pt at large

“Miracles and Other Deceptions”: Sleightly Wonder-ful Show at the Omni Parker House

“Miracles and Other Deceptions"

Omni Parker House, 60 School Street, Boston, MA, 02106
Fridays, 7 PM and 9PM
November 16, 2018

I’m rolling up my sleeves to show I have nothing to hide as I tell you this is one of the best evening’s entertainments in Boston right now.

“Miracles and Other Deceptions,” a 75-minute program of theatrical sleight of hand magic is all of that. Paul Gertner was smitten with the idea of magic when he was a kid. He’s so good at it, he presents all over the world. He’s fooled Penn and Teller. Three times. Fooling me was a lot easier and I loved every minute.

No grand stage illusions by levitating a woman, or having her climb into a small box, driving swords into the closed box, and then opening it up to discover only air inside. This is the best kind of magic. Small scale, a few props, and big surprises with playing cards, coins, and cups and balls.

The set up is perfect. A small room on the Omni Parker House mezzanine level, a large round table covered in black velvet seating 12 people, plus one for Paul Gertner. Risers accommodating a dozen others are set behind the table close enough to see the goings on. I was two seats away from Gertner; my pal Myke who invited me to join him for the show sat right next to him.

"The closer you look, the less you'll see!" Gertner says in the first few minutes. Giving into glee is much easier.

Telling you what happened would spoil the fun. I can tell you that with playing cards, coins and a few cups and balls he will bedazzle you with magic and patter that makes the show feel like a musical that hums along just fine without the music. Back stories, anecdotes about his father, children, Johnny Carson, and wife seamlessly connect with the sleight of hand he performs. It is utterly mesmerizing for the ears as well as the eyes.

“Does anyone have a $20 bill?” he asks. I quickly reach into my pocket. What happened next had something to do with a lemon and was stupefying.

I haven’t had so much fun since my mother, her mother, and all her sisters were playing Peekaboo with me when I was an infant. OK, that’s an assumption. A fact is I haven’t done as much oooo-ing and ahhhh-ing in a long time.

“The sense of wide-eyed wonder you had as a kid still lurks in your psyche,” he tells you upfront. No small part of his show is that he makes that re-appear too.

SIDEBAR
Pricing; VIP “At The Table” $60, 12 people; General Admission: $45 in second and third row and close to the magic, 12 people, seats not assigned. Definitely recommend VIP seating.

Seating: Arrive 30 minutes early, wait in the hallway on the mezzanine level till Gertner’s wife Kathy opens the door 15 minutes before showtime. The 12 seats around the VIP table are first come, first served, as are second and third row. Myke was the first ticket holder for the table who entered the room and got those fabulous seats right next to Paul Gertner.

A Happy Thanksgiving message that magically turns into a personal timeline/mini biography from Paul

“Miracles and Other Deceptions" program covers.

 
Myke, Paul Gertner, PT

The residual memories of the joy of seeing magic being performed a few feet from my chair at the table in synch with an evening of personal anecdotes that scaffold the illusions has kept me beaming days and days after witnessing it.

https://gertner.com/developing-new-magic-trick/

https://gertner.com/upside-down-thinking/

Thanksgiving: Alternate Takes About What You Learned In School (UPDATED NOV. 21, 2018)

November 18, 2018

UPDATE FROM JESSIE LITTLE DOE BAIRD, A LEADER OF THE MASHPEE WAMPANOAG TRIBAL NATION,  ON NOVEMBER 21, 2018 (The true story of the first Thanksgiving and what it meant)...deep context for information and links that follow.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2018/11/21/the-true-story-first-thanksgiving-and-what-meant/fZFrN9YZQhVLZF6fLel5PJ/story.html

The New York Times weighed in. So did Readers Digest, not everyone's cup of tea, but as far as I know, it has no driving political motivation to fake us out. To this day, there are contradictory references of how English and Native Americans gathered on that first occasion. A mix of myths and facts surrounds the holiday. To steer clear of complicated history, best to look at it with a small lens focused on friends and family and the ties that bind us together. Politics is the third rail, don't even think about it unless you are completely certain you're with kindred spirits.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/21/us/thanksgiving-myths-fact-check.html

• A few factoids asserted in this story...

• Squanto - complicated: He was captured by the English in 1614 and later sold into slavery in Spain. He spent several years in England, where he learned English. He returned to New England 1619, only to find his entire Patuxet tribe dead from smallpox. He met the Pilgrims in March 1621. Extraordinary story.

• Native Americans (approximately 90) did participate in a three day feast of food, games and prayer; there is no written record of how they were invited.

• First feast day of Thanksgiving in 1621? Nope, a day of Thanksgiving had been celebrated for centuries by Europeans and Native Americans after successful harvests.

• No turkey, no pie (no butter, no wheat flour) at first feast... sorry.

• 1863 Abe Lincoln declares a day of thanksgiving for Union victories.

• First boatloads called themselves were Separatists looking to establish a theocracy, which they did.

• The company that sponsored them was a business looking for profits, first settlers shipped them animal skins, fur, lumber.

https://www.rd.com/culture/thanksgiving-facts-that-actually-arent-true/

• A few factoids asserted in this story...

• First arrivals called themselves “Saints”; the term “Pilgrims” not applied generally until around 1880.

• When took place? Likely late September/ mid October after harvest brought in.

• Turkey? Nope; the big dish was venison, something new to the newcomers. “Back in England, deer were on estates and people would be arrested for poaching if they killed these deer … The colonists mentioned venison over and over again in their letters back home.”

• No buckles, tall hats, black clothing; 19th-century artists painted them that way and we've been stuck with that image ever since.

•1863 President Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation declaring “a Day of Thanksgiving and Praise,” the culmination of a 36-year campaign started by so-called “mother” or “godmother” of Thanksgiving, Sarah Josepha Buell Hale—a magazine editor and writer.

