See past Dr. Sketchy’s models doing their thing…

So I think I’m finally kicking this cold/flu thing, just in time for Aaron and I to see this show this Saturday night:

“Gilded Lily Burlesque Presents the Debut of: The Nearly Naked Truth!!

Show at 8pm. Tickets are $10.
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Load of Fun
120 West North Avenue
Baltimore, MD 21201
..
Come join Baltimore’s premiere burlesque troupe -Gilded Lily Burlesque- on February 28th for The Nearly Naked Truth! It’s a nostalgic romp back to the days when men were men and dames were kittens. These lovely ladies (with the help of Paco Fish, outstanding news reporter) will help you navigate the slippery slopes of sex, drugs, plaid pants and communism.

But, don’t get too uptight daddio! After witnessing a spicy shimmy here and a saucy shake there, you’ll be happily sliding down that slope, too! So let Gilded Lily Burlesque reveal to you the Nearly Naked Truth- it’s the American thing to do!

The members of Gilded Lily Burlesque include…

Maria Bella
Little Luna
Viola van Wilde
Sable Sin Cyr
Paco Fish (MC)
Lena Grove
Lucille Lingerhans von Spankenstein”

Recognize anyone in that roster? You should–if you’re a Dr. Sketchy’s regular, you’ve probably drawn almost all of them.

I said this before in an email to our mailing list, and I’ll say it again here: if you’ve had fun drawing our models, you really owe it to yourself to see them actually perform. Aaron and I have seen them perform a number of times now, and we’ve had a blast every time. Show up early, since you won’t be able to get advanced tickets for this show–their Valentine’s Day show sold out, and I wouldn’t be surprised if this one does, too. See Paco’s blog for more info, but seriously–go.

–Alexis

PS–Don’t know where Load of Fun is? For shame. It’s on the corner of North and Howard–across the street from our sponsor, Artist & Craftsman Supply. Oh, and apparently CityPaper will be at the show, covering a story on burlesque in Baltimore.

PPS–Keep reading for a recap of our most recent session. I’m totally annoyed that I had to spend Monday night hopped up on decongestants and trying not to cough up a lung, instead of drawing the stunning Lady Vile. If I don’t get to see these amazing “chimp attack” sketches Aaron keeps talking about, I’m seriously going to cry–so send them in.

Recap of Lady Vile’s session on Feb 23rd.

Well, Monday seemed to well enough without Alexis to keep an eye on us.  Nothing caught fire — actually, that’s not true.  Apparently Dionysus’s roof nearly caught fire from a chimney fire next door before the session even started, but we didn’t have anything to do with that so we’re going to assume it doesn’t count.

Lady Vile was stunning, course you should be able to see that.  Special thanks to her, the crew at Dionysus, our sponsors Atomic Books and Artist & Craftsman Supply, and to Bill and Jeff for helping make up for Alexis’s absence (and again to Jeff, for these awesome photos).

I’m pretty sure the two drawings below were the winners of the “How Lady Vile got her name” contest.  (The prizes were sketchbooks from Artist & Craftsman.)

We’ve already got a bunch of sketches emailed to us (some of the best were from the last contest, “Incorporate a chimpanzee attack” )…we’ll give it a few days for more to come in and then put some up here.

‘Til then, mark your calendars, folks: our next session will be Monday, March 9, with Bambi Galore!

A few gentle reminders before tonight’s session…

First, I just want to thank again everyone who showed up at Dionysus for our session with Maria Bella on the 9th–both those who did get a seat, and those we unfortunately couldn’t accommodate. It was probably our largest turnout so far, and it killed me to have to turn away folks once we couldn’t cram anyone else into the dining room. So again, please remember to show up early. Sometimes there may be a seat for you if you show up at 7:30, or even at 8:30, but it’ll be pretty unlikely for most sessions unless the weather’s crappy or it’s finals week.

