Mardi Gras Parade at Bishop Arts - Review?? good or bad

Feb 10th, I was lucky to come across the Bishop Arts Mardi Gras  Bishop Arts Mardi Gras Weekend Info . On it there was a parade!!  Holy Cow a parade!!  Our friend Julie was also wanting us to sponsor her family's orphanage   New Life Children's Home  at our next event so  Jake and I thought - Awesome - We could help out the orphanage and do a parade for fun!!!   But - the raising money part didn't go so well...

Anyhoot --  a new pirate - Suzzane, stopped in on Thursday before the parade - and she along with Adele learned the dance.  And Debbie, Hugo, and his beautiful daughter Ava and 2 of her friends, along with my hubby - Jake, in his homeless looking pirate garb - caravan down to Bishops Arts all dressed in pirate costumes - with our newly purchased portable PA system and our new     Mardi Gras Party Dance   ,  along with our mascot Buoy George  ready to go.

I have to admit I was nervous.

Can 6 adults and 3 kids be enough to do a parade????  
Will the PA system just ordered on Ebay work?
Will Bouy George survive the long walk down Bishop Arts?  
Will my husband Jake survive and be ok singing in public???  
Would Ava and her 2 friends have fun?
Would Hugo not break his neck on his Rollerblades?
Will Suzzane, being her first parade - be ok dancing to the same song over and over and over?
Will Adele, having a huge Montezuma revenge episode - find enough bathrooms?  (she got well though)
Will my cousin Kathleen, who lives down there - disown me for actually more embarrassment to the family?
Will Debbie - hum ---  Debbie is always good.   She belongs in a parade everyday!!  

All I can say - It was awesome!!  It was better then I imagined.   Mardi Gras Parade was a success!!!  It really was a GREAT time!!      It was there 3rd year to do it and they had 50 floats.  Bishop Parade Pictures  show all the awesome floats and the fun people had there ---  down to the very end ....    Where we all enjoyed  the very spicey awesome Crawdads or as Hugo calls them Mud Bugs!!!  Yum Yum!!  Just like our day!!

Tolberts Friday Night for Chandi Bday - and Walton Stout

Friday night was unusual - for one thing - no theme or costumes,  and for another - I really did not send out a big evite list... however Chandi did for her bday and the place was packed.  Also it was the first time Walton Stout band played.

Everyone in our group was there with the exception of a very few.   It was so fun to see everyone together.  However the place was packed and a little difficult to dance - especially when the horn section came down on the floor - I was like wait - get back on stage, no room down here ...  ha ha ha ha,  but it was still fun.  

I wish I had my camera, everyone looked so cute.   So many fun pictures to take with no freakin' camera.

Kristi and her band was on this side and her other partner Sabrina was across the street at Wilhoits.    I love Sabrina but I am not good with all the smoke at Wilhoits so much.    Anyway - the dance floor was so packed, and it was fun.

Tolberts is always a good time, with good friends and good people - and Friday night was a GREAT example of good fun!!!

Gangster / Flapper Show Players!!

Jan 25^th - Tuesday , most of the girls showed up for dance practice to prepare for “Jungle Boogie” the following Thursday. Little did they know I had other plans for them. I had secretly choreographed a hip hop dance to Pink’s song, “Raise Your Glass.” At the end of Jungle Boogie practice I sprung this new routine on them and they loved it! So began our first official dance number, which was to be performed in 4 short weeks!!

Much to my surprise the girls did awesome. This was a big deal because none of my friends had actually danced to a routine like this, with the intent of performing it on stage!! Crazy!! They did so great. And we had fun. I was so so happy!
It was interesting too to see everyone blossom as the new “ PirateHearts Solid Gold Dancers“! LOL ! Everyone bringing something different to the new dance line. It was such a positive experience all the way around.