• 1939 Franklin D.Roosevelt declared Thanksgiving to be a federal holiday. The exact date? Into the weeds with this timeline here.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs a bill officially establishing the fourth Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day.

The tradition of celebrating the holiday on Thursday dates back to the early history of the Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay colonies, when post-harvest holidays were celebrated on the weekday regularly set aside as “Lecture Day,” a midweek church meeting where topical sermons were presented. A famous Thanksgiving observance occurred in the autumn of 1621, when Plymouth governor William Bradford invited local Indians to join the Pilgrims in a three-day festival held in gratitude for the bounty of the season.

Thanksgiving became an annual custom throughout New England in the 17th century, and in 1777 the Continental Congress declared the first national American Thanksgiving following the Patriot victory at Saratoga. In 1789, President George Washington became the first president to proclaim a Thanksgiving holiday, when, at the request of Congress, he proclaimed November 26, a Tuesday, as a day of national thanksgiving for the U.S. Constitution. However, it was not until 1863, when President Abraham Lincoln declared Thanksgiving to fall on the last Thursday of November, that the modern holiday was celebrated nationally.

With a few deviations, Lincoln’s precedent was followed annually by every subsequent president–until 1939. In 1939, Franklin D. Roosevelt departed from tradition by declaring November 23, the next to last Thursday that year, as Thanksgiving Day. Considerable controversy surrounded this deviation, and some Americans refused to honor Roosevelt’s declaration.
For the next two years, Roosevelt repeated the unpopular proclamation, but on November 26, 1941, he admitted his mistake and signed a bill into law officially making the fourth Thursday in November the national holiday of Thanksgiving Day.

https://www.pilgrimhall.org/pdf/TG_What_Happened_in_1621.pdf

• Primary source contradicting information on one source above, identifies who was present, what happened on first day (actually three days) of what we celebrate now as Thanksgiving.

Edward Winslow's Journal, September 6, 1621 to March 22, 1621

• The most detailed documentation of the settlers early days, worthy of a docu-drama.

• Thanksgiving is considered a National Day of Mourning for Native Americans since the event marks the negative influence of white settlers on their culture and livelihood.

UPDATE FROM WAMPANOAG NATION NOVEMBER 21, 2018

https://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2018/11/21/the-true-story-first-thanksgiving-and-what-meant/fZFrN9YZQhVLZF6fLel5PJ/story.html

https://plymouth400inc.org/OurStory
Squanto: brought to England as slave; returns to Plymouth and aids survival; this site dedicated to the 400th anniversary of the Mayflower landing in Plymouth; time will tell if they get the story of the Wampanoags right.

https://www.si.edu/spotlight/thanksgiving
All things Thanksgiving

The whole story about the Separatists, Saints, Pilgrims, Wampanoags, is intriguing and complex. Google Squanto, Separatists in the Netherlands, William Bradford and his two volume "Of Plymouth Plantation, 1620-1647" for starters. His appalling account of a massacre of 300 Pequot when the English burned their village gives credence to why Native Americans label our day of Thanksgiving as a Day of Mourning.

Happy Thanksgiving...

 

To Survive on This Shore: Photographs and Interviews with Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Older Adults

To Survive On This Shore

Photographs and Interviews with Transgender and
 Gender Nonconforming Older Adults

A Project by Jess T. Dugan and Vanessa Fabbre

A presentation and book signing at the Harvard Bookstore, 1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138
November 13, 2018

Part 1 Impressions

Where to start?
I’m in an audience of gay, straight, transsexual, transgender, transfluid, bisexual, gender non-conforming adults - quite possibly the most non-judgemental group of people I’ve ever gathered with. After a few minutes. I stop trying to use personal pronouns to describe my fellow attendees, millennials to septuagenarians. Downshifting to put my stereotypical mind into neutral gear, I stop worrying about it.

 

Welcome to the world of “On This Shore: Photographs and Interviews with Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Older Adults,” A Project by Jess T. Dugan and Vanessa Fabbre, who are presenting tonight.

For the next hour, I’m taken on a passage to that shore, about as foreign to me as Madagascar.

Sitting in the Harvard Bookstore before the presentation I think about the title, “On This Shore,” the perfect metaphor for this project. To reach a shore, you have to make a voyage, often without a reliable map, over rough seas, and an uncertain timetable. Landing on shore isn’t the end of your voyage, it’s the beginning. What lies beyond the shore? Allies? Adversaries? A place you can call home?

Dugan and Fabbre have made their own voyages. This is the night to present their project, the story of men and women in their fifties to seventies, forerunners, who, often at great risk and sacrifice, transited to the other shore.

Part 2 The Project

One mission, two vocabularies, one using a lens, the other using a pen, Dugan and Fabbre created “On This Shore: Photographs and Interviews with Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Older Adults.” The photos won’t work without the subjects. The words would have no context without the photographs. Look for yourself.
https://www.tosurviveonthisshore.com/interviews/
https://www.tosurviveonthisshore.com/portraits/

Dugan and Fabbre, accomplished photographer and writer, respectively, tell the story as well as they danced together at a country line dance when they met at a gay cowboy country bar in 2012.

Over time and a developing relationship, they found they had overlapping interests in the LGBT community, the subject of aging, and the expertise to tell that story.

You’re probably saying, what the heck are the prospects for a project that tells the stories of subjects in their 50s all the way to their 90s…they’re old and trans-something and we’re in a youth oriented heterosexual culture. It took a generation for gay culture to become normalized through TV, films, and celebrity personalities. If transgender society follows the same path, this project will be one of the tipping points.

Part 3 The Harvard Bookstore event

As brilliant and perceptive as they may be, photographers and writers are not always reliably the best presenters for their own material. Jess T. Dugan and Vanessa Fabbre are an exception to the rule. Over the next 45 minutes they carefully assemble the pieces of their story and the story of this book with clarity, warmth, and empathy. The bookstore is filled to capacity, 90 people crammed together on folding chairs, standing around the perimeter, and sitting on the counters.

