The Echo – Poetry Brothel
Her name is not important, because from this moment forward, neither she nor you will be using it. That name belongs to another time, another girl, another story which would have been told if it hadn’t been unceremoniously unwritten before it even had a chance to truly begin. That name belongs to someone who would have lived a much different life. And while it may have been wondrous and beautiful in its own right, it’s a story that could never be. I am not here to guess the impossible what ifs. I’m here to recount the impact of a single lasting Echo.
Hello kindred!
If you’re here, you very possibly encountered me at the Poetry Brothel at Los Angeles’ El Cid. It was such a joy to get to connect with you, and if you wandered here to find more of what I do, I can’t thank you enough.
Above in the site navigation you’ll find my YouTube Channel and my contact page where all my socials reside, as well as a link to my publisher’s website where you can find my other writing love, fiction!
Also below you’ll find the version of The Queen of Hearts that was recited on the stage:
The Queen of Hearts
She stands in a permanent S curve. Bone structure built for statues, the only thing in the world with a better body is her hair. She is the wet dream that wakes you up at night in a cold sweat, and she’s so far out of your league, you don’t even know the name of the game she plays. She looks you dead in the eyes and applies sin colored lipstick without smudging.
I’ll fool you with my Cheshire grin
I was born a liar, Dishonesty is a sin
it’s simple to acquire. I’ll admit,
it’s my addiction, easy to lie
give false depiction of me myself and I
no matter what cards I hold, I’ll never fold
If I don’t feel guilty, why atone?
Be it war or gin we play love
The Queen of Hearts has no heart of her own
To be kind I must be cruel in love it’s all the same
I’m a whore, but you’re a fool,
That’s how we play this game
Hearts are a stack of chips that I intend to win
Don’t disagree, you’re dying to give in
Deal a hand if you’re not scared
But understand you’re ill-prepared
If you think that you can take me all alone
It’s all in or nothing. Keep in mind, I may be bluffing
The Queen of Hearts has no heart of her own
If you’re more than fear see how you’ll fare
Push your stack in, if you even dare
if your house is glass, you should not cast that stone
Deny, deride, demand
I won’t ever show my hand
The Queen of Hearts has no heart of her own
The Poetry Brothel – Los Angeles
It exists out of time, and physical space as you may know it, and while there are many doors, you will find this particular gateway in the heart of the Silver Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles. The historic venue of El Cid is iconic in its appearance and since its opening in 1962 has been the premiere location for authentic Spanish tapas and flamenco dance. But once a month, much like the swelling of the full moon, it is the gateway to what has been simply referred to as “The Poetry Brothel”.
Madam Tallula opens her doors and as you descend the steps into the brothel courtyard, you can’t help but feel that you’ve been transported to another world somewhere between the birth of European Bohemianism and The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus.
Simple admittance to the brothel will treat you to some of the finest burlesque performances you will ever be fortunate enough to witness, exquisite aerial work, heavenly music, and poetry performed in a dramatic and heartfelt fashion that will leave you trembling in your seat–all of which is introduced to you by the quick wit and unparalleled humor of your MC, Ach Suzette.
And once you have had your fancy tickled, your amuse bouche of literature, if you will, you may purchase tokens. These tokens will grant you time with the poet of your choosing for private poetry readings.
Now, dear wanderer, you may not quite understand why you would seek such a thing, but let me enlighten you. Each poet is not just a poet–they are not merely masters of verse, but of expressing those words they poured onto each page. They are performers, and a private reading has never disappointed. Readings involve a rare sort of human connection between you and your chosen poet, a vulnerability that I dare say we rarely even share with some of our closest confidants.
Since my first attendance, I have tried diligently to never miss an event. It feeds my soul, and often acts as a sort of creative jumper cable for my muse. I cannot urge you strongly enough to attend one if you can. And if you happen to be in the LA area this coming Sunday, the portal will be opening up once again.
Come along now, traveler… Adventure awaits:
https://poetrybrothelpantheonla.eventbrite.com/?aff=pbcast&afu=16177012927
25% off tickets, use: SPELLBOUND
Dreamfall Chapters – The Final LiveStream & More!
What: LiveStream of Dreamfall Chapters Book 5: Redux (The final book)
When: January 13th (Friday–Yes, Friday the 13th!), 7:30pm PST (When is that for you?)
Where: http://www.twitch.tv/kiriosity
We’ve come to it. The final book. I’m biting my nails because I’m not ready for this game to end! I’m already preparing for a stream the next day because I’m going to require some serious comfort gaming after this, loves. I will be a bit of a wreck, I’m sure.
Haven’t made it to a stream before? You can catch up here!
As I said, after this I will need some comfort gaming, which means…
Next Stream: January 14th (Saturday), 1pm PST – 5pm PST, Possible Extension: 8pm PST – 12am PST
Game: Dragon Age: Origins
My love of Dragon Age is not a secret. I’ve written two tribute songs (Halamshiral, Lost) and one original (Bring You Home) about my game experiences. Don’t watch those if you haven’t seen/played the game and care about spoilers.
I haven’t streamed or really shared game play of these games because I figured my fangirl level was a bit too high and would not actually be interesting to watch. And then several Curiosities laughed and said I should do it anyway.
Note: I WILL be using mods from Dragon Age Nexus (appearance, some extra scenes etc) but I will be sure to link them in the description of the VODs.
