Crushing Krisis

Comic Books, Drag Race, & Life in New Zealand

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Gina’s Bachelorette Adventure, Pt. 5

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Gina models her Level 1 Veil as Bridal Partier Mikki sprays on her first magical rune.

After months of preparation, the day of Gina’s real life video game bachelorette party adventure had finally arrived!

Actually, it wasn’t the day that arrived, but the day before, which brought with it fellow bridal party member Kelly and her partner Gudrun. They pulled up to my house on a beautiful sunny day to put the finishing touches on Gina’s party.

Kelly brought two suitcases into my house – one with her traveling gear, and one packed with supplies for the party. There were her insane 8-bit pins, special puff-painted hats for the chemistry dance, and more. She had even made a lovely fluffy white veil for Gina to wear at the beginning of the day, when we would lure her into a false sense of complacency that her bridal party would be quite normal and not an insane reality show crossed with The Legend of Zelda.

As Kelly finished unpacking, two curious items emerged from her suitcase. One was a headband with a lightning bolt affixed to it. The other was a yet-to-be-assembled hat bearing two feathered wings.

“I know we talked about making Gina wear silly things,” Kelly confessed, “and I started thinking about all the power-ups Mario collects. I thought we could give her these to replace the veil.”

I nodded, gears spinning inside of my brain.

“Kelly…”

I’m not sure that Kelly knows me well enough to see the crazy emerging in my eyes when I come up with a complicated new idea to make something harder, but I think E spotted it from across the room.

“…you know how Gina has to defeat a “boss encounter” at the end of every stage in the city?”

“Yes.”

“Well, what if when she defeats the challenge she wins a new hat… a new piece of armor… a new piece of SPECIAL BRIDAL ARMOR…”

“Yes!” Kelly exclaimed, making clear the special brand of insanity she shares with both Gina and I, “and she’ll get special powers! The hat with wings will give her flight!”

I wield the exceptionally large Game Master version of the instruction book to explain the final encounter of the first stage of Gina’s Adventure.

“Yes! … Except, how exactly do we make Gina fly?”

“I have no idea.”

“Yeah, me neither. Well, do you at least have enough ridiculous pieces of armor for every stage?”

Kelly inventoried her items. The fluffy veil. The winged hat. The lightning bolt headband. A labcoat, to be bedazzled.

“We’re only short one,” Kelly reported, “plus I want to make her a sort of punk rock veil to wear at the end of the day.”

Both of our gears now spinning, we headed out to take Gudrun on a tour of suburban shopping meccas in order to gather the final elements of the adventure: tulle for a punk veil, a massive roll of paper to construct banners, and one more piece of bridal armor. Oh, and beer.

When we found a purple tulle and tiny black flowers for the punk veil plus a fuzzy rainbow boa at Joanne Fabrics it all clicked in my head. When we returned to the house I left Kelly downstairs to craft and ran up to my office to draft the instruction booklet… [Read more…] about Gina’s Bachelorette Adventure, Pt. 5

#FollowFriday Interview: @brimil, Artist & Connector

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Britt amidst her Philly-themed paintings in 2010. © Steve Boyle

Today my suggested #FollowFriday is a woman who – with no exaggeration – has altered the course of my life.

Her name: Britt Miller, or @brimil.

I could list all of positive ways my life has changed with Britt’s influence and collaboration, but this one quote from her sums up our shared philosophy:

No one beamed down and made me an artist, or “successful,” or well-connected overnight. This wasn’t a gift, it took work. Make moves, do work, tell people.

Why follow Britt? She engages. She’s funny. She’s a painter whose work has appeared on everything from sneakers to television talk shows. She’s an athlete who has powered through a half-Iron Man. She’s a communications professional and a business student about to embark on a year of international travel.

Most importantly, Britt is a Connector. She’s always happy to make a random new acquaintance, because she understands the true value of a robust network lies not in the present, but in the future. Those seemingly meaningless connections have paid off for her and her followers again and again.

Enough from me – let’s hear from Britt, in her own words.

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@krisis: There is a fan-favorite CK post about my perspective on meeting you for the first time. What’s your side of the story?