This pair was way ahead of a cultural curve that now talks out loud about transgender matters. Referendum question 3 on the Massachusetts ballot this year was about transgender rights. This week, President Trump has been lobbying to refuse transgender men and women the right to serve in the military.

This isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. For a long time, the way out of the mainstream subject generated fear and loathing in heterosexual society. But, for their subjects in the shadows of misunderstood sexuality, tonight is an affirmation.

The creators tell us upfront that the project is a conscious and intentional vehicle to pay tribute to the generations who paved the way for transgender identities and to give younger trans people a sense of their past and their future. This can be scary stuff for people in the midst of it. I think of this book as a gift to them.

The project took shape between 2012 and 2017. One of the first subjects was Grace Sterling Stowell, whom Jess, describing herself tonight as a “baby queer” teenager scouring the bookshelves for stories about sex change surgeries, had met while she was working at this very bookstore. Grace is the executive director of the Boston Alliance of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Youth.

“We started the project with people we knew, others found out by word-of-mouth. We called LGBT centers to ask who are your trans elders,” says Vanessa.

“I think 2015 was a trans tipping point. We did not want to do Hollywood or celebrity stories. We wanted to do relatable stories of real and complicated people,” says Jess.  Dugan’s photos are character studies in black, white and infinite shades of gray. Fabbre’s text mirrors the subtleties of the photos.

Others got wind of the project after The New York Times wrote about it. “Many of our subjects wanted to have their stories recorded. They had a conscious wish to give something to the next generation, “ says Jess, who holds a BFA in Photography from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design, a Master of Liberal Arts in Museum Studies from Harvard University, and an MFA in Photography from Columbia College Chicago.

“Their motivation was clearly intentional,” says Vanessa. Most had ‘come ashore’ during an era when it had no precedent in everyday culture and was, frankly, dangerous. They were survivors. With the rise of the transgender population becoming a mainstream topic (Caitlin Jenner), having the opportunity to tell their stories to understanding artists, without fear, must have felt liberating.

“We would meet in the home of a subject, or an LGBT center, or a park, that allowed people to be where they wanted to be situated and that felt like home for them,” says Jess.

They knew from the start they wanted a diverse range in age between 50 and 90 years old. Diversity was key. Trust me, it’s as wide as the Mississippi River…age, race, ethnicity, social status, gender identification and categories - and uses terms like binary, non-binary  that I had to look up to understand their meaning.

By the time they finished, they had profiles and photographs of 65 people for the book although they interviewed and photographed 86 people. The subjects they profiled, from small towns to metropolises across America, had made a transition between 1970 and 2016. The book was published in Germany in May 2018 and in America in August 2018. It has sold out. A second printing is being considered.

“We consciously wanted to balance struggle and joy to tell a complex story and not sugarcoat it. We asked a question to one subject who’d experienced poverty and discrimination and he spoke for one and a half hours straight, then said, ‘We’re done,” says Jess.

Vanessa, PhD, LCSW, an Assistant Professor at the Brown School of Social Work and Affiliate Faculty in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Washington University in St. Louis, uses that story in her classes. Her research explores the conditions under which LGBT people age well.

“By agreement we used subjects first real name. This was a big emotional deal for us and for our subject. After parents of a subject read the story, they apologized for all the years of using the wrong pronoun for their child,” says Vanessa suppressing tears.

Comment from the audience: “As an older person, I feel we have lost a sense of community and I sense a divide between the younger and older generation. As young people, we were aping heterosexual models. I see this book as a cry for community.”

Jess responds. “The subject of community came up from our interview subjects. We want people to use the book to manage the gap. Organizations like SAGE bring younger and older people together at inter-generational meals to build community and break down misunderstandings that still divide younger and older trans people.”

SAGE Advocacy and Services for LGBT Elders reports that the U.S. census has never measured how many LGBT people live in America and estimates that there are currently around 3 million LGBT adults over age 50. That number is expected to grow to around 7 million by 2030.

They will have the elders in this book to thank for paving the way.

“There is no road. Walking makes the road,” says the poet Antonio Machado. The subjects of this book have made their own roads where there were none. Jess T. Dugan and Vanessa Fabbre show us the maps.

Photo by Paul A. Tamburello,Jr.

 

David Bromberg and His Band: Americana Tour de Force

David Bromberg Big Band
Wilbur Theatre, 246 Tremont Street, Boston, MA
November 8, 2018

David Bromberg and His Big Band is a dazzling three-ring circus. For sheer musicianship, you’d be hard pressed to find a tighter, more accomplished group of players on any stage.

Bromberg is the ring master holding it all together center stage with his collection of guitars and stage presence; the quintet of saxophone/clarinet, French horn, trumpet, slide trombone and bass guitar lines up on his right; lead guitar, violin/fiddle to his left; timekeeper and drummer barely visible sits atop a platform behind; another platform to accommodates three Bromberg-ette singers.  Several band members add vocals, and boy do they ever get into it.

The whole stage becomes is a marvelous kaleidoscopic performance - Bromberg soloing, playing with the quintet, playing with lead guitar and fiddle/violin, playing with the force of the his entire band.

Bromberg is having fun, singing with gusto in his slightly nasal baritone, with a good deal of body English to punctuate the lyrics. Gusto is good. His devotion to the spirit of the music and the sentiments from which it was born is better. 

A student of American musical heritage and genres, Bromberg’s repertoire is wide and deep.  In his fifty-year and counting career, he’s played with Jerry Garcia, Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Emmylou Harris, and inspiring bluesman and mentor Reverend Gary Davis. Blues is Bromberg’s home territory.

Blues is story-telling set to music. Bromberg is channeling the emotions that created them with an easy going controlled vibrato, some downright righteous gospel inflected testifying he probably learned from his days of leading his blind mentor Reverend Gary Davis to the Sunday church services where he preached and sang, or crooning that perfectly projects the sentiment he wants to convey. I feel his energy all the way back in the second row of the mezzanine of the Wilbur Theatre.

