Imelda May – “Tribal”

As some of you may (or may not) know, Imelda May’s new album Tribal dropped today in the US.  I haven’t been so excited for an album release in a long time – I had been checking the iTunes page for the album nearly every week, making sure the release date didn’t get pushed back again (it got pushed back twice from what I recall – and both times I was rather upset!).  I waited for September 23rd with baited breath – and it has finally come!  I literally waited up to midnight for the release, but was pleasantly surprised when I checked iTunes at 11:40 P.M. at it was live!

I immediately began listening to the album beyond the already released tracks that I had, which were “It’s Good To Be Alive” and “Wild Woman”.  I have to say, this is one of if not the best album she has put out yet.  Every song has a little something special that fits all moods and will be sure to strike your fancy anytime.

A few of my favourite songs? Here are my top choices off of the record (deluxe version):

• 1 – Tribal
• 3 – It’s Good To Be Alive
• 6 – Hellfire Club
• 7 – Five Good Men
• 8 – Ghost of Love
• 9 – Wicked Way
• 13 – Zombie Girl
• 15 – Dreaming (Ukulele Track)

As you can see, I have a lot of top faves here!  There is nothing on this album I don’t like.  If you enjoy rockabilly, rock & roll, or just plain good music, do yourself and your ears a favour and grab this album!

I am also planning on going to see Imelda on Sunday, September 28th nearby me in Huntington on Long Island.  There is SO much going on this weekend, it makes my mind boggled and a little sad because I can’t do it all 😦 The New York Burlesque Festival starts Thursday and runs through Sunday, Imelda May is playing Sunday night, I am going to see the TCM showing in theatres of Gone With The Wind on Sunday, and my tattoo artist is having a flash tattoo sale Sunday also!  That and Saturday night the hubby and I are going out with his dad and other LEOs for his birthday.  I am definitely a little sad I can’t do it all, but I am glad we are having an active weekend.  We have been having car troubles plaguing us as of recently, so we have been a tad bit of recluses lately.  But hopefully the car issues are taken care of, and now we can enjoy ourselves a little bit! 🙂

Viva Las Vegas 17: Part Two

And so we start on part two! Let’s get right down to business, shall we?

Saturday was the car show. It is THE day of all of Viva. The men and women don their best day garb, their best hairdos, and their best poses (as well as parasols!) for the day of vendors, cars, and shows.

After my friend Nicole left back to California, I made my way to the car show. I followed the flock to just outside the Orleans Arena. As soon as I walked in, the fun began!

The vendors were all over as soon as you walked in. There was Pin Up Girl Clothing, Steady, Bomber Betty, Miss L Fire, Secrets in Lace, and various independent sellers. I walked around for at least an hour before I managed to see everything. I wanted to buy it all! But I made my go around again for actual purchases and I nabbed this beautiful purse:

I scooped up these gorgeous NOS bakelite earrings – 3 for $50!

I picked up some Viva playing cards (I had to!), and a tube of the amazing Bomber Betty lip gloss that Cherry Dollface came out with. And guess who I got to meet?!

She is SO sweet and you can just feel that she is a beautiful person on the inside as well as outside. I was by myself, but her rad husband Trevor took the picture for me. I said, “He’s your photographer too! He’s your everything, huh?” She giggled and gushed, “He IS my everything!” Isn’t that so sweet?! After meeting her and chatting with her for a solid 5 minutes, I have even more respect and admiration for her than I had prior!

After meeting Cherry, I made my way over to the bleachers to wait for Imelda May to come on. Just before her, the pinup contest was held on the side stage. It was so cute! All of the ladies were great.

After that, it was Imelda May time! I managed to nab a few clips of her performance which I posted below:

She was amazing! She is one of the few who sounds exactly the same live as she does on her albums. Perfection!

Oh, and did I mention the marriage proposal in the middle of the show?

It was beyond sweet 🙂

And the cars! Oh my 😀

After Imelda May, I went back to the hotel for a quick relax and chat with the hubby, and then I went on my merry way back to the hotel to see the Jive Aces! They are an amazing British jive/swing band infused with just the right amount of rock n’ roll. If you haven’t checked them out yet, what are you waiting for?!

