Haute Couture on YouTube

YouTube user builds impressive collection of Fashion Show videos

If you want to know what the world's fashion designers are up to, check out the videos being posted on YouTube by J'adore Haute Couture.

With over 1,100 videos uploaded onto his YouTube account, the YouTube account user, identified as Tomas, is presenting what could arguably be one of the most exhaustive collections of fashion show footage available over the Internet.

Here is a recent upload of Versace's Fall Winter collection as presented at Fashion Week in February 2008 in Milan.

Not only can you check out the fashions that designers are creating for their shows, but you can also listen to the songs and music they select for the runway.

UPDATE: Read our exclusive, two-part interview with the user who has posted over 1,100 videos on YouTube; his profile name is J'adore Haute Couture.

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Willi Ninja: YouTube Video Tribute

The Legacy Continues...

A video tribute to Willi Ninja, the extraordinarily talented dancer and trend-setter, was posted on YouTube last week. Produced in collaboration with the House of Ninja, the video features music by DJ Chip Chop and video by Wolfgang Busch and Eileen Ninja.

From what I've learned about Willi from people who knew and worked with him is that Willi was highly respected and admired for his talent. And as I keep adding on to this blog, I continue to see examples of his influences in dancing. I hope you enjoy this video tribute, because it pays hommage to a very gifted man.

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Fashion and Innovative Dance: Runway for the Ballet

Dancing off the Runway

The law firm of Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft LLP sponsored the second annual Runway for the Ballet program, a fashion show benefitting the North Carolina Dance Theatre. An edited video presentation of the benefit was posted on YouTube.

During sections of the video, the "innovation part" of art direction, music editing, and choreography came together by exhibiting excerpts of the North Carolina Dance Theatre's popular works inbetween segments of the fashion show. This mix of great music carried over nicely from the fashion show portions to the ballet portions. I found this video of their March 2008 benefit extremely inspiring for its ingenuity.

According to Runway for the Ballet, the Spring 2008 fashion was provided by Neiman Marcus.

For awesome photographs of the March 2008 fundraiser, please visit Christopher Record Photography's blog.

In 2006, the first Runway for the Ballet program produced an inspirational video

In 2006, the North Carolina Dance Theatre launched Runway for the Ballet as a benefit program. Here is their first video presentation of that benefit program.

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A Conversation with Harmonica Sunbeam, the Queen of Comedy: Part 1

Backstage at Escuelita night club with Harmonica Sunbeam

One Sunday evening earlier this month, before her popular show at New York City night club, Escuelita, the actress, singer, and female illusionist Harmonica Sunbeam sat down in the dressing room at Escuelita with the activist and director Wolfgang Busch and I for an interview about her beginnings, artistic development, and gratitude.

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LF: Wolfgang has told me so much about you. I looked on your website, and I see that you have this history in show business. What was your start in show business?

Harmonica Sunbeam: I don't know the exact year, but, when I first came out, I got involved with the Ball scene. I walked a Ball at the Paris is Burning Ball at Trax, First Time Up In Drags. And that started my drag portion. I won, and then I would do it occasionally. Sometime after that, I went to a show, and I decided to give that a shot. And that worked out well, which usually does. Anytime you do anything for the first time, your friends are there for support, hopefully. So, I would do a show from time to time in addition to the balls, and then I started hosting the shows, and that's where it blossomed from there.

Wolfgang Busch: What year was that?

Harmonica Sunbeam: I'm going to say it was about 16 or 17 years ago.

Wolfgang Busch: So, 1990-ish?

Harmonica Sunbeam: Yeah.

LF: Where do you find inspiration for what you do? Like hosting, you saw somebody else do it, and you said, "I can do that as well?"