For him, blues is like an ice cream parlor filled with equally delicious but different flavors. Classic songs by iconic Robert Johnson, or country blues (Kentucky Blues) or gospel infused blues (Yield Not) are from the same parlor but have their own distinct musical flavor. Bromberg loves them all.  

Over the years Bromberg has played it all - Americana, Appalachian folk, bluegrass, jazz, pop, funk, gospel, and a ton of blues. All of it seeps into the band’s set tonight. If you detect an occasional nod to New Orleans style playing amongst the brass and clarinet and saxophone, you’d be right. The trumpet has plenty of lip, the slide trombone plenty of invention, the saxophone/clarinet flashes of Pete fountain. The French horn never had a chance to solo but softened the edges of everything the band played.

David Bromberg is clearly in command. Lots of eye contact with us in the audience and that big smile on his face is because he’s doing what he was born to do, play with feeling, mastery of his instrument, and deep knowledge of the origins of every song he sings.

In the business of live shows, attitude, engagement with the audience, pacing of the show, song selection, and a perceptive ability to read the audience to synchronize what you feel like playing with what your audience might want to hear requires confidence, not a small amount of ego, and abundant ESP.

Set list?  

A moment after the first song, a fan in the audience shouts out a request. 

“Thanks, you but you don’t know shit about how to construct a set list.” Can you think of any other top tier musician who’d have the chutzpah for that riposte to a die-hard fan? Most chuckle. They know the man.

The set is a totally organic version of the child’s game of Telephone. A moment after each song finishes, Bromberg turns to his right, says something to the bass player who passes it along to the rest of the quintet. Bromberg turns left, says a title to lead guitar who passes it on to violin/fiddle player.

The trumpet player riffs through his charts. Everyone else knows it cold. Bromberg plays a flawless intro, the ensemble gets in gear. He strides toward a musician, nods, and a spontaneous fresh solo floats, careens off or caresses the walls of the theater. Bromberg smiles like a proud papa after they play the daylights out of their solo. He’s a genius with the guitar, dobro, and mandolin resting on stands behind him. Endlessly inventive, he appears lost in the moment. I’ll bet he never plays a song the same way twice.

Bromberg sings “Walking Blues,” “Kaatskill Serenade,” “Why Are People Like That,” “This Month,” and "The Blues The Whole Blues and Nothing But the Blues"from his 2016 “The Blues and Nothing But The Blues” album. He uses the stops (the rests) in his singing and playing as effectively and demonstratively as any musician I’ve ever heard.

In the middle of “Kaatskill Serenade,” a lyrical song that begins with “Where are the men that I used to sport with, what has become of my beautiful town…”Bromberg pauses, says, “This isn’t the same country I was raised in.” He gets pretty specific about his dim view about current politics. He’s not concerned whether you agree or not, but needs to say what’s on his mind. The applause shows that a bunch of his fans know what he’s talking about. 

His rendition of “The Tennessee Waltz”, sung solo, is the purest, most affecting version I’ve ever heard.  By the time I thought Bromberg had delivered as many surprises as he had up his sleeve, along came a slightly rumba-ish version of Sam Cooke’s “What A Wonderful World.” Awesome, dude!
 
I might have been the only first timer in the house. The crowd often applauded when they figured out what Bromberg was about to play. Favorites like the encore “Send Me To The ‘Lectric Chair” have fans singing the choruses.  Showman and musical shaman, Bromberg is the best musician I’ve barely heard of.

Tonight is living proof that he’s earned the title of godfather of Americana music.

Photo by Paul A. Tamburello, Jr.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Video and links about Bromberg

https://store.compassrecords.com/products/the-blues-the-whole-blues-and-nothing-but-the-blues

includes audio clips of each song

https://www.pbs.org/video/-canvas-david-bromberg/

Wonderful World

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Jgk_p3kMmw

Kaatskill Serenade

David Bromberg concept album "Use Me"

Biography, Discography from AllMusic

 

 

 

The Bottlecap Cafe - The Cheers of Key West

The Bottlecap Cafe
1128 Simonton Street
Key West, FL
October 26, 2018
http://bottlecapkeywest.com

An off-the-beaten-path cozy, utterly unpretentious Key West neighborhood bar that a tourist like me would never find without being invited by locals who hang out here.

The inviting warm glow of the Bottlecap Cafe isn’t coming from the lights. It’s coming from the other folks at the bar, like Samantha Tarracino Gonzalez and her husband Tony who invited us to join them as the Masquerade March ended around 7:30 PM.

This is an honest-to-goodness Cheers type bar where everybody, including Erin the bartender, knows not just each other's names, but their stories. Erin pours Samantha a glass of Prosecco and pineapple juice as soon as she walks in the door, no words necessary.

Any friend of Samantha and Tony’s is bestowed an informal membership to the Bottlecap Society. Within minutes, we’re yakking it up with Samantha, her friends, Tony and Tony’s cousin.

There are a dozen bars on Duval and Green Streets smack in the middle of the tourist zone. They’ve earned their stars, have good wait staffs, good food and what the heck, places like the Hog’s Breath Saloon, Fogarty’s, Captain Tony’s Saloon, and of course, Jimmy Buffett’s Margarittaville are part of Key West lore. They’re all worth visiting as long as you don’t figure that your bar crawl ends there.

Google 'bars in Key West'. NINE PAGES of them! Ask around. You just might find one like The Bottlecap Cafe that will wrap itself around you like a warm hug from a long lost friend.

The Bottlecap Cafe - where everybody knows your name

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Samantha points to a photo of Captain Tony (above).

OF NOTE
One of Key West’s less recognized features it its strong sense of community.