Adele and Marla took some time to practice together after hours and really got the dance down. And Cyndee made me practice the dance with her a lot, making “me” learn the dance too. Marla and Cyndee kept me on my toes with costuming and making sure my counts were right. I immediately thought of Adele and her spunky attitude to do that solo part in the dance, when Pink says,”Oh sh-t, my glass is empty! That sucks!”. True Adele!  She was GREAT!

It was fun working with Debbie too! Most of the time, a dance teacher has to say , “I need more energy”, but with Debbie I had to say, ok - not so much on this part. LOL, She was rocking out on the guitar part so much I thought she would take someone down with her!! Debbie’s energy is contagious and her attitude is so so positive. TinaMarie was such a positive force too calling me and being so supportive. She is like the Zen Dancer of the group.

 Raise Your Glass was not perfect, but it was perfect for us. And the whole crowd was cheering. It really did look great!! We will so do that again. And we will start working on another. Be for-warned!!

By working with my friends we learned so much about each other. One fun fact is that while I always wanted to be Sally Boles from Caberet, Cyndee always wanted to be Carol Burnett! So 3 days before the show we came up with a Bing Cosby like song n dance to Rum and Coca Cola. However we needed a guy to come in the middle and dress up like a girl. So who would be perfect short notice - Hugo of course. He was perfect. Maybe next time we will get together and practice before we go on stage. Sort of crazy going on stage with fruit in our hair (Hugo had a banana) and never practicing it before!! Ha ha!

And the Buoys - we could not leave then out. So leave it to Jake to re-write a rap song we saw on You Tube about Being a Rum Drunk Funky Pirate! Ray pitched in too, which was great cause he added a cool line about how awesome PirateHearts are! So with 9 back up gangster pirates and the Buoys rapping - it was a hit. Next time I hear CB is learning a verse!

Here is just a sample of the 4 verses -
“I got the passion like Kim Kardashin
My gold tooth smile just keeps on flashing
I’ll steel your bad so don’;t be lazy
We’ll party all night doing the crazy
You’ll get half naked open up the trunk
Showing off the booty, and playing with the junk.
It’s cool to be a funky pirate
Come on my ship and I’ll let you try it!”

We also did a Charleston. This was the most fun because it was just that - fun. And everyone looks cute in a flapper dress. Pam’s dress was so cute that she could wear it to a ball sometime. It was backless with strips of chiffon material hanging down from the shoulder to her wrists. It fit her perfectly too. Pam has an awesome figure. Just saying.

Poor Debra was going strong non-stop all the way to show time and then boom, illness got her. But she was able to come to the party so that was good.   Denise worked on the show too but stuff happens, and she couldn't go.  Next time both you girls... :) 

I bribed my daughter Katie to come down and sing as well. She is a veteran on stage and I think enjoyed a break from college life, singing on stage again with mama pushing her once again like in the good ole’ days. Her original costume was so short my Father who came would have for sure got out of his chair and pulled her off stage. No this costume was not going to work. Luckily we got that sorted out before the show. However Karl would have loved that super short outfit. Actually Karl would like Katie in a brown paper bag. J

Brian was also very sweet to video all the numbers, and Chris had the chore of working the music. I have not seen the video yet , but for sure the music went on flawless!! I am sure the video is good too.

So the team all worked together. Four weeks from start to finish we had 5 numbers. Gangster and Flapper night raised $200 for American Heart Association while having fun. AT $5.00 a suggested donation, that was a bunch. WE were all thrilled!!
Hopefully we can add dances and songs and by the Holiday Season have enough to do a show.

But no matter, it is the journey. - We are already so blessed!! Way beyond measure!!

Party Like a Pirate!!
Tammy

Flappers & Gangsters! Dances Videos!! w/ Corrected Links!

Hi Everyone!!   Hur-ray -- Brian Brown was able to put the videos in and here they are!!

Raise Your Glass!!

Raise Your Glass - right link!!

Katie - Singing

My Baby Singing! "Katie"

PirateHearts do the Charlston!!

Charleston

Rum & Coca Cola   with Cyndee, Tammy & Hugo!!

Rum & Coca Cola

Pirate Rap - not the performance one - but the practice one??