We love you all dearly for making the Charm City branch of Dr. Sketchy’s such a success, but a few things happened at last session that made us go, “hmmm”. So, a few things worth mentioning:

One, outside food is prohibited. We never mentioned this before the 9th because, as Aaron’s said here before, it seemed kinda obvious–Dionysus is a restaurant, and it’s totally disrespectful to bring in outside food. The restaurant doesn’t charge us anything to have Dr. Sketchy’s in their dining room–the only thing that makes it worthwhile for them to have us is that the hope that you guys not only buy a beer or three, but maybe a pizza to split among your tablemates.  So, it’s a slap in the face for them to see folks eating out of take-out boxes, and something that might make them reconsider hosting us–leaving Dr. Sketchy’s homeless. If you’re low on funds and don’t have the $10 to spend on the best chicken sandwich you’ll ever have, then plan accordingly and eat before you arrive.

Two, don’t be an asshole. You may have noticed that one of the rules I don’t announce at each session but is included in the rules on the side rail of this blog is “don’t be a creep.” I just left it out because, on the whole, folks have been awesome, and it seemed insulting to state something that obvious. To elaborate a little on this, let me give you a few examples:

–If you’ve got a problem with another attendee (or the Dionysus staff, or the model), or with your seating arrangements, talk to us first and we’ll step in. Do not try to handle it yourself by being rude or otherwise starting a fight with anyone (that includes us).  We have no problem kicking out assholes without issuing a refund, particularly when we have a full house and there are people waiting downstairs for a seat to open up. As Aaron mentioned in his previous blog, we’re not doing this for the money–there really isn’t much to be had, honestly–we do this totally for fun. Please don’t ruin it for us, or for anyone else, by being a jerk.

As an aside, while yes, you generally will have every seat to choose from if you show up at 6, arriving an hour early does not give you the right to bitch out anyone who shows up later and sits in front of you when you yourself chose to sit in the second row. Pick your seat carefully, and talk to us if you have a problem.

–If you haven’t paid the cover yet and you blow past the Dr. Sketchy’s staff at the top of the stairs like you own the place–especially when our half-dressed model is posing for our paying customers–don’t be surprised when you feel Bill’s grip on you shoulder a second later and you’re immediately tossed back out onto the street.

Since this will be the first time I’ll have to miss a session of Dr. Sketchy’s  (should have gotten that flu shot), and, while my delivery of the rules every session is far from flawless, Aaron is even more forgetful than I am, here’s the more straightforward outline of all the rules–the original four I announce every session, and the two above.  (You can read Aaron’s more colorful version of the rules in the previous post below.) :

1) Applaud the model. Imagine standing perfectly still for three hours in front of a crowd of silent, staring, and seemingly unappreciative strangers. Now, imagine doing that in a g-string.

2) Tip the model. Again, their job is waaay harder than it looks. The applause shows the model our instant appreciation, but it doesn’t pay the bills.

3) No photography is allowed. Don’t take pictures of the model’s crotch and post them on Flickr. That’s just creepy (see #5, below). In fact, only the official photographer is allowed to take pictures at all. Press folks are exempt from this rule–just let us know who you are before you start snapping away. If you’re not part of the press, but think there’s a really, really, really, really good reason you should be exempt from this, contact us AT LEAST 48 hours beforehand. The model is agreeing to pose for folks drawing, not a photo shoot, so if we are going to make an exception, we at least need time to get his or her permission.

4) If the official photographer is standing in front of you, s/he’ll move shortly.

5) Don’t be creepy/an asshole.

6) No outside food.

And that’s it. Have fun tonight, and maybe even an Autumn Chicken Sandwich for your poor ailing hostess–who will be wasting away in her sickbed, eating nothing but chicken soup and cream of wheat, while you guys get to drink and draw the marvelous Lady Vile.

–Alexis

Dr. Sketchy’s tonight, Feb 23rd, with Lady Vile! AND ‘Ze Rules!’

Lady Vile, prizes from Atomic Books and Artist & Craftsman Supply, shots, beer, antilope on pogo sticks, what more could you ask for?

Oh, this one is going to be ugly too folks, Alexis is down for the count with the flu, so Bill, Jeff, and I are going to be attempting this one by ourselves.  ‘What,’ you ask, ‘are three grown men scared of running a Dr. Sketchy’s session without one little girl?’

Yes, yes we are.

Since we fully expect this to be the session where everything just goes to hell in a handbasket, the cops raid, people start swinging from the chandeliers, and Jeff starts doing shots under the tables with the customers, that, AND it’s been almost a year since we’ve gone over the rules, let’s do a itty-bitty recap real quick.

