or “GayAudacty^TM Strikes Again!”

Since my initial post, there have, indeed, been updates.

Salem Main Streets Fashion Show

I stepped-in as the Emcee this year, so I felt I had to up my game on the outfit. The crown is made from recycled materials by my friend Linda at Grace & Diggs. My husband claims it’s the gayest he’s ever seen me. LOL. There was a lovely local artist that sat in the VIP section painting people’s outfits, and we had a fabulous photo booth. The fundraiser was a huge success and the exact type of community-building and fun that we all needed in that moment.

YMCA Cabaret

Since the organizers now thought of me as ‘crafty’ (thanks to the marquee I made), they asked if I could make a Muppet-style puppet for the show. I said I hadn’t ever done that before and asked them for some time to think about it. After a night of YouTube videos (thank you, Puppet Nerd), I texted them the next morning to say YES. They assured me it didn’t have to be fancy, and in fact, could be charmingly amateurish (like the rest of the Cabaret) – oh, and could it possibly look like the Mayor? YES.

The show started with the entire cast singing Rainbow Connection, then the Mayor appeared in the balcony and heckled us, Statler & Waldorf style. He ‘auditioned’ Waldorfs from the audience (the same actress playing 3 different roles) between acts, then the puppet version of him showed up as his perfect sidekick. It was a big hit. Also, I ended up being in 6 (!!!) different numbers in the Cabaret, with 6 different costumes – and we did 2 shows! I was exhausted

Salem Arts Festival

Muppet Mayor, now heckling the staff in city hall, has also made a few public appearances since the show, including the unveiling of our Salem Arts Festival community art project: Characters of Salem. Salem High School CTE program made wooden letters on wheels that were covered in plastic fencing. Different community groups then each took a letter and turned it into a monster using recycled materials. Since this ALSO ended up being Muppet-adjacent, it only made sense that he should be part of the unveiling.

The letters spelled out SALEM 400+ and there is a great instagram overview here.

The festival kicked off on Friday night with a Tiny Art Spree. We put 300+ cardboard jewelry boxes out for the community to transform into tiny art. Since im taking part in the 100 Tiny Paintings challenge, I decided to knock out 9 tiny paintings and turn the boxes into mini galleries. Here were my submissions:

We got ~220 back in total. They were all displayed on giant tables for participants to preview and scope-out before we started calling raffle numbers. As groups of raffle numbers were called, they had to run and grab the piece they wanted, hoping no one else had grabbed it first. It was a lot of fun, and when our Assistant Director asked me to assist in the Spree, I said YES! It was decided that we needed to be ‘Sexy’ referees, so I bought us some costumes online. Enjoy this ridiculous shot of me telling the participants to make sure they stretch before the Spree begins:

The scariest YES for Arts Fest was submitting my art to the juried gallery show. I had the idea of painting our cats, Frank and Sadie, as historic Salem figures in honor of the Salem 400+ celebrations. I felt it was too good of an idea for tiny art, so I challenged myself to try for the gallery submission, and if they didn’t come out, I’d just hold onto the idea for next year’s Spree. Here they are all finished:

I haven’t worked in acrylics for a very long time, and still feel someone else could have done a better job, but I was pleased enough with them to go forward. To my surprise, when I came back after the anonymous judging, they had accepted both, all three jurors loved Kituba, and they couldn’t believe they were mine!

Unfortunately, no one bought them, but I’m hoping to find another show to submit them to before the 400th is over.

YouTube

We continue to add shorts and full length videos to our YouTube channel Living Life Well Takes Practice

So what things are you saying YES to when it would be easier to say no?