Britt and I pose in 2009, a few hours post-skydive, as shot by @Mikeyil

@brimil: I met you while I was working at IBX in Philadelphia. I was very passionate about social media and kick-starting the business use of social media to connect with customers. You came to the first social media meeting, and the rest is history :)

@k: Yes, a history of jumping out of planes together and you being my personal digital life coach and partner in all things FAME. Can you explain this “FAME” thing we have? I can never quite articulate it when people ask me.

@b: Ah, FAME is very difficult to express in words. FAME is the act and feeling of constantly achieving your wildest dreams (they start small at first, then grow; FAME is never over), and having friends, family, and eventually strangers support you in your endeavors. It’s being recognized and praised by society over something that you poured your heart into. FAME.

@k: How do you use primarily Twitter?

@b: I use Twitter to promote my art, to stay in touch with and connect with new friends, to follow people/things I’m interested in – accounts that post about art, travel, social media, Philadelphia, etc.

@k: In the past few years your original art has gone from a regular hobby to an actual business. What was the decision point where you said, “this is something I’m serious about”?

@b: The switch from hobby to business certainly came when I made my website, held my first First Friday show, and sold my first piece to a stranger. Those three events happened over a period of time, but after all three happened I think I realized that I had something there, and with a ton of hard work, it’s gradually taken off since then. [Read more…] about #FollowFriday Interview: @brimil, Artist & Connector

The 30 for 30 Project

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When I hatched one of my typically insane musical project ideas – to record 30 songs from the 30 years of my life for my 30th birthday (maybe in the 30 days of September?) – I was working from the assumption it would stay an idea due to my perfectionism. The concept would be safely tucked away as an iTunes playlist with all of the other covers projects that I’d never started.

"Endless Love" by Diana Ross & Lionel Richie was the number one record in America the day I was born. While I won't say that I'll NEVER cover it, you definitely won't be hearing it later today as my pick from 1981.

Then, August happened. I kept posting every day, and really enjoying it. I finally found a blogging rhythm, eleven years into my experiment. I thought, maybe the idea isn’t so crazy after all. Maybe I should do it.

The issue is that I haven’t recorded any new solo music since we moved into the house last June. I have hatched half a dozen cool projects in my head, but I haven’t launched a single one.

This seems paradoxical. I have a studio now. Space to set up and stay set up without having to drape suit jackets over my microphone poles and check email from within a lattice of quarter-inch cables.

I mean that literally. At the old house my studio was my office was my dressing room. It was common to find a discarded microphone atop a pile of wireframe sketches and freshly laundered underwear. Gear shared a walk-in closet with board games and old copies of Rolling Stone. Switching to a different guitar meant risking sending up a tinker-tape parade of brightly colored Monopoly money in my hallway if I moved a box the wrong way.

And you know what? It didn’t stop me. I recorded two seasons of Trio, four Arcati Crisis Live @ Rehearsals, and over a dozen solo demos that became my Brown Bag Demos, Vol. 1. Now I have an entire attic committed solely to recording, and the well has suddenly run dry.

Actually, the well is quite wet. I have the best intentions. The new wrinkle is that with space to set up a perfect signal chain the issue is no longer my willingness, but my perfection. Everything has to be perfect. Perfectly planned, perfectly rehearsed, perfectly executed.

The Rolling Stones' 18th American LP, Tattoo You, held the top album spot when I was born. I won't be playing "Start Me Up" at any point in this project.

Perfect makes things hard. Bobbling that one chord change? Delay it. Tickle in my throat? Cancel it.

30 for 30 is different. I am not promising perfection. I am not promising that I’m going to get it done in 30 days. I am not promising you will know all the songs. I am not promising polished studio cuts. I am not promising all of the covers will be perfectly played.

And, I am certainly not representing it as a collection of my favorite, most-cherished songs.

No. All of that leads to perfectionism paralysis.

What I am promising is a single take video play-through of a song from every year from 1981 to 2010, with some commentary along the way. No cherished favorites. No multi-track demos. No perfection.

Just me and the music.

30 for 30 starts later today, in 1981.

Things to Do In Philly, 8/31 Edition

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The CK extended family is rocking so many high quality shows of their own in the next week that I probably can’t get out to much else. While I might selfishly hope that you’re going to come out just to the fam events, thanks to the Philly Fringe Fest you have plenty of other choices.

