The Jim and I are probably more in sync than we've ever been in the past and we're building a dream together. I must tell you, it's quite exciting! For me personally, I have had a year of wonderful moments of openness and honesty this past year and hard moments of misunderstandings, anxiety and people who don't really know me well enough to know that I would and have never intentionally done anything in my life to hurt anyone. However, I've mended fences with a few folks, closed the door on other chapters and all of these passages have lead me to a huge move forward in my life and in my dreams.
Jim and I have signed a lease on our very own space/place downtown in Knoxville to create an artist collective, and have the primary location for my dance studio/classes. In fact, the dream became real faster and more suddenly than ever expected...like the minute the dark clouds rolled out of area, the sun came out and this amazing space became available for us to realize a few dreams of our own. So, we worked hard, secured supporters and we did it...we put the money where our mouths are and we have our own place to work on together. In addition, we realized all the people who have shown us openness and willingness to work towards a shared love, shared vision and shared dream were right there for us and behind us 100% to make this a reality. We feel connected and hopeful and for that - we are grateful.
The most exciting thing, other than having complete creative control over your own destiny at this time is that the place that we've found has an INCREDIBLE history and will have a wall detailing that history within it's four walls. Mind you we have a TON of stuff to do yet to get the place ready and more importantly, open for business, so we're not revealing a whole lot yet but we will give you a bit of the insider's view of owning your own collective and making it the place you've always imagined. So stay tuned, and know this...dreams do come true. Brick by brick we will create a small haven of hope, happiness and shared vision. Lots to do...but totally worth it.
Today was a whirlwind day for me professionally. I'm working to build something that coordinates my dreams and ambitions with my current activities, likes and passions. I'm building an ability to produce a (now bi-monthly), night of variety entertainment held at a local venue here in Knoxville.
I've wanted to own my own club for years, however I'm very particular about the way I want it to look, feel and be. In some ways, I'd make a perfect Disney Imagineer. I want theming and people to have an EXPERIENCE not just a night out. So I'm building it...slowly and choosing soooo carefully.
You see, my husband, the Jim stands by me on my crazy dreams. He's pragmatic at times and frankly that's what I need. Most importantly he understands now why I want and NEED to pursue these creative dreams and visions. In fact, I'm really excited about moving forward on a dream at least a little bit.
As my performance artist persona, I will be hostessing and producing THE CHEESE SHOP (Speakeasy/Cabaret), here in Knoxville starting at the Old City Entertainment Venue in...where else? The old city! While it's not mine, the two men who head up the venue, Ray and Jason have been 100% supportive of me holding a night of real variety in the upstairs section of their club which is reminiscent of a SPEAKEASY at least in feeling. It's intimate and that's what I really want, an intimate experience for my guests and a chance to have some AMAZING local/regional entertainers connect with potential fans who maybe didn't know they existed. I want a true artist and art-lover relationship to develop. I want to help make connections. I want to promote entertainers who deserve to be promoted.
[On a side note, if you visit the link to the website above, you have to find your way onto the MAIN page by figuring out a few links on the opening page that will get you into the SPEAKEASY. It's fun and I enjoy a good puzzle.]
Now the first question I get, is WHY do you call it THE CHEESE SHOP? Well, back in the era of prohibition a lot of the speakeasies had faux store-fronts or were in the basement or back/allies of other places. Like a dry cleaning establishment where, if you brought red socks in meant you knew it was a front for a speakeasy and you'd get ushered in to the back room to drink and be merry on the down-low. I'm a huge Monty Python fan (as a previous posting notes), and one of the first sketches I ever saw/heard from the talented troupe was their "cheese shop sketch". Which I'll show you...NOW:
While the cheese shop in the sketch was not a front for a speakeasy, it's along the lines of what I'm aiming for. I want you to believe you're coming to a CHEESE SHOP but make people "in the know" by featuring a particular cheese each month as the password. Will there be cheese? Blessedly, OLD CITY Entertainment Venue sells a really fabulous cheese plate - so yes, in a way there will be. It's also called the cheese shop, because...well I'm a pretty cheesy person. Own it and be who you are!
So under THE CHEESE SHOP (Speakeasy/Cabaret) name, every other month - I am featuring a collection of local performers of all different styles and types to introduce Knoxville to! I'm blessed to know so many of them personally and that even makes me more excited...because I really know what they are capable of and I can't wait to see them under the same roof and sharing the same stage.
Now, the reason today was such a whirlwind was because I had to push back the OPENING NIGHT to July 28th, 2011 because of a work commitment that I couldn't control. I was so happy to catch everything in time before the printer made my flyers and I've been blessed that all my performers and staff are able to adjust to the new opening night.
Another reason that I wanted to do this was for Knoxville...I believe in Knoxville's open-ness to explore all varieties of performing and visual arts. Mostly, I wanted to cater to people who want a REAL night out without having to pay big money and get home so late that they couldn't function at work the next day. So I made my night, $10.00 (tickets on sale for $8.00 through June), doors will open at 7 PM and the whole night will be over by 10:30 - 11:00 PM. Time to get home and get to bed. Reasonable for everyone and with a real class-it-up feel. Please spread the word and if you're a FACEBOOKER, please consider "LIKING" us. It helps us know what we're building makes sense and will have a place here in our fair city.
It's a dream come true and it will be a full reality for me SOON.
Wow.
