Trigger warnings: Talking about music, dancing, some pictures of a 
scantily clad woman and some curse words. Fun things really, but 
you never know.

Chatting with Hunny Bunny, Head Bitch in Charge of Mischief at the Skylark, about music, dance, and a hodgepodge of other topics.

In addition to talking about food, I wanted to use this blog as a platform to share with you some of the great things going on in the SF Bay Area. One of the great things about this area is that some really cool people are readily accessible and willing to chat.

A few days ago I had the opportunity to sit down with a cup of joe at Tierra Mia Coffee with Hunny Bunny, the Head Bitch in Charge of Mischief at the Skylark bar as well as troupe leader of Hunny Bunny and her Hot Toddies, to talk about her work in burlesque as both producer and performer, the music she listens to, her connection to the Skylark, and a wide array of other fun topics.

(As this is primarily a food blog, I’d be remiss if I did not take a moment here to say caffeine offerings at Tierra Mia were quite good. I’d go so far as to say that of the coffee shops I’ve been to in the area, it is one of the top. And the Horchata latte I treated Hunny to was apparently excellent.)

I’ve known Hunny for a while now, meeting her through a mutual friend and I count myself fortunate to count among my friends such a driven, creative, and smart woman who has been making deep inroads into the San Francisco nightlife with passion and grit. It goes without saying that she’s pretty fantastic to watch perform too.

I mean, come on.

For those who want to watch the videos, check them out right here! I should apologize for the rather awkward angle, and I know I need to find some better hardware solutions to fix this. That said, these videos are Hunny Bunny approved.

For those who don’t quite have 40 minutes and prefer text, check out my notes after the jump.

In roughly chronological order we covered the following topics:

• On schooling:

HB: The college that I graduated from, they had like a whole super hippie pick your own major thing, and write essays about what you want to do, and I did this whole… plan, and I wrote a plan that was like study performance and sexuality, and they just rejected it. They just completely rejected it. It was only in 2013 that I realized, oh! That’s what I do now.

• We chatted about what I missed New Years at Sea of Dreams. Apparently it was a blast! Someday I will leave the house on New Years.
• How she was dead set she was wanting to be a performer since childhood:

BV: Have you grown up wanting to dance and perform?

HB: Absolutely, yeah I have a one track mind, it’s nice. I feel like, guilty about it a lot because I think there was a big push to do something more practical, like be an engineer or be a doctor but like, people would just like die if I was a doctor… it’s not a good idea. But yeah, I’m totally living the dream and loving it.

BV: That’s what I like to here