Happy New Year! (Extra Goody #7 + Mermaid Stuff!)

Mildred Loves Extra Goodies
(A Grabbag of Miscellaneous Thises and Thatses)

Extra Goody #7 - "Mildred Presents: Lenia - from Carolyn Turgeon's book MERMAID - as a rub-on-tattoo design"


(click this image to see the larger website version)

Lenia will be available as a limited edition rub-on tattoo tucked in between the covers of Carolyn's Turgeon's book MERMAID, which will be going on sale in March of this year! I was delighted when Carolyn asked me to design it for her!



It's also fun for me to know that the artist responsible for another book-promo goody for MERMAID is none other than the legendary Easy-Bake Coven palmist, illustrator, and musician Dame Darcy herself!

I well remember my first encounter with the Dame's work - long ago - in a back corner of the comic book store Grober Unfug here in Berlin. I was fascinated by the dark and scratchy interiors of her comic book MEATCAKE, and was astounded and impressed with their fearless celebration of all things ornate, girlie, and darkly Victorian.

And so here are the main characters of Carolyn's book MERMAID as paper dolls - brought to us all by the ever energetic, enigmatic, and delightfully unapologetic
Dame Darcy!



I got to see Dame Darcy's paper dolls before I finished my tattoo design, by the way - so her take on Lenia - as well as my own style of cartoon pin-up illustrating over at MildredLovesYou.com - informed the Lenia-tattoo's design. I would however, at some point, like to do a less cartoony rendition of Lenia that is closer to the darkly luminous vision of her I had in my head as I read Carolyn's book - just for my own personal pleasure, you see...

In the meantime, here is my rub-on tattoo design once again, this time in the various color-versions I played around with a bit before finishing up the final version...



And here is the splash-page version I did for the entry to Carolyn Turgeon's website. I'm assuming this splash-page will stay there until such time as her next book is released (upon which a new splash-page with the theme of her new book will become necessary of course).



And of course: HAPPY NEW YEAR! - and all the best to all of you in 2011!

...Which brings me to the one-more-thing I wanted to mention to you before saying goodbye again for this time around...

It looks as though 2011 will be The Year of the Mermaid - at least in Carolyn's Turgeon's corner of the world. She has created a blog called "I Am A Mermaid" and has declared her intention to post something mermaidy there regularly all through the year of 2011. Let us all wish her well in this endeavor! She has collected all sorts of delights to shower us with: interviews with multitudes of professional mermaids, mermaid legends and trivia, and assorted other goodies - from all over the world - including an interview with our very own Lorelei Vanora!

Remember:
"Just because you're half a fish doesn't mean you have half a heart."

Hugs + kisses,

LaLaVox
www.mildredlovesyou.com
[edit: March 28th, 2011]
Because of problems with my current mildredlovesyou.com domain host, I have set my Mildred Loves You site up at an alternate address for for safe-keeping (but am still hoping that my mildredlovesyou.com domain will go back online at some point anyway)...
www.lalavoxbox.com/mildredlovesyou.html

Dr. Sketchy's Berlin Meets Pinky's Peepshow + DJ UFO Hawaii + Mermaid Stuff!

Don't forget folks! We've got our special extra-session -
DR SKETCHY'S BERLIN MEETS PINKY'S PEEPSHOW
- coming up tomorrow evening (Wed. Nov. 10th)! And special-guest-DJ, UFO Hawaii, has been busy sorting through his mountains of vintage vinyl to prepare gobs of South Seas and Exotica music for us to draw to!




We will also have the pleasure of adding a couple of large tiki masks painted by none other than Moritz R. to the general decor of the evening!

SO DON'T MISS IT!!!!!!!!

Here are all of the various infos and links once again...



DR SKETCHY'S BERLIN MEETS PINKY'S PEEPSHOW

ALOHA!

Pissed off by the weather in Berlin? Then just hop on board and fly with us to the sunny Caribbean. And look who will be waiting there to see you!