Harmonica Sunbeam: No, that's not how it happened at all. I saw the show, and I said, "I can do that." But as far as the hosting part, I was just always just a guest in the show at this small bar in Newark called First Choice. And one day, the hostess didn't show up. So, I was just kind of thrust into the position, because I was the only one that wasn't as shy to do it. But my inspiration, I enjoy comedy, I enjoy making people laugh, because I just feel that there's so much – even back then, we have so many burdens on our shoulders to bear on a daily basis that it would feel great to take some time away and forget our problems and just enjoy ourselves. So, I approach my performance from that part: making everyone feel welcome and in a festive mood.

LF: How did you come to be known as the Queen of Comedy?

Harmonica Sunbeam: Well, it's kind of self-proclaimed, because I used to call myself the Queen of the West Village, because I had a long-running show in the now-defunct Two Potato in the West Village. And I thought that it localized me, and it made me too location specific. So, I wanted to make it more general, where it wouldn't be so Point A to Point B.

LF: How did you get to know Wolfgang?

Harmonica Sunbeam: I guess from How Do I Look. I didn't meet you before How Do I Look?

Wolfgang Busch: It was for How Do I Look, but through whom and where and when, I have no clue.

Harmonica Sunbeam: Yeah, I'm sorry. At sex parties, O.K.?

LF: LOL! Do you remember how you were selected for How Do I Look? How did that happen that you got to be in the film?

Harmonica Sunbeam: I guess I'm going to assume that after Wolfgang talked to people, my name probably popped up a few times, he decided to seek me out from that point on. I would say that.

LF: Tell me about the filming.

Harmonica Sunbeam: Well, we shot – I think we shot here. I think we shot here, yeah we shot here. It was pretty short, and it didn't take a lot of time. Basically, it was me speaking from the heart and my thoughts on the Ballroom community and how it's progressed or what needs to be done to make it better.

LF: Was that your first experience in film?

Harmonica Sunbeam: No, I've done some film and TV work.

Wolfgang Busch: What was your film work before?

Harmonica Sunbeam: The first film I did was one called, Party Girl. It was an independent film with Parker Posey. And then I've done Honey, The World Trade Center, and --

LF: -- and you've been on TV, too?

Harmonica Sunbeam: -- there's a movie called, Uptown Girls, that I did, but got cut out of, with Brittany Murphy. So, I'm unionized and everything like that.

Wolfgang Busch: That's an accomplishment.

LF: You know, Wolfgang had a purpose for How Do I Look, which was to empower the Ball community and to give some respect and acknowledgment to them. How do you contrast that – that purpose – with the personality that people come to expect of you , which is to be quick-witted, sharp, have panache – like, it doesn't really meld?

Harmonica Sunbeam: Well, I think so, because the personality gathers their attention. And from that point, once you have an attentive audience, you can tell them anything. And if people respect you, they will listen. And the whole thing about educating people – like, when they have the Balls that are sponsored by these big AIDS organizations. It's like an entertainment situation, but they are also throwing in some educational value, as well. Putting out their message, that they want to get across, as well, in a subliminal way, so as not to turn people off or make people think twice like, "Oh, here it goes again."

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Read the next installments of this exclusive interview:

Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V, and Part VI

For another unique experience with Harmonica Sunbeam, please watch the independent documentary, How Do I Look, directed by Wolfgang Busch.

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Artistic Progression: Our Conversation with Harmonica Sunbeam: Part 2

Backstage at Escuelita night club with Harmonica Sunbeam

In our last part, Harmonica Sunbeam spoke about acting in several movies. Here, she sees opportunities for the Ballroom scenes in other major U.S. cities to empower themselves through independent filmmaking.

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LF: Wolfgang's film had a work-in-progress segment, meaning, when he started it, he showed it in different stages before it was completed. In all your other film and TV work, there is no such thing. Like you said, you were in Uptown Girls. It was shot, it was edited, and then it was the end result. And with Wolfgang and his film, it sort of evolved.