Have a GREAT DAY!!

Caberet or Sound of Music???

I woke up and thought of my husband beside me who is by the way the man who I believed that I was meant  to be with for my entire life.   Could of, should of, would of...... why was I not more like some cool guitar playing Nun, why be some can can dancer in the Kit Kat Club.   Maria was pretty cool.

And I thought if I knew then what I know now,  then my life could have been more like the Van Trap family in the Sound of Music..( Ironically both the Kit Kat Club and the VanTrap family household shut down due to the huge evil force of the Hitler).

If you think about it, Maria, the guitar playing nun,  eventually marries a really cute guy with 6 great kids, by way of first running off to join a convent.  Maria had no place being there and everyone knew it.  She was just running. Like me when I went to Pensacola.     Remember that song,  "How do you solve a problem like Maria?" After that, the head lady kicks her out, and Maria just happens to run smack into her new husband's life who had 6 musically amazing kids who could all sing on key and a mansion sitting on a beautiful hillside.

Talk about a show!!!  I could have been her easily.  I mean ,  not only did she do shows for her husband with the kids, she had great fun biking all over the countryside in matching costumes, and hanging from trees.   That rocks!!   Yes the flip side to being Sally Bowles in Caberet's Kit Kat  Club was being Maria in the Van Trap family.    But no......  I am a can can dancer.  :)  I can't play the guitar anyway.  

Mostly we can all spin stories to find good and humor.   We can't go back and say, should have, would have, could have......It is most important that our our story is that it is going to somewhere.   Where is not so important.  Hopefully it is for good and belief that God has a plan is crucial for overcoming.  

Take the book , Glass Castle.    Holy cow , that girl had a crazy up-bringing but she told her story from her view.  Her view actually made since of it all even though she was raised by homeless parents in horrible conditions.   Her nutty existence and life turned out this seemingly great girl with an educated and contented life.  She could have played the I am this way because my parents raised me homeless card.   Ok, wait,  she is doing that, actually making money on her past, but we want to read about it cause it gives hope.

Life should be about getting somewhere.  Complainers/nay sayers are dead weight, a cart with a broken wheel.  Maybe that is the difference.   There is always a choice on which way you spin your life.  And your outcome will be the result of how you spin it - hopefully upward and forward.   Move on like the Starship Enterprise, bravely go where no man has gone before, in order to try to make the world a better place.  

Actually , the core of the problem of not being able to move on,  exists NOT from our identity and traits born out of our past,  but not taking the first step into learning and loving , accepting one's self in spite of it all.  Instead of doing this we make choices not based on truth.

Not knowing ourself makes it all too easy for others to speak for us and do for us.   Then we wake up and say, that is not what I want to say or do, how did it get this way.   It is no one's fault really and probably not as drastic as my Christian Gay friend, but still a new journey.

Making a huge life decision without interest of  knowing/loving one's self,  is like getting a degree without an education. Katie always says, when having doubts about her education, "Mom, you do not have a degree."  I reply, " Isn't that obvious, look at my life."   :)  "Don't do as I do."   We are all just doing the best we can.  And God makes us all a little crazy.   So be good with it, not only be good with it, work with it.

If I had met Jake  in my 20s and not my 40s - I bet we would have married, had 6 kids, all very musically inclined in matching costumes and running around the countryside singing and a maid living in a mansion.  OK truth be told - if we had met earlier then I would not have been ready to handle each other.   But it is a fun fantasy to think of the new Westfall Singing Group, using airline passes to travel the world performing.

Actually what I do want to know is why getting married or not has to be the goal.     Getting married as far as I am concerned is a bonus in your journey not a destination. Maria in the Sound of Music didn't want to get married.  Sally Bowles did but was hanging out with the wrong type for her personality.  She would sing, "Maybe this time, I'll be lucky."  Obviously Sally did not know that she should wait and go out with a Jake.

