Last Dance

Thursday and Friday night Cabaret Diosa played their 'last shows ever on Earth' at the Boulder Theater. This year's Halloween theme was Willy Juanka and the Cha Cha Factory.

Many of the old songs came out for one last time. Tonight You Will Be Mine, Banana Rum, Hat's on Fire, Baby Wants to Mambo, Mambo Verde and Mambo Cave all brought back memories and got me dancing.

It's strange to think it's over. After 11 years of playing (I 'discovered' them about halfway through their run) the band decided to go their separate ways.

I'm happy for them. They got to go out in grand Cabaret Disoa style, with good hair and great music surrounded by devoted fans who all left wanting more.

Juan Del Queso told us that The New Electric Eden isn't a physical place; it is in our hearts and minds and we can go back any time we want. Pablo de Gallo reminded me that There is a place that you can go to dance where the music always plays.

I believe them.

!All Hail the Mighty Mambo!

Day of Projects

This week pretty much flew by. My trip to Scottsdale AZ was quite lovely. The weather was quite hot (well into the 90s). We stayed at a lovely resort with no less than three pools (and me w/o my bathing suit!), ate copious amounts of resort food (and drank quarts of grapefruit juice... yummy!), and even learned a little along the way. It was amazing to be in the same room with a large group of people who understand the work I do and can get excited about it. I won't bore you with the details, but the job I do is a specialized niche of accounting that generally only CPG (consumer packaged goods) companies have to deal with.

Today, I'm planning on getting some projects if not finished, at least started. I have stuff I'm doing for the band for their final shows (which makes me a bit sad), more along the lines of personal projects I've wanted to do for years and just never made it a priority. I've also got a few things around the house to do, so I'll just have to see how much I can get done.

On another note, I received my free* Day Timer leather binder with all the inserts and accoutrements I recently ordered last night. It came with samples of all sorts of different pages, including graph paper! Now I need to get the phone book tabs and I'll be set. Most of my contacts are in my email program or on my Palm (yes, I have both a paper and an electronic planner, I'm finding out what will work best for me as I have used both to varying degrees of success) but I learned from the Laura Stack, the Productivity Pro, to use the alpha tabs in the phone book as a filing system in the planner as well as a phone book. Since there are some very exciting opportunities coming up at work, I want to work hard on my productivity and my organization to give myself that extra boost.

In my slightly scattered way, I just checked my queue in the midst of writing this post. My next movies coming from Netflix are quite exciting, and the tv show is one I've been waiting to see all year (since I don't get WB on my rabbit ears). Netflix is my compromise with myself regarding visual entertainment. I just cannot justify the $40+ a month for cable for me and my kitties, when I have so much else I should do (writing, reading, projects). So I get my movies, fit them in when I can, and call it good. I'm sure I've ranted this before, but I do feel strongly about it (and I can get digital cable at Mom's whenever the urge strikes).

Off to check the mail and get working on those projects.


* with purchase of a year of inserts and S&H, still a good deal overall.

Rocky Mountain Horror Picture Show

Now that was a show!

Last night I went, as I have for the last few years, to the Cabaret Diosa Halloween Show at the Boulder Theater. As in years past, the show sold out nearly a week before, and there were tons of crazy people, from college kids to middle-aged adults, crowding into the beautiful, historic Boulder Theater. I would say that nearly everyone I saw was in costume, celebrating the night of the dead a bit early. Costumes of note: Dandelion in Seed, Spy vs Spy, Lego People, tons of Magenta's, not so many Riff's, Greek Gods incl. Pan (hottie!), The Bride (pretty good rendition, too), there was even a dangling Chad in honor of election day.

This year I found a seat in the balcony and planted myself there for the evening. This worked out as I got to watch the crowd and not so much participate in the drunken revelry (tho I did nurse a black russian thru the first set). I had a mostly unobstructed view of the entire stage the entire night, worth the price of admission.

Devotchka opened, in skull face-paint, and got the crowd dancing, moving. I really enjoyed their set, I need to go get their new CD, some of the new songs I heard were hauntingly, madly beautiful. Some of the guys from Cabaret joined in for a song, which included three trumpets and a mandolin *ahh*

After the Costume contest (A smashing version of Magenta - best Rocky Horror, Dandelion in Seed - best environmental, the 6 Madonna's - best thematic, & Spy vs Spy - best of show, ) and Mendel's really quite nice Australian accent (or was it British - ok whatever, it was nice) the big screen came down and the lights dimmed.

The opening bars to the 21st Century Faux theme came on, then the image, complete with a spotlight (visibly hand held) and then The Lips appeared. Everyone erupted with cheers. The tune was the same, but the words differed as The Lips sang about the past Cabaret halloween shows, including Alice in Wonderland, Circus Macabre, Circus Contraption & the Creep Show, Captain Cork and Dark Flavor. Then the steeple from the opening scene of Rocky Horror came up with Cabaret Diosa and friends remaking the chapel scene.

They did a wonderful job of adapting the show then the live action started taking place on stage. Throughout the night the movie kicked in with tidbits - memorably Pablo as the Criminologist doing the Time Warp. The songs from R.H. were wonderfully done, the costuming superb, and the set, while minimalist on stage with some statues, stained glass, and red walls, was amazing with the detail on the props (the resurrection tank - to die for). Many thanks to the brilliant and talented Ren and Mendel.

Cast:
Montana del Fuego as Janet Weis
Nick Urata as Brad Majors
Juan del Queso as Dr Frankenfurter
Pablo de Gallo as the Criminologist / Minion
Don Grandissimo as Riff Raff
Miguel Ramos as Magenta
Manuel Rabinizimo as Rocky
Diego Rabinizimo as Photographer
Dinkis Con Crema as Eddie
Juan de la Selva as Ralph / Minion
Trish Land as Columbia
The Frequent Flyers - Chorus / Dancers

Oh so tempted to go back again tonight...if there's no snow and if I can get a nap in between now and then...and maybe call in sick...or at least in a coma...