In early 2007, when the owner of The Bottlecap Café began working the Friday Happy Hour (5 PM-8 PM) shift, she was not comfortable taking tips from her customers. Check this heart warming story to see how she solved the situation by donating her tips to local charities - and giving her staff a cut of the proceeds from the Happy Hour sales. "Non-Profit Fridays" recipients are booked for about one year out! http://bottlecapkeywest.com/non-profit-fridays.htm

Several events during Fantasy Fest donate proceeds to area non-profits. Money raised by men and women vying to be named King and Queen of the annual Fantasy Fest is donated to A.H. Monroe that provides case managed healthcare; food programs; counseling; housing; clinical, and other supportive and volunteer services; increases affordable housing by acquiring, developing, and maintaining low income housing for persons in need; and conducting health education and linkage to care. This year's total raised by aspiring candidates - $275,000!

http://www.ahmonroe.org/about-aids-help/

Fantasy Fest 2018: The Masquerade March - Conchs On Parade 2

Fantasy Fest, Key West, Florida, Friday, October 26, 2018

March route: Key West Cemetery on Frances Street winding through Old Town

 

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Let there be no mistake about it...the Masquerade March is an all-in  Key West experience with a focus on  local color. Conchs from Key West and the up islands march and make up a huge percentage of spectators, surprisingly an all ages crowd. They get the spirit of the event, enjoy how the marchers dream up ways to create costumes to match the year's theme, this  year "The Games People Play." Clearly, you don't have to  have a costume to have a grand time.

Photos by Paul A. Tamburello, Jr.

Fantasy Fest 2018: The Masquerade March - Conchs On Parade

Fantasy Fest, Key West, Florida, Friday, October 26, 2018

March route: Key West Cemetery on Frances Street winding through Old Town

What's a parade without music? Members of Fantasy Fest  King and Queen's court disembark for some rummy refreshments.https://fantasyfest.com/ah-monroe/

A star spangled promenade on Duval Street way before the  Masquerade March

Measuring up to the competition...rolling along in style

Messages and messengers...
 

Her top was abandoned a few blocks ago, her smile and tan lines are joyous beacons

Just for today, Key West has the market on Barbies...




Tatas galore...

Oh the games people play...

and when she's not chilling in Key West, Niki Relon, aspiring para-Olympic athlete, motivational speaker, chef, boxer... is enjoying the vibe.

Refreshment stop at Eden House, Fleming Street

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Kyle Vest @#Kyle paints me up in style!

Avi at work...

Parading down Fleming Street till dusk

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Masquerade March is the Rose Bowl Parade in Key West. Residents along Frances, Fleming and Simonton Streets and hundreds from Key West and others from the keys to the north drive down, set themselves up along the streets and cheer their spirited friends. For the previous eight days,tourists and veteran Fantasy Fest fans have been cavorting up and down Duval and Green Street. This is their turn. Trust me, they're making  the most of it. This is a pretty over the top festival. I cannot think of anywhere else on the planet Fantasy Fest could or would succeed. I mean, look at this. Grown adults playing like mischievous children when the adults aren't watching.

 

 

Spectators are loving this...some of their neighbors are showing off!

• 
• 
•  
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
•  
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
•  
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Masquerade March Spills onto Duval Street

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Duval Street is closed to traffic except for celebrants in costume (or lack thereof) or just chillin'. Food and gift vendors are doing brisk business. Body paint artists still busy with customers...the night is young.

Photos by Paul A. Tamburello, Jr.

 

 

Fantasy Fest 2018: My Blue Heaven

 Fantasy Fest 2018: Wednesday, October 24, 2018

My Blue Heaven

729 Thomas St. Key West, Florida 33040

 

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Photos by Paul A. Tamburello, Jr.

Text to follow

 

Fantasy Fest 2018: Togas, Paint, and Do It Yourself Costumerie

Fantasy Fest 2018: Thursday, October 25, 2018

Just another day at Fantasy Fest: A Naughty Bike Ride (you figure it out) down Duval Street; Karaoke at Two Friends Bar; Dante’s 12th annual Halos & Horns Pool Party; local musicians playing at the Customs House; The History, Culture, and Politics of Bondage/Domination/Sadomasochism at the Customs House; Annual Headdress Ball at the new Key West Amphitheater at Truman Waterfront Park; Rockabily “Shake, Rattle & Roll Party at Sunset Pier; 3rd Annual White Party; Sandbar Sports Grill Annual Body Paint Competition; Sloppy Joe’s Annual Toga Party; Fat Tuesday Pink Party; Cowboy Bill’s annual wet T shirt contest; Pajama and Lingerie Party at the Bottle Cap Lounge; Irish Kevin’s 80s Party; plus all the fun you can have strolling up and down Duval Street. 

These goings on began on and around Duval Street after 8 PM, but trust me, dahling, the fun has been going on since Friday October 19. The grand finale will be the Grand Parade on Saturday October 27, attended by tens of thousands of your BFFs.

Oh, and Sunday October 28, for those who want to squeeze the very last drop out of this juicy piece of low hanging fruit, an 8 AM tailgate party to watch the Philadelphia Eagles play Jacksonville Jaguars in England (yes), dress in your best team pajamas, and a Children's Day at Bayview Park from 12 Noon to 5 PM and then.... TA DAAAA... "The Fat Lady Sings" Tea Dance at La Te Da Hotel,Restaurant, Cabaret and Bars way out on 1125 Duval Street from Noon to 5 PM.

Then start planning for next year. But I digress.

Three of a kind?

 
Poker? A pair of queens? A Royal flush? All kinds of costumes and participants of every inclination... spectators, revelers, plus a whole bunch of people who just got off the cruise ship in the harbor ("We aren't in Kansas anymore!). You are about to see the most incongruous collection of people you'll see until this time next year. People in t shirts and flip flops mingle with people in body paint, sequins, pasties and elaborate and inspired "Games People Play" costumes. Honest to goodness, it's sort of like a zoo without bars, spectators and participants checking each other out with curiously and a smile. Cameras and iPhones click and flash away, including mine.

