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May 8th, 2006
03:26 pm - Upcoming gig plugs
Two upcoming gigs to plug.. first one with a flyer;
On Saturday 20th May I shall be appearing at a new night in Leeds alongside the thoroughly wonderful Devil's Jukebox, the luscious Lady Lipperella and the acidic No One Met Walter at the Brudenell Social Club, Leeds (see here for venue location and directions), I shall be doing a spot of walkaround close-up magic before the show and something melodious involving heavy restraints during it.
Then on Saturday 24th June in Manchester to co-incide with the Sparkle transgender convention I shall be performing number of street escapes and illusions up and down Canal Street during the afternoon, assisted by the glamorous Bella Jay.
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November 16th, 2005
04:46 pm - In search of assistance
My former assistant, the 6'4" tattoed masked man Helle Augen, is now officially unable to continue in the act due to time constraints with work, studies and his recent engagement; I would like to thank him for all his assistance and support and wish him all the best in the above endeavours; he will be a hard guy to replace.
Anyway, this means I'm now in search of a new assistant/co-performer to become a part of the act. In keeping with the melodramatic peril theme I'm using at the moment, I'd particularly like to find someone who can take a role similar to Penelope Pitstop's Sylvester Sneakly (who is also The Hooded Claw!), who would be overtly supportive and watching my back but with a vindictive dark side that will come out during routines. This character needn't be male, either; a catty villainess hidden beneath the facade of a supportive sister figure could work as well as the more traditional cloak and dagger villain-cum-slightly sinister but unsuspected male guardian. Knowledge and experience of magic and/or peformance is an advantage but not essential (enthusiasm and a good attitude are more important - Helle Augen had never performed before I asked him to take on the role, but his attitude was perfect and he ended up doing a terrific job), but if you have a particular talent you could bring to the act I'd love to hear from you.
In case you don't know, I'm based in Leeds UK, but can travel. If you know of anyone (including yourselves, natch) who may be interested, please get in touch via the contact details on my website.
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October 30th, 2005
10:32 am - WEAR show
Last night's show at the chemic for the World Escape Artist Relay event went great, thanks to everyone who came down, Dibbs for playing piano, Harrison Richards for performing and assisting, everyone who got up to assist, took photos or helped in whatever way and also thanks to Clyde Mighells and everyone connected with WEAR for putting together what has been a hugely successful global event and a fantastic thing to have been a part of.
There are photos from the show up on the gallery section of http://www.helenheld.co.uk , videos to follow shortly.
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October 26th, 2005
11:12 am - WEAR event this Saturday
Everything's gearing up now for a good show this Saturday at the Chemic Tavern, Woodhouse, Leeds.
The show will be starting around 9:30pm, in addition to my usual selection of songs and escapes as the climax (and the escape I'm hoping to submit for the WEAR event records) I'll be unveiling a brand new routine;
"The Pet In The Cellar" is based on the story of Dorothy Anne McCriddick, a serial killer and abductor from Maine, USA. She never faced trial for her crimes, as the last life she took was her own in order to evade capture, but her MO was to keep her victims chained up in a sack in the cellar, fed only on dog food and water, where she would subject them to all manner of abuse before finally dispatching them. Among the more interesting aspects of her activities was particularly nasty chain configuration she developed with which she was able to completely immobilise her victims with a minimum of apparatus.
On Saturday I will be displaying this configuration, and attempting to escape from it whilst tied in a sack in the manner in which Dorothy kept her victims.
Also now with an added appearance from Leeds mentalist Harrison "The Perceptionist" Richards, and Dibbs at the piano.
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October 8th, 2005
11:30 pm - My new image
The continuing developement of my act into a more retro melodramatic direction has finally yielded a look I'm happy with. I've uploaded a set of six pictures to the image section of helenheld.co.uk showing off this early version of what I plan to be my new look - comments and criticism gratefully received.
The whole melodrama thing's coming together well. I now have a proper focus for the act rather than the vague "escape act in a dress" theme I had before, I have a specific role model to base Helen's character upon (silent movie legend Pearl White; at one point I considered attempting to base my look entirely on hers as a sort of tribute, but in the end I felt this would be too much unnecessary work (I'd have to go blonde for one thing) and decided to try to emulate her in spirit instead, basing my look on a more anachronistic early 20th century amalgamation) and a distinctive musical style to use too. I'm looking forward to the show on the 29th when I will be launching the new act as a whole, though I will be testing out parts of it in open mic sessions in Leeds prior to that.
