For More Fun ~ Join the Palm Beach Pin-Up Party!

Watch this Behind the Scenes Footage of our Pin-Up Shoot at Ragtops Motorcar Museum!!

On May 6th, 2015, most of the ladies who performed in our show at Pinned Miami, came and did a photo shoot to benefit The Palm Beach Photographic Centre.  I have been posting all of the images on a new Facebook page called the Palm Beach Pin-Up Party!  I am posting some of the pictures here too!  Of course it was the most fun I've had in a long time and you can certainly see why.  We were so fortunate to be able to shoot at Ragtops Motorcar Museum in West Palm Beach, Florida - which is a little slice of vintage heaven!  And naturally, our ladies were divine in all their pin-up finery.  

All I can say is that I cannot wait for the next time!  

Enjoy these photos and go give Palm Beach Pin-Up Party a like!

Photo by Shane Srogi starring Ariel Amour

Photo by Andy Spilos starring Melissa Coleman

Photo by Sheryl Kittrell starring Ariel Amour

Photo by Andy Spilos starring Melissa Coleman, Jacquelinda, 

Sam Steich & Lacey Nikkinen

 

Photo by Sheryl Kittrell starring Melissa Coleman

Photo by Sheryl Kittrell starring Melissa Coleman

Photo by Shane Srogi starring Ariel Amour, Melissa Coleman, Jacquelinda, 

Sam Steich & Lacey Nikkinen

Photo by Gail V. Haines starring Ariel Amour, Melissa Coleman, Jacquelinda, 

Sam Steich & Lacey Nikkinen

 

Photo by Seryl Kittrell starring Lacey Nikkinen

Photo by Shane Srogi starring Ariel Amour

Photo by Shane Srogi starring Ariel Amour, Melissa Coleman, Jacquelinda, 

Sam Steich & Lacey Nikkinen

Photo by Sheryl Kittrell starring Ariel Amour, Melissa Coleman, Jacquelinda, 

Sam Steich & Lacey Nikkinen

The Discovery of Anne Cha and the #GirlPower Movement

Artist Anne Cha created #GirlPower 

in March of 2013 to celebrate

International Women's Day.

Inspired by the classic Rosie the Riveter icon,

#GirlPower is dedicated to strong women everywhere.

And women across the globe have her embraced her!

As the creator of Art of the Pin-Up Girl, I am engaged in the social media world on a daily basis.  I attribute much of our success to the support of all of our friends and fans who have loved us from the beginning.  I have a deep passion for pin-up and it is amazing to see that I am a part of a greater community who all share this undying passion.  It is in this glorious space where I discovered Anne Cha.

You see, I follow many modern pin-up models and share them with our community.  The trend towards a classic, golden era styling and photography is exhilarating to me and resonates with our fans as well.  Jolee Blon' is one of those beauties who looks like a snapshot from days gone by and it was this portrait by Anne that first caught my eye!  As I delved into Anne's facebook page for the first time, I was mesmerized by her work and could see that she was a rare talent.  And then I saw #GirlPower and I shared it.  Here is my first share of the piece:

Now, my fans are the classiest, coolest people and they always interact with me, but this was a huge response to a share of any kind on my fledgling page - including famous people.  I knew right then, that this was something special.  I immediately reached out to Anne and asked her if she would be willing to partner with me, to release #GirlPower merchandise in the United States.  To my delight, she said yes and we began not only a business relationship, but a friendship - which I cherish.  Since then, we have been on a roller coaster of a ride I call:  Defending #GirlPower!

An Anne's authorized agent and manager, I filed the United States copyright for her piece and we began fielding requests for using the artwork, as well as trolling the net to find all the ways that people have embraced and shared her.  #GirlPower has gone viral and women all over the world have connected with the work and put their own spin on it.  

In fact, Anne has been able to discover over 100 women, across the world, who have had #GirlPower tattooed on their bodies.  They have shared their stories of struggle and survival with her and these women are truly inspiring and many of their stories are heartbreaking.

And then came the "Pink"!

Someone - to this day, we don't know who - rendered #GirlPower into a pink version with the tattoo changed to "Fight Like a Girl".  

This version - despite the poor quality - also went viral like crazy!

And this #fightlikeagirl version was changed and shared in a variety of ways - prompting Anne to render her own high quality version in pink to support the cause of breast cancer awareness.

