Allow Me To Introduce You

I love this quote from Margaret Cho:

"...When I was a little girl I always wished I would be constantly surrounded by gorgeous guys, and I am, and I should have been more specific".

I have this thing, some may call it "fabulous", I don't know, but it seems that for almost as long as I can remember, well, at least since about 13 or 14 when my friends and I could start fathoming any kind of sexuality, in between viewings of Cabaret and Funny Girl or backstage during a production of Beauty & The Beast or South Pacific, it was during these formative years that A Fag-Hag Extraordinaire Was Born.

Since, I have, well, spent my life surrounded by beautiful (unavailable) men. It's a blessing and a curse (but mostly a blessing).

One of my Major Players showed up at FRANK SWANK the other night & another was there as well,but he's in the band (and will, in a likelihood, end up a contributor to this blog) so he had to be there...

Without further ado, allow me to introduce you to Carter Maxwell (the dapper) and Ammon Taylor (the pianist) captured goofing off with yours truly during a break at FRANK SWANK. I love these two dearly.



(Carter is on the right and Ammon the left)

And, a few more shots taken at FRANK SWANK including a detail of one of my favorite dresses, which is a vintage Eisenberg Original, and it was a steal.



Lastly, Matthew (who you met in the first blog post) and I pretending we were alive in the sixties and oh, so, hip.



Music practice is at my apartment in a couple hours and it's a hot mess.

The Color Red

Those prolonged percolating minutes & Sam waiting (not-quite) patiently.



Oh, and FRANK SWANK is this evening. This is our third time playing in their upstairs area and it's always a darling time. Half-price wine, lovely candlelight and table linens. If you are free this evening, give it a whirl.

These photos were taken by the talented Arian Brumby at Camera For a Face at the First & Christmas Edition of Frank Swank:



My favorite red dress. Every girl needs one. Vintage, well, I wouldn't have it any other way.

Whatever should I wear to tonight's engagement?

Let Me Catch You Up

The Long of It:

I'm Ava. I sing jazz. Well, it's sort of a new thing for me. (Not singing, I'm one of those crazy-looking people that's always singing to herself. Doesn't really matter where, grocery store, street, work, doctor, you get the idea...) I grew up performing musicals. Lots and lots of musicals. I spent high school in dance pants, just in case there was a need to break out into an impromptu (yet, seemingly well-choreographed) musical number during the break between third and fourth period. Let's just say, I would have been prepared.

Then after high school, who knows why really, the music stopped. (Although I never stopped singing). But, I stopped performing. And, well, for a bit, the world didn't make much sense to me. True, there were some good times. But, I just felt like I was floundering. I always dreamed of going back to music, but I was too scared or didn't really know how. Thought it would be "pointless".

I was wrong.

I realized nothing's pointless if it makes you happy.

So, after several ads on Craigslist and a few awkward meetings with overly-anxious middle-aged mediocre musicians, I met Matt. He had a story that sounded a little bit like a "made-for-tv-feel-good follow-your-dreams-mini-series" having just moved here from a (uncomfortably) small town in Indiana with not much more than his guitar, his van and a dream of playing music (more specifically a Barbra Streisand tribute band, but that's for another, slightly more creepy, blog). But, we clicked. And, quickly discovered a mutual love for jazz standards, frisky cats, board games and Nada Moo Frozen Treats.



(Drawings by the delightful Jenna Marie Carey)

This was 9 months ago.

A lot has happened since then. So, I'll do some more catching up later. This will do for now.

The short of it:

I guess this blog is going to be about all the cheesy stuff that makes life, well, life: sort of discovering what it's all about for the first time and finally pursuing dreams, whatever that takes and where ever it takes me, etc. As well as, all the stuff that makes life fun along the way (catchy tunes, vintage clothes, car rides, petticoats, sunshine, pictures, vegetables, baking, best friends, cats, coffee).

That said:

A Sunny Sunday in a very non-wintery January at Laguna Gloria in Austin, Texas. Ava and Matt did some exploring in inappropriate shoe-wear: