Time for a rant...

I can't hold it in anymore...I have to rant.

No, this rant isn't a judgmental scene related rant. I won't be talking dirt about other girls or people's taste in music. Nothing like that.

This is a rant about Transvestites that come to the vintage store I work in.

First off, they have no interest in vintage clothes. They visit our shop because:
1. it is not in a busy area so a little more privacy
2. it's easier to run out of the store and not buy anything
3. I work there and because I look vintage, they think I'm more sympathetic to their obsession.

I want to start by saying that I have nothing against fetishists, or their fetishes. I personally have a few, but they are not the business of some stranger in a shop and I wouldn't subject some poor shopgirl to my fetishes. People's sexuality is their own business, period.

What bothers me about the transvestites that come into the store to try on clothes is that they are PREDATORS. I will explain how they are predators, because I'm certain some people will try to excuse this as harmless, but I know from experience, that they will prey on unwilling people for their own pleasure.

One example of this was when I explicitly told a TV who was trying on clothes that I did not think it was appropriate to view him in the clothes, since for him, the clothes were for a sexual purpose. He still came out of the dressing room with a wig and lipstick on wearing lingerie. He then started to leave the store after, and this was after I had helped him shop and talked to him about his love of woman's clothing for about an hour, without making a purchase!!!!! As he was walking out, I yelled after him, "Don't come back here without buying anything."

Yesterday, another transvestite came in straight up told me he wanted to dress in drag. I was helping him, and had explained that I don't want to see him in the clothes, and if he shows me, I will ask him to leave. I told him of my previous experience and he was sympathetic. When another customer was in the store, I was discrete about his purpose in the store and helped the other customer. After the other customer left, I continued to help him and he went into the dressing room while I helped a couple that walked in. He gave me his selections and told me he would run and get something to eat and would be back when the customers left. He returned to the store about 20 minutes before closing and I had 3 different customers I was helping. I started to ring up his stuff, when I was interrupted by one customer who was trying on jackets. The Transvestite walked out. I ran outside and asked him if he was going to purchase his items, and he just waved his hand and got in his truck.

I realized yesterday, these perverts just want my unwilling attention as part of their fantasy. The fact that I don't give a shit if they like to dress in women's clothes doesn't faze them. They just want my attention. FUCK THEM. If one more comes in, I will tell him it's $200 bucks up front and I will let them show me themselves in the clothes, and they don't have to buy anything.

The truth is, my new policy is men are not allowed to try on women's clothing. They can buy it all they want, but no trying on. Also, no talking to me about it.

Pin Curls...the sequel

Tried the pin curls again last night and they worked out much better. Less frizz, the back took the curl. I was more careful to make sure each curl had setting lotion instead of putting it on my whole head at the beginning of the setting. I also made sure the back was a little dryer, but moistened it with the setting lotion. The setting lotion helped each curl form and stay together while I pinned it. I think THAT is the secret to good pin curls. For setting lotion, I used Enjoy Quick Setting and Styling Gel.

Pin curl results and last weekend...pics wooo hoooo

Last night I was feeling inspired after reading that Vintage Hairstyles (second edition) while I was working at Park Place. My friend Chase recently gave me this box of vintage perming and coloring supplies

Inside the box was a full package of single prong pin curl clips so following the instructions from the book I set my hair, reversing the direction of the pin curls and doing two rows deep around the edge of my face and the nape of my neck.

The back didn't fully dry, I think and didn't take much of the curl, but the front dried. It had a bit of frizz, so I need to practice more and think I will try sponge rollers in the back with pin curls in front. This are the results:

Sorry, I'm squinting...This one I'm not squinting but I'm not sure if you can see my hair as well

Maybe the results will be better tomorrow.

Here are some photos from last weekend's car show "Night of the Hot Rods" in Antioch.

I finally made it...

For the last 2 months, I have wanted to go downtown to the Museum of Quilts and Textiles to see an exhibit they had there. The exhibit was titled Alfred Shaheen, Fabric to Fashion

Yesterday morning, I woke early so I could meet Linda, the owner of Park Place and go see the exhibit. Both of our jaws dropped. There were yards and yards of fabrics hanging from the wall. Linda sews, she is the woman that made my sarong and matching bolero I wore at the Vegas Pool Party this year, and collects vintage fabrics.

The dresses were magnificent and I saw some styles I hadn't seen before. Also, almost every fabric pattern was one that I was not familiar with.

Linda has been in the vintage clothing business for almost 30 years, and used to own a lot of shaheens but sold them over the years. As a collector, I believe she is like me. She collects what she will wear or use, no matter how cute it is. I know other vendors/collectors who collect clothes but don't wear them. These beautiful clothes are hidden away in closets, begging to see the light of day. They want to be admired. I just don't get collecting for the sake of collecting. I started collecting confetti lucite jewelry last year but I wear it! I even wore it to my job interview on Monday (that's why I got the job!).  Linda sells repro clothing as well as vintage, which I appreciate. Whenever someone comes in looking for a "costume" for an event, I always direct them to the repro stuff. It's not fair for a dress to survive 60 years only to be worn as a costume and discarded after.

After work yesterday I went by Time Zone...there were 3 customers in the store who I know. I just love our regular customers over there. They really love vintage and appreciate what they buy. One customer was on her way out and I showed her a few other things she hadn't seen and after a quick try on, she bought them both, on top of her original purchases. I am going to keep working at Time Zone one day a week for as long as I can handle working 6 days. Joanne knew this might happen one day but she is very sad that I will be limited in my involvement at the store. She told me yesterday that I have made the store what it is today. That she had the shell and I came in and gave it substance (with the help of my vintage cartel, Mike). Joanne even got weepy, which really touched me.

This weekend will be busy. Friday night is my buddy Oran's birthday party. I know I will see Lola Devlin there (wwwweeeeee) and I wouldn't miss it for the world! Lots of jiving and good people. Saturday I work during the day, but I will be wearing a hawaiian dress to work because afterwards Rachelle is having a tiki party in her newly decorated Tiki bar. I can't wait...I also work Sunday.

Monday, me and Frank are taking the kids on vacation. We are going to visit my father and grandmother in Las Vegas. The kids haven't gone to Vegas since Viva 2007, so they are excited to see Fremont street and visit Circus Circus. The usual kid stuff, but my daughter is more excited to see the Hoover Dam.

I still have photos from last weekend, and will upload them later today. Tomorrow I go to the new job to meet for orientation. I'm excited!

Finally...2009 BBH...mostly pics

The hustle and bustle in the morning for BBH started at 11 AM for Tanya. She is responsible for the vendor set up at our show, so she had to be on the ball a bit earlier than the rest of us. There is so much to do and so much to coordinate when putting on a big show. We all have our jobs and our responsibilities and since the music was starting at 4 in 2009, I needed to be at the ballroom around 1 or 130 to make sure the sound and stage lighting were being set up. My responsibility was stage manager, and I needed to coordinate and make sure all bands were where they needed to be and went on when they were supposed to go on. Sticking to a strict schedule is essential for a good show when you have 6 or 7 bands playing one show.

Since I'm sitting here with curlers in my hair and am going to work at Park Place today, I will make this post mostly of pictures. Maybe I'll throw in a youtube video, also!

Rea from Cockgrease vended with her son Eddy, who the Barber Shop was named after Eddy's Deluxe Barbar Shop

Here's a picture of Arsen Roulette (he helped us out with equipment for the band) and Bob from JRS

Girls were Strolling

The Delta Bombers played

So did Texas Steve and the Git Gone Trio

Some of the Bombshells

Our fearless leader, Rachelle. You can read her blog La Dolce Vita

The East Bay Sinners Car Club

The Royal Deuces

Delta Bombers give the Bombshells a "thumbs up."

Here I am helping up front. Yeah, metal baby...

I would like to give photo credit for a lot of the photos I used to Leah Frink who is one of the Bombshells. In fact, I think that opening photo on her website is Nick Curran, who I thought we had no pictures of when he played BBH 2007.

Here's a quick video:



I will try to finish up some blogs tonight and tomorrow. Thanks for reading! 

Continued...but not completed yet!

Now, Viva was a whirlwind because I was working most of the time I was there. People who knew me complained afterward that every time they saw me, I said "Sorry, can't chat, I gotta go." For people that know me personally, that is very unlike me. I ALWAYS find time to chat!

Booze, Broads and Hotrods was scheduled the week after Viva. It was a big step up for us since we had planned it at a hotel that year, not a night club. We had no idea if it would be a success, or what, but we don't do BBH for success, we do it to have a show that WE want to see! We want to bring bands that have never played or haven't played SF in years, to San Francisco. Hosting it at a hotel made it easier for out of town people and made it easy for all those heavy drinkers that our show attracts.

