MORE CAPES FOR THE PEOPLE!

Beret & cape by Fiona Timantti.
Photo by Saara Salmi.

SPECTACULAR SPECTACLES AND A WHOLE LOT OF GLITTER

Here are some pictures on-and-off stage from our first night of SPECTAC-O-RAMA.

The second nigt was last Saturday and even though I was still flush and with a voice that would have made even Tom Waits jealous I made it trough the night; we all did it with a bang and the house was full again!

 

 

Spectac-O-Rama is a two hour show with rockabilly music and burlesque inspired by cabaret and vaudeville. Those who have seen our shows in the early years, and our mutual shows with Sweet Jeena from those times, got a lot of old school stuff as we performed our classics like the Western Revue and The Bikini number but with new, live music twists. Birdwatching gentlemen, mescaline cacti, cardboard horses, thirsty cowboys in despair, angry monkeys and so on. The usual. We also had Mr drag n'roll Mia Li Moon and our student troupe the Shangri-La Showgirls on stage - it's rather impressive actually that we managed to fit so many people onto that small space!

Btw. You can see more of our Showgirls and what we've been up to with them and with the rest of our students as well when we organise this year's Under the Mistle Tease  - the Christmas show & party of our studio and burlesque school - next week! And here I have to mention that we also have an intern working for us (wooh, adulthood points!) who we so could not have managed without during these nights as she carried a lot of stuff around and did a lot of dressing us up and down during the two hours were we change clothes so many times that I don't even want to think about it now afterwards. We'll, this production is not totally over, new stages awaits later on!

Photos by Janne Porkka and Tuomas Lairila

SHOOTING

Our dance studio sometimes also doubles as an impromptu photography studio.

Some days ago I had a long shoot with Asko Rantanen (who shot in our three a few weeks back :) in some of my stage costumes, the results to be seen at some point later!

Nadja Mikkilä took the backstage shots.

MAGPIE

Remember the photoshoot my friends had by our tree last summer? (And at the foot of our hedge too, as you can see in the photo above.)

It was a promo shoot for my friend and fellow performer Bent Van der Bleu's Magpie the Master Thief number. Asko Rantanen, who has taken many fabulous photos of me as well, took the photos of the magpie.

#EASTERNFINLAND14

This summer all our further-away gigs were concentrated to the east of the country.

Late in May we drove out to perform our cabaret show at a private motorcycle event held at mansion.

With a rather fancy atmosphere at our backstage.


And some yellow widow to go along.

We also managed to 'throw our winter furs away' -as one says in Finnish, referring to the first swim of the season- at that trip.

In July we performed at a motorcycle festival at an island in the Imatra river. No swimming this time though, as the current there is deadly.

As you may recall from my post about the trip, we got to stay at the art nouveau hotel downtown, that I remember admiring in my childhood.

And we got to take that swim on our way home instead, when stopping by my grandmother's cabin.

In August we headed further away, seven hours up all the way to Nurmes in Northern Carelia, performing our burlesque & rock n'roll combo with Sweet Jeena & Her Sweethearts at a rockabilly & car show. Here the guitarist Risto is happily posing with our patch in his jacket.




We stayed in one of these traditional Carelian timber lodges.

(On a side note I can add that during the trip I stuffed myself with local treats like pirogs and barley bread and so called "home ale" which made me look like I was four months pregnant in the end.)

Northeast in our country. Huge woods and big lakes.

Lake Pielinen is beautiful!

Getting ready in our room.

Backstage at the venue, House Bomba, a huge traditional timber lodge.

Jeena's pre-show preparations.

Leaving back home for another gig we had in Helsinki the next day. One of my "Skoda -ads" again... It really is amazing how much we manage to fit in this car.

The next week it was time to make another seven hours drive, this time to Iisalmi, performing with the same set up at yet another motorcycle event. (The theme for this summer - motorcycles and going east!)

Most of the road is the same as to Nurmes and this time we had more time on our hands so we managed to stop at this big statue park/shop in the middle of nowhere that we wanted to see.

Something about that huge Elvis is calling out to me; I can picture him in the middle of the field by the road among our lambs. But for now he will remain with the huge chickens, cherubs and what-nots in Juva.

Our stage was at a truck. And this time our 'backstage' was a little different...

Well, we did have an indoors one as well. In -of course- a timber lodge.

And then it was, once again, showtime!

SHOOTING

Our dance studio sometimes also doubles as an impromptu photography studio.
Some days ago I had a long shoot with Asko Rantanen (who shot in our three a few weeks back :) in some of my stage costumes, the results to be seen at some point later!
Nadja Mikkilä took the backstage shots.

FOUR THINGS RIGHT NOW

Have some friends come over to borrow our tree for a photoshoot. (It will turn out great, from the sneak peeks I saw!)

 

Meanwhile I'm snapping some photos for Eddi's farm business of the linen that is blooming.

And then we pick wild strawberries with Dag.

And then I whip together some home made peanut butter. Half of it will go into cookies but we can look at those another time.