I may also employ the dev console code to get through fights faster. Reason being that while I LOVE the Dragon Age series, I must confess Dragon Age: Origins was not super exhilarating with fights, and skipping past random battles so we can get to the story seems preferable considering the LENGTH of the game itself.
So here we go. Saturday. It’s happening.
Live Stream, Q&A, Music, Raffle & More!
Hello you beautiful Curiosities, we’ve got some crazy live content coming your way! Why? Well one, because I haven’t been able to do much livestreaming lately. And two, we’re still trying to negotiate with the mortgage company to bring down our monthly payment (the monthly escrow is so unreasonably high so we’re still looking at a nearly $3k payment) and, we had a renter who would have been taking two of the rooms (thus giving us no worries about July’s payment) back out at the last minute.
So more or less, I’m a little worried because things aren’t going quite so smoothly as we’d hoped and prayed. Trying to keep my chin up though because we have NOT come this far to fall now.
So I’m going to be doing some videos and livestreams to help raise a little extra to help us get through July, and I have some donation tiers that I hope you’ll find interesting. If you can help, awesome, if you can’t, I hope you enjoy the show anyway. =)
Livestream Dates:
Friday June 24th, 7pm – 3am PST
Saturday June 25th TBD (May include Harry Potter Night Live Footage)
Sunday June 26th, 10am – 10pm PST
Where will the Livestreams be?
On my Twitch channel.
What will the Livestreams include?
Q&As, Gaming, Raffles and music!
What’s up for raffle?
A variety of donated prizes that we’ll be raffling off individually!
PayDay2 (with all DLC) on Steam
1 ECCC Exclusive Funko Pop Snoopy
1 Xbox One OR PS4 Console
(This list is still incomplete, so please continue to check back)
The Raffle, How To Enter:
1 Raffle Entry: (Free) Simply post one question you’d like me to answer on livestream in the comments below.
Additional Entries by Donation:
$5 – 1 additional general raffle entry and question.
$10 – Live Karaoke (on stream, acapella or with music as we’re able to find it), +2 additional questions & general raffle entries
$15 – 1 hour of gameplay of the game of your choice (Listed below), + 3 additional questions & general raffle entries
$25 – 1 Recorded karaoke song* of your choice (We’ll work together to find one in range), + 5 additional questions & general raffle entries, and an mp3 of all my current songs (including Saving April songs).
$100 – 1 hour 1 on 1. Need a voice lesson or just sing karaoke together? Want to talk writing or need some advice? Maybe you just wanna play a game together on a livestream. +20 additional questions & general raffle entries, and an mp3 of all my current songs (including Saving April songs AND other requested karaoke songs)
$200 – 1 video** (Kiriosity, Nailed It, Tutorial, Let’s Play, Review etc) on the subject of your choice (nothing explicit) + special raffle entry for a Xbox One or PS4 console and an mp3 of all my current songs (including Saving April songs AND other requested karaoke songs)
In regards to tiers, we’re going to stick to Kickstarter rules, so if you donated $25, but want to pick a tier below it instead, just indicate it in the paypal comments. (Ex. I’d like this to go towards 1.75 hours of Dragon Age: Inquisition gameplay instead of picking a song.)
Additionally, if you have a suggested tier, let me know!
Click Here To Make a Donation!
Note: Please remember to fill in what you’d like in the comments, along with the best email to contact you.
*Songs will be delivered as received and as we decide on what to sing. They will be uploaded to YouTube prior to the live stream (time permitting) and I’ll send you a copy of the MP3. Obviously anything requested DURING the livstream will be uploaded afterwards. Unlike live karaoke, these will be available on YouTube and be more polished. Songs sung on the livestream (Live Karaoke) tend to be muted by Twitch after the live show, so if you don’t catch it live, you likely won’t hear it at all.
**Videos, due to their time consuming nature of research, scripting and filming (especially in regards to Kiriosities) will be uploaded as I finish them after the livestream.
Livestream will also include a donation counter that I will update as we go so we can track our progress!
Available Games For Livestream:
The 7th Guest
Alice: Madness Returns
Baulder’s Gate: Enhanced Edition
Baulder’s Gate II: Enhanced Edition
Breath of Death VII
Broken Age
Child of Light
Costume Quest 2
CSI: Hard Evidence
Cthulhu Saves The World
Dishonored
Dragon Age: Origins
Dragon Age: Awakenings
Dragon Age 2
Dragon Age: Inquisition
Drawn: Dark Flight
Dreamfall Chapters
Dreamfall: The Longest Journey
DuckTales Remastered
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Fallout 3: Game of the Year Edition
Fallout: New Vegas
Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn
Foul Play
Game of Thrones – A Telltale Game Series
Guns of Icarus Online
Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning
King’s Quest Collection
Life is Strange
Little Big Planet 3 (PS4)
Mass Effect
Mass Effect 2
Murdered: Soul Suspect
Never Alone
Nidhogg
Ori and the Blind Forest
Overwatch (Ps4)
Oxenfree
Papers, Please
Payday 2 (1 Hour)
Portal
Portal 2
Post Mortem
Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments
Starbound
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
The Secret World
Still Life
Still Life 2
Table Top Simulator (Cards, checkers, etc) – Not great for streaming
Tales from the Borderlands
Terraria
Until Dawn (PS4)
Violett: Remastered Edition
The Witcher: Enhanced Edition
The Witcher 2: Assassin’s of Kings Enhanced Edition
The Wolf Among Us