Harmonica Sunbeam: Well, it was because it was a documentary. And if you want to document something, you need enough information to support the message you are trying to get across and also to offer the different views that come along with that setting. And you can do How Do I Look in so many different formats, and I think Wolfgang – his attempt was to try to include as many people as possible, so certain people didn't feel left out. And now that the Ball scene has branched to so many different cities and states, you can actually do a How Do I Look: California Style. Kind of like the Real World, how it evolved: Real World: Miami, Real World: Philadelphia. Everyone, they all have their own history now, at this point, where they started, and how they filtered into the New York City scene.

LF: I like that. So, you are sort of looking at the progression: like, the Ball community started, and then it's become something bigger, and it's spreading out, like you said.

Harmonica Sunbeam: Yes.

LF: Like Giselle, she's now getting into modeling.

Wolfgang Busch: She got a job because an agent at Elite saw How Do I Look, contacted me, I put them together, and she just told me she got a job.

Harmonica Sunbeam: I think it's great. And I think it can be like that for more people in the Ballroom scene, but they have to put themselves out there in more ways than one. It's great that more mainstream people are coming to see it, and it may be able to offer the opportunity to have those individuals who are creative and talented enough to be pulled out. But don't just let your talents rest here. Continue to take your talents elsewhere, so they can be appreciated and compensated for. The bottom line is the whole thing with the Balls: the most you are going to walk out with is possibly some cash and a trophy, and notoriety – but eventually in the end, the real world comes into view, and you still have to survive in that.

LF: Sort of like with you. You said you started out doing shows, and then hosting, and now you are in TV and film.

Harmonica Sunbeam: Right.

LF: So, do you see a parallel in that?

Harmonica Sunbeam: Well, yes, because I think that most of the kids in the Ballroom scene don't – I've always looked at it as a hobby, and then I've parlayed it, so to speak, into a career for me. And not everyone has that mindset to do so, but the potential is so easy. You take what you do best in the Ballroom, and you see how I can take it into the real world and make it happen for me. When I was in high school, in my yearbook picture there's no sign that says, "Most likely to be a drag queen" underneath. This all just happened. I took it, and I ran with it. And I made it my own. And if more people can do that, it would really be an exciting thing. And it would also bring attention back to the Ballroom scene, because this is where your roots are. It would make other people focus: "Well, if these three individuals came from there – if Giselle the model came from there; and Harmonica the comedian came from there; and this one, the dancer, came from there, who else can we pull out from there?" So, I spread the message all the time. This is where my start was as far as the Ball scene was concerned.

LF: What do you think How Do I Look has done for you?

Harmonica Sunbeam: I think it has broadened my horizons, and it has exposed a lot of people who may have heard of me or who may have never heard of me and to see me in a different light, especially for people who have seen me perform but who have not gotten a chance to meet me personally or see another side of me offstage, casually talking to the camera, as opposed to the diva on stage. I guess it exposed the human side as opposed to the star side of Harmonica.

LF: What is the feedback that you have received from your fans about How Do I Look?

Harmonica Sunbeam: For people who do not know that I am actually in it, they are quite surprised when they watch it. They just had a screening last month in Jersey City, and one of the people from JCLGO, which is the organization that hosted it, he said, "Oh, we are showing your movie tonight." I was like, "My movie?" I said, "No, I'm just one of the few in there." He said, "Yes, but we are all going to see it, because you are in it." And that made me feel good, it made me feel special and proud, especially because I live in Jersey City. It's my hometown, and JCLGO is my hometown organization.

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Read the next installments of this exclusive interview:

Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V, and Part VI

For another unique experience with Harmonica Sunbeam, please watch the independent documentary, How Do I Look, directed by Wolfgang Busch.

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Roll With It: Our Conversation with Harmonica Sunbeam: Part 3

Backstage at Escuelita night club with Harmonica Sunbeam

Harmonica reveals how she approaches female illusion with originality: through a personality she can call all her own.

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LF: How do people from the Ball community relate to you?

Harmonica Sunbeam: I guess a lot of people, the ones that know me, they look up to me. They recognize me as someone who's been there from the old school days, so to speak, and also as someone who has made my way through the ranks there, and as someone who has taken the art of female impersonation and brought it to another level, and brought it to a more mainstream level.

