Fantazimo

December 8, 2011

Pinky Starlight

Lola Lefleur

Trixie & Monkey

Frankie

Fantazimo

I am getting my blog postings a little bit out of chronological order again, but I have an excellent reason this time. When Key West Burlesque impresario Marky contacted me yesterday morning and invited me to photograph the opening night extravaganza of the latest and fourth annual Holiday show presented by Key West Burlesque, “Fantazimo”, it took me all of about two seconds to respond with an enthusiastic “Hell Yes”, in spite of the fact that Kathy & I already had tickets for tonight’s show (which I still intend to use).



Moana Amour

Sam the Snowman & Mucho Macho

The annual holiday show is premiering in a new larger space at The Studios of Key West after literally outgrowing their previous home upstairs at Kelly’s. The shows became so popular and routinely sold out that a larger venue became a necessity and The Studios provide a perfect setting. With more seating and room for a larger and more elaborate staging, the new venue is great and it still maintains the intimate feeling that Kelly’s always provided.

Monkey

Crowd at the Studios

The Studios' Jay & Elena

Francisco

I won’t give away too much about the show because there is still time for those of you reading this in Key West to catch the show tonight (December 9th) or on December 10th, 16th or 17th. If you have been on the fence about attending or have never seen a burlesque show, this is one to see and I would highly suggest going out immediately and getting tickets. Available either at KeysTix.com or at the Studios of Key West box office. I would act fast as word of mouth from last night’s show is likely to lead to more sell-outs and this is not to be missed.

Darknstormy

Richard Crooks

Trixie

Monkey

The show is ably hosted by the indomitable Frankie Fantazimo with assistance from newcomer Billy Starlight, and stars out of town special guests Trixie Little and the Evil Hate Monkey. The show features many of the finest local burlesque performers including Marquee Vonfister, Lola Lafleur, Darkn Stormy, Pinky Starlight, Moana Amour, Rocky Bottom, Buffy L’Orange, Francisco and Cheeky Derriere, with guest appearances by Leatherback, Mucho Macho and Sam the Snowman.

Billy Starlight

Darknstormy & Leatherback

Frankie & Cheeky



The show is filled with a mirthful mix of holiday hijinks including wonderful singing and music, in addition to the singers in the troupe the wonderful musical talents of Melody Cooper and drummer extraordinaire Richard Crooks are feahttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.giftured. There are also hysterical bits, feats of aerial acrobatics and the usual beautiful, mysterious, funny and sexy traditional burlesque performances.



Gae & Bonnie



Marquee

It is almost impossible to single out single performers as the entire show was fantastic, though I personally really thought that the numbers by Lola Lafleur, Marquee Vonfister and Cheeky Derriere were especially enjoyable. I am sure that each person who attends will love their own performers because there is a lot to enjoy here. Kudos to everyone involved in yet another wonderful performance. I can’t wait to see it again and hope that you will take my advice and get out and see it for yourself. You can buy tickets at the link below.







Keys Tix

Trixie Little Website

'Tis the Season

December 4, 2011





Happy Birthday Ricky

Krista Detour

‘Tis the Season

The official kick-off of the city of Key West’s holiday season is held each year on the first Saturday of December when the annual holiday parade makes its way down Truman Street turning right onto Duval Street and heading to the conclusion at Eaton. This incredibly popular, family friendly event marks the start of a whirlwind month of parties, celebrations and holiday events that often have us scrambling to make it from place to place.



Eliza



Key West becomes alive with festive holiday spirit and you actually get to get out and see a lot of friends and have loads of fun. The holiday parade was just one of a few fun events that we attended over the weekend, which started for me on Friday evening when I headed over to The Studios of Key West to photograph the latest installment in their Old Town/ New Folk concert series. This month the featured artist was Bloomington, Indiana based Krista Detour.

Krista

Susan & Bruce

Krista has a history in the Keys, having once owned the now defunct Marathon eatery Deadhead George’s which was once upon a time a favorite stop of mine when traveling the Keys. She has since relocated to Indiana and decided to devote herself to her singing career, a good choice based on the wonderful performance she gave at the Armory.

Rick & Kathy

Johnny, Richard, Tara & Tara



After the concert, I met Kathy and many other friends at the houseboat home of our friend Rick who was hosting a birthday celebration. Rick’s parties are always eclectic, interesting and a lot of fun and this one was as good as any. Key West is full of interesting, unique and fun people but there is truly no one like Rick.





His wonderful funky houseboat which he built along with his buddy Steve is a work of art and we enjoyed their work so much that we hired them to build our unique bathroom some years ago. It was especially nice to see our friend MJ at the party. MJ had missed Fantasy Fest due to brain surgery, but is recovering nicely and is getting back to being her old fun self.

MJ & Pat

Robin



The next night was the parade, one of Kathy’s favorite holiday traditions. We rode our bikes over and parked in Bayview Park where the floats and entrants were marshalling to begin the parade then walked over to our friend Shawna’s house near the start on Truman. She was hosting a parade party and we dropped by for a quick hello before making our way down Truman to another party at the Conch House guest house.







Along the way we stopped and greeted many friends and watched much of the parade with a group of friends before continuing to the Conch House. They host a parade viewing party every year and we always make a point to stop in. Many of our friends either work there or are there enjoying the party and it always has a fun and festive holiday feel and really marks the beginning of a long and enjoyable month of holiday festivities.







Tiffany, Kathy & Hilary