Our headliner for 2009 was Jack Rabbit Slim from the UK. We were really lucky to book them, since they had only played Vegas in the US. In exchange for them playing, aside from their guarantee, I helped them get a couple shows in LA and made arrangements for them to stay with Rea between Vegas and LA. Since Rea did this favor for me (housing JRS) I need to plug her pomade again...Cockgrease. 

I returned from Vegas on Monday, then Wednesday drove up to Sacramento. This was when the horrible fiasco occurred that I mentioned a couple blogs ago. With all this travelling, packing, unpacking, weddings, shows, Vegas....this final leg of my adventure I forgot to pack underwear! I did not realize this until the morning, but I will explain later how I dealt with this misfortune.

I arrived in Sacramento in the late afternoon and found Bob, Paul and Landon sun bathing in Rea's backyard. Darren who was married to his lovely wife Kim, in Vegas, was honeymooning and made arrangements to meet everyone at the shows they were booked at.

We snapped a few photos of the guys in Rea's "Cock" car, which is also for sale right now for $3200. It's a 49 Chevy, 3 on the floor I think and runs great with new breaks.

That night I took the boys to see Wanda Jackson playing at a small bar called Old Ironsides. It was really a treat since they had only ever seen Wanda play a large festival. This bar holds a max of about 130 people, and we were squished in there. She was amazing, as usual and we got some pics with her afterwards.

Then next day we got up bright and early and headed out. Between my smoking, driving and bathroom breaks, I think I drove the guys a little nuts. When we arrived in SoCal, I needed to stop at Kim's house and she met the guys and gave them all CDs. I snapped this great photo a block from Kim's house. We all joked how Darren was going to be photoshopped into all the pics we were taking.

Wouldn't Darren fit in nicely between Paul and Bob?

We stopped for a bite before heading down to Lucky's house in Long Beach where I was staying and close to where their show was at the Puka Bar. Here's a couple pics of the show that night. I had a blast, Rockin Ryan also played with Rip Carson and Rory Justice.

I'll explain how I handled the forgotten knickers part of this story. For this first day, I had a panty girdle I wore...I wanted to stop at Walmart on our way to LA but I kept worrying about time since I knew we needed to stop at Kim's house, and LA traffic on the Westside is horrible.

After the show, the guys went to Bob's cousin's house and I went to Lucky's to sleep. I had to be up early because I needed to race back to Northern California to pick up Kim and the guys at the airport! They were playing in Oakland the night before BBH.

After picking up Kim, Nick, and Victor who was playing bass for them, and taking them to their hotel, I went over the bridge and Bay to check into the hotel for BBH which was the next day. I had to get ready for Kim's show quickly, think I wore jeans since I still had no underwear but the pair I wore 2 days before! I returned to take Kim and the band to the club they were playing, and then picked up Scotty. I was then at the club for the rest of the night selling merch. Kim put on a rockin' show, and we went on a quest for food after the show. I finally got back to the hotel at 3:30 or 4 AM and got a few hours of sleep before waking up for BBH.

Wow, so much to write, but I will continue this saga and write about BBH 2009 in my next blog....I have to get ready for my last Tuesday at Time Zone, *sniff*

...2009 continued

After Rea's wedding and the 4 days with the Go Getters, I had a couple days to pack and get ready for Viva Las Vegas. I was working for Kim Lenz, helping her with promotions for her new CD. We had drop cards printed up to be dispensed all over Viva, with information about her new CD, a scheduled CD signing and time and day she was scheduled to play Viva (Sunday). I think we started a bit of trend with that. She also had an advertisement for Rocketbuster boots on the back of the cards. This year at Viva, so many bands had cards with the time and place they were playing during Viva. I don't remember people doing that before Kim did. Anyway, the plan was for me to arrive in Vegas on Thursday and Kim would arrive late Friday night.

I flew into Vegas on Thursday with my friends Woody and Tanya. Tanya is one of my friends who came up with "The Kim Show" to describe me and my life. She is co-founder of the Bombshells and one of my closest friends.

Once I got to Vegas, I had to check into my room, then check in Scotty and Nick (of the Jaguars). I left the keys for them at the desk. I went and unpacked and then ran into Nick and Scotty downstairs and we went to eat. Thursday was kind of a relaxed night, not too much going on, but I did put drop cards out by the wristband check in and on tables at the Hooch N Smooch and the ballroom. I also checked in on Big Ed, made sure he had posters of Kim's new CD up since he had an exclusive to sell them at Viva.

