The Slipper Room is a New York institution. A House of Variety!
The Slipper Room is facing serious financial difficulties.
I did a wonderful interview with producer James Habacker in 2016. I am posting it here for your viewing. In the meantime, I have put a link below the video to the GoFundMe campaign that is currently set up to help them make it back in one piece! Please Help!
The evening had an edgy feel to it when “Stache Novak” showed up to perform his ‘male strip routine.”
Introduced as the ‘bathroom attendant‘ he quickly removed his pants for the audience’s delight.
And then Laurie Lee Anderson (the winner of Miss Coney Island USA 2020) started her amazing act.
Ridding herself of the dinosaur head she immediately titillated the audience. An audience pleaser for sure she got to her basics real soon. Rockin the house with her jump rope routine Laurie Lee Anderson was wonderful.
Entertaining the audience with her unique looks and style.
This podcast is called Stories from the Pitch for a reason, and this particular interview exemplifies this title more than most because Johnny Fox is a natural when it comes to telling stories. His life and his career have been filled with so many chapters, in fact, the stories came fast and furious.
The striking thing about Johnny’s stories is that they mix his experience with those from his mentors in a way that weaves a greater picture of how this Storyteller, Magician, Sword Swallower evolved into a well-established entertainer who’s been on the circuit since the 70’s.
Guy Collins sat down with Johnny in his 1957 GMC vintage bus at the 2015 Maryland Renaissance Festival to discuss how he got started, who he was taught by and to touch on the sometimes uncomfortable topic of material that’s been appropriated from him over the years. The names, places, and events all helping to capture a slice of history from the Busking World.
Johnny Fox at his ‘Freakatorium’ located in the Lower East Side. Open from 1999 to 2005.
From Wikipedia:
In June 1999, Fox opened the Freakatorium, El Museo Loco, a museum of sideshow curiosities, on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. In the face of low numbers of visitors and rising rent, the museum was closed in January 2005. Fox was partly inspired to open the museum by his childhood visits to Hubert’s Museum and Flea Circus in Times Square. His collection of oddities includes narwhal tusks, an elephant’s-foot liquor chest, a two-headed turtle, a vest owned by General Tom Thumb, and the glass eye of Sammy Davis, Jr.
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Hope to see you all at The Slipper Room on Thursday to Celebrate Johnny Fox!
Casanova’s Great Escape! The ultimate adventurer, Casanova is legendary for scandalous sexcapades that surpass Hugh Hefner. But seducing his way through the erotic capitals of Europe was not all he was famous for. Vocal cartoonist Zero Boy riffs off Casanova’s 3,600-page memoir to bring you the world’s most famous lover in his daring escape from solitary confinement in Venice.
Entertainer and “vocal cartoonist” Zero Boy is an East Village icon renowned for his unique blend of sound and mime, the results being akin to a performed comic book. A prolific entertainer, his solo comedic routines have been featured throughout the U.S. and Europe in traditional theater, vaudeville, burlesque, festivals, stand-up comedy, television, radio, film, digital media/art as well as benefits and special events.
He has performed at Joe’s Pub, Town Hall, Cooper Union Hall, Slipper Room, and the NY Public Library with The Moth. On television, his vocal acrobatics were featured in Fox and His unique sound talents and character voices have led to performances on numerous radio shows. He regularly performed a special “Stump Zero Boy” segment on NPR’s The Next Big Thing, which gave listeners a chance to commission a short-form radio cartoon by emailing the station a one-sentence scenario.
Outré Island is Chris Rozzi’s ongoing comedy saga of a lost civilization and its many unusual citizens. This is the island as you’ve never seen it before, including all sorts of treats, guests, and surprises. Featuring Anna Copa Cabana and Matt Roper.
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Oh, by the way, these two wonderful folks will be joining Chris that evening!
THE THEREMIN
Invented 1919 by Russian electro-physicist Lev Sergejewitch Termen, the Theremin is the only instrument that generates sound without being touched. Notoriously hard to play, it is one of the first electronic instruments that inspired the creation of synthesizers in future generations. Historically, the theremin is one of the earliest electronic instruments, introduced to audiences at the beginning of the 20th century. Subsequently, it served as the basis from which electronic musical instruments of the 20th century were later developed. Although originally intended for classical music performance, the theremin instead found its success supplying ‘eerie’ background music for countless motion pictures. Whether that it is due to its unusual frequency and vibrato effects, or the challenge posed upon the player to master its technique, the theremin has never been a widely played instrument.
Today, among fields of electronic musicians, much more are rediscovering the potential of the theremin and exploring its complex and expressive sounds, pitches, movements, and gestures through various styles and media. In 1966 the Beach Boy’sBrian Wilson put the Theremin to work in “Good Vibrations.” In 1967 Theremins showed up on Captain Beefheart‘s landmark “Safe as Milk” and in 1969, Led Zeppelin anthem “Whole Lotta Love” featured a Theremin. Today artists such as Jon Spencer, Portishead, Nine Inch Nails, Elvis Costello, Trey Anastasio, and Simon & Garfunkel have put the instrument to use.
Leon Theremin emigrated to New York City in late 1927, quickly establishing a laboratory dedicated to the scientific study of electronic sound; in April of 1930, a Ten Piece Theremin Orchestra premiered on the stage of Carnegie Hall to enthusiastic response. A decade later, Theremin was whisked back to the Soviet Union (involuntarily, some have said) and placed in Butyrka prison, eventually working in a Soviet think-tank to develop a covert listening device for the Soviet government. Following Theremin’s abrupt departure and reassignment, his instrument inspired a handful of virtuosos, most notably Clara Rockmore and Samuel J. Hoffman, but ultimately fell into obscurity until…