Blog

Grand Rapids, Michigan

In October I visited Grand Rapids for a weekend during which I met a handful of the fantastic folks from Super Happy Funtime Burlesque. I haven’t been able to catch their show in person yet, but from what I’ve seen in vidoes and heard on the street, their show is not one to miss. The weekend I was in town happened to also be the closing weekend of Art Prize, an open art contest.

GiGi Animalicious & Mr. Happy Pants

The first night in town I met up with Mr. Happy Pants, GiGi Animalicious and Velveeta the Cheetah for some tasty eats and then headed to Original Cin’s place for a shoot with her and her son Mike. She also introduced me to her pet snakes and her hilarious chinchilla. If you’ve never seen a chinchilla bathe itself in volcanic ash, then you are really missing out.

The second day was a full one as I worked with GiGi Animaliscious, Vivacious Miss Audacious (who was suffering from a sinus infection and had to put up with me for a little while – oh, and we had to kick out her boyfriend’s band so we could finish the video interview. Sorry guys!), the lovely Rita Ambrosia Schuvitinitcsz & Velvet Dan, and producers/performers Mr. Happy Pants & La La Vulvaria. The latter shoot was momentarily interrupted by a homeless knocking on the window shouting, “Don’t be makin’ it sexual!” Don’t worry, Mr. Homeless Man, it was all on the up and up.

Balloon Monster

In amongst that busy day I had the opportunity to consume some delicious Spanish tapas and peruse some of the art work around town with GiGi Animaliscious as my tour guide. As with all art there was some good and some…well…different. I especially liked the giant jellyfish made of hundreds of balloons as well as the portraits screen printed on salt.

Sunday, my last day in Grand Rapids, started with a lazy morning during which Original Cin’s fiance whipped up a yummy egg & bagel sandwich, a tasty surprise. That afternoon I had the pleasure of working with Velveeta the Cheetah in her beautiful and bright loft space. She happened to be holding a rummage sale in her space at the same time, but we managed to get our work done before the crowds swarmed in.

The return drive was a beautiful sunny day, quite the opposite of the rainy weather that accompanied me on the trip to Grand Rapids. Michigan is known for its beautiful fall foliage and I got to experience a bit of that view on the ride home.