Food Adventure with My Father

Today my dad was diagnosed with Diabetes and told that he has to drastically change his diet. As a candy loving pasta fiend he is understandably upset about this sudden change.

 I am trying to convince him not to look at it as denying himself the food he really likes but to think of it as going on a “food adventure” where we find new things that he will like more then the junk he normally eats. To make the transition easier for him I have decided to be Diabetic with him so he doesn’t have to go it alone. From the small amount of research I have had time to do and the information I got from his doctor it is a very healthy diet with lots of veggies, brown rice, fish and other things that I already eat regularly. I am now searching the Internet and have scheduled some time with a nutritionist to figure out healthy and delicious foods that are easy and practical for him to prepare and eat. Since this is a manageable disease that affects a lot of us I figured it couldn’t hurt to ask if anyone has any good suggestions for recipes, cook book, websites or good restaurants in the North Jersey/NYC are that cater to this dietary restriction or any other helpful places to look to help change this from a culinary jail sentence to a taste bud emancipation. Thanks for your help!

Pretty Things Peepshow Winter Tour 2012 Wrap Up

Pretty Things Peepshow Winter Tour 2012 Wrap Up

The first tour of 2012 is done and with minimal battle scars and a few more dents in my liver I have successfully lived through it. Here’s a quick recap..

I broke my toe the second week of tour in Evansville IN but was able to stumble through the rest of the shows by only wearing heels on stage and keeping it wrapped and elevated on all of our drives. I was bummed because I started the tour actually sticking to my workout routine before the show but got lazy when I had to deal with too much pain. Thankfully not a lot of people noticed that I was wearing lower heals on stage and now wearing them at all around the venue. God bless booze and low stages! I should be able to get back to dance class and be back on my feet (literally) by the time the summer out rolls around and I’m really thankful the injury wasn’t more serious.

Besides my bum foot and Firefly being sick for most of the run the shows were great. We were late to our show in Johnson City because of Eddy Price’s tomato related arrest in Louisville and only broke down 4 times which is a record for us. After the last breakdown we decided that it was time to buy a new tour vehicle.

It makes me so happy that the performers are looking at the big picture and see this show as something they want to be doing for a long time. It also has given me a brand new kind of panic attack every time I think of not only purchasing a $50,000 vehicle but also dealing with the upkeep, storage and driving that monster. It’s a serious commitment financially, physically and emotionally but if it will keep this show going them I’m willing to add another ulcer to my ever growing collection bite the bullet and do it. (Shameless plug) You can check us out on kickstarter if you want to help us raise to buy the new bus and keep the show on the road.

Pretty Things Peepshow Tour Bus or Bust Kick Starter

We did have some great times on this tour. It wasn’t all broken bones, whiskey and highway high jinx (although there was a lot of that). Our Dallas show at the Kessler Theater was our biggest and best yet. Thanks mainly to the fabulous Jesse Jessup who blogged, twittered, talked about us on the radio and even did an artistic rendering of us on crayon to promote the show. I wish we had one of her in ever city! Although if we did my heart might explode from and overdose of happy.

We got a chance to hang out back stage with our awesome friends at Ringling Bros Barnum and Bailey Circus. We have a great show but after sitting in on one of their rehearsals I realized how much better we can be. I like being reminded that there’s still a long road ahead of us. Plus hanging out with Elephants is awesome!

It was also fun to be featured on so many TV shows on this run. For the first month we were on a new show ever week. First the whole cast got tattooed on NY Ink, then I was on Celebrity Apprentice “making it rain” on Clay Akin, next Donny was on Oddities then both Heather and Donny were on Oddities the following week. Heather had us all beat for TV appearances seeing as she hosts a weekly MTV show now (the MTV Iggy show) on every Monday night. Some people say TV killed live entertainment but for us it’s helping keep it alive. Since we don’t have access to TV when we’re on the road we found out about all these appearances the same way most people find out about celebrity deaths and natural disasters via twitter. Thanks to everyone who posts about the show on there. I’m so busy the only way I can keep up with what I’m doing is by other peoples twitter accounts. Which means I’m either becoming famous or I really need to buy a day planner.

We got back to NYC 6 days ago and are already in preproduction for the summer tour, which starts May 11 in Coney Island. When I’m not pimping out the kickstarter I’m busy booking, promoting, updating the website, designing new poster, flyers and merch, restocking our pastie supply, trying to figure out a new opening number and group acts, shopping for a new tour bus and getting ready to bedazzle the hell out of some underpants. I hope to find a little bit of time to get to a museum and a Broadway show before the crazy peepshow train takes off again. (hopefully in a new bus)

Thanks to all our friends, family and fans who came out to support us on the last run and we can’t wait to see all the smiling faces of all of you on the west coast this summer. That’s right we’re coming back out west again you’re the ones who make all of this drama just another day at the office for me. I’ll see you all out on the road real soon!