what really got my attention was the BLING! I know that some of what I was seeing was the real deal but it was all AMAZEBALLZ!

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Philippa Melton
5 years ago
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wear it out by Johnny Joseph Delgadillo, Johnny Love Email: cuttingedgediva@yahoo.com It s all about the BLING, Bout the BLING, No treble.

The LGBT community was out in full force letting the children have it when it came to their choices in jewelry.

Some of what I was seeing was the real deal. BLING for days. BLING for years. Hunties I am talking BLING that gave me life. I only had the chance to go to two balls. Amon- Ra and Lords of Leather.

1 wear it out by Johnny Joseph Delgadillo, Johnny Love It s all about the BLING, Bout the BLING, No treble. Hunties can I say that I have seen some jewelry in my life but nothing compared to what I saw at the balls this Mardi Gras ball season. The LGBT community was out in full force letting the children have it when it came to their choices in jewelry. Men and women alike were showcasing jewelry pieces that symbolized their krewes, their reigns as kings and queens, personal style, and dare I say money. Yes money. Some of what I was seeing was the real deal. BLING for days. BLING for years. Hunties I am talking BLING that gave me life. I only had the chance to go to two balls. Amon- Ra and Lords of Leather. I do have to say that I enjoyed both being that I have never been to a Gay Mardi Gras ball before. Yes I enjoyed the costumes but at this point I have got to talk about what really floored me. It s all about the BLING, bout the BLING, no treble. First off the show/ drag queens were letting have. Serving it in a big way. LOL! Stop it. You know what I mean. Their hair? Their gowns? No their jewelry. I mean crystal necklaces forcing one to put sunglasses on. Crystal pieces that had to have weighed more than a few pounds. Earrings that made hotel chandeliers look small. Necklaces that put Elizabeth Taylor look poor. Bracelets. Earrings. SERIOUSLY!!!! BLING. From the show queens/drag queens we then jump to the krewe members and all of their pins encrusted in rhinestones and real gems. Upon coming up with the idea for the article (thank you Countess C. Alice and friend) I started to think. There has got to be something to all of the pins I am seeing all the men wearing on the tuxes also. Countess C. Alice explained how the pins represented the different krewes themes for Mardi Gras balls and their themes from the past events. Each pin had its own story. I got a quick run down on what one man's pins and broaches were from and WOW was I fascinated. He had abut 10 pins on and within 20 Tami Tarmac Monica Synclaire- Kennedy Dominique DeLorean seconds gave me the entire run down without leaving one pin out and in the end I was left in AWWWW. I can only imagine that those pins represented a few of the years this gentleman had attended the balls. Then we go to guests of the ball who were not queens or kings but just their to enjoy the ball. Bonita Folse you were serving me boobies and bling for days. Loved it!!!!! The swarovski crystal mask was amazeballz. Gorgeous. Oh and that black leather bustier. Ummm delicious yum yums. I will say it once again that I had a blast at the balls watching the costume presentations and shows but what really got my attention was the BLING! I know that some of what I was seeing was the real deal but it was all AMAZEBALLZ! The jewelry is what caught my attention more than anything. Well done everybody. I can t wait to see what you will all be serving next year. As for this year I have got to give the It s all about the BLING 2015 Mardi Gras ball best in jewelry award to... Drum roll please. Wait... Wait a minute! We have a three way tie... This years three winners of the It s all about the BLING 2015 Mardi Gras Ball best in jewelry award are... Drum roll once again please. Tami Tarmac (Lords of Leather ball), Monica Synclaire-Kennedy (Lords of leather ball) and Dominique DeLorean (Amon-Ra Ball). Not that everybody didn t serve a full buffet of BLING. You all looked amazing, fabulous, and gorgeous. I am looking forward to seeing what you give me at next years balls trodding the boards...from 23 sona Varla Jean Merman suggests that he shares some theatrical DNA with Ludlam, has helmed the current incarnation of Camille and, though I m not sure if he s done any trimming of it, this Lady of the Camellias never lags, instantly engaging the audience and never letting go. What s the secret? Roberson and his marvelous cast perfectly balance high & low humor; verbal pyrotechnics with visual slapstick; period stylization with anachronistic references; comedy &, eventually, pathos; and, most importantly, the reality of the characters emotional lives with knowing winks to the audience as to the absurdity of it all. Too much or too little of any of these ingredients and the soufflé could fall flat. But this Camille sustains its lighterthan-air approach throughout, while acknowledging the bona fide tragedy of Marguerite Gautier. In this, Roberson has a magnificent collaborator in A.J. Allegra who is simply astonishing as Marguerite. Unrecognizable beneath Brooklyn Schaffer s deluxe wigs and Leslie Claverie s cunning make-up, Allegra captures the courtesan s sophisticated frivolousness, mixing champagne elegance with outrageous sight gags wait till you see how she rings for her servants! The rest of the cast including a mischievously subtle Michael P. Sullivan