Counter-intuitive? You betcha. What would be your normal reaction when a perfect stranger takes a picture of you in your birthday suit. Toss that out the window. Here, you flash a smile to go along with an acre of your exposed flesh - and pose. You got someone's attention! You certainly didn't come here to hide your light under a basket. You came ready for kleig lights. Flash away! Everybody is clicking photos of everybody else. The chances that someone back home in the plumbing, education, dentistry etc businesses back home will see you playing like a kid in a sandbox before you were taught that being nearly naked in public is inappropriate are slim to none.

Time to promenade...this couple packed real light for this stroll.

Silent slow rolling by golf cart on part of Duval Street above Caroline where the street is still open to vehicles...

  
where you can pose with Beetle...or Amazon Prime....

Here's the theme...the grand theme is to have a good time whether in costume or not.

And the TWAT Team is on patrol...dispensing verification stickers.

Kings, queens, clowns, emperors...

 
Rock n rollers, onlookers...

Way cool body paint and paraphernalia...

 

Indian Princesses and Key West Muff Divers!

Pretty much captures the jovial vibe on Duval Street.

Around Sloppy Joe's

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Duval Street between Caroline and Front Street is one moveable fantastical feast. The stretch of Duval from Caroline Street to Front Street is closed to vehicular traffic.

Caroline's

• 
• 
• 

Got the idea for Masquerade March from this guy.

 

• 

Caroline's on Duval Street, great place to join the party, fellow celebrants, good service, good food, good prices. How often can you dine while sitting with body painted, festively dressed and undressed other diners.

 

Duval Street jammed with celebrants and spectators

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
•  
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Deep "C" Diving

• 
• 
• 
• 

A much photographed pair of divers, probably hauled the equipment from their boat or rented from the local dive shop...big points for creativity!

 

Smile for the camera...

 

Around Captain Tony's

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

 

Two Cousins: Accidental Tourists!

• 
• 
• 

  Two cousins visit Key West, had NO IDEA Fantasy Fest was going on. It didn't take long for them to get with the program!

Elsewhere on Duval Street

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• Getting into the spirit...and her blouse!
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Finish the night with a shot at Kelly's and a scoop from Mattheessen's
 

Photos by Paul A. Tamburello, Jr.

 

Fantasy Fest 2018: Fogarty's Red Party Rocks

 Fantasy Fest 2018: Wednesday, October 23, 2018

A few of today's events: Disco at Duval Central, Tarzan 'n Jane at the Green Room, Pet Masquerade (furry, feathery or slithery pets, proceeds to the Lower Keys Friends of Animals) at Truman Waterfront Park, Cheraoke (yes, THAT Cher) at The Gates Hotel, Performance Art by local talents at  The Customs House, Dance Party at the Sunset Pier Mallory Square, Blue Party at Lucy's Retired Surfers Bar , Homemade Bikini Contest at Smokin' Tuna Saloon, Fogarty's Red Party, Sex Bull Riding Contest (at Cowboy Bill's of course), ABC Party at Sandbar Sports Grill for starters.

Every event has a theme. If you think there's a tsunami of crimson at an Alabama home game, check out the Red Tide at Fogarty's Red Party. A cocktail of techno/disco music gives partiers a reason to shake their booties. The bar is packed, shots of rum vie with cups of cold beer to put a flush on our cheeks on a gloriously warm Key West night. Wearing red is not required, wearing a smile will do just fine.

It's nigh unto impossible to walk by the street-side patio without being drawn into the energy field called Fogarty's Red Party.

You might even be greeted by princesses!

Wearing red is not required to enter the party, wearing a smile will do just fine.

The sedentary are in a distinct minority; dancing, solo or with a like-minded celebrant, spontaneously breaks out often...

Sometimes on the floor, sometimes on a table top.

Red, white, and blue, the doctor is in...and the crowd soaks in the vibe.

Hugh and his bunny; did i say dancing is breaking out?

Well, you get the idea...over the top (or bottom) costumes get guffaws; satisfaction reigns.

A disco king and his court; this guy had all the moves to act out lyrics of the songs, was happy to teach then pose with everyone.

 
The usual vast array of costumes and people wearing them; other parties on Duval Street are inside the pubs. The Red Party at the edge of the sidewalk, is wide open...and not many can resist the beckon to step through the gate.

Little Red Riding Hoods, no wolves, only admirers in attendance.

The Riviera without the sand...

No doubt about it, music sets a mood.

 

Yes, ma'am that calls for a photo - the guy attaches a string to his ding and bobs it around like a yoyo.

Photos by Paul A. Tamburello, Jr.

Fantasy Fest 2018: Red Parties, Green Parties, Cheraoke, Street Strolling

Fantasy Fest, Wednesday, October 24, 2018, Key West, FL

A few of today's events: Disco at Duval Central, Tarzan 'n Jane at the Green Room, Pet Masquerade (furry, feathery or slithery pets, proceeds to the Lower Keys Friends of Animals) at Truman Waterfront Park , Cheraoke (yes, THAT Cher) at the Gates Hotel, Performance Art by local talents at The Customs House, Dance Party at the Sunset Pier Mallory Square, Blue Party at Lucy's Retired Surfers Bar, Homemade Bikini Contest at  Smokin' Tuna Saloon, Fogarty's Red Party, Sex Bull Riding Contest (at Cowboy Bill's of course), ABC Party at Sandbar Sports Bar.

No way anyone can defy Newton's Laws of Physics and take in all of these. Park yourself on a good observation post and chances are you'll see people coming or going to most of these events.

 

Red Party, Green Party, Blue Party?  They've got it covered...well,mostly covered.

Promenading up and down Duval Street is a must do - and a must see!

 

Fun for spectators, fun for strollers in the limelight.
 
Whether you quietly observe or wear out your phone, it's all good.


The unofficial costume? A smile.

