More Sads…Bacon Strip Is Going On A Sabbatical

Photo: Ryan Georgi/PoseWithUs

It’s been a rough week for Gay Seattle…The Bus Stop is closing this week…The Grill on Broadway just announced they are shutting the doors Sunday night…and, now Sylvia O’Stayformore has announced that Bacon Strip, the “Big Gay Variety Show” she created 8 years ago at Re-bar, will be taking a break. The show pulled up stakes from Re-bar at the end of last year for a very short trip to Chop Suey before moving to The Grill in March. But, the Grill’s closing will leave Bacon Strip homeless and Sylvia has decided to give the show a rest…hopefully, just a temporary one. She just released an announcement on her website.

Since 2005 Bacon Strip has been raising the bar in Seattle for performance art and drag. We have had an amazing run at Rebar and most recently had found a great group of friends at The Grill on Broadway. Thank you Matthew and Les for the great opportunity and accepting Bacon Strip into the Grill’s family. The magic of Bacon Strip allowed different artists to come together and create an amazing show.

Unfortunately with the sad news of the bar closing yesterday, we come to a reality that our new love affair has to end.  With that affair ended we have decided to put Bacon Strip on sabbatical. I want to send out a huge thank you to the huge team of performers, supporters, photographers, videographers, lighting people, sound people, DJ’s and locations that made this night so magical. Thanks to the Italian who never ceased in marketing, promoting and selling.  Most of all, thanks to all the fans that motivate us to create something new and original in every single show.

I thought I’d put together some good bye notes from some of the Bacon Strip Family:

Honey Bucket
“Sylvia, you created one of the best shows in Seattle with amazingly talented people…”

Derek A. Pappas
…It’s the end of an era…. 

Jinkx Monsoon
“ Thank you for giving me my start in Seattle and letting me blossom”

Brian Daniel Peters
“Thanks for the memories” 

Kerry Darling
“ I am honored to have been a part of such an amazing show.”

Michael Strangeways
“And, the sadness just gets worse….”

Seth Tankus
“Thanks for the memories, Sylvia. This was a truly great show. Inspiring to all”

Ursula Major
“I can’t believe that I got to be a part of something so incredible. … “

Keegan Laux
” I will always hold Bacon Strip in my heart. “

Adé
“Be proud of the fact that you have given us all an amazing opportunity to blossom and grow as performers.”

Shane Wahlund
“Thanks to you and all the cast(s) for so much fun and entertainment over the years. “

Sedusa Slitt
“I have seen nothing like Bacon Strip in my 15 years moving around and doing drag! No place has mixed funny, shocking, gross, creativity, talent and the bizarre….”

DonnaTella Howe
“… I’m glad I got to be apart of what I always liked to call ‘the artsy kids’ “

Cherry Sur Bête
” … there will be a huge void in this city without it. Thank you Sylvia for the opportunity and to all of you for the ride.”

Ceasar Hart
“…Bacon strip gave me the opportunity to branch out and do things I normally wouldn’t have ever had the chance to do before! I am forever grateful!…”

Nathan Wayne
“This won’t be my last Bacon Strip!!!!”

Maxine Delac-nt
…”Thanks Sylvia for letting me run around shouting, calling people names, telling dirty jokes, eating too much bacon, drinking too much booze, and accosting the world with my Hot Messiness. “

Sashay Supernohhva-Michaels
“…such a campy, dangerous, silly, audacious, and ridiculous show. “ 

Otter Pop
“Wonderfully f$%^&ed up family who I looked forward to seeing nearly every month. Misfits, angels and performers with so much heart and soul. “

Blyss Blaze
“Thank you Sylvia for providing a monthly opportunity for all that nuttiness to happen on stage.”

Ho Mo Arigato
…“We are all so lucky to have experienced this show, and it will live on in whatever we do, wherever life takes us. It will be the gold standard for how a show should feel in spirit (a dirty, bloody, faux-jizzy gold standard). This show will pass into things of legend. Meanwhile, you bitches are too clever and such stage whores that this isn’t going to keep you down. You better infiltrate whatever boring ass shows are out there and show them how it’s done!”…

Bacon Strip lives on in the Bacon Strip Videos! Make sure to check them out. Thanks Perry Whales
www.baconstripvideos.com
Also stay tuned to my website for updates and shows!
www.stayformore.com
Much love and bacon to you all.
Sylvia O’Stayformore

Ugh. Mr. Strangeways’ tiny shriveled heart is breaking. Bacon Strip and the amazing BS family mean a lot to me personally and it’s very difficult to see it end, even if it’s just for awhile. The crazy, zany, filthy, perverse, alternative, QUEER art all those ridiculously talented people put on month after month for 8 years helps define queer people as a culture. It’s about pushing boundaries and definitions of “normality” and the status quo and not hiding behind doors and being fiercely proud and independent and fucking RISKY and DARING when it comes to expressing ourselves. It’s about art. It’s about life. It’s about getting drunk on a Saturday night seeing outrageous acts of artistic expression by drag queens and kings, and go go boys and girls, and burlesque stars, and comedians, and musicians, and boys in jock straps serving greasy bacon, and dozens of acts involving simulated fellatio with a can of Reddi-Whip.

A toast to Sylvia O’Stayformore and the entire Bacon Strip Family. I love you all.