LF: So, you have been in other films and TV, how did that happen? How did you get unionized? How did you discover this opportunity to go into acting?

Harmonica Sunbeam: Well, it came to me. Right, it's not very often. There was a customer, who had a friend, who worked for an agency. The name of the agency that represents me is Hans Walters, and they brought one of the representatives to the show. They liked me a lot, and they felt that they could use me for some of the calls that they get. It was just as easy as that. I know a lot of times people go looking for agents, but I didn't have to do that footwork.

LF: Oh wow, that's good. Congratulations.

Harmonica Sunbeam: Just being somewhere and putting yourself out there, you just never know....I don't know who's going to be in the audience tonight, who might say, "Hey, I could use this individual to market tampons."

LF: LOL! So, where is it that you get this comedy?

Harmonica Sunbeam: I guess I've always had it for quite some time. I've always been kind of like – not necessarily a class clown, but always just quick-witted and sharp-tongued to an extent. The sharp tongue part of it you kind of need in this scene, because people always have something to say. So, I guess it all stems from that, and just finding a way to capture it and make it entertaining without being offensive to an audience. There's a fine line.

Wolfgang Busch: How much is improvised, and how much is scripted?

Harmonica Sunbeam: Improvised: 99%, scripted: 1%. Basically, I may think of what I want to say, but once I get out there, the whole show may take another course, because of the audience, because of their energy, and no audience is ever the same. I may plan the same show, but it will never be the same.

Wolfgang Busch: One comment can change everything?

Harmonica Sunbeam: Right, one weird person. Like the lady who was Crystal Gayle, yeah, you see, you know what I mean? One of the many characters who happen to show up at the show when you least expect it. And you just go with the flow. Someone else may get thrown off base or become upset by someone else. I roll with it. That's what happens when you are so scripted that something like outside in the audience happens that you can't get back on track to your script, that's not a good thing. Even when people say, "You know, it's so-and-so's birthday." I say, "You've got to write it down." Because if it is written down, I can come back here in-between sets and think…but to just tell me something before the show starts and think I'm going to retain that? Because once the show starts, I'm on, and I'm in show mode. And my goal is not to try to remember things that I was supposed to do. It's just, "Okay, let's just do this show." And what happens, happens. Sometimes, after the show, I come back here, I'm exhausted, I sit down, and I think, "Damn, I forgot the joke about….!" Oh, well, you know?

LF: You don't seem to be impersonating somebody else. You are who you are: you are into comedy.

Harmonica Sunbeam: Right, Harmonica Sunbeam is a personality.

LF: Right, you are not imitating somebody else?

Harmonica Sunbeam: If I do someone's song, it's Harmonica Sunbeam doing a Whitney Houston song – not me trying to be Whitney Houston. Times have changed have a lot, but I remember when I first started out, people would always say, "Who do you do?" It's always about characters, about you imitating someone else, so to speak. Because I don't feel like I particularly look like anyone, I had to find my own niche. That's the whole thing about the whole drag industry, in a nutshell, is that in order to survive in this scene, you're going to either look exactly like someone and you'll always find work, you know, La Cage-type stuff, you know, plus in a lot of straight venues as well, because it's easy. Or you have to have some gimmick to your act, and that creates the longevity, because if you don't have that gimmick, you don't stand out. With so many people saying, "Oh, I'm a drag queen," it's like what do you have to offer that's going to make us say, "Let's hire her instead of her."

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Read the next installments of this exclusive interview:

Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V, and Part VI

For another unique experience with Harmonica Sunbeam, please watch the independent documentary, How Do I Look, directed by Wolfgang Busch.

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The Sky's the Limit: Our Conversation with Harmonica Sunbeam: Part 4

Backstage at Escuelita night club with Harmonica Sunbeam

Fans are posting some of Harmonica Sunbeam's comedy material on YouTube, we discover.

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LF: So, how hard is it for you to keep this individuality and creativity?