If we focus on getting married, then does it happen , is it really like a business interview or does it just happen... In the Bible it says the Truth will set you free.  It does not say getting married will.   I say this because I was married twice, and I did learn a bunch.....but freedom -not so much.....

My friend Kim says all the time, if we keep doing the same thing over and over then how do we expect our world to change.  And that is just it.    Our world is huge, with so many options.  There is no excuse to be stuck.   If your wheel is broken fix it, if it cant be fixed, change it.  Move on. 

When Jake and I met, we both just forget all together about meeting the one.   I am sure my daughter wishes I had come to this conclusion when she was younger.  But the difference was now I was not chasing a carrot I actually was content just pushing the cart. Oh my cart now living in Ft Worth in the Art District,  still contained little pieces of the Kit Kat club in it, going to tap class, and swing dancing.    I even did the occasional Cinderella gig for kids birthday parties.   I still did my thing, on a very small stage.  And it was good.

But not good enough.  My world was ready to move on.  The wind was changing.

Patron

Patron - hum, Patron in a bottle looks harmless enough.  And for the most part is fun.  Don't rely on it for a good time because it will  leave you empty and sad.   For some reason Patron has the affect more then any other alcohol.    It can bring out the very worse in a person.   It will make you say things and do things even lie, for it lies to your face all the time.   The fun is fleeting and you will find yourself in bed with a stranger maybe promises of a future that does not exist.

So for sure - do not worry when Patron does not produce good results.   Patron is not your friend and will take advantage of you.  Oh - the bottle is all happy and cute, alluring even.   But as my husband can tell you - Patron at first is your very bestest friend in the whole wide world - however in the long run ... it is just ... Patron.   A bottle full of lies and the beauty is purely the bottle itself and not the insides.   Jake and I have to be very careful when Patron is around.   Too much is not a good thing, and leaves us with a huge bad taste the next day.  Actually my husband , like lots of men,  can turn into the devil and it can make good men go really bad.

So my advice to everyone who enjoys Patron - and who doesn't from time to time.  Do not get hooked and learn to use it as well - for the purpose it was designed to do.   Never trust that awesome feeling of power cause it is deceitful and the truth it might say to you one day - will be all so fleeting.    So learn to take from it what you can , and drink.   But learn to not answer when Patron starts calling.   Make sure you stay in control and not let it control you.

And never trust Patron.  Dance, but do not get close.

Taught to Hate African Americans

Black Children Chooses White Doll Video

The video above really touched my heart.   They showed this video at church.  Wow.

An Episcopalian / Methodist Black Woman Minister spoke.   Between her words she sung black spirituals used by the slaves.   They were so beautiful.   

There were songs about loosing their families because moms, dads and kids were all separated due to slave trades.     There were songs of strength and faith as well.    They were all so powerful.

What was done to the black race was of course intolerable.   But we can't deny it or sweep it under a rug.

So that video that was taken around 2004.  Only 40 years earlier in 1964 a law was passed banning segregation which was implemented soon after the ban of slavery in 1864..    African Americans had over 100 years of slavery, in turned followed a 100 years of segregation.    Those children's grandparents must have lived during segregation times.

I can't figure how to express this feeling, except maybe this.  When a girl finally meets the man of her dreams however when you marry,  you find out that he beats you.  And because of your rotten childhood,  you might think secretly that you deserve it. The girl just stays while everyone watches cause if she wanted out she would get out,   and it is not "that" bad.    And for sure the outsiders think it is better then her past.   And if that woman did get out - there would be tons of info on how to "get over" and "move on" from her situation.   

Teaching and embracing what happen will not give power to the negativity of the situation but will allow our spirit be free for both whites and blacks.

When I taught the poorer school in Dallas there was a huge discrimination between the African Americans and the Hispanics.   The Hispanics at this school would not even hold hands with the African Americans.  These were 5th Graders.  It was crazy because they to me were all the same.   All going to school in a place that would not be deemed fit for pets in Southlake.   But they found strength to hate each other, because their strength lies in hate for themselves.  