Everyone in a festive mood...

to pose for anyone who asks.

Amigos across from Captain Tony's Saloon is one of the best places to watch the goings on.

Rick's, Angelina's, Dirty Harry's... busy places.

Chilling and spectating; several blocks between Eaton Street and Front Street near Mallory Square are closed to traffic...a hot rod gets attention on Duval Street.

Pow wows and photo opps

 

YES...Cher!

A photographer all the way from Las Vegas and I have been wandering up Duval Street taking some of the same scenes of the same people. "Check out these folks who just walked by, you don’t want to miss that!" His smiling, good-natured companion? “We have been together since 1975 but she doesn’t think she knows me well enough yet to get official!“

 

Where to go next? Business in the miniscule sunglasses boutique is slow.

 

Ahoy there! The Captain Morgan float makes a nightly cruise up Duval Street.

 

Smile for the camera? Sure!

Spectating from Fogarty's

Caroline's, one of the best spots for food on Duval Street; How often do your fellow diners not dress for dinner?

 
Don't worry, the parades of people will still be there when you return to stroll down the street.

  
If you have a red Ts-hirt and some makeup, you're good to go. Whether you costume or get body painted or just wear your T-shirt and tennies, this is all about having an intention to have a good time; even an Easter Bunny makes the scene.
 
 
Pause to reorganize; then get rolling again.

 

Bazoombas on parade!

The games people play, checking  our the scene.

Top hatted and topless,,,

Heading home?

Photos by Paul A. Tamburello, Jr.

 

Fantasy Fest 2018: TuTu Tuesday, What the heck, Plaid too

Fantasy Fest, Key West, Oh Yes, Florida, Tuesday October 23...
 

Fantasy fest is like the French Riviera without the sand. People are comfortable in their own skin, and I mean every-day people like your mailman or your kid’s teacher or for that matter your grandparents. Perfect 10 bodies are not necessary or required. Forget the ideals of classic Greek and Roman statuary. This is a celebration of the every-day anatomy of the 99% of the rest of us who vastly outnumber the mightily toned or endowed.

Attitude counts. Big time. And so does group mentality. This is why we are all here. And have permission to toss the norms of everyday street life out the window.

“My husband made me this chain link bodice for me,“ a radiant 60-something woman says proudly as she stands next to him obliging for a photo, radiant smile to complement lovely mature tatas.

I’ll bet they have been planning to come here for months. And that her husband, with gold Mardi Gras beads draped around his neck, was happy to indulge her to show off her beautiful features. A sense of playfulness has descended over Duval Street, transforming it into a Magic Kingdom for adults.

It is so wonderfully out-of-whack that when a perfect stranger asks to take your photo when you’re wearing next to nothing and you oblige. Heck, you take it as a compliment. Complimentary exclamations ring out from store front to store front in as heuristic an environment as there ever was.

With apologies to Elizabeth Barrett Browning…Why Do I Love Fantasy Fest, Let Me Count The Ways.

In these troubled times, it is a healthy temporary escape valve from the torrents of divisive political intolerance, murderous rampages, fragmented social media, and unsettling news every hour of the day. I didn’t read a newspaper or watch the news for 96 hours. My citizen self went on vacation with me. My psyche felt like a dolphin swimming in a sea of endorphins.

It is a most welcome antidote for our brains that have been branded with images of populating fashion runways and the pages of People and Vanity Fair magazines. With one stroke of a Key West magical wand we feel that our own images are cool enough to be splashed on glossy magazine covers, and boy oh boy are we proud of it.

I got in touch with my childish sense of play, felt like I was frolicking around in a huge Caribbean sand box, kissed by the sun, with a bunch of fun-loving new best friends.

The scenes around Captain Tony's Saloon...a necessary digression...

The spirit of the late great Captain Tony Tarracino is alive and well. It's not often that someone declared "the man, the myth, the legend" lived up to all of it. Fleeing to Key West to escape the Mob in New Jersey (not a good idea to cheat the mob by using a telephone to get early race results), Tony re-invented himself to become a shrimper, a charter boat captain, gun runner, became owner of Captain Tony’s Saloon on 428 Green Street in 1958 and one-time mayor of Key West. Not bad for a kid born to Italian immigrants.

In a small town known for its colorful characters, Tony was and is its most endearingly memorable. Tony's love life, also legendary, included four wives, 13 children and enough grandchildren to form a couple of soccer teams. His last child was born when he was 70. His most enduring legacy: the warmth, generosity, empathy for one and all, and uncanny ability to fully live every moment of his life, that exuded from every pore in his skinny body.

Of all the encomiums bestowed upon him, I’ll bet he was most proud of “the conscience of Key West." If you want to be transported into the life and times of a very human legend, a born raconteur with a big heart and an appetite for living in the moment, read "Life Lessons of a Legend," as told to tourist then friend Brad Manard in 2008.  The essence of that man's spirit still animates the personality of his beloved island.

No surprise. Many of the festival’s Queen Bees are hanging out in front of Captain Tony's Saloon. They're followed by a swarm of adoring worker bees eager to bask in the iconic aura of the saloon and take selfies to prove that this week hasn’t been a dream.

Could this happen anywhere else on the planet? What do you think? Personally I doubt it.

Photo section below...

A few of Tuesday's events: Tutu Tuesday Bar Crawl, Captain Tony's Party in Plaid, Green Parrot Green Party (It's Not Easy Being Green),  'Cocktails for Animal Tails' with proceeds to Florida Keys SPCA and a bunch more. Every day and night is filled with themed event, oh my... more

Tutus, plaid, green...Duval Street is a scene


Captain Tony's Saloon on Green Street is a magnet. Tony Tarracino (1916-2008) A legend in his own time, Tony's shadow still looms over his saloon and his spirit animates the goings on here. Captain Tony's Plaid Night at Captain Tony's is at a full boil.

Are we having fun yet? And how does that plaid stay put?