Harmonica Sunbeam: It's not hard. You know, you get inspired. As far as the comedy portion of it, anything can be – I enjoy doing different things just to gather the experience of being somewhere. And I can take that same situation, no matter how wonderful or how bad it is, and use it as a story on the stage. So, that's why I never turn down any new experiences, because you never know what you can get out of it.

LF: Being who you are, you are this personality, I looked on YouTube, and I found a couple of videos. One of them, that is my favorite, is your Bedtime Story. It's on YouTube. I don't know if you remember it?

Harmonica Sunbeam: Yes.

LF: It was really funny, I loved it. So, you have this fan base that take video of you, and then they go home and put it on YouTube.

Harmonica Sunbeam: Yeah, I mean, the YouTube stuff is great, because it is great for exposure, but the only thing is that sometimes you don't have any control over what people are putting up there. It might be, like, "Oh, gosh, I looked a mess that day." You know, I would not have personally put that up there. None of the stuff that's on YouTube I personally put up myself. I'm such a perfectionist that if it was something that I wanted to put up there, it would have to be right-right. But nowadays, I mean what can you do? With technology comes great things, and also things that can backfire on you.

LF: How do you feel about that? There are all these people out there, talking about you? They see you as a public person, because to a lot of people you are. You live a public life.

Harmonica Sunbeam: It comes with the territory. There's not much you can do with it. The only thing that I can say is that you don't let it get to you where it gets out of hand, or where you are taking it the wrong way. As long as it is not, like, a malicious situation, then I am fine with it. But people are going to have their views. When you post something on YouTube, two people might say, "Oh, it's fabulous, she looks great." And another one says, "Oh, I've seen better." It's like, Okay, these are people's opinions. That's what happens.

LF: What would you like to do in your career? You are based here. You've been doing this now for 10 years.

Harmonica Sunbeam: A little bit more.

LF: So what do you see next?

Harmonica Sunbeam: Well...?

LF: Or what do you see that you can do now?

Harmonica Sunbeam: What I would like to do – because I am approaching 40 next year, and I enjoy performing, but I would like to take it to the next level in terms of Broadway or more film/more TV. I'd like to get my old cabaret type stuff and not necessarily clubs stuff, and not as often. I don't want to be 43 doing 2 am shows for 20-year-olds, and I don't want to perform because I have to perform. I want to perform because I like performing and I enjoy it. So, I would like to broaden my horizons in that respect, like possibly a TV show or with the advent of gay cable shows, to progress my career even further.

LF: With this explosion in reality TV, is there something in reality TV, or were you thinking of a comedy show?

Harmonica Sunbeam: Like a Mad TV-type show. They have something like that, it's called Laugh Out Loud, a big gay sketch comedy show on Logo. Something like that, or people always say, "I think you'll do very well with talk show. I don't know if mainstream TV is really ready for a drag queen hostess doing a talk show?

LF: RuPaul did that for a while, didn't she?

Harmonica Sunbeam: She had a cable show.

LF: Right, on VH1?

Harmonica Sunbeam: On VH1, yeah.

Wolfgang Busch: And the one from Australia, what's her name, the one with the big glasses?

Harmonica Sunbeam: Dame Edna. I mean, the sky's the limit. You never know. And I always use RuPaul as an example, too, because, she started out as a drag performer, and then she did the song, and she had a recording career. And then from the recording career, she came to the acting career. She used to host on a radio station. She was a jockey on one of the radio stations for some time. The cable show. The film and TV part. So, you just never know. If people think you are marketable enough, they will hire you. Look at how many rappers turned actors. Put them in the role, and the role works. People respond to it, and the next thing you know they have more and more. I went to school with Queen Latifah. We went to high school together.

LF: You did?

Harmonica Sunbeam: Yeah. It's just amazing to see from when we were in high school.

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Read the next installments of this exclusive interview:

Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V, and Part VI

For another unique experience with Harmonica Sunbeam, please watch the independent documentary, How Do I Look, directed by Wolfgang Busch.

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