Give to Me Your Leather, Take From Me, My Lace

Shaunna's Cousin from Deliverance...

 Even a little snow can't keep a show from going on...Thank Goodness.  And, you always know, when Shaunna Rai's "cousin" shows up, that you're in for a VERY interesting night.

After a drink, I was asked to call a cab, since I had to stake my claim on a free parking spot, due to the parking ban, knowing that the lot would be full by the time the show was over.  So, I did.  More than an hour and a half before we needed the cab to be here.  I thought nothing of it, as there was no reason for me to.  I received the confirmation that someone would be here by 8:30pm to pick us up, and no calls saying that that was inaccurate.

So, the girls got ready, and we did the usual photo shoot, before we leave the house.  Shaunna had a couple of shots done, because she's modeling nails for a company called X-Tar Cosmetics.  And, because I'm going to be bored for the next week, due to a severe shortage of hours that I'll be working, I wanted something that I could play with, for a poster to promote Shaunna Rai's Happy Hours, at Blackstones.  And, Vanila got a couple of shots done as well, just because, well, that's what we do. That's how we roll here...

So, finally, it's time for us to go wait for the cab.  Our neighbors arrived home, and we got to listen in to a phone conversation (because they were on the stoop, and yelling into the phone.)  8:30 came and went, and the cab wasn't here.  Vanila called the cab company, who proceeded to tell her, that "It's not our problem that when you called to order the cab, the dispatcher was new, and didn't know that we didn't have any cabs available."

Seriously, Unacceptable.

Abbey Road Taxi quoted us a 10 minute wait, and they were here sooner than that.  And, the show was back on the slippery, snowy road.  And, I started breathing again.  Because, in my crazy head, somehow, I had screwed up the taxi thing.

Upon arrival, I ordered drinks for Shaunna and I.  Shaunna was not performing in the show, so it was a different kind of night than the usual show night.  And, I was pretty excited.  My Facebook page will say otherwise, but I have few enough friends...but I had friends, who Dan/Shaunna Rai didn't know, coming in from Chicago, to see us and the show.

Shows normally start relatively early, like around 9 or 9:30pm.  This one, was scheduled for a 10pm start.  Around 9:15, I started to think that the snow was keeping the boys away.  And, I was a bit disappointed.  And, then, Brian and Patrick walked in.  And, they brought Liz, one of my favorite people from when I worked for the bank.  Big hugs all around, and I got a couple of slaps for leaving the bank...which, as much as I hate to say it, was one of the best choices that I've made for myself.

Introductions were made, and things went well.  And, I found out that I'm being stalked from Chicago.  Well, the boys have been watching the progressions in my life since I originally became single, up through now.  And, for the second time in a week, I heard, "You've gained so much confidence, and you seem so much happier. I'm proud of you."  The boys were actually in town to look for wedding venues, for their upcoming wedding.

I spent the weeks prior to the show, convinced that someone was going to be singing the Stevie Nicks/Don Henley song, "Leather and Lace", because I kept hearing the name of the show was Leather and Lace...it was really Leather and Love.  I need to pay better attention to promotion materials, and keep my head out of things.

The show started, and I was in a spot different from my usual perch by the front of the stage.  I spent the entire show, standing, trying to stay out of people's way, but, keep them out of my way, as well.  It was a delicate balance to not knock people in the head for getting too close to me.

It would be great, if I could actually remember after the show is over, what songs were performed.  But, I spend so much time, focused on taking the pictures, that I tend to forget to pay attention to the music.

What I did focus on though, was the performers.  Danielle was trying a new look, with her mesh (fishnet?) outfit, and managed to pull it off well.  I remember when I first heard about the show, that this particular outfit was the topic of a lot of speculation.  Cherry Lemonade, who had put a tax return into a chestplate, was looking bustier than I've ever seen her.  She was on it with both her lip sync number, and with her live number.  I have to say, when you've got the voice, you need to play it up.  And, Cherry has the voice.  Madame Sheena always puts on a good lip sync.   Vanila, who is usually pretty energetic in her performances wasn't quite there for this show.  This would probably be because she spent the entire week before the show, hacking up lungs, and dealing with a bum tooth.  The performance was good, just, I could tell she wasn't feeling it.

Shaunna Rai, after the show, did her mingling thing.  Because it was a Valentine's day show, she handed out some Cherry Blow Pops, that we'd bought earlier.  To each recipient, she made a request.  "Tell me how long it takes you to get to my center."  (I don't think anyone actually did mention how long it took...)  She managed to find the two girls who had never been to Blackstones before, much less a drag show...and welcomed them with her Blow Pops.

While she did her thing, I checked in with Vanila, to see kind of where we were at, as far as needing to get another cab.  Vanila went downhill quickly after the show.  And, so the cab was called pretty close to when I asked.  "It'll be about 10 minutes," was the cab company response.  And, like before, since it was the same company, they were there much sooner than the 10 minutes.  Vanila booked it for the cab, while I found Shaunna to tell her that the cab was here.  She said she'd be right out.  And then got caught up with taking pictures with fans.  So, when she finally got to the cab, I wasn't sure that she was going to get a fan out of the cabbie.



I just have to remember, that miss Shaunna Rai, is quite resourceful, and makes it hard to NOT like her.  She climbed in, after Vanila bribed the driver to not leave without her.  As she got in, she mentioned something about being good and covering up her "hoo-hah."  And, the conversation went something like this:

Cabbie: I don't know what a hoo-hah is.
Shaunna: If I have to explain it, I'll have to charge you.  Here, have my cherry.
Cabbie: What is it?
Shaunna: It's a Blow Pop.  It's my cherry.  Tell me how long it takes to get to my center.

Outwardly, I was laughing, because the driver was an older gentleman.  Friendly as all get out.  And he didn't seem at all thrown by the fact that he had two drag queens in his cab.  But, inwardly, I was cringing, because, this is a person that none of us knows.  And, he could very well take offense at anything that Shaunna said, and it could all blow up.  Fortunately, nothing like that actually happened.  The guy laughed along with us.  And, he told us a bit about the company, and was happy to hear that Vanila was now going to be a repeat customer.

Then, just like that, the night was over.  We were home.  The drag came off, the TV came on. And, I ended up being the last one awake.

Not a bad way to spend a Saturday night.  Good friends, good show at a great bar.