1) Yes, you may buy Jeff shots and get him to do them under a table.

2) Don’t be an asshole.  This is really the only rule, as all the other ones flow from it.  The only reason there are any other rules at all, is, well, someone at some point did something stupid.

3) Don’t be rude to the model, other customers, Dionysus’s staff, or us.   We (the Dr. S folks at least) are here to have fun…..believe me, there ain’t any real money in this….we’re doing this to have a few beers with friends, do some drawing on the sly if we get the chance, and just have a good time.  We all have ‘real’ jobs where we get paid to put up with “The Man” and his ever-present grinding heel.

Anyone who’s rude to their bartender is a moron, and anyone who’s rude to a sexy lady/gentleman in lingerie is . . . is . . . I mean, REALLY?  What the hell.

You CAN be rude to Lynn though, the owner of Dionysus.  I saw it happen ONCE.  Bill doesn’t believe me that a man’s intestines can actually be pulled out through his nose, so I’m hoping someone will do it again sooner or later.  *IF* you decide to be rude to Lynn, please, for the love of God, come get Bill and I first so we can watch.

4) No outside food.  This is obvious and falls under the category of being rude to Lynn.

5) No chimpanzees.  Apparently they bite off faces.

6) Read the FAQ for a more extensive rules list, and for any other questions you might have.  If you haven’t read it in awhile, take a look, since it’s updated frequently.

I’m fairly certain I’m forgetting something, but oh well.  I’ll just post again if it comes to me.

Last session sold out folks, so get there early!

Recap from Feb 9th with Maria Bella

[This post has been updated with new sketches at the end.]

Maria Bella was pretty damn awesome on the 9th, folks.  Since we’ve already got a recap (see the blog with the sketches, below) and a video for last session, I’m just going to let these photos speak for themselves.

Oh, except, look at these crowd shots.  We sold out a few minutes after 7 o’clock.

People started showing up at 6:15 and we were already starting to get full at 6:40.  If you want to make sure you can get in before we sell out, I can’t stress enough that you need to show up early.   Also, every seat WILL get filled, so if you show up early for a good seat, picture all those seats around and in front of you filling up too when you pick it.

We’ve been around almost a year now (though not quite) and we haven’t gone over the Dr. Sketchy rules in a bit, so I’ll post those up in a day or two as well.  (Things like “no alligators”, “don’t take Aaron’s drink”, and “don’t pee on the floor.”)

Anyways, I’ll stop chatting.  Check out these pictures of Maria Bella, and if you didn’t see the previous two posts, check out the video and the recap too.

The winning entries from the Seven Deadly Sins contest.

This last pose was for the romance cover contest, which Sean Andrew Murray won. Here’s his awesome pulp- and (semi-) current-events-inspired drawing:

We try, out of fairness, to make sure people don’t win more than one contest per session, but sometimes we get drunk and forget who won what earlier in the session. Sean also was the other winner in the opposite-hand drawing contest for this sketch:

Next Dr. Sketchy’s is Feb 23rd with Lady Vile!

Check out this amazing video from TuffNerd Productions!

Zach of  TuffNerd Productions took some video at last Monday’s session…and holy shit, take a look at the result!

Special thanks again to the absolutely stunning Maria Bella…..watch the video!

more about “Behind the SĒN #4 – Dr. Sketchy’s Ant…“, posted with vodpod

Sketches from 2/9 session with Maria Bella

Finally, all my whining about how so few people send us their sketches has paid off. Without further ado, here’s just a sampling of what you, our talented “art monkeys” (that’s the Dr. Sketchy’s term of endearment for our beloved audience members), have sent us so far.

2- and 5-minutes sketches by David Newbold.

By Brian Dugan.

By Annika Romeyn.

By Gene Azzam.

By Masha Schwartz.

Above two sketches by Mary Tully.

Our first contest, as always, was the non-dominant (aka “opposite”) hand drawing contest. Seriously, either some folks cheat to get some free alcohol, or else our audience is always full of ambidextrous freaks, in which case I’m totally jealous.

Left-handed drawing by righty Masha Schwartz.