This is my version of the highlight reel, the sole criteria for inclusion being: do I dig it?

Filmstar playing the Blame-a-Thon, as shot by me.

First, here’s the family affairs:

Thursday, 9/8
Who: Filmstar, featuring your author and the lovely E
Details: 8p, $10, North Star Bar, 2639 Poplar St., Philly
Why? This will be my first time on stage at North Star Bar, though pre-me Filmstar rocked it at the now-legendary #blamedrewscancer marathon. We’ll whip out a few newer tunes, plus have copies of The Desperate Times EP to place in your hot little hands. We’ll share the stage with Mean, Secret Music, and Kyle Andrews.

Friday 9/2 & Saturday 9/3
What: The Gray Area, an original Fringe play produced by Gina!
Details: 8:30p, $10, The Walking Fish Theatre, 2509 Frankford Ave, Philly
Why? Gina & the rest of Ocelot On a Leash Theatre Company (of which I am a proud alum) have yet to produce a dud, and this is definitely not going to be the first. The company commissioned a series of Twilight Zone-esque short plays from local author Mark Wolverton and wrote some of their own pieces. To enforce the retro sci-fi Zone vibe, they’ll present the works in simulated black & white – including costumes, sets, props, and even the actors! If you miss it this week, the plays run again next Friday through Sunday at the Rotunda.

Wednesday, 9/7 through Sunday, 9/11
What: Checkers, an original one-man Fringe show
Details: various times, $15, The Fleisher Art Memorial Sanctuary, 719 Catharine Street, Philly
Why? Producer Mary Stewart is a longtime partner in crime of mine, and she acts as one of my major barometers of what’s good in the local arts scene. If she produces a show, I’m there. This year her choice is this one-man show developed by Mark Kennedy. In the spirit of Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead, Mark explores the life of a minor character from Witold Gombrowicz’s already-absurd fairytale Ivona, Princess of Burgundiam. In the original play, the royal family has it in for Ivona because she’s too ugly to contribute to their gene pool. Here, Checkers the servant turns out to be hopelessly smitten with the decidedly un-fair Ivona. I’ve already bought into the show via their Kickstarter campaign, mostly on the strength of their oddball Tumblr featuring posts from Kennedy in-character as Checkers.

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What’s in store for the next week from the rest of my favorites? Behold:

Thursday 9/1
Who: Venice Sunlight & Stonethrown
Details: 8p, $8, North Star Bar, 2639 Poplar St., Philly
Why? Venice Sunlight is an awesome pop/rock band packed with slick riffs that puts on a high-energy show. Stonethrown is as close to Muse as you can get in the Philly scene – squalling rock with high-wire male vocals. They play first on a bill with Modern Suits and I Am Lightning.

Friday 9/2
Who: An Acoustic Evening with The Weepies
Details: 8p, $26, TLA, 4th & South, Philly
Why? The Weepies turned in one of the best albums of 2010, which I called “Cloying, cheerful pop-folk melodies so distinct that it’s often easy to forget that a band is playing beneath them.” The chance to see them reproduce those tunes in a stripped down show is hard to pass up.

Sunday 9/4
Who: Adrien Reju w/Pete Donnelly
Details: 7:30p, $10, Tin Angel, 20 S. 2nd St., Philly
Why? We’ve established I have a ton of local favorites, which maybe devalues my favorites currency – but not only do I adore songwriter Adrien Reju – E loves her. And E’s a hard one to crack when it comes to local music. With that double endorsement in mind, check out Adrien co-headlining a special birthday show with her producer from standout LP A Million Hearts. Last time we saw her she wielded a slew of unbelievably great new songs, which have now had nearly a year to simmer.

Thursday 9/8
Who: Brian Flanagan Band
 Details: Noon, FREE! @ Love Park, 15th & Arch
Why? Brian Flanagan graduated from covers at open mics to originals to fronting a band that plays sure, 70s-style singer-songwriter acoustic rock in the vein of Jackson Browne and Brian’s influencers Ray Davies and the Kinks. If you’re a Center City worker, spend your lunch break with the tasty gourmet food carts in Love Park and enjoy a free serenade.