Well, friends, fans, and followers... Seadog Nights was last weekend, and I gotta say, it was a lot of fun, even with the heat (NO SHADE WHATSOEVER) and a bit of overindulging on my part (More on that later).
I camped with the Criminal Dawn, a nice mercenary group of pirates and gypsies (think about that one for a second...) and in order to save packing space, shared my way-too-large-for-one-person tent with Ronnie, a mutual friend of Lorelai and I. Let me tell you, this tent is huge. Not just huge, really. It's FUCKING huge. So I got some help (You need more than one to put this thing up) setting up my tent, and found that the ground was geologically designed by the Marquis De Sade. It's all hardpan, sun-baked clay hard enough that the girly tent stakes for my tent didn't agree with the ground. They protested so much, in fact, that I bent over half the stakes holding the tent down. Now, in a cabin tent, it's no big deal. I have used cabins for years and not needed the stakes. This type of dome tent, however will not go up without them. I can see getting the heavy duty stakes from coleman soon. VERY FUCKING SOON. But it went up, and Ronnie and I moved in, each of us taking one of the individual tent-rooms and using the third for storage.
Soon after I settled in, I got changed, and went out to make some money (Not THAT way, you perverts!!!). I spent a few days' worth of lunch breaks and a couple hours at home putting these together:
Now, I make some good leather bondage gear. DAMN good. What you behold is a pair of wrist restraints-- leather, covered in stainless steel with nickel rivets, spot-welded hinges and ring brackets (the ring brackets were made by hand), nickel rings and buckles. They take up to an 8-inch circumference wrist, making them a good generic size. The leather makes them 2 1/4 inches wide. Again, a good generic size. Now if I sold these straight across, I would sell them for seventy-five dollars. Instead, I raffled them off. I sold each ticket for a dollar, and gave a deal at six tickets for every five dollars. In total, over the weekend, I got one hundred eighty-eight dollars in ticket sales. In the end they were won by Tiffany, the newly-wed bride of Zeke, my adult fireshow safety.
Now, on to the shows. We opened for Ignition, a troupe of fire performers based out of Bothell, Washington. We did our thing, the usual Friday night glorified practice session. Not much of note happened that night except this: We had a guest staff spinner, a guy named Brandon. Before I go on about him, I should let you know I have been using the staff for 23 years at this point in my life. I am good at it. Period. This guy went out, lit up, and started spinning. All I have to say about this dude is that ON THE EIGHTH DAY GOD CREATED BRANDON. The guy is that fucking good, there is not a category of AWESOME big enough for him to fit. He specializes in contact, a style of performance that uses the whole body to control the staff. In the ten or so minutes his set lasted, I don't think he actually held the staff in-hand for more than a minute. TOTAL.
The Saturday show, we pulled out all the stops, doing the long-time crowd pleasers. Boulron with his swords, myself with my whips and blindfolded staff set, Illyanna and her fan dance, etc. We had a great time, and much fun was had by all.
Now, I would give a more in-depth report on Ignition's show, but I did not stick around to watch. Not because I am an elitist or anything, but I had to get things ready for my second show each night. I perform an adult fireshow, part dance, part BDSM fireplay demo, titled "The Dark Side of Fire." I had an area set up separate from the main stage, with tarp walls for privacy. Which was good, considering the show involves a LOT of nudity.
It started out each night with a fleshing set I worked out with Fritzy, a hot little thing who works as a stripper in the real world. She and I worked out a set where I draw all over her body with flame while she takes various poses. Sexy as hell. Friday went better than Saturday, even though it was more of a dress rehearsal. Wind on Saturday caused us to cut the act short and Fritzy to get a first degree burn on her forearms. Next up each night was my turn to get naked. I danced nude with a flaming staff, baton, sword, single and double whips. I also performed firebreathing. Now, this is where I should explain a few things. When I perform, nude or not, I always make it about the art. So even the fleshing act with Fritzy is not a porn-fest. It showcases her body, yes, but it does so using light and shadow, not raunch and lust.People take from it what they choose. When I perform nude, it's the same thing. I do it because firedance is a full-body performance, and when I am in costume it does not give the viewer the chance to see what the rest of the muscles are doing. I am also fond of the light-and-shadow play you get out of it. NExt I did a round of fire floggings (exactly what it sounds like), fleshing, and whippings with fire. Most impressive to me was Mick. He volunteered for a fire whipping, which he took with a stone-cold toughness, and enjoyed every lash of it. He had some beautiful welts you could read by braille, and all were hot to the touch. He also took a fleshing, and this is where he got my attention: HE REQUESTED I SET HIS LASH-MARKS ON FIRE. I did this, and he just got more and more into it. I did as much as I safely could, and the night ended for fire.