By Gene Azzam, who was one of two folks rewarded (or punished, depending on how you look at it) for his ambidexterity with a Woo-Woo! shot, which tasted exactly like a grape Jolly Rancher–with not even a hint of alcohol at the end. Very dangerously delicious…

In honor of  Maria’s next performance (the SIN show at Club One–which is tonight, btw), our second contest was to incorporate one or more of the Seven Deadly Sins. If you can’t remember what they all are–I sure as hell couldn’t, without help–check out the SIN flyer in our earlier blog post. Here are just a few of the brilliant results:

Greed, by Gene Azzam.

Brian Dugan impressively incorporated all seven. (And yes, Maria was using fake money for this pose. Folks, if our models don’t have even have real money to use as props, you know you should tip them generously.)

When we decided on this contest before the session, Aaron and I had wondered if anyone would dare portray our svelte model as the epitome of gluttony, and someone did–specifically David Newbold, one of our two winners for this contest. His brass balls won him a brand-spanking new sketchbook provided by Artist and Craftsman Supply.  (Since we kinda flubbed the store’s location at the session, I’ll remind all of you now that it’s located on the corner of North and Howard.)

In our one nod to tomorrow’s Hallmark holiday, the next contest was to draw a romance cover featuring Maria Bella. The winner didn’t send in his drawing, so we can’t show it at the moment (hopefully Jeff, our awesome photographer, did get a shot of the winner so we can include it in the recap–the night’s a wine-soaked blur in my mind at this point), but it was definitely an illustration after Aaron’s pulp-loving heart.  For his efforts, the winner walked away with a copy of The Look of Love, as well as an issue of Hi-Fructose (which, despite the fact that they need a good copy editor, is one of my favorite art magazines) from Atomic Books, which, for those of you new to Baltimore or otherwise clueless, is on Falls Rd., just off the Avenue in Hampden.

For his awesome entry for this contest, Brian Dugan not only drew Maria, but our photographer Jeff, as well as Zach from TuffNerd Productions, who, as Aaron mentioned earlier, videotaped this session.

We’ll have the rest of the drawings posted in our sketches album over on MySpace soon.  Don’t think you’re off the hook if you didn’t send in your drawings yet–send them in and we’ll post them. Remember, the more drawings I get, the less whining you get from me about this… ;-p

Remember, you can see Maria Bella and Lucille Lingerhans von Spankenstein tonight at the SIN show at Club One, and with the rest of Gilded Lily tomorrow night at the Tassels and Champagne show at Creative Alliance. Seriously, guys–I’d be more impressed if a guy took me to a Gilded Lily performance instead of the usual dinner and a movie for Valentine’s Day.

–Alexis

Maria Bella, SIN, and spilled beer.

Last night was crazy nuts, in a good way. Apparently Baltimore loves Maria Bella because we had folks showing up at 6:05 and effectively sold out at ten till 7. TAKE NOTE, we seem to be getting a lot of attention these days from the media and web searches, so if you absolutely want to make sure you can get in to draw, make sure to show up early.

We’ll post the rest of the pictures in a few days, but, if you can’t wait and are hoping to catch Maria Bella (and Lucille Lingerhans von Spankenstein, who modeled for us on Jan. 26), check out SIN at Club One this Friday.

Maria, Lucille, and the rest of their Gilded Lily sisters (and brother Paco–almost all of whom have modeled for us in the past) will also be performing at the Creative Alliance on Saturday night for a special Valentine’s Day show. Seriously, folks–if you think Dr. Sketchy’s is fun, you really, really need to check out a Gilded Lily performance.

In any case, Monday was a hectic night. Folks drew a ton of amazing drawings and drank a ton of alcohol if the empties had anything to say about it. My dumb ass managed to drop an entire beer in my lap and had to run home in the middle to change pants and run back. (Out of the bazillion times in the last couple years that I’ve drank 15 shots, 23 beers, ran into a wall, rolled down some steps, and had crawl in the front door of my apartment I’ve NOT ONCE spilled a beer in my lap . . . but the one time I do–sober, mind you–I’m helping host a Dr. Sketchy’s session.)

Oh well, we’re not professional folks…we’re doing this to have just as much fun as you do. If we’re not as tipsy as you by the end of it, we’ve obviously done something wrong.