On May 23rd at Pinned Miami, we released the first ever Anne Cha #GirlPower merchandise, offering prints, t-shirts (sponsored by Tatyana Boutique) and #GirlPower military-style dog tags.  In fact, for the finale of our concert show of Art of the Pin-Up Girl at Pinned, burlesque troupe The Assets, danced onstage wearing the #GirlPower t-shirts!

One woman even had #GirlPower tattooed on her arm on the spot at the Pinned Miami Festival at one the tattoo booths!

Now you can buy officially licensed #GirlPower merchandise on Art of the Pin-Up Girl's Etsy Shop!

So the sharing and viral activity has continued and #GirlPower has become an icon!

She has even brought out the big guns!  

A few weeks ago, celebrity Christina Milian shared #GirlPower to her 1.6 million fans on her Instagram.

Most people who share #GirlPower have no idea that Anne Cha is the artist.  It is true that when you create an icon like this, she belongs to the world and everyone calls her their own.  Please help us spread the word about Anne Cha and her fantastic art.  If you see her, tag Anne Cha and let people know that this artist is deserving of the recognition for creating this and many more beautiful works.  

In fact, her pin-ups just get better and better!

Several important licensing deals are in the works for #GirlPower 

and the "pink" merchandise will be on Etsy soon!  

Art of the Pin-Up Girl is your official source for 

#GirlPower merchandise and all purchases directly benefit the artist.  

#GirlPower is protected by US copyright 2014 and all rights are reserved.

Watch our Video Montage from Pinned Miami 2014!

The South Florida Premier of Art of the Pin-Up Girl at Pinned Miami

Art of the Pin-Up Girl was staged as a live concert on May 24, 2014 at Pinned Miami!

For those of you who have never been to a "Pin-Up Festival", it is a new and different experience.  There are classic cars, lots of photographers and pin-up girls everywhere.  Pinned Miami was an exciting mix of all of the elements of pin-up culture - and until you see it with your own eyes - you cannot imagine how much fun it really is!  

My partner-in-crime - Melissa Coleman (who also discovered her new career as the fabulous Bettie Page) - and I drove down Friday morning with all the trimmings in tow for our stylish booth.  We had all of our Art of the Pin-Up Girl promo materials, posters and sponsor swag, as well as our original merchandise created from Anne Cha's #GirlPower piece.  There were vendors there of all kinds, pin-up hair and make-up, clothes, bands, and even tattoo artists giving tattoos on the spot for anyone who wanted one!

Melissa Coleman (Bettie Page) and Sam Streich (Rosie the Riveter) showcase our fabulous finds 

at the Art of the Pin-Up Girl Booth.  Anne Cha's Girl Power pictured here on right.

Friday, Saturday and Sunday we worked the booth, selling t-shirts and dog tags with the iconic GirlPower image as part of an exclusive arrangement with Artist Anne Cha and sponsored by Tatyana Boutique.  The energy was electric and we made lots of new friends and all bonded heavily over our undying love of all things Pin-Up!  We even got to meet Celeste Guiliano in person!  She is a nationally known pin-up photographer whom we have been smitten with for years!!  She was signing her beautiful new book Keyhole Cuties that is a compilation of so many of her spectacular pin-ups.  She is the best in the business.

Sam, Celeste, Melissa, Lacey and Heather ~ after the show!

Saturday night was the show, so as the cast and band began to arrive, the ladies retired to hair and make-up which was done by Terribly Girly.  That is, all of us except for Melissa's Bettie, who had already worked the show floor, handing out postcards and promoting our show - and otherwise making people stop dead in their tracks with her uncanny resemblance to the real Bettie Page!  She even snapped a pic with a Marilyn Monroe.

Miss Olivia Jean as Marilyn and our own Melissa Coleman as Bettie Page

Popeye was photographed by the Sun Sentinel, who gave us a nice mention:

Pinned Miami pinup convention delivers retro vibe to Miami

And we were also #2 on the Miami News Times list:  

Pinned Miami: Eleven Things to Look Forward to at Miami's First Pin-Up Festival

Our cast was spectacular.  The ladies transformed themselves into the most beautiful Pin-Up Girls from every era of our show and were visually stunning!  I cannot say enough how proud I was of them.  Their energy and enthusiasm for the original material and the focus and positivity that they exuded was so inspiring and contagious.  Their sparkle and our fantastic (kick-ass) band made for a truly magical combination.