MISS MAMA ULITA & RUMMELSNUFF

special guests LORELEI VANORA & DJ U.F.O. HAWAII

We’ll be offering the usual 3-hour Life Drawing Extravaganza with two extraordinary models, drinks, our ever-popular drawing competitions and grrrrrreat prizes! (Don't forget your Art supplies)

When? November 10th 2010 7-10 pm (doors open 6:30pm)
Where? At the BASSY CLUB / Schönhauser Allee 176a
How much? Just measly 10 €! (Tickets at the door)



And since Lorelei Vanora will be making a small appearance during the course of the evening, I'd like to take this opportunity to talk mermaids for a moment or two...

...The sparkling and ever-delightful Carolyn Turgeon has written a book
called MERMAID which will be hitting the market in March of next year. And to celebrate this publication she's set up an I Am A Mermaid blog where she plans to begin posting mermaid interviews and info on a regular basis starting January 1st, 2011. I love the blurb she's written over in the ABOUT section. Swim over and give it a read.



She's already interviewed Ms. Vanora (after seeing her October 20th appearance at Pinky's Peepshow; this interview will be aired on her blog sometime in January or February) and has a long list of other professional mermaids and mermaid experts who've agreed to interviews to add to the mix. It will be full of information and fun for mermaid lovers everywhere!

Hugs + kisses, LaLaVox
www.mildredlovesyou.com
[edit: March 28th, 2011]
Because of problems with my current mildredlovesyou.com domain host, I have set my Mildred Loves You site up at an alternate address for for safe-keeping (but am still hoping that my mildredlovesyou.com domain will go back online at some point anyway)...
www.lalavoxbox.com/mildredlovesyou.html

Naming the Mermaid

Once upon a time, there was a wonderfully and lovingly decorated tiki bar called The Tabou Tiki Room along the Maybachufer here in Berlin. I brought an alter ego - a singing mermaid - into being specifically for this particular tiki bar. The bar itself has now disappeared, but The Singing Mermaid remains - in spite of the fact that she's never really had a proper name of any sort until just recently.

She's gone by the names Laura Lei and Laila Lei in the past (while performing with The Bali Ha'is and Fuzzy Love at The Tabou Tiki Room), and has more recently been called, LaLaVox - The Singing Mermaid, by others, or simply and namelessly, The Singing Mermaid, by me.

But since I want The Singing Mermaid to begin singing again at last, I figured it was high time she finally be given a real name.

Since my online name is LaLaVox, and I also have another alter ego named Lola la Voix, I decided I wanted to stay with the LLV theme for the mermaid too; wanting my mermaid to be named Loralei ...something-with-a-"V"...

About a month ago, I went to one of those baby-naming sites and clicked "V". It was on page 2 of "V" that I came across the first name in the list that appealed to me enough (that seemed "mermaidy" enough to me) that I felt the urge to go find out its meaning; Vanora.

So I clicked the "Vanora" link, and, as it turns out, the name is supposedly of old Welsh origin and means... drum roll, please... "white wave"!...

...Um... Hello? Is it a sign???

So I wrote an email to Carolyn Turgeon - whom I had the pleasure of meeting during her recent stay in Berlin, and who is currently writing her 3rd novel which is called MERMAID - to ask her expert opinion. She approved! And with her approval, it is now official: The Singing Mermaid's name is Lorelei Vanora!

Here's a little collage of photos of her from past and present so that you can get to know her a bit...

(Also pictured here: The Bali Ha'is, Fuzzy Love, and members of a Dr. Sketchy's Anti Art School Berlin audience.)

And so that Lola la Voix won't feel left out, here's a collage of photos of her as well...

(Also pictured here: Fuzzy Love, Carolyn Turgeon, and Anne Smith.)


Hugs + kisses,

LaLaVox
www.mildredlovesyou.com

[update: added Aug.6th,2010]
www.mildredlovesyou.com/loreleivanora.html
www.mildredlovesyou.com/lolalavoix.html

[edit: March 28th, 2011]
Because of problems with my current mildredlovesyou.com domain host, I have set my Mildred Loves You site up at an alternate address for for safe-keeping (but am still hoping that my mildredlovesyou.com domain will go back online at some point anyway)...
www.lalavoxbox.com/mildredlovesyou.html
www.lalavoxbox.com/mildredlovesyou/loreleivanora.html
www.lalavoxbox.com/mildredlovesyou/lolalavoix.html