The Tokyo Comedy Store was absolutely delighted when The Tyler Foundation approached us to be the entertainment for their annual fundraiser at the Hilton this year. The cast of Spontaneous Confusion joined forces with actors Donna Burke, Martin Burns, Lenne Hardt and Andrew Martinez to put on a Murder Mystery of Cluedo proportions. Check out what you missed!
Annie Leonard knows her Stuff! Hers is basically a more digestable version of the message in Fight Club. It's nothing you haven't heard before but totally worth the Reading Rainbow reminder.
Hey there Mika fans. This weekend beat the band. I went caving and kayaking organized a flea market for Dr. Sketchy's, learned how to make konyaku a Japanese gelatinous dish which truly is not worth the effort and celebrated the end of a colossal effort to bring a Murder Mystery to life for the Tyler Foundation...oh and I swallowed a sharp fish bone which still seems to be lodged in my throat but miraculously doesn't seem to be choking me. The last 72 hours have been anything but boring and I'd be lying if the thought hadn't crossed my mind to skip out on you guys. To say to hell with Mika Mondays. To be perfectly honest getting out of bed this Monday was harder than all the events of this past weekend and the very LAST thing I wanted to do was spend hours editing footage...BUT I just couldn't do it. I couldn't NOT do Mika Mondays! It was the weirdest thing. I've blown off plenty of other (arguably more significant) obligations in my day with relative ease but I actually felt BAD for even THINKING about not following through with Mika Mondays. So here I am, with literally minutes left until Monday is over here in Japan, Vimeo is still uploading and I'm not so sure I'll make the deadline but the beauty of living in Japan is that it's still the past somewhere else in the world since we see the present first! What a gift! So for those of you out in GMT -5 this one is for you babe!
Special thanks to my best friend Akiko for the hoop battle, Dr. Sketchy's February model, Diana for helping with the Flea Market and Stuart for the great camera work. I couldn't have done any of it without you guys! If you missed the Dr. Sketchy's Flea Market, pics are here and if you missed September's Dr. Sketchy's pics are here.
Song: Relax, Take it Easy By:Mika
PS. Yes Diana the hoop has a way of making every butt bootilicious.
PSS. If you happen to live overseas and your cable provider supports NHK WORLD you can check out the TV Show Tokyo Eye that features me caving, kayaking and cooking! Airs Thursday 15:15 JST October 16th. The last month I was featured in the chopsticks segment all details here.
Dr. Sketchy’s is currently in the process of doing some major fund raising to host our very first gallery opening next month. We’ve teamed up with our March model, Dirty Dancing Diana to share a booth and sell Dr. Sketchy’s very own brand named sinfully sexy stockings and tights that would make any Harajuku girl squeal with delight! Come on out and support this Saturday as we sell in the name of art. Lady Elle will bring her hoops and dance for attention while Dirty Diana laughs without abandon. Don’t miss the Dr. Sketchy’s sale happening at the Flea Market in Shinjuku Chuo Koen (park) just in front of the fountain.
I thought Spring time was hay fever season but apparently it can knock you down in the fall as well. While I've had issues with my actual plumbing my nose seems to run eternal lately. If only I could bathe in that translucent stream...ok that's gross even by my standards. Moving on. All this sneezing has left me in a dazed itchy eyed, sweatshirt wearing, tea drinking, internet prowling stupor. This vid is the product of my red eyed perusing.
and high octane trampoline fueled children's entertainment
Life could use a little cool down.
Special thanks to IQ Jane for her backstage photo. Jane has done a wonderful job documenting life on the road with the English Carnival! If you wanna see more check out her flickr here.
Tokyo's main Hoop Guru, Deanne Tonking just left the island to train with the big dogs in San Francisco at an intensive hoop camp/retreat . Oh the jealousy in my heart knows no bounds, but in lieu of her delightful presence I leave you with a hoop video made by Hooplovers that highlights the hoop joy that she spread.
Hey there Hoop Groupies, this is the entry that almost never was. I was in the midst of dotting the (I)s and crossing the (T)s when my poor computer crashed and took with it all the editing I had done for the last 5 HOURS! Tears were seriously shed as it was 2 in the morning and exhaustion was burning the back of my eyeballs. BUT All is not lost because even though we're already more than half way through Monday in Tokyo it's still Monday all over the world and there are plenty of hours still left in the day to enjoy the music and the hoop. Today I bring you Mika Mondays in two segments. The first is of course the video of me hooping to the music of a band I just recently discovered last week called FatBlueMan they are based out of Kansai in the Aichi Prefecture in the city of Nagoya which gets its reputation as basically being the Detroit of Japan but has oh so much more to offer than just cars. Front man John Janzen invited me to sit in on a jam session and they absolutely rocked my socks off. So check out the LED hoop action as I rock out to their song Which Road Takes Me Home
Mika Mondays Episode 5 Part 1 from Lady Elle on Vimeo. Next up are your FAQs and Comments. Since starting Mika Mondays the love has been pouring from all sides, thanks for all your wonderful questions and comments your energy is what kept me going last night so thanks for all of your amazing support!
While on tour this weekend with my own show I serendipitously was able to meet up with some of TokyoCooney's fans who I met while doing The TokyoCooney BlogTV show last week. It was shear coincidence that I was in Nagoya a day eariler than my show date and FatBlueMan invited me to come sit in on a jam session. The whole experience was a lot more interactive than I thought it would be. Gone are the days when groupies simply shook tambourines and swayed to the beat; now we're full on roadies who are responsible for documenting the journey. I had a great time filming this video for them. Can't wait to go back and see them live in concert. If you're ever in Nagoya, FatBlueMan should be on your list of things to do.
OMG OMG OMG OMG! Mika Mondays episode 4 got a shout out on Hooping.org. I am now for the next few hours the Hoop video of the day!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm absolutely OVER THE MOON! That's at least 5 minutes of my 15 minutes of fame allotment. And today I just got this email from Holly the Hoop angel who let me know about it.
"Hey Leila! I'm a hooper from San Diego Ca and saw your video on hooping.org. It's video of the day if you didn't know already, you should check it out! I just wanted to say I think it's awesome what you are doing to try and get into a Mika video, Honestly I don't really know who that is. Maybe he is more popular in Japan, that tends to happen musically as opposed to groups here in the US. But I wish you the best of luck with your journey and hope to someday see you in a MIKA video! Keep Hooping! Peace and Hoopiness ~Holly"
Did you read that!!! She doesn't even know who Mika is!!!! Is that even possible in this day and age?? Did I just introduce someone to the yummy lovey goodness of Mika!?!
A neo-nomad for the new millenium with a strong interest in sharing my adventures through performance art on world stages as diverse as the imaginative machinations of a four-year-old mind.
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