There almost wasn’t a session at all last night by the way…apparently God took it upon himself to snap a 30 inch water main in half over on Guilford…a large portion of Mt.Vernon lost water, had their basements flooded out, and spent the afternoon showering at a friend’s house (thank you, Bill). Dionysus doesn’t take shit from the new kid on the block, though, and was able to dodge all that biblical nonsense.

As usual there were some amazing prizes from Atomic Books, Artist & Craftsman Supply, and mysterious shots from Dionysus referred to as “Woo-woo”s (named for the exclamation yelled after drinking them). Don’t know what was in it, not going to ask.

BTW, toward the end we noticed someone had somehow snuck some outside food past us. Please don’t do this, folks…the only thing that makes this worth it for Dionysus to host us is the chance to sell a you few beers and maybe an Autumn Chicken Sandwich. (Oh my God–they’re amazing. Alexis could eat them every night and not get tired of them.) Anyway, for the same reason you can’t take a bag of Taco Bell into the Charleston, you can’t take food into Dionysus. It is a restaurant…and I’m telling ya, if Lynn suddenly cartwheels into the room and beheads somebody with a halberd or something, I’m taking off running and you’re on your own. (So is Bill, Jeff, and Alexis…I’m running.)

We’ll mention this again when we’re a little closer to the next session, along with a couple other things, since honestly, even *I* wouldn’t have read down this far, but I figure I’d toss it in here real quick.

Thankyou to Maria Bella for a stunning performance, our generous sponsors Atomic Books and Artist & Craftsman Supply, Dionysus and company for the foodspacedrink, Jeff for photos, Zak of TuffNerd Productions for taking video (which means we should have some more media on here in a bit:) ), and Bill for handling door and doing all the other stuff Bill does.

Next session is Febuary 23rd with the lovely Lady Vile. Check back in a day or two for the rest of this session’s photos and a flyer for the next one.

Photos from January 26th with Lucille Lingerhans von Spankenstein!

Special thanks to Lucille Lingerhans von Spankenstein of Gilded Lily Burlesque for an amazing session last week. (If you’re reading this on Saturday, Feb 7th, you can actually catch Lucille and the rest of Gilded Lily at the Angels Rock Bar in the Inner Harbor at 10 o’clock, btw.)

I’m glad to report that no one got injured, I didn’t roll down a flight of stairs drunk, and Lucille was able to maintain control of the crowd with the riding crop she brought for that purpose.  Folks won sketchbooks, shots, and a lucky artist won an awesome Ashley Wood art book, thanks to Atomic Books and Artist & Craftsman Supply.

As always, thanks as well to the folks at Dionysus, Bill for doing a whole bunch of stuff, and Jeff for the pretty pictures you see here.

Last but not least, here’s a couple drawings we got this week from David Newbold…

This next one won one of the contests….

This next one was for a contest incorporating robots…(the prize was the Ashley Wood book)

This Monday is Maria Bella folks!  See you then!

Dr. Sketchy’s with Maria Bella on Monday, Feb 9th!

Next Monday, Dr. Sketchy’s Baltimore will have another fabulous session featuring the beautiful Maria Bella! Join us at Dionysus on the 9th at 7 p.m. for more drinking, drawing, and crazy contests–and we’ll be giving away more awesome prizes from our generous sponsors, Atomic Books and Artist & Craftsman Supply.

And a HUGE thanks to the talented JimmyC of Luminous Impression for letting us use his gorgeous photo of Maria Bella for the flyer.

Special thanks to Lucille Lingerhans von Spankenstein for being our delightful muse at our last session! We’ll have a recap blog shortly, but in the mean time, we’ve posted some of your sketches of Lucille below, so check it out.

And Maria, Lucille, and the rest of Gilded Lily Burlesque (most of whom have modeled for us in the past and/or will model for us in future sessions), as well as one of our favorite models, Nicolette le Faye, will be performing this Saturday at the Pinups for Pitbulls Fundraiser at Angels Rock Bar (10 Market Place). Doors open at 9 pm, and the show starts at 10. We’ve been to a few performances featuring members of Gilded Lily now, and seriously, they’ve all been awesome–Little Luna’s Rosie the Robot costume was fun enough to draw, but the actual act is hilarious. Check out the Pinups for Pitbulls datebook (click Feb 7 on the calendar) for more information.

See you on the 9th!