as Marguerite s put upon housekeeper, Sean Patterson as a frenemy whose personality is as brazen as her ta-ta s are bodacious, and Sam Dudley as Armand, Marguerite s paramour who s as two-dimensional as Jaime Bird s props is all of a piece with Roberson s vision. As we don t often see women portraying men on stage, special mention must be made of Kristin Witterschein who, after disguising herself as a man in NOLA Project s Twelfth Night, here becomes one, and an older humpbacked one at that, with such precision that she could next be cast as Leslie Jordan s twin brother. I d claim that Cecile Casey Covert s opulent costumes are her best ever but I just said that last month about her work in Gone with the Breaking Wind (which returns to Mid-City Theatre on April 2); if GWTBW outdresses Camille by a petticoat, it s only because of Scarlett s curtain dress, which even outdoes Carol Burnett s. Let s hope the weather will have warmed up by the time you re reading this, but even if it s gray and cloudy, The NOLA Project s Camille is guaranteed to brighten your day. Curtains Up After the annual intermission caused by Mardi Gras, there ll be a spate of openings in the coming weeks. If you re ready to head back indoors after all the theater we had in the streets, check out some of these offerings. The Elm Theatre s One Act Play Festival will feature four local writers (Jared Gore, Pamela Davis-Noland, Cavan Hallman and Stephanie Garrison) who had one month to create a 20-minute one-act based on the theme of Violence. Each night from Feb. 26-Mar. 1, two of these playlets (split into Group A and Group B) will be presented followed by Rajiv (Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo) Joseph s Gruesome Playground Injuries in which, over 30 years, the lives of Kayleen and Doug intersect at the most bizarre intervals. Performances are at 8pm at The Old Marquer Theatre (2400 St. Claude Ave.). Over at the Jefferson Performing Arts Society s Teatro Wego! in Westwego there shouldn t be any violence in Sex Please, We re Sixty. But who knows what will happen when a scientist tries out a little blue pill he s created for women at a New Orleans bed n breakfast. Directed by Uncle Wayne Daigrepont, Sex Please runs Feb. 27-Mar. 15. The musical play Always... Patsy Cline will be presented at the WWII Museum s Stage Door Canteen from Feb. 27- Apr. 5. Inspired by the legendary country singer, who died tragically at age 30 in a plane crash, Always features many of Cline s hits including Crazy, I Fall to Pieces, and Walkin After Midnight. Over in St. Tammany, the Pulitzer Prizewinner Doubt opens at the Slidell Little Theater on Feb. 27. Directed by Gary Mendoza and starring Larry Johnson, Jr. as Father Flynn and Anne Pourciau as Sister Aloysius, Doubt examines innocence, guilt, and the collective morality of society. It continues through Mar. 15. Playmakers of Covington presents Joe Orton s brilliant black farce Loot which follows the fortunes of two young thieves who rob the bank next door to the funeral parlor where one of them works. Wanna guess where they hide the loot? Loot s directed by Anysia Manthos Genre who won an Ambie Award for Best Actress in a Play in I ll look forward to seeing another side of her talents during the run Mar Back on the South Shore, Southern Rep has lined up a top-notch cast (Brenda Currin, Beth Bartley, Jake Wynne-Wilson, Morrey McElroy, Rebecca Rae, David Williams, and Carol Sutton) for Tennessee Williams Suddenly Last Summer. Debuting Mar. 4 at the new Ashé Powerhouse Theater (1731 Baronne St., between Euterpe & Polymnia) under Aimée Hayes direction, Summer runs until Apr. 5. Anthony Bean Community Theater (1333 South Carrollton Ave.) presents its first Shakespeare play, Measure for Measure, from Mar. 6 to 22. Frederick Mead directs a racially-diverse cast in this morally ambiguous dramedy with its themes of social justice, abuse of governmental power, and the need for genuine spirituality. Human Resources inaugurates Generate Ink s season at Playhouse NOLA (3214 Burgundy St.) Mar In Rudy San Miguel s comedy, a seemingly innocuous job interview devolves into a life-ordeath struggle when April realizes that Willow is a powder keg with a broken heart and that April has unknowingly lit the fuse. Mid City Theatre (3540 Toulouse St.) launches its cabaret month with Up, Up and Away - The Songs of Jimmy Webb (Mar. 4 & 5). Heidi Melancon, Hector Ventura, Larry Beron and Terry Rappold will interpret such classics as MacArthur Park and By the Time I Get To Phoenix as well as the title tune. Chez Shea Cabaret follows (Mar. 6-8) celebrating the 60-year stage career of Janet Shea, from her childhood as granddaughter of Italian immigrants, to schoolgirl at Dominican High, to the stages of New Orleans and beyond. With Jefferson Turner serving as Musical Director and accompanying Shea on piano, and Blake Coheley directing, it s a powerhouse team. Certainly no introduction is needed for Diana Ross who ll be appearing at the Saenger Theatre on Feb. 28. But Dina Martina, who ll be at One Eyed Jacks (615 Toulouse St.) on Mar. 8, is making her New Orleans debut. Described as a tragic singer, horrible dancer and surreal raconteur, she promises ludicrous song, horrifying dance, overburdened costumes and sidesplitting video. With shows that are impossible to describe, other than a combination of jaw-dropping pathos and mindblowing comedy, it sounds like she ll be bringing back a bit of Mardi Gras in the middle of Lent. 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