Left to right:  Melissa Coleman, Lacey Nikkinen, Ariel Amoure, Zoralys Calle and Sam Streich
Photo by SA Dawkins

Band Members:  Gregory "Popeye" Alexander (keyboards, harmonica, bass, band leader) , Dakota Dawkins (bass), Jerome Degey (guitar, bass), Tim Malbacher (drums), Angel Pagan (percussion), JT Tutino (saxophone, guitar), Johammie Romero (trumpet), David Bayardelle (trombone)

Photos by SA Dawkins

Alex J. Weir performs the finale "Pin-Up Bunnies".

Tallahassee-based burlesque troupe, The Assets, choreographed an original dance 

and performed in the finale, "Pin-Up Bunnies"

When showtime came, everyone looked amazing and we were so ready to share this piece with the audience.  As fate would have it, the band before us ran long and so we began our sound check at the time our show was supposed to start.  So the audience of about 400 people, actually sat and watched our sound check.  It was strange and uncomfortable at first - but it seemed to melt all of our nervousness away and everyone was able to deliver a really great show!  

Melissa Coleman as Bettie Page

Photo by SA Dawkins

There is nothing like the feeling of seeing this original work come to the light and be so well received by the audience.  Numerous people came up to me after the show and the entire next day to say how much they loved it and how everyone was talking about it.  It just makes us all want to do it again!   So buckle up, Bettie, this train has left the station! 

Art of the Pin-Up Girl at Pinned Miami

was generously sponsored by

    

There will be more to tell of this adventure, so stay tuned and follow our Pinterest board for all the media related to our performance at Pinned!

Art of the Pin-Up Girl performs at Pinned Miami 2014

Art of the Pin-Up Girl.  Copyright 2014.  All rights reserved.

Anne Cha's "Girl Power" is also protected under United States Copyright 2014.  All rights reserved.

So That Happened #SMDayMia &The Pin-Up Dreams Roll On

This journey I call Art of the Pin-Up Girl has taken me many places.  In fact, in the years I have spent writing, recording, researching and creating social media for this piece, I have had to step out of my comfort zone to help push things to the next step.  And because that is very difficult - little by little - at a snail's pace - we move forward.  It has been quite awhile since I last shared the progress of the show.  I have been reluctant to mount another crowd-funding platform and frankly without funds from somewhere, the arts are not possible on a grand scale.  Still, I try to do something to advance the show every day and as a result the social media is thriving in the name of our #PinUpGirl!

Last June, while on vacation at the beach with my family, I went out on a limb and submitted to be a guest speaker at World Social Media Day Miami to tell the story of our show and how we used Kickstarter and social media to fulfill the dream of the first staged reading.  I didn't think I would be picked - but lucky day - I was!  So at 1:30 pm on June 30th at the gorgeous Adrienne Arsht Center, I gave a half hour talk on our Kickstarter adventure to a standing-room-only crowd of enthusiastic people, many of whom were already familiar with the project - and quite a few beloved friends who lovingly came to show their support.  Of course it was exhilarating to connect with real humans and interact not just from behind the computer screen.  It reaffirmed my enthusiasm for doing this and proves once again that there is an audience for our work and a tremendous interest in the process of producing and distributing as an independent artist - using the vast tools of social media.

Our luscious show still has many miles to go before we see another staging of the work and someday bask in the bright lights of Broadway, but the latest news is that our composer is currently working with a new group of musicians who have received CD's and we are working on a live act to perform the music.  Soon another casting for our pin-up girls will begin and existing artistic partnerships will be announced as we set out to present a concert version of the show.  Stay tuned to our social media for all the details!

Keep the faith, #pinup lovers!! It will be worth the wait.  Viva la Pin-Up!

UK Pin-Ups Take on the Show's Theme Song "Pin-Up Girl"!

I recently connected with a fantastic vintage cabaret entertainment troupe from the UK who were so kind to lend their beautiful voices to our opening number from Art of the Pin-Up Girl!  So terrific and spot on and the gorgeous harmonies are their own arrangement!  Thanks, Pin-Ups!  You are the bee's knees!

An Artistic Adventure

Notice a Resemblance?

When I first met Baron von Lind in person, I was nervous.  There was no need to be since he put me immediately at ease.  But to be in the presence of one so accomplished with examples of his artistic genius all around me, it sort of took my breath away.  You may remember I detailed the experience in My Date with The Baron.    

When it was decided that he would paint the poster for our show, I was so honored.  And so I provided him with photos of myself to study for the piece.  Yes, the pin-up on our poster would have to be me.  I figured since I was the one birthing this baby, it ought to resemble me!  Better yet - it ought to resemble the youngest, prettiest me available.  Of course, he took liberties with the fabulous figure on our Broadway baby - and naturally, I didn't mind a bit!!