Because I was working, I didn't have hardly any photos from Viva. Here is one I found in my friend Mouse's pics:
I'm sitting against the wall, looking kind of sleepy, surrounded by Swedish guys. Nice face Ashley is making:

Friday was the day Kim arrived and it was kind of a whirlwind from her arriving until after she played Sunday night. I know I put the drop cards around at least 3 times a day, I sold merch for Royal Crown Revue and Go Getters on Saturday night. They played back to back so I was selling merch for about 4 hours straight, maybe longer. Saturday Nick and Scotty moved into my room because they were supposed to move over to the Gold Coast and this was the first year the show was at the Orleans. It was a little unreasonable for them to have to take the shuttle with their instruments and the Orleans was sold out. Here is a picture of me with some of my League of International Party Girls friends

Sunday, Kim had to practice with the guys. I helped get that all sorted and while they practiced in the practice room, I went to the pool party. I had to steal this photo, also, and these were the only photos of me at Viva 2009. Never again am I going to be working there.

Sunday night was a blur...Kim was getting ready, too many people in her room, I was running errands getting her phone charged, checking this and that. Just as she was about to go on stage she realized she forgot her set list. I found her room key and bolted...I ran all the way through the Casino, to her room which was at the end of the LONG hall, found the list and ran all the way back...she had just started. Out of desperation and time constraints, she had quickly written a makeshift set list, but was relieved when Marlene from the Rhythm Shakers, who went on stage to sing a duet,  put the original in front of everyone. Before she was done with her set, I left to set up the Merch and sold dozens of CDs. Kim's CD was the biggest seller at Viva that year, and might have been the biggest all-time seller of a new CD at any Vegas. I think the hype and promotion were the key.

I was busy selling merch and missed Jack Rabbit Slim who played after her. It was disappointing because I heard from a friend they thanked me personally...from stage...at Viva...for helping them out. That will be the story of my next blog.

BBH 2009 and my very busy April that year.

Before I can adequately tell you all about BBH 2009, which occurred on April 18, 2009, I need to back it up to April 2, 2009. Everything that happened from that day, onward lead up to the disaster that befell me the weekend of BBH.

On April 2, 2009, I found myself at the international terminal at SFO Airport. I was already very familiar with that terminal, but we can save that for another blog. I was waiting for the arrival of the Go Getters from Sweden. They were playing Viva Las Vegas, but I had booked them at the Blank Club in San Jose and then Rea had booked them in Sacramento. Rea was also getting married April 5, and the Go Getters were playing her wedding and would ride out to Viva with Rea, her new husband in one of his cars (the Merc, I think).

Once the guys arrived, they were not ready for me to take them where they were staying for 2 nights, they were ready to mix and mingle at some bars, so I took them to 80s night at the Blank (I wanted them to see the club) and we visited Caravan, since it's one block away. After a few beers, it was 2 AM and I took them over to Julie and Randy's home in Santa Cruz to visit and to stay.

Friday night was a great show, good turn out, the club made money and it was one of the rare occasions I made money, too. All in all it was a great show, and oh yeah, just remember my friend Kristina flew in from Utah to see the show...haha...I forgot! I had her stay at Julie's too, since my kids would have disturbed her sleep. Randy and Julie's house is much larger than mine.

Saturday, after hanging out until 430 AM and not getting to sleep until 5 AM, I had to pick up the guys and take them to Sacramento. Sacramento is about a 2 hour drive. We had a fun drive with them doing some annoying Swedish singing, and arrived at Rea's. She had a full house. The best man from Germany, a couple of German houseguests, the Go Getters and me. Rea had gotten a hotel room for herself that night to stay at before and after her wedding.

Saturday's show was fun. There was a fubar, but I don't need to mention it here, because the wedding the next day was spectacular! Here's a couple pics:
With the other bridesmaids (did I mention I was a bridesmaid?) and Mike the best man:

Here is a great photo of Rea with Peter from the Go Getters and Gary from the Chop Tops

Great picture of the Bride and Groom

The IH (Imaginary Husband) drove up and met me at the wedding. The Bombshells were all there and it was really a great time...in fact, I think the IH got a ride with some of the Bombshells and rode home with me. It was a great wedding and a great time.

This will be continued....much more to come!