At one school in Hurst, a more affluent school I can remember this Caucasian girl saying as we said our "Good Mornings" that she was scared that Borack Obama got elected the night before.    Wow - a 5th grader had an opinion about our new black president.  I asked her on what issue was she scared.   She said because he was black.  I said so what, who told you this was bad.   She replied her church.  There was one black boy standing next to her.      I asked her if she believes everything people tell her?     I sat the class down and we discussed how important for us to do our research and not be sheep.   People come from all different shoes so their opinion might be justified but before repeating another's opinion it is best to find out for yourself.   

But before we can work on being or not being sheep, maybe we should work on self esteem.    Black Power came around in the 60s to insure equality between the blacks and the whites trying to force self esteem.  But self esteem is hard to accomplish when a good part of African American Moms try hard to make their daughters simulate white hair.  You cannot force self esteem through equality groups.   Self esteem comes from love.   The level of love depends on how much acceptance of one's self and by not continuing harboring judgment on one's past but letting go.  

How do you fix self esteem after years of slavery, separating families, not to mention the economic status of most African Americans.   I say embrace your past, embrace your now.   Sing the slave songs like the minister did in church. I believe singing and dancing is from the soul.   It will allow your spirit to rise above all negativity.  Self esteem can not be taught.  But from embracing, accepting things good and bad, we can from that choose love and from that make better decisions.    And the songs and dances of that time - were good and great.   They inspired greatness.  Tools needed to overcome.

Inspiration comes from action - doing.    Maybe we could teach songs like the old slave songs to our elementary children.    Tools that might help them understand the depth of the feelings of the past, good for all races, and also tools to get through their future. 

Joy filled life is not about how awesome you are or how great your stuff is, or awards but it is about embracing all of you,   including the dirty not so great part.   It made you who are you are today.    If you do not like you, then acknowledge, embrace, then change by the tools that will work for you.  Don't use my tools, they may not work cause we are different.   Our past is like a instruction book.  It is important to not cast judgement but to embrace and move on.   Make change by what we acknowledge.

I believe also that people without a "colorful" past are the most lost, seeming to be always searching.  But that is another blog.  In a nut shell, those with great fathers/past have the most difficult to break out of their shell of complacent lives not being able to make a decision maybe for fear of causing a ripple in a pretty perfect glass like existence.  As well it seems these people cast judgement easily because they see others as a threat to their perfect smooth glass.   When in fact , they are the ones trapped and not content.

Our strength is in our character , and beauty lies with your heart.   Hard for some to have courage to run with that.    So instead they go searching. 

I will never know what it was to be a slave , but actually neither do you.   We should embrace every truth about it, and sing those beautiful spirituals and give praise to the people like Harriet Tubman.  Yes if you are African American maybe your pool is not picture perfect.   However,  this fact does not make African Americans better or worse then anyone.   It makes your past colorful / different.  I believe it was the songs that kept the soul alive - and strong full of faith.   It will be the songs that will bring light..   Light that will inspire love.

So maybe we could work together and form a group where we go out and teach them to love.  Love themselves - it has to start early like around 4yrs - 7yrs.  A program that teaches love - love themselves.  Get them to sing again.   Old spirituals and all can learn some for their own.  And dancing too, not for competition but for the soul by expressing.  This group would focus on love.    After that - self esteem blossoms and from esteem they will see and know God.   Peace.

Maybe in schools, children can learn dances, and also learn in African spiritual songs and well as teach the children African dances, including English Baroque dances. All of it is so fun!   Laughing would have to be a part , what's not to laugh about the Americans turning the stuffy Baroque dances into Hoe Downs?    Right now the Hot Ballroom project is doing an amazing job teaching ballroom, but they do not teach one African originated dance.

Also too - I think it is as important to teach the children to compose their own short spiritual songs and to be able to teach their songs to others.    To teach is to learn your subject twice.   

Being a really white girl - I do not know if I would be a good candidate for this project.   However I would be willing to work at some level.    hum - just throwing it out there.....................

Love always.