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October 6th, 2005
03:31 pm
There's a fledgling campaign underway at the moment to unseat "music"
as the most popular livejournal interest entry, replacing it with the
somewhat more mischievous falsifying statistics. It's early days yet, but numbers are growing. To join the cause, just add falsifying statistics to your LJ interests list.
And speaking of, um, music, I've updated my new look website
with an mp3 audio file of my rendition of the Spike Jones classic, "And
The Great Big Saw Came Nearer And Nearer". You can find it in the
multimedia section of the site, along with the video trailer for the WEAR
event. To quote the legendary Tap, I hope you like our new
direction (in this case heading towards the buzzsaw, screaming in a
melodramatic soprano voice).
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September 28th, 2005
10:44 pm - Website revamp, WEAR
Just got through re-designing my website at http://www.helenheld.co.uk - any comments anyone has to make on the new look gratefully received. Content wise it's pretty much the same, but hopefully I'll be adding some new stuff soon to reflect changes I've been making to the act.
On Saturday 29th October escape artists from around the world are joining together in the largest number of co-ordinated escape attempts ever to be staged within a 24-hour period. My own performance as part of this event will be in a return to the Chemic Tavern, Woodhouse, Leeds, where I'll be doing a full show, debuting lots of new stuff and filming the performance for submission to the WEAR records (also hopefully getting some good footage for showreel and website purposes), I'll also need to grab a few people as witnesses to sign a written confirmation they saw me successfully perform the escape on that particular night.
Current Music: Marlene Dietrich - Give Me The Man (who does things to me)
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September 9th, 2005
03:35 pm - This week I am mostly working on my act
I've decided to concentrate more on the acoustic cabaret side of my act from now on rather than the rock and roll vixen side, simply because the former is working so much better than the latter, I'm just too damn classy (also too broad shouldered, heavy and a mediocre dancer) to really pull off slutty drag. It's not me anyway, I've always been more of yer tomboy transvestite (had I been born a girl, I'd have dressed as a boy - I'm just a contrary bugger that wants it all) and Helen seems to be working better in more intimate settings where I can maximise audience involvement and play her as a mischievous, slightly tomboyish character. As a musician, it also feels a lot better to work with a pianist and to be able to control the pace directly rather than if I'm working to a backing track.
Songs-wise Helen's gravitating more and more to a kind of 1930's cabaret revue style, even if the actual songs didn't neccesarily come from that period; my chain escape into quickchange routine now involves a mock striptease behind the screen whilst singing a burlesque tango version of "Can't Get You Out Of My Head" - I'll know I've succeeded with my arrangement if I can convince at least one person that Kylie's version was actually a cover version of a hitherto little known 1930's cabaret song. The Spike Jones song "And The Great Big Saw Came Nearer And Nearer" is another one that fits Helen perfectly, so I expect to sing this one a lot.
Been trying a lot more options hair and costume wise, but more on that when I've made some firm decisions, also I intend to totally redo the website very soon.
Oh, and on the 29th of October (Hallowe'en weekend) I will be taking part in the Worldwide Escape Artist Relay, the largest ever co-ordinated escape performance ever. The exact venue for the show I will be doing for my part in the event is yet to be finalised, but for more info on the event as a whole see http://www.wearevent.info/
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August 12th, 2005
03:09 pm - Hyde Park Unity Day, Leeds, 13/8/05
Tomorrow I'll be doing a slot in the theatre tent from 2:05 - 2:25 pm at Hyde Park Unity Day on Woodhouse Moor, Leeds. It's a free festival, so come on down!
More info at www.unityday.com.
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June 9th, 2005
08:50 pm - New promo music video up
Been locked away for the last couple of days capturing, editing and compiling video footage and am finally getting something resembling a showreel finished, (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) sylphigirl is finally going to get the DVD I promised her yonks ago). A part of this is a music video I put together around footage of me singing my opening song (Queen's "Let Me Entertain You") which I've now uploaded to the website ( http://www.devilishdeeds.co.uk , or here if you're boring and just want to go straight to the video page ) in wmv format. Enjoy! :)
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June 7th, 2005
02:49 pm - Showtime II
Just over six hours now to go before the second of my free showreel taping gigs gets underway, this one at the Primrose, Meanwood Road, Leeds. It does feel better having had a good gig at the Chemic on Friday, although camera trouble buggered up the routine I most wanted to have filmed there (the "Ballad Of Mary Jones" straightjacket escape routine that went pretty much to perfection, except the camera decided to slip out of focus halfway through so the footage is of a blurred shape performing the actual escape).