Here is a montage of their performance:

After the show, I just had to nab myself a Jive Aces shirt (but you knew that already, huh? 😉 )

My Sunday Viva outfit was this lovely little frock I recently nabbed on eBay:

Sunday is always the wind down for Viva, so I relaxed in my hotel room until about 4:30 when I left to see the last Charles Phoenix slideshow 😦 But he was just as amazing as ever! It was Easter, so he got us doughnuts!

Here is Charles with his Test Kitchen rat meatloaf:

Imaging eating that?! LOL.

After his awesome slideshow, I grabbed a bite to eat and went to wait in line for burlesque bingo. I went back in 2012 and loved it – I had to at least make one trip back!

I walked in and found a seat in the front row to the left side of the stage. And who did I see I sat next to? The one and only Raquel Reed!

She was so sweet. She is also from NY/NJ so we bonded over that and talked about how we were away from our men and they didn’t like it 😛 She is an awesome gal whom I hope to see perform soon around this neck of the woods!

Burlesque Bingo was put on and hosted by the awesome Audrey DeLuxe.

The first performer was the amazing Bettina May!

There were so many other great performers like Ms. Redd, Cleo Viper, Tara Misoux, Frankie Sin, and more!

That last one is of Tom Ingram doing a split to make good on a bet he made with Audrey DeLuxe. He did a great job! It was hilarious.

Here’s a montage:

After that I went to the vendor room again one last time, when they have massive sales to unload stock so they won’t have to cart it home. I bought one last thing: a pack of Rockin’ Rollers!

I can’t wait to try them! I will give it a go and report back on how it went 🙂

The next day (morning), I woke up at 3:30 AM and made my way back home. Eight hours and a layover later, I was back in NY Town.

It was over 😦 But I had an amazing time. And I can’t wait for next year!

Viva Las Vegas 17: Part One

Hello everyone!

I had the great pleasure of going to Viva Las Vegas 17 this year, and it was a blast! I was by myself most of the time, except for Friday night into Saturday I got to spend with my bestie and maid of honour Nicole 🙂

I arrived on Thursday afternoon, checked in to my hotel, and immediately got to work. I zipped from the Gold Coast over to the Orleans via shuttle bus. The excitement was building with each second I spent on that bus, and when it pulled in front of the Orleans, I walked in and immediately took in that uniquely sweet smell that only Viva seems to provide.

Let the fun begin!

It was great to see everyone there, decked out in their rockabilly and vintage best! I felt so exhilarated being back, it was surreal.

I checked out the vendors, who were out in full force with their amazing wares! I managed to nab a Steady pencil skirt in a gorgeous soft pale yellow that has legs, eyes, and all sorts of silly random prints on it. I also nabbed my usual VLV shirt, as well as the VLV grocery bag. After making the rounds with the vendors, I somehow managed to stay up until 11 PM (2 AM Eastern!) to see the amazing Kim Lenz. I am glad I told myself “NO!” and forced myself to rally against what my own body was telling me, because she was fab!

The next day, Friday, I got up “early” to make sure I could nab some tickets for Nicole and me for the burlesque showcase. Yes, I am a girl, and I love burlesque. It is so much fun and there are so many women from different walks of life that are all there to celebrate their bodies and just have an awesome time. Who wouldn’t love that?! I managed to nab great seats on the left side of the stage four rows back. I couldn’t wait!

Next was a meet up I had with some girls from a Facebook group of plus sized ladies so that we can sell our clothing and it is catered to our sizing. We met in one of the girl’s hotel rooms at the Orleans, and I started to lay out the approximately 12 items I brought. I labelled them, talked with some fellow members, and shopped a bit. But only 35 minutes later, we were kicked out by Orleans security. It was a whole debacle and shocked the hell out of all of us. We left there upset and concerned. It was all very unfortunate 😦

After that, I tried to find something else to fill my time until my friend Nicole arrived. It was 3:35 PM. The Charles Phoenix slideshow had started 5 minutes ago! I ran over to the showroom and was able to nab a seat. I had never seen him before, but he came as highly recommended by a fellow rockabilly friend in NYC, Lucirene. And guess what? He was hysterical, interesting, and entertaining 🙂

I just knew I had to make Sunday’s slideshow too!