AND NOW FOR THE HALL OF SHAME MOMENT...
I got really drunk Saturday night. Not just drunk, but OHMYGODDAMNFUCKINGBLINDSTINKINGBELLIGERANTLY drunk. I don't recall much abouthte night, only that I owe an apology to Pooh's encampment, as I got involved (Very loudly, I might add with much chagrin) in a situation that to the best of my recollection was an argument between a man and his girlfriend. This happened, as I am told, at about 5:30 in the morning. When I awoke later that morning, I heard the tales. I passed out in the middle of camp, in a kilt, and I have restless leg syndrome. This would not be so bad, except that the tent I was lying near was the only one with kids... CRAP. Well, someone eventually helped me up, and got me into a rocking camp chair, which I landed in with such force that I broke one of the rocking sides. I relapsed into my coma, and awoke several hours later. I sat there, trying to rehydrate myself, having given myself alcohol poisoning. (I initially thought it was a simple hangover, albeit the mother of all hangovers.) The worst part of this experience is that when I felt my gorge rising, I attempted to get up and get myself to the lavatory facilities... only to rush the purging of my stomach to such velocity that I barely had time to get my hands over my mouth. The seal I created was hardly perfect, and a woman got caught in the crossfire. She shrugged it off to the best of her ability, and I washed my face. I crawled into my tent, and collapsed. When I was awakened another several hours later, I changed into my pants, and began sorting things out to pack up and leave. It was then that Fritzy told me to check myself, and while it took a while to get the hint, I did... and found that, while unconscious, Ronnie had decided to play on a certain song made popular by John Denver. I had-- you guessed it-- a blue ribbon tied into a bow around the bonnie star my goddamn kilt did lift and show. I intend to re-write that song to retell my experience, in all its glory. (Oh, and I paid for the broken chair.)
AND NOW TO LEAVE THIS ENTRY ON A POSITIVE NOTE, SINCE IT STARTED OFF THAT WAY...
Remember the stuff I told you I did on the Fourth of July? Well, Mana uploaded the videos. Here you go!!!
The first one looked better, but the video started recording a touch later than the second.
Now, in the second, you see me leave the ring for a moment to let the flames, which rose too high to be safelt endured, die down a bit. This was caused by too much fuel on one side of the ring:
Yes, I know, I'm nuts.
Today I leave for Dragon's Mist Defender's Tourney. I'll tell you how it goes later.
I camped with the Criminal Dawn, a nice mercenary group of pirates and gypsies (think about that one for a second...) and in order to save packing space, shared my way-too-large-for-one-person tent with Ronnie, a mutual friend of Lorelai and I. Let me tell you, this tent is huge. Not just huge, really. It's FUCKING huge. So I got some help (You need more than one to put this thing up) setting up my tent, and found that the ground was geologically designed by the Marquis De Sade. It's all hardpan, sun-baked clay hard enough that the girly tent stakes for my tent didn't agree with the ground. They protested so much, in fact, that I bent over half the stakes holding the tent down. Now, in a cabin tent, it's no big deal. I have used cabins for years and not needed the stakes. This type of dome tent, however will not go up without them. I can see getting the heavy duty stakes from coleman soon. VERY FUCKING SOON. But it went up, and Ronnie and I moved in, each of us taking one of the individual tent-rooms and using the third for storage.
Soon after I settled in, I got changed, and went out to make some money (Not THAT way, you perverts!!!). I spent a few days' worth of lunch breaks and a couple hours at home putting these together:
Now, I make some good leather bondage gear. DAMN good. What you behold is a pair of wrist restraints-- leather, covered in stainless steel with nickel rivets, spot-welded hinges and ring brackets (the ring brackets were made by hand), nickel rings and buckles. They take up to an 8-inch circumference wrist, making them a good generic size. The leather makes them 2 1/4 inches wide. Again, a good generic size. Now if I sold these straight across, I would sell them for seventy-five dollars. Instead, I raffled them off. I sold each ticket for a dollar, and gave a deal at six tickets for every five dollars. In total, over the weekend, I got one hundred eighty-eight dollars in ticket sales. In the end they were won by Tiffany, the newly-wed bride of Zeke, my adult fireshow safety.
Now, on to the shows. We opened for Ignition, a troupe of fire performers based out of Bothell, Washington. We did our thing, the usual Friday night glorified practice session. Not much of note happened that night except this: We had a guest staff spinner, a guy named Brandon. Before I go on about him, I should let you know I have been using the staff for 23 years at this point in my life. I am good at it. Period. This guy went out, lit up, and started spinning. All I have to say about this dude is that ON THE EIGHTH DAY GOD CREATED BRANDON. The guy is that fucking good, there is not a category of AWESOME big enough for him to fit. He specializes in contact, a style of performance that uses the whole body to control the staff. In the ten or so minutes his set lasted, I don't think he actually held the staff in-hand for more than a minute. TOTAL.