This evening will be more focused on escapes rather than songs, partly because I don't like doing vocal gigs to backing tracks (though I'll still be singing a few numbers throughout the course of the night) and also because I'll finally have the space to do all the routines I can't do in stand-up slots.
There is a question mark on whether or not Helle Augen will be able to make this show following recent health problems; he's seeing the doctor this afternoon, so I'll know around teatime if he can perform.
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May 31st, 2005
08:44 am - Helen walks on water
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/qskerry/helenheld/FloatingGypsy.wmv
I filmed this in bitbat's garden yesterday, in order to test out the cameras ready for Friday. The image quality on this particular clip is a bit blocky as it was shot using the video capture function on my digital camera after both camcorder batteries had run out, but I did manage to get more height on this take than I did when using the camcorders and feel it's my best attempt to film this illusion to date, a lot of times it's not clear that I'm standing on top of the water instead of in it.
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May 29th, 2005
12:25 am - Primrose gig rescheduled
And in what is (hopefully) the final post I will have to make on the matter, at least until a hoped-for "yay, that went well!" post after the event, the cancelled Primrose showreel taping (see LJ passim) has been rescheduled for Tuesday 7th June, four days after the other show taping at the Chemic Tavern on Friday 3rd. Looking forward to getting both shows done, in the can and ready for editing into a proper showreel in the days following that; if you can make it down to either show to be in the audience, it's free and I'll do my best to entertain you thoroughly. As indeed I do if you turn up to any of my shows, in fact.
Also going to have another stab at filming the "floating gypsy" illusion in a friend's garden on Monday. Apart from some rather nice photos, I failed to achieve a satisfactory realisation of my ideas on creating a walking on water effect last year, mostly due to the hassles of developing the illusion and finding the right location to perform it, but if I can get it to work I think it'd make for some cool opening footage to put on the showreel. If it doesn't work, it at least gives me a chance to check out the cameras before the Chemic show.
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May 23rd, 2005
11:33 pm - Primrose Gig cancelled 24/5/05
Last week a gig guide entry was brought to my attention listing a four band night for the Primrose which appeared double booked with my showreel taping there, so I rang the venue who assured me I was the only one in the book, that the gig guide was wrong. Then just now I received an e-mail from a friend saying he'd been mailed by Dr. H, a local promoter who I've no particular beef with, advertising said band night. I rang the Primrose again, who once again swore blind it was only me booked, but by now I had to know, so rang the promoter who confirmed he'd booked the night there. It turns out he'd put a poster up, so as the date was on the wall the management hadn't troubled to put it in the book.
So to cut a long story short, I found myself in the position of myself and the two or three people I have assisting me versus the (now) five bands on the rival bill, at least one of whom are coming from afar, and it's fairly obvious which of us has the easier job of cancelling. So in the circumstances I feel I have to surrender the night, reschedule and conclude that somebody owes me a big favour.
For his part Dr. H has kindly said that anybody who shows up saying they came to see me will get into the band night free, so if you want to see Fuli Bulbus + Ward C + John McDonough + The Modern Equivalent namedrop me on the door to avoid paying.
The Chemic show will still be going ahead on Friday 3rd June, as will the Primrose Cabaret on the 1st July.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/classic/angry.gif) pissed off
Current Music: The "I've had my work fucked up" blues
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May 15th, 2005
08:43 pm - Pat Page and Wayne Dobson
Just got back from Leeds Magic Convention; had a great time, but the day definitely belonged to the two headlining performers/lecturers, Pat Page and Wayne Dobson.
Pat Page is one of the last surviving member of the old school legends of British Magic, like Ken Brooke (whom sadly I shall never get to experience first hand) he is a man you often hear referred to with reverence when talking to magicians of the last generation, and today I discovered why. From the moment he took to the stage for his lecture (and later performance) it was clear we were in the prescence of a true master. Every aspect of his performance was fantastic. He is a hugely charismatic man, like Hartnell-era Doctor Who (best example I can think of offhand) he presents an image of an eccentric but worldy professor, a fun likeable person with the confidence and life experience to impress his will upon those around him. His magic was nothing short of incredible, his timing (which he describes as the most important part of sleight of hand) immaculate and his explanations clear. The hour and a half I spent watching him work goes down as my most pleasurable live experience of magic to date, and had I left the convention at that point I would have felt I had my money's worth. This man represents everything that the art of magic should be about.
