Thursday, April 25, 2013

Movie Review: Mrs Henderson Presents

I consider myself to be somewhat of a movie buff and am always amazed at the films I miss along the way.  I was out shopping with Dave months back and came across this gem of a film, which debuted in theatres in 2005, in a $3 DVD bin.  I read the description on the back, saw that the film was set in the 1940's and knew right then I had to watch this.


The movie stars Dame Judi Dench, the underrated Bob Hoskins and an array of truly talented supporting actors including one of my favorites Christopher Guest.  The movie is set in London, England during the 1940's and is centered around the story of the Windmill Theatre.  Below is a synopsis of the film from IMDB.com:

"Recently widowed well-to-do Laura Henderson is at a bit of a loose end in inter-war London. On a whim she buys the derelict Windmill theatre in the West End and persuades impresario Vivian Van Damm to run it, despite the fact the two don't seem to get on at all. Although their idea of a non-stop revue is at first a success, other theatres copy it and disaster looms. Laura suggests they put nudes in the show, but Van Damm points out that the Lord Chamberlain, who licenses live shows in Britain, is likely to have something to say about this. Luckily Mrs Henderson is friends with him." Written byJeremy Perkins {J-26}

Featuring the nudes in performances however required that they stay still and statuesque like in order to adhere to the rules presented by Lord Chamberlain.  This then gives the performance more of an artistic like canvas of a presentation for the audience.  They come up with a ton of genius poses and the costumes and hairstyles are remarkable! 



 





Please be sure to check out this film if given the opportunity.  You won't regret it!

Till' Next Time,

Suz
 

Thursday, April 18, 2013

Viva Las Vegas Rockabilly Weekender: Part Two

After watching a great performance by Little Richard, Dave and I headed back to change into our evening clothes.  I wore a gold beaded black chiffon dress which I actually purchased at Marshall's I think.  The coat was a gift, vintage, given to me from a family friend a little over a year ago.  The purse is a vintage gold lame' purse I thrifted a while back.  I wore a vintage jade necklace which belonged to my Great Grandmother and the green rhinestone earrings were once owned by the late great Yma Sumac. 


Dave wore a 40's blue fleck suite with matching 40's men's shirt. 


We started the night out by catching some tunes by the amazing Hay Stack Hi-Tones. I was very impressed and loved their "Bo Bo Ska Diddle" cover. We then headed over to catch the last few numbers by the Cleftones. They were fantastic!! We sat and enjoyed the act that followed Si Cranston. I loved them!! Dave and I were sat at good spot to watch people walk in. There were so many well dressed people. I even spotted a few familiar bloggers but was too shy to approach at this point of the evening. After the show Dave and I decided to call it a night and headed back to our room before bumping into friends Jonny B (of Jonny B and the Avenues) and his lovely girlfriend Vanessa. They invited us for a game of bowling. The night was young (well sorta) so we joined in on the fun.


 



This is definitely not my sport but fun no less.  We played two rounds and decided to call it a night (or shall I say early early morning).  It's so easy to loose track of time in Las Vegas!

The next morning we got up, packed and checked out.  We had lunch with the band and then Dave and I headed to Frankie's Tiki Room.  I have been several times before but this was Dave's first experience.  I wore my Diane DeWeese tiki dress with Bakelite accessories along with my recently purchased saddle purse.



 
These pictures of course do not do it justice.


 
After stopping in at Frankie's for a little bit we headed back to the Orleans for Dave's performance with Jonny B and the Avenues.  They put on a great show and I was so excited for them.







 
We immediately jumped in the car following the performance as Dave had class in the morning and I had a ten hour work day ahead of me.  On the way home we were told that "Give Me A Try" was played on a local radio station 94.9fm. So exciting!  Too bad we missed it.  We made it home safe and sound and in good time.  I look forward to returning to the event in the future.  Next year's show is scheduled to take place April 17th-20th.  There is a good chance I may be returning especially since it will be after the tax due date. I also read that the hotel rooms are all booked up already for next year!!

 
Now onto my purchased goodies!  The first item was rather a gift purchased by Dave.  It's to signify our trip to Vegas together.
 
 
Next is my mug purchase from Frankie's Tiki Room.


 
I got this cute little top in the vendors section for a good price.  The dealer was actually Donnaland whom I've purchased from in the past at the local Bi-Monthly Frock You sale.

 
This is my favorite purchase for the weekend.  I have been wanting my own squaw or patio styled dress for quite sometime.  I have come across a few in the past but sadly they haven't been the right fit for my shapely curves.  The dress is actually a nice coral color and doesn't show true in the picture below.  I can't wait to wear it!

