I’m back…thanks for asking!

Photo: Dorothea Lange

In case you haven’t noticed, I’ve been AWOL on the site for the last couple of weeks.

No, I wasn’t on a luxurious tropical vacation having hot sex with barely legal cabana boys. I’m too poor for vacations, and barely legal cabana boys aren’t my cup of vodka…too hairless, as a rule.

I was having my usual holiday depression cycle compounded by all sorts of other issues that are frankly none of your beeswax but I’m feeling slightly better and ready to go back to uber bitchy blogging.

I have so much to bitch about, I don’t know where to start…I could have written posts about how much I was irritated by the American version of “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo”, or, how much I dislike the new episodes of “AbFab”, or, my annoyance at Governor Gregoire supporting marriage equality in the waning months of her final year in office, when it can’t hurt her politically, but some of these gripes are old news now, and Mr. Sterling already commented on Madame Gregoire’s lame duckiness so I’ll refrain…and be positive. Having a cheerful, positive outlook is key to surviving the debilitations of depression so we’ll press forward and focus on the “half full” glass. Here are Five things I’m looking forward to in January.

1) The Balagan theater company is back on Capitol Hill in their brand new space at the Erickson Theatre Off Broadway with the Seattle premiere of the hot musical “Spring Awakening” and it stars Jerick “Jinkx Monsoon” Hoffer and Diana Huey and a bunch of other ridiculously talented theater kids singing and dancing as depressed, horny German teenagers rocking out to Broadway pop-rock and I am hideously excited about seeing this show…you should be, too. It only plays two weekends (for now) opening this Friday January 6 and closing on Sunday the 15th, so don’t dawdle to get your tickets.

2) Bacon Strip is back this Saturday, January 7 and our hostess Sylvia O’Stayformore has cooked up a tribute to Cirque du Soleil she’s calling “Cirque DaSoGay” so you can expect lots of circus/carnival/sideshow themed bits of naughtiness from the Bacon Strip Gang. It all goes down Saturday night at 10:30pm at Re-bar.

3) There’s two other events at Re-bar this month of interest, both produced by our own “New Queer on the Block” Mr. Brian Peterson. First up, there’s “1 Queen, 5 Hillebrities” a blatant rip-off of a certain show on Logo, but probably way more fun (and filthier). The one Queen in question is hostess Ursula Major and the five young men, aka “Hillebrities” are scheduled to be Arden and Jimmy from Sinfonite Productions (ElektroPOP!); Adaam, Cameron, and Shanon from Ruckus Productions. This should either be more fun than a night with Judy Tenuta, or the biggest trainwreck since that awful “Super 8” movie from last summer…

Two weeks after that, on Monday, January 30th, (and also at Re-bar) Mr. Peterson is presenting “Laugh Out Loud” Seattle’s only queer stand-up comedy open mic night. Here’s the skinny:

Have you ever wanted to try stand-up but never knew where to do it? Come join New Queer on the Block bring a monthly open mic night that will sizzle your nerves and make you fall off your seats laughing or crying.

Hosted by your queen of comedy, Host, Mark “Mom” Finley.

Doors open at 8pm / Signup at 8pm
Mark “Mom” Finley performs at 9pm
Open-mic starts at 9:30pm

$2 cover l No cover for people who signup for open mic

I’m not sure how you sign up for this…any interested comedians should probably give Brian a shout over at the Facebook invite.

4) There are 2 television events to look forward to…our favorite, potentially drunk celebrity award show of dubious distinction, The Golden Globes, is happening Sunday, January 15 and it’s LIVE starting at 5pm on NBC. It’s also the 69th annual show, so maybe it’ll get kinky…

THEN, on Monday January 30, season 4 of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” kicks off on Logo and we know Lobby Bar will be hosting a viewing party and we’re guessing that other bars will too…we know R Place did so last season. Frankly, it looks like the trashiest season yet, and we’re majorly excited. Also be on the lookout for more of our “Drag Race” interviews.

5) And, speaking of award shows, I’m a part of a new Awards giving organization, (though we can’t afford a presentation show this year). A bunch of us Seattle theater writers got together to form “Seattle Theater Writers” (check us out on Facebook) and we’re announcing the 1st Annual Gypsy Rose Lee Awards on January 20th. Here’s the poo from the press release:

For the 2011 Gypsy Rose Lee Awards,  11 Seattle theater writers and reviewers have come together to  award their choices for excellence in theater: Jose Amador, Brent Aronowitz, Miryam Gordon, David-Edward Hughes, Jay Irwin, Jerry Kraft, Katherine Luck, Michael Strangeways, Michael van Baker, Omar Willey and Nancy Worssam. Our members see and review a significant number of performances throughout the year. Group membership may alter each year, based on the changing complexion of area writers and reviewers, allowing for new perspectives with each progressive year of the awards.

“We have amazing theater in Seattle!” Gordon concluded. “Wouldn’t it be great to have patrons and supporters who perhaps go to The 5th Avenue and Seattle Rep say, ‘Wow! Theater Schmeater? Annex? Balagan? Never heard of them. Maybe we should check them out!’ Seattle has more theater per population than any other city, yet hasn’t had a critics’ award. We think it’s a great time to make that happen.”

Awards will be determined and presented exclusively by Seattle Theater Writers reviewers. Winners will be announced on January 20, 2012.

About Seattle Theater Writers:

Founded in 2011 by 11 local theater arts writers and bloggers, Seattle Theater Writers is a group dedicated to raising the visibility of local theater and the work produced by professional Equity and non-Equity theater organizations among the Greater Seattle population. Born from this mission are the first annual Gypsy Rose Lee Awards, recognizing excellence in Seattle theater across 32 categories—the most comprehensive and inclusive local theater awards to date!

And, I should note, we did invite both Misha Berson from the Seattle Times and Brendon Kiley from The Stranger but both declined to formally participate. And, we hope to add some more writers for next year’s awards.

AND, I’m working on my OWN “Best of Seattle Theater” column which should be up soon.

That’s more than enough for now. I’m still recovering from the holidays and I”m very fragile.