Wayne Dobson is another great of British Magic known best for his television appearances in the eighties and early nineties, but for the past six or seven years has been away from the stage after being stricken with MS, which left him confined to a wheelchair. He admitted he hadn't performed because he didn't know how the public would react to a disabled performer, until his friends persuaded him to perform once more, and today we saw a man clearly having the time of his life. His patter style was superb, putting the audience at ease and making light of his illness ("Actually I can walk", he explained after being lifted onstage in his wheelchair, "I'm just a lazy bastard. If this leg starts shaking again, jump on and make the most of it") and his lecture and performance featured tricks his limited mobility still allowed him to do and a question and answer session about the man, his life and his career. He told some great stories, his intense passion for magic was obvious and there was a visible tear in his eye as he discussed his start in magic, the Royal Variety performance he credits with making him a household name and again at the end as he accepted a well deserved standing ovation.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/classic/smile.gif) happy
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May 8th, 2005
12:25 pm - Busy busy busy
I've booked another free show for showreel taping purposes, this one is at the Chemic Tavern, Woodhouse, Leeds on Friday 3rd June, and will focus more on the acoustic, jazzier side of my act. This will feature my usual mix of drag magic and escapology with a selection of jazz, blues and cabaret songs with acoustic piano accompaniment from Dibbs, the venue's resident pianist. So having seen rock vixen Helen at the Primrose on the 24th May, you now have the chance to see classy diva Helen ten days later. Take your pick, or better still come and support both shows, either way I'll appreciate everyone who makes it down to be in the audience and help create the best possible atmosphere for my video footage.
And while we're on the topic of dates, after months of assorted misadventures the Primrose Cabaret is finally booked in conjunction with the thoroughly wonderful Devil's Jukebox and will take place on Friday 1st July at the Primrose, Meanwood Road, Leeds. Full bill and details (and hopefully a better name than "Primrose Cabaret", though we'll need to think of that pronto) to be published soon.
So my time at the moment is being divided between making sure I have two shit hot shows assembled, rehearsed and ready to tape at the end of the month, getting this cabaret night together, my usual teaching commitments and a bizarre bread and butter juggling gig I've somehow ended up with standing in co-op convenience stores all over Leeds juggling three balls. I am not doing this in character, unfortunately; in fact part of the brief is it's not to look like a performance, just a demonstration to encourage people to exercise, so they have me standing there in a promotional shirt in front of posters promoting their healthy living campaign. That's the theory, anyway; in practice none of the stores have bothered to put the healthy living posters up and the promotional shirts didn't get done in time, so they have me in staff co-op shirts standing in front of a propped up page from the co-op magazine in lieu of the posters, inevitably fending off passing customers demanding to know which aisle the sugar is in. Still, the money's good and you quickly learn as a performer exactly how saleable a commodity is human dignity.
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May 3rd, 2005
03:58 pm - Free show (showreel taping), Tuesday 24th May
The time has come that I need to get some recent footage to put on a showreel in order to promote the act; at the moment all I have is the video on the website that was shot on only my second or third gig as Helen and so isn't an accurate reflection of how I am as a performer (now I actually know what I'm doing to some extent). So the solution; give over a night to shooting some properly!
On Tuesday 24th May 2005 I have booked the Primrose pub, Meanwood Road, Leeds for the evening for the express purpose of performing as much of my repertoire as possible and getting it on film. Aside from the usual escapes and routines that you may have seen at my previous performances, I have a few larger routines, escapes and illusions that are impossible to set up in the stand-up settings I usually perform in, but with the entire stage at my disposal without having to work around band equipment, the time has come.
And like any good telly taping, the door tax for this night of magic, song and escapology is, to you, guv, zero pounds and nuffink pence. Nada. Bo diddley. Not a sausage. Basically, my primary goal is to get video footage, and I would appreciate any and everybody who is willing to come down, show their support and be the audience on the footage. In return I will put on one hell of a show for you. Oh, and that price again; naff all.
Current Mood: excited
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May 2nd, 2005
02:32 am - China dress
Well, that was a fun day. Had planned to start it out going to a car boot sale with verte and her housemate, so predictably I awoke to the sound of the rain pissing against the window. By the time I got up and ready to go out it had settled instead for pea souper fog, which got thicker as we approached the field, which thanks to the night's rain was churned mud all over (much to the distress of Alex's poorly chosen footwear) and with maybe a tenth of that boot sale's usual turnout in evidence. I did however pick up (amongst other things) a black Chinese-style dress which I liked so much I decided to wear it for my gig this afternoon (more on this coming right up). I managed to take some photos in it this afternoon, in between getting ready and setting out for the gig, so you lovely people get to see it;
There, isn't that nice?