I love it when I see the posts of those famous Gil Elvgren pieces with the picture of the real model next to the painting - mainly because Baron told me stories about those models and the artistic process.  But also because, I love the idea of the real girl becoming a work of art; the muse in the hands of the artist.

Gil Elvgren and his muse!

And it was my great honor to be Baron's muse!  I highly recommend it.

"Pin-Up Bunnies" Goes International!

Recently, Art of the Pin-Up Girl has partnered with an emerging talent named Anne Cha.  Originally from France, this graphic artist has embraced the genre of pin-up art and is doing amazing work in Paraguay!  Watch this terrific video of the artist at work - set to the music from our show - the finale number, "Pin-Up Bunnies" performed by PokoLoko and featuring Popeye & the Pin-Ups and Heather Storm.

The producer of Anne's video, is also an artist and is taking it to the streets of Paraguay! Watch Bboy Diestro work his magic for an event - also set to our song! Good stuff & we are all very honored to be included in their work!

Listen to "Pin-Up Bunnies"!

Ruth Etting: Ziegfeld Star and Vargas Girl

Photography by: Sarah Pardew Photography 
www.sarahpardew.com
Model: Virginia Leigh

Shortly after I began developing the book for Art of the Pin-Up Girl, I became very focused on the Ziegfeld Follies and the various characters that might have been present at the time that Alberto Vargas happened along to paint the show posters for the lobby of the New Amsterdam Theatre.  The showgirls were many, and their stories rich and all worth telling.  But one stood out to me - in a "truth is stranger than fiction" sort of way.  That was the story of Ruth Etting.

Aficionados of "The Great American Songbook" will immediately recognize her name and legacy.  Ruth was a true star - of American radio, the Ziegfeld Follies and eventually Hollywood and a recent book was written about her, calling her "America's forgotten sweetheart".  She truly had the voice and face of an angel and it was such a blessing to be able to pull videos of her from YouTube and see her perform.  She was truly luminous and it was easy to see how she rose to stardom.  I've compiled a Pinterest board of some of her material.  Strangely, when I wrote this story and the odd little song to go with it, I had not yet discovered her on YouTube - so although it sounds as though we were duplicating her songs - in fact, like many of the pin-ups from the story, I heard a voice and a longing to be understood and from that she found her way onto the page.  Yes, like Bettie Page, she came in night dreams and daydreams until she could not be denied. When I discovered her performances, it was astonishing how clearly she came through in the visions - and I could imagine her sweet voice singing our song ~ in a sexy, burlesquey, tongue-in-cheek way.

Ruth Etting ~ Love is Like That

Recorded by Ruth Etting on January 13, 1931 in New York City for Columbia Records.

Ruth's personal life was what made her so truly fascinating.  You see, she was married to a real life Chicago gangster named "Moe the Gimp" (you cannot make this up) and he was also her manager.  He basically controlled her life and helped her become the glorious star that she was.  Ah, but with gangsters, there are always stings attached.  So when Ruth fell deeply in love with her piano man, Myrl, there would be a price to pay.  In fact, Moe became so enraged (as gangsters do) when he discovered the truth, he shot Myrl!  There was a fabulous movie made about Ruth and her men, starring Doris Day and James Cagney as Moe, called Love Me or Leave Me and it is truly worth watching - especially for classic film buffs!

In Art of the Pin-Up Girl, we discover Ruth as a classic Vargas girl cover of Radio Magazine and explore the wonder of being a fly on the wall in Vargas' studio when she arrives for her sitting - naturally accompanied by Moe.  To say he is rude to the artist would be an understatement - but even then, beneath the shadow of this controlling gangster, Ruth is on the verge of her love affair with Myrl.  In Love Me or Leave Me, they really portray Ruth as a victim, but I like to imagine her as brighter than that and truly of the mindset that she is in the one in control of this impossible man.  She is a strong woman with a romantic spirit who is so very vulnerable to true love and although she is married, refuses to be denied her happiness.  Imagine how difficult such a thing must have been for a woman of her era.  This becomes an emergent theme in Art of the Pin-Up Girl ~ the pursuit of joy, in spite of the odds and social norms.

So, now enjoy the latest release of a song from Art of the Pin-Up Girl, which you may listen to on our SoundCloud.  Special thanks to the Sarah Pardew Photography and Virginia Leigh for the gorgeous vintage-style photo, which to me captures the essence of Ruth.  There are also links below to some of Ruth Etting's artistry, which is all positively divine.