Thank you, Minneapolis & St. Paul!!!

Oh, my dear Twin Cities, I had the best time this past weekend. Thank you so much to the hundreds (!) of people that came out to the shows, I hope you enjoyed yourselves and if you never heard of me before, I hope you loved what you heard!

Of course, I made a quick return to Minnesota to play two of my favorite shows: Le Cirque Rouge Cabaret & Burlesque‘s Valentine’s Show and Pundamonium‘s Sextravaganza: The Sex Pun Slam.

Le Cirque Rouge is a show comprised of burlesque and vaudeville acts: lots of amazing bodies, voices, and music. I always have a blast and the audience is always huge and super into it. But what one doesn’t see from the house and on the stage is my very favorite part of LCR shows. The backstage chaos guaranteed with every show: makeup, glitter, sequins strewn about, breasts of all sizes and shapes out and about with no second thought, the giggles and chatter of sexy, smart, and confident, alcohol and weed imbibing, heels clicking rapidly up the ramp to get on stage on cue… it’s a scene from a movie about showgirls every time. It’s so much fun and makes me feel like a real pro. Not to mention all the wonderful people that work so hard to make LCR’s shows an extremely fun spectacle.

On Saturday, I played two songs in the first set (showtime at 8pm), because I had to book it to Pundamonium in Minneapolis by 9:30. I played my newest songs: “One Week” and “If You Ain’t Gonna Tap It.” Sunday I replaced “One Week” with “Hey, Joe Biden!”

At Club Underground I met up with Anna, Lacey, and Cherry Mae and we played a set as Courtney McClean & The Dirty Curls after the first round of the slam. We had a challenging sound check in front of the audience, but then our set was tight and a lot of fun. And the timing ended up being really good for the arc of the show. All’s well that end’s well! We played a 5-song set and even Zacc Harris, Twin Cities’ jazz guitarist extraordinaire, joined us on the bass! How lucky am I? Very much so.

I got to see so many friends this weekend, whom I miss so much. I got one-on-one time with some of my very favorite people (definitely not all of you – next time!!!) and every minute was filled to the brim with the fabulous Minnesotans who have put joy into my last 8 years. I ate Pizzeria Lola twice.

I’ve only been gone 4 months. And it just felt like I was coming home after an extended vacation. But as we flew back into LA, the first time I had flown “home” to California in over 13 years, I knew that I was coming home to the right place. for me. for now.

Thank you, Minneapolis St. Paul. So much love for you. Maybe see you in August for the Fringe Festival!