The Saturday show, we pulled out all the stops, doing the long-time crowd pleasers. Boulron with his swords, myself with my whips and blindfolded staff set, Illyanna and her fan dance, etc. We had a great time, and much fun was had by all.
Now, I would give a more in-depth report on Ignition's show, but I did not stick around to watch. Not because I am an elitist or anything, but I had to get things ready for my second show each night. I perform an adult fireshow, part dance, part BDSM fireplay demo, titled "The Dark Side of Fire." I had an area set up separate from the main stage, with tarp walls for privacy. Which was good, considering the show involves a LOT of nudity.
It started out each night with a fleshing set I worked out with Fritzy, a hot little thing who works as a stripper in the real world. She and I worked out a set where I draw all over her body with flame while she takes various poses. Sexy as hell. Friday went better than Saturday, even though it was more of a dress rehearsal. Wind on Saturday caused us to cut the act short and Fritzy to get a first degree burn on her forearms. Next up each night was my turn to get naked. I danced nude with a flaming staff, baton, sword, single and double whips. I also performed firebreathing. Now, this is where I should explain a few things. When I perform, nude or not, I always make it about the art. So even the fleshing act with Fritzy is not a porn-fest. It showcases her body, yes, but it does so using light and shadow, not raunch and lust.People take from it what they choose. When I perform nude, it's the same thing. I do it because firedance is a full-body performance, and when I am in costume it does not give the viewer the chance to see what the rest of the muscles are doing. I am also fond of the light-and-shadow play you get out of it. NExt I did a round of fire floggings (exactly what it sounds like), fleshing, and whippings with fire. Most impressive to me was Mick. He volunteered for a fire whipping, which he took with a stone-cold toughness, and enjoyed every lash of it. He had some beautiful welts you could read by braille, and all were hot to the touch. He also took a fleshing, and this is where he got my attention: HE REQUESTED I SET HIS LASH-MARKS ON FIRE. I did this, and he just got more and more into it. I did as much as I safely could, and the night ended for fire.
AND NOW FOR THE HALL OF SHAME MOMENT...
I got really drunk Saturday night. Not just drunk, but OHMYGODDAMNFUCKINGBLINDSTINKINGBELLIGERANTLY drunk. I don't recall much abouthte night, only that I owe an apology to Pooh's encampment, as I got involved (Very loudly, I might add with much chagrin) in a situation that to the best of my recollection was an argument between a man and his girlfriend. This happened, as I am told, at about 5:30 in the morning. When I awoke later that morning, I heard the tales. I passed out in the middle of camp, in a kilt, and I have restless leg syndrome. This would not be so bad, except that the tent I was lying near was the only one with kids... CRAP. Well, someone eventually helped me up, and got me into a rocking camp chair, which I landed in with such force that I broke one of the rocking sides. I relapsed into my coma, and awoke several hours later. I sat there, trying to rehydrate myself, having given myself alcohol poisoning. (I initially thought it was a simple hangover, albeit the mother of all hangovers.) The worst part of this experience is that when I felt my gorge rising, I attempted to get up and get myself to the lavatory facilities... only to rush the purging of my stomach to such velocity that I barely had time to get my hands over my mouth. The seal I created was hardly perfect, and a woman got caught in the crossfire. She shrugged it off to the best of her ability, and I washed my face. I crawled into my tent, and collapsed. When I was awakened another several hours later, I changed into my pants, and began sorting things out to pack up and leave. It was then that Fritzy told me to check myself, and while it took a while to get the hint, I did... and found that, while unconscious, Ronnie had decided to play on a certain song made popular by John Denver. I had-- you guessed it-- a blue ribbon tied into a bow around the bonnie star my goddamn kilt did lift and show. I intend to re-write that song to retell my experience, in all its glory. (Oh, and I paid for the broken chair.)
AND NOW TO LEAVE THIS ENTRY ON A POSITIVE NOTE, SINCE IT STARTED OFF THAT WAY...
Remember the stuff I told you I did on the Fourth of July? Well, Mana uploaded the videos. Here you go!!!
The first one looked better, but the video started recording a touch later than the second.
Now, in the second, you see me leave the ring for a moment to let the flames, which rose too high to be safelt endured, die down a bit. This was caused by too much fuel on one side of the ring:
Yes, I know, I'm nuts.
Today I leave for Dragon's Mist Defender's Tourney. I'll tell you how it goes later.