This pair of plaid partiers were deluged with asks for photo opps. 

My favorite pair of photos of the week...represents the range of people, the level of affection, and unaffectedness, displayed by people who come here to play and be free, not free from morality, because this is about fun, not debauchery.


Showing up with the right attitude is what counts. Captain Tony would second that idea.

 

The counter at Amigos, across the street from Captain Tony's Saloon, offers a fabulous people watching perch.The Masquerade March on Friday afternoon, the local's parade,will feature hilarious statements about the political opinions of residents of Key West. It will be the only manifestation of politics during the whole week. See Thursday's post when published.

  

The Smallest Bar in Key West lives up to its reputation, the most colorful closet-sized bar anywhere.

 

Rums like Sailor Jerry's are best sellers...sip is as you promenade up Duval Street...this is Key West, what do you expect?

 

Yes, we were here!

 

Sloppy Joe's on Duval Street; a proud plaid-ster.

Every bar along Duval Street is on the pub crawl list.

  

You gotta love the range of attire; NFL fans got a kick out of this metaphorical statement about referees.

People line up for a photo opp with this celebrant ; those tatas are the bomb!

Sure you can take our photo! Love the guy's smile walking behind the red tutu.

Spontaneous photo opp, fore and aft.


Clowning around for fun; doncha love the matching green suspenders and tutus:)

 

Everyone wants a photo opp with this pair of partiers; that extra pair of hands is hilarious.

 

"Kiss End of the Road Farewell Tour" will happen soon but there will be no farewells for anyone dressing up as Gene Simmons anytime soon; plaid paradise.
 
Pectorals and paint, a fine combination; a fast way to cruise Duval Street.

 
Spectacular people watching day and night.

 
The Bull and Whistle on Duval Street; of course we'll pose for a photo!

The body paint artists were busy; one of the many great people watching seats, the street side tables at Caroline's.

Photos by Paul A. Tamburello, Jr.
 

Fantasy Fest 2018: Tutu Tuesday Gets Rolling

Fantasy Fest 2018: TuTu Tuesday
https://fantasyfest.com
Tuesday, October 23, 2018
Key West, Florida

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Key_West
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conch_Republic

Passengers sitting in the window seats are laughing out loud. The ground crew marshal waving the orange baton to guide the pilot to the line where the jet will power down is wearing a lovely accessory… a pink tutu!

Whaaaat?

Fantasy Fest 2018 is in full swing. It's Tutu Tuesday...read on...

Way back in 1979, four business owners sat down around a kitchen table and did what business owners do, tossed around ideas how to put a charge in the island during a big lull before the snow birds arrived, as predictable as the swallows returning to Capistrano.

The idea they hatched is Fantasy Fest, a you-have-to-see-it-to-believe-it ten day street party. Thousands of those young at heart, young in spirit, will be parading around Duval Street by the time we arrive an hour later.

This year’s theme, “The Games People Play,” will dictate what thousands will wear …or not. Oh, and along with that there are annual events like Tu Tu Tuesday, Red Parties,  Green Parties celebrated all around Duval Street. It got a head start right here at the airport and it’s been rolling since October 19, the first day of Fantasy Fest 2018.

This seed of the idea did not come out of nowhere. Maybe it was blown onto the island on a soft Caribbean breeze with the faint scent of pineapples, coconuts and lush fields of cane sugar. More likely it was inevitable, created by the residents of Key West who once declared an intention to secede from the United States (1982), celebrates its own Independence Day every April 23rd, and named itself and the keys to its north The Conch Republic.

The most endearing part of the first Independence Day (1982) The platform of the founding organization, “A Sovereign State of Mind,”as to bring more “Humor, Warmth, and Respect” to the world. That’s a living creed...I’ve felt that spirit every one of my four trips to Key West since 2009.

It’s not a reach to see the roots of Fantasy Fest, watered by love, rum, and a streak of independent and wholesomely eccentric spirit. Key West is the southernmost part of the United States. It’s not just the miles that separate it from the rest of us.

Walk around the island. Talk with people, the ones who were born here and the ones who came here and never left. They connect with the world on their own terms. Sure they have opinions and political affiliations. But their first allegiance is to the well being of their island and the others who share it with them.

They are geographically and culturally far enough away from the rest of us to be splendidly unaffected, perhaps defiantly unaffected, by life as the rest of us know it. Sure they depend on us tourists to float their economy but that doesn’t mean that they bow to our dollars. It’s more like we bow to the Conch Republic when we spend them there.

The photos and stories on the following pages give you a faint idea of what the festival is all about. There is no way that pixels can transmit the humor, warmth, respect generated on Duval Street. If you could attach a chip reader to your cerebral cortex as you view a photo you might be able to feel the utter sense of play amongst the thousands of people along Duval Street during the 10-day festival. There is a Code of Conduct. Everyone abides by it.

People you would never think in 1000 years would doff clothing and wear wildly creative costumes,  mingle with each other as if they were at an annual Shriners convention. Tourists in Jimmy Buffett T-shirts and flip-flops are having a blast with their free spirited doppelgängers.

Key West is 160 road miles southwest of Miami by air. It might as well be on Mars.

 

 Welcome to Key West...

 

  
and in case you weren't aware of the island's live and let live philosophy, there it is over the airport portal into Key West...

 

Playful ground crew poses; a sign in men's room, R/x for over-indulgers...in fact, I didn't see one person in need of the services during my stay.
I

The theme of this years Fantasy  Fest: "The Games People Play"

The games people play...I was invited to spin the arrows...you'll have to guess what the results were!

 

Tutus on parade; "My husband made this golden necklace for me,"says this proud Tuesday afternoon stroller on Duval Street

 

Duval Street is abuzz...tourists, celebrants, locals; spectators love it.

The smiles say it all.

Get ready...the next stories will have scores of photos to go along with the text.

Photos by Paul A. Tamburello, Jr.