Kristina Partners with Bar Lubitsch to Produce Burlesque Show in West Hollywood
Does Hollywood really need another burlesque show? Hell yes! Kristina is partnering with the highly atmospheric Bar Lubitsch on Santa Monica in West Hollywood to bring you a new burlesque cabaret. We promise to be entertaining, intelligent, and sexy. We don’t promise that you wont leave without some psychological damage and perhaps a few bruises. But burlesque was never meant to be safe… We are currently casting for the debut event to take place on Wednesday, June 29th. .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) us bio, resume, and video if you are tickled. Stay tuned for the details.
A Heartfelt Thank You and Virtual Smooch for your Generosity
I am pleased to announce that the Kickstarter fund drive to support the new “Dream of Nekyia” burlesque act was successful! Thanks to the generous support of the amazing individuals below, the score for the act was composed and recorded in New Orleans and the costume and props are underway. Stay tuned…
Love, smooches and gratitude to: Adele, Gregangelo Herrera, Dan Bernal, Luc Nicknair, Liz Canizares, cindy iijima, Gina, Madame Rex, Davis Parchment, Claude Canizares, Blackout, Amanda Flagg, Keith, Apolline, Ingrid, Cera Byer, Theremina, Josh, Kellita, Mark ‘vordo’ Wlodarkiewicz, Cameron Chardoul, Natasha & Kelly at Skellramics Design, Stan Fisher, Carolina Davis, katherine, Colleen (Nani) Speights, Tom Herbertson, Eric Tetrault, molly jacobs, Ambrose Martos, Jason Kamimura, Christine Leland, kyra, emmy diep,Kelly Hardy, Nilay Engin Corbell, Ben Piper, Dennis Baum, D.A., peter McCabe, David & Augusta Avallone, Brandon F Johnson, Linus, Bob Sommer, Kristina Hathaway, bethany, Tracy Piper, Beth-Ellen Keyes, Richard Just, Leia Lefay, harriet heyman, Lydia Canizares, Michael Sturtz, The Shootist, Ronald Canizares, Jenny Wilder, Carlos Fraticelli, Mig Gerard, and Bradley Sink.
Also a special thank you to Craig Morse who was invaluable during my time in New Orleans.
Kristina Reports Back from New Orleans Recording Session
On an unusually cold day in December I arrived in New Orleans to record the score for “Dream of Nekyia”. This act has been a year and a half in the making, and thanks to six months of preparation and the generosity of all those who contributed to my Kickstarter campaign (see the thank you list below), I was finally embarking on the first big step to realizing the dream.
Composer Mark Growden had already been on the ground in New Orleans for a couple of weeks, working on the composition and meeting with the musicians. I have been sharing the stage with Mark for over a decade, but this was our first true collaboration and we had been planning it for months. Both of us believed that New Orleans was the city that would provide the magic and the talent to birth this song.
From the moment I arrived, I knew I was correct. Photographer and friend Craig Morse collected me from the airport and took me to meet Mark in the French Quarter. The narrow streets, intricate iron balconies, and ancient banyan trees reminded me of my much-loved Havana, as did the music pouring out of windows and doorways everywhere we went. Love at first site.
Mark was hard at work in his living room, assisted by his musically gifted and tech-savvy son Blue. We went over the score a few times, discussed the arrangement and timing, and I knew that the song would prove to be even deeper, even sexier, and even smokier than I had imagined.
After a day of exploring the city with Craig and a rousing night of burlesque with Fleur de Tease at One-Eyed Jack’s, we reconvened at Audiophile Recording Studio in the French Quarter. The day was sharp and cold, but inside the studio it was warm and hazy with cigarette smoke. The musicians were amassed in the front lounge going over the sheet music while technician and engineer Richard Bird set up the microphones. Normally, according to Mark, he would have called for a rehearsal the day before. But these guys are so good they picked up the song in the hour it took Richard to prep the studio.
The arrangement called for three saxophones (baritone, tenor, and alto), a trumpet, upright bass, piano, and traps. Mark himself was playing baritone, doing the Herculean work of directing, arranging, and playing on his own composition. On alto sax and piono was Loren Pickford, a legendary jazz musician who was Mark’s mentor in his early years. Loren is a quiet man, but I suppose after almost fifty years of playing with some of the greatest musicians of our time there is no need for braggadocio. Loren’s experience with Middle Eastern music (he also plays the duduk) made him the perfect player for the song’s snakey intro and outro.
Playing tenor sax was Eric Traub, who played with jazz/blues master Dr. John and was a founding member of the Forgotten Souls Brass Band. Eric is also a quiet guy, at first, but a devilish twinkle in his eyes, seen through the ever-present blue cloud of cigarette smoke, suggests that he may be just biding his time.
Wendell Brunious was our illustrious trumpet player. He is not a quiet guy, but exudes confidence and good humor. Wendell is part of the New Orleans jazz royalty; both of his parents were jazz greats. Wendell followed in the family tradition, playing with a veritable Who’s Who of jazz and leading the Preservation Hall Jazz Band for over twenty-three years. This was my second time working with Wendell, since we first met at the Havana Jazz Festival in 2000.
The rhythm section, consisting of drummer Charlie Kohlmeyer and upright bass player Peter Harris, quickly picked up their parts and spent most of the rehearsal rat-tat-tatting and plunk-plunking while the horns worked out the melody. Both Charlie and Peter play all over New Orleans, with shows in the top clubs almost every night of the week. They are regulars in Loren’s touring band, and both have their own musical projects.
Craig was kind enough to take charge of documenting the event (click here for some of his photos from the session) allowing me to field the occasional aesthetic question from Mark and bear witness to the birth of the song.
It is an amazing thing to watch a piece of art come into the world. It opens its eyes, looks around, takes its first few shaky steps. Some art is born looking like the baby in Eraserhead, and only with time or dedicated study becomes something sublime. These musicians had already put in the time and the study, so they made the song appear effortless.
Of course, much of this is due to Mark’s gift and craft as a songwriter. Mark is about to release his most recent album “Lose Me in the Sand” on Porto Franco records. He recently finished a year long tour in support of his last album, “Said Judas” to great critical acclaim. As a songwriter and performer he has been compared to Tom Waits and Van Morrison. I felt so grateful to have Mark’s talent and voice employed on this project as the song wound its way from the instruments held in capable hands. I was reminded of a quote from Michealangelo: “Every block of stone has a statue inside it and it is the task of the sculptor to discover it.”
Once in the studio with Richard at the helm behind the board the actual recording was only a matter of hours. Mark always insists on recording his music live, and since my desire in creating this song was to recreate the beautiful intensity, the perfect imperfection of live music. In between takes Wendell, Eric, and Loren told me stories about the days when they played behind the legends of burlesque all over the country. I will be interviewing each of them about their experience in the world of burlesque for the upcoming DVD.
Each take the song matured. Loren’s sweet, slightly sad pentatonic melody; the deep twist and heartbeat of Peter’s bass; Charlie’s rolling bump on drums; Eric’s mellifluous sax that sounds like a lover whispering sweet nothings in your ear; Wendell’s magical trumpet, the voice of the devil in the opposite ear; and Mark’s sexy, dirty, grinding, eyes-rolling-back bassline holding it all together. Each instrument was a voice describing the movement to me, awakening the choreography so that all I had to do was carve away the extra stone around it.
I know you are curious to hear it, but your patience will be rewarded. I am now planning the next steps in the creation of the act… so stay tuned. And thank you again to all of you who helped to make this possible. View a selection of Craig’s photos from the recording session in the Photo Gallery.