Anyway, to the gig, though really it was more a quick guerilla appearance during the break of a day of blues bands at the Duck and Drake, a pub I haven't set foot in since I used to take part in the jazz jams there a few years ago. I ended up meeting a few people I knew from back then too, who not only recognised me in Helen mode, but who seemed surprised to learn that I was playing a character rather than just being myself (the general rule of thumb is that if I am wearing a wig or any kind of drag prosthetics, I'm playing a character.. when I'm being myself I prefer to play around the lines and can't be doing with all that disguise rubbish, although I admit I'll probably be wearing the same sorts of clothes (hence the confusion I guess).
The performance itself went very well indeed, I did the Escape Houdini Never Did In Public (posey straightjacket escape on four inch stilletto heels) to a crowd who were well up for it, everything ran smoothly and got a good reaction and all in all a cool experience.
Johnny Solstice, who was handling the changeovers and had booked me, had a funny story when I arrived. He said he'd told somebody to stick around as he had something different booked (ie me) but couldn't say what it was, as it was a surprise.
"Well, it can't be any stranger than the act I saw the other week", she replied, before going on to describe my act. Yay, my notoriety continues to spread! :)
Oh, and on a related note (to the being myself vs. being a character issue, anyway), I'd had a few requests to post the old Excretia stuff back up. For those who don't know, Excretia was a spoof goth project I did a few years back when I was working on singing female vocal parts and consisted initially of some mp3 recordings of original songs, a back story for the band and some photos mostly taken dicking around in costume at Kirkstall Abbey and Breary Woods. It had it's moments until I started doing the act onstage and the joke went too far (basically, the songs had too many instrumental passages so apart from the vocals and the occasional flowery gesture I couldn't think of much interesting to do onstage, making for a performance that while strange came across as more self indulgent than entertaining). Anyway, in commemoration of Felicia, Darrell and Bats there is a new section at http://www.devilishdeeds.co.uk dedicated to Excretia, including some of the mp3s for free download.
Current Mood: happy
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April 21st, 2005
04:02 pm - Blasted spam bots
Surfing today in the cyber café at the gym it came to my attention that the porn spam bot that found the guestbook on my site and has been making a nuisance of itself since has caused said guestbook to be blocked by net content blockers, so would be signees instead get a friendly message screaming "Pervert! The site you are trying to view is nasty and sordid and horrible and we've blocked it me old china, now kindly go and soak your genitals in Draino until the urge goes away". Or words to that effect, anyway.
This explains a lot actually; I've had the occasional person complaining about porn content on the site, and I couldn't for the life of me figure out what was on there that was upsetting them so (notwithstanding snide innuendo that's frankly par for the course in a drag escape act). I'd grudgingly tolerated those guestbook messages because I couldn't edit them out (though the guestbook provider do so themselves every now and then), I didn't want to lose all the lovely entries that people have made so far and I figured only a complete divot would fail to recognise them as spambot postings that I have no control over and a stiller bigger clot would be the one to click on an obvious porn link and then be surprised at what they found there. However, if content blockers are starting to insult would-be guestbook signees and friends based on a combination of spam bot and content spider, it's time to act.
So I'm looking for a new free guestbook provider. I need to be able to edit entries myself, it has to basically work and I'm not too bothered about banner ads so long as they're tasteful (pop-ups are a different matter). Can anyone recommend a good provider?
Current Mood: annoyed
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March 17th, 2005
03:21 pm - Mission statement
One of my idols, sideshow and burlesque icon lucifire, recently made a post on her journal in which she considered the old adage that a male performer should aim to make the men want to be him and the women want to be with him (or rather, to fuck him, as she more directly put it). She pointed out that by logical extension, female performers should presumably make the women want to be them and the men fuck them, before concluding that there was no fun in that and her own aim as a performer was to make the men want to be her and the women want to fuck her. Amen, Sister! :)
You can check out the full post (which I recommend you do; she puts it so much better in her own words) here.
Anyway, this got me thinking about my own role onstage as a transvestite/drag performer (particularly as one who's straight), and the best I could come up with was this;
My goal is to make the boys, girls, and everyone in between want to be me, to be themselves to a larger degree, or at least to be happy there's someone getting the job done on their behalf at no risk or consequences to themselves in terms of social standing or compromising career and family commitments.
Or, as has been the slogan of Devilish Deeds from day one, we make life interesting so you don't have to. This is the business all friendly misfits and eccentrics are really in, even those who've never set foot on a stage but who go out of their way in their everyday lives to make life that little bit more interesting for themselves and those around them and I consider this to be a worthy calling indeed.
If anyone's reaction to me is actually to want to fuck me, that's cool too.
Current Music: Baptized In Wine - Screamin' Jay Hawkins
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