazing to see how easily the artifacts of whimsy mesh back in with the detritus of the daily grind.

But this year I think I've succeeded in escaping the doldrums of re-entry. I'm fortunate enough to live in a community surrounded by friends where I can have that kind of openness and unadulterated joy and creativity year-round, so for that I'm grateful.

We went to a party over the weekend that served as a brilliant reminder of just how much of that magic is all around me. We were thrilled to meet four of the members of Fou Fou Ha, one of my favorite performance troupes. Needless to say, we all ended up with clown make-up smudged all over us by the end of the evening. We were also treated to the most stunning hammered copper Jules-Vern hot-rod fire-antennae art car snail I've ever seen.

The snail was called the Golden Mean, and it was built by a lovely couple from Oakland, also responsible for the fabulous Boiler Bar, which I had the pleasure of seeing at the Maker Faire. All of which added up to a very happy Choklit. A little fire art, a few saucy clowns, some tequila served from a bar with a tesla coil in it, and I'm back in my happy place. Sigh.

Whiskey In The Dust

That about sums up my year at Burning Man. Lots of tiny magical moments, more whiskey than is reasonable for any lady of distinction to consume, and dust everywhere. Here are just a few of my favorite bits...

The glory that was the Hennepin Crawler. Much to our dismay we didn't make it to the Bomb Bay Tea Company even once... there's just far too much to do and see out on the Playa. But the Crawler crew received much love and adulation for their efforts.


Ecstatically dancing on the Center Camp couches to the brassy strains of March Fourth Marching Band, and later having the joy overload of hanging out with darling M4 stilter Sid Simpatico. Photo used with the kind permission of Deb.


Drifting in and out of sleep while watching the sun rise over the whimsical Basura Sagrada, from under a pile of faux fur shared with Fudo and Lord Wizzbang Hopton. Photo used with the kind permission of Erick.


Swinging in the stunning Altered State sculpture with Amber Lee. Photo used with the kind permission of M. Mendelson.


Helping Dan to navigate the mystery of a garter belt to hold up his stripey tights. Note the Aubergine Cuffs bravely making an appearance in the harsh desert climate!


Whiskey Root Beer Floats on Stache's birthday. Interpretive dance with Lord Hopton in the mysterious blue harp dome. Trying on bad Eighties prom dresses in a yurt with the lovely Sara B. Too many to count, or remember. But once again I got to learn my annual lesson in BEING IN THE MOMENT.

Deepest apologies for the long blog-silence, but sometimes life gets in the way. I'll be writing more soon.

Dashing, Talented & Such

Tonight I must write a post of love and appreciation for Stache and Skyeboy, who have been working tirelessly to complete the Hennepin Crawler in time to take it to the Playa. You can follow the progress of their kinetic sculpture at the Krank-Boom-Clank blog. It's been nights upon nights of welding and bike grease ~ and all the while my boys remain ever cheery and dapper.


Last night they succeeded in getting it out for a test pedal, and though some modifications are still needed, they're in the home stretch.


I can't wait to see it in its full glory, blazing across the desert.

On a related note, we were delighted to see there is to be a Steampunk theme camp at the Burn this year ~ the Bomb Bay Tea Company. Tea and bikkies to be served every afternoon by the crew of the stranded airship Victoriana's Revenge... A visit from the intrepid Hennepin Crawler crew has already been promised.

Should be a bang-up year with plenty of dusty and be-goggled adventures before we return home to roost for the Handcar Regatta.

Sub-Culture Cross-Pollination

Etsy's fabulous web-zine The Storque recently published an article, Circus Couture, alerting readers to the trend of carnival-inspired fashion. The article featured inspiring pictures of Cirque Beserk and Lucent Dossier.

I was intrigued by the discussion, particularly the concern of a commenter about the crossover with steampunk, burlesque and Burning Man aesthetics, and some debate about which sub-culture came first.

Why limit oneself to a single rigid sub-culture? I'd much rather take the elements I like from each and create something new and different... as demonstrated by Fudo, Wizzbang and I in this picture from Baby Seal Club's last gig - clearly, we're Tribal Victorian Burner Circus freaks.


Huzzah to all of it, I say! Give me bloomers with my goggles, and stripes with my corset. The beauty is in the blend, in my humble opinion. I'll check all of the boxes, no limits, please. And how serendipitous that I just finally listed my Cirque collar on Etsy...

Things That Please Me: Goggles

Okay, I'll admit that goggles as an accessory are probably already passé, especially now that the steampunk movement is bursting into the mainstream media and probably shortly becoming a parody of itself. An absolute survival necessity at Burning Man, but something of a trifle in the default world, unless one is going swimming or flying or welding - but I simply don't care. Something about wearing goggles makes me feel like I'm about to embark on some grand adventure. And I've been watching with keen interest as others with my same sensibility have started modding basic goggles to be ever cooler and more funky.

So I was beside myself when I discovered BoilerGoth's creations. She offers a range of goggles for the urban adventurer, and her workmanship is incredible. And when I found her Gypsy Steampunk pair, I couldn't resist. The leather, the brass, the perfect blending of two aesthetics I love... behold:

And as if the goggles weren't enough, BoilerGoth has made me a pair of matching Skirt Lifters as well. And don't I need them! As she says, "Long skirts getting in the way during your adventure, here's your answer." Of course!

I can't wait to wear them with the Neo-Victorian safari costume I'm currently working on.

And although the Steampunk Gypsy pair clearly won my heart, there are a few other goggle-makers out there doing some very interesting work, like First Engineer Kimric Smythe of the Neverwas Haul - everyone's favorite Victorian House art car - you can see his goggles in the Neverwas Haul Explorers Supply Depot.

And last year, I bought a beautifully made monocle for Skyeboy from a shop in the UK, Professor Maelstromme's Steam Laboratory, and he absolutely loves it. It even came with interchangeable lens accessories, like a cross-hair and various colored lenses. You can see more of Professor Maelstromme's work on Flickr.

Fellow intrepid explorers, how can you resist such elegance and utilitarian beauty... have a look!