My friend Nicole made it around 6 PM, so we hung out in the hotel room while we got ready. Even just hanging out getting ready is fun with Nicole 🙂

We made it to the burlesque showcase at 9 PM. There was a wide array of amazing acts like Roxi D’Lite, Angie Pontani, Cleo Viper, and who I was most excited about: Dirty Martini. I couldn’t wait!

Roxi D’Lite was one of the first, and possibly one of the best performers of the night. Her racy S&M performance was certainly a stand out!

Gal Friday and Peekaboo Pointe had such a cute “fight” routine!

Angie Pontani had a very elegant, very beautiful ballet routine. It was rather ethereal!

Cleo Viper had a truly vamp routine, it was badass. And my goodness is she stunning!

And last but not least: the amazing and incomparable Dirty Martini!

All the ladies came out for one last bow, to a round of deafening applause. It was a great way to put the top on the Friday that was at Viva Las Vegas 17!

And no, we didn’t finish the night there: we had some drinks, gambled a little, watched some fabulous jive/stroll/swing dancing, and made fun of things such as this:

I’ll leave you to analyze this for today 😉

Viva Las Vegas 17: Part Two coming tomorrow!

Weekend Adventures on Long Island

Hi y’all!

This weekend has been crazy busy and I’ve been doing a lot! But I took pictures of it all for all of you to enjoy.

Last night I went to Havana Central, which is a gorgeous Art Deco Cuban restaurant near a mall called Roosevelt Field in Long Island. You can tell it has an amazing vintage 30s/40s vibe right from the outside.

The inside is even more gorgeous, and you just totally get this Miami during the 30s and 40s aura about the place. Great design, wonderful vintage showgirl photos, amazing colors, and foot moving music.

I noticed some vintage pictures on the menu and I was instantly in heaven!

I had the picadillo which was amazing! We all got so full that we could barely finish what we had (*FIRST WORLD PROBLEMS*). It was incredibly crowded in the restaurant so afterwards I needed to get some fresh air outside, and we went back to my boyfriend’s house and had some drinks before crashing.

Today we went to Bayville, which is this very quaint little beach town on the north shore of Long Island. As soon as we got there, we immediately felt our stresses and the “real world” melt away. It was just a gorgeous day, and we ate on the roof of a tavern that made amazing food and was so much like Pleasantville that even the ketchup came out of the glass bottle without problems, as my boyfriend said LOL.

The beach with the clouds and sun made everything so picturesque, that I had to snap a shot. So, of course, I will leave you with a little slice of my own personally heaven…

St. Patrick’s Day Etsy SALE!

In honour of St. Patrick’s Day (although I am not the least bit Irish) I am having a sale in my Etsy shop! You can receive 17% off (for the 17th, get it? LOL) only until Monday! I have added a whole bunch of cool new items to the shop, including some of these gems…

This beautiful 1940s lace detailed blouse! It is a harder to find larger size, and looks very delicate and beautiful. A separate that will match nearly anything.

These totally amazing 1950s Vintage Cat Eye Rockabilly Eyeglasses are in wonderful condition and are just awaiting your prescription to be put in them! You can even have non-prescription lenses put in if you have 20/20 vision (jealous!) or wear contacts most of the time. I have a referral for a good place that does the lenses for you for $25 as opposed to the much higher amount you would spend at an optometry store if you would like to do that.

This 1940s celluloid palm tree brooch has amazing detail and is in mint condition considering its age! It is perfect for the upcoming spring and summer months to add a little tropical flare to your wardrobe (or help remind you that warmer weather is coming if it is as cold near you as it is here in NYC today!).

I also have this wonderful 1960s embellished and beaded sheath dress available. It is a very high quality dress, and feels very sturdy and has a good weight to it. It is fully lined and has the most amazing beading and embroidery detail that I wish I could capture on photos properly!

The coupon code to use at checkout for 17% off is: STPATS17

There are a bunch more items available in my Veronica Vintage shop and I may be adding even more this weekend, so check everything out and treat yourself to some wonderful vintage 🙂

I hope everyone has a wonderful & fun St. Patrick’s Day weekend! But not too fun, otherwise you’ll be waking up with a headache Monday morning! 😉