 
Till' Next Time,
 
Suz
 

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Viva Las Vegas Rockabilly Weekender: Part One

My 48 hours in Las Vegas for Viva were a truly amazingly fun time!  I have been looking forward to this event ever since it was announced that the dates fell on March 28-31st, which meant for me that there might be a small possibility I may be able to attend.  I've mentioned it several times before but I work in an accounting firm and our tax season can be quite busy.  It requires me working on the weekends (yes both Saturday and some Sundays) in order to finish the deadline.  I knew there was a chance I wouldn't be able to attend but once I found out that the band my fiance' performs in, Jonny B and the Avenues, was invited to play; I knew I had to be there to witness this for sure!

I got off work Friday night at 5:30pm and immediately hit the road headed to Vegas.  I took me roughly five and a half hours to get there only stopping once along the way for a quick rest stop.  I met up with Dave the second I got to the hotel, brought all my luggage upstairs (it was ridiculous what I had packed for 48 hours), quickly changed my outfit and ran downstairs to the casino to pick up my wrist band and have Dave show me around. 

 
This was the best I was willing to do for the first night.  I didn't do my hair other than put a rose it.  I didn't want to waste too much time Friday night getting ready.  Here we are in one of the four indoor performance rooms.  We sat and watched people dance as sadly, I still do not know how to east coast swing.  This will happen as soon as I have some more time after the end of the tax season for sure.

 
We caught the Gene Vincent cover band The Blue Caps with Graham Fenton.  They were great!  It started to push 2am quickly and I knew we needed to get to bed as Saturday was going to be a long long day!  So long in fact that I have split it up into two separate blogs along with Sunday's activities.


We woke up Saturday morning, got dressed and went straight to breakfast at the hotel cafe'.  I felt as though I was rushing through breakfast as there was so much to do!  I wore a dress I found thrifting (go figure) about a year ago and newer straw handbag with Bakelite accessories.  I opted to put my hair up in a bun as I had a feeling it was going to be a hot day.


Following breakfast I dove into my first drink of the day.  A lovely bloody mary.  I honestly didn't drink much on this trip as I didn't want to miss a thing by having an alcoholic haze to distract me.  That and I knew I didn't want to be hurting the next day having to drive home.


The first band we watched for the day was a band from San Diego, which our friend Natt is the drummer in; The Poppin' Fire Crackers.


We then checked out the vendor rooms.  I don't have any pictures of them as they were slightly overwhelming. So much good stuff to look at!  I didn't actually end up buying anything  until the last day.  I'll share those buys  as part of the part 2 blog.

After shopping around we headed to the car show.  We walked around for about an hour while Vicky Tafoya and the Big Beats took to the car show stage.  They were great!  I saw them at the Grand National Roadster show earlier this year and absolutely love them. What a voice!  Below is just a small fraction of the pictures I took at the car show.


Love this color!!



Nifty license plate.



Dave and company walked around doing lots of "car talk".  I feel like he's rubbing off on me as I felt like I truly understood the gist of most of the conversation and can point out car models.  I'm working on figuring out the year differentials which Dave is the king of doing.



Hehe!






Ain't this precious!

 

After a nice walk around the cars, we decided it was time to go for a swim.  Here's what I wore.  I wore my vintage tiki robe (thrifted) and vintage swimsuit (purchased last year at Frock You).  I wore my absolute favorite shoes, wooden sandals which my grandmother gave me back when I was in 8th grade (can you say hoarder).  I didn't take my camera to the pool as we didn't know where we would be seated, if we would even find a seat, or if any of our friends would be there.  We in fact ended up running into two of Dave's car buddies and had a fun dip in the pool while taking in the surf rock by the band Sabres. 


 
 
We then headed back up to the room to get ready for dinner with friends at the sushi restaurant that's located in the hotel.  It was delicious.  A slight bit expensive but worth it.  Dave has been looking forward to eating here for the past year he claims.
 
After dinner we headed back to the car show area to catch Little Richard's performance. We got there a little early before his performance and ended up watching the results of the "Miss Viva Las Vegas" competition and proceeded to check out some more cars we had missed from earlier.

 
I love this hood ornament.


 
I came across the Pin Up Girl Clothing booth and made a point, finally, to say hello to Micheline Pitt and take a photo with her.  We have crossed paths now on several occasions and I thought it was due time to meet her.  She was so friendly and even complimented my dress.  I made a point to tell her that I swear me wearing a Pin Up Girl Clothing dress had a lot to do with Dave talking to me the night we first met.  We then took in Little Richard's performance.  Sorry I don't have any pictures as it was sooo crowded and we honestly couldn't see much from where we were standing in the first place.

 
Thus completes part one of my trip to Las Vegas.  More to come soon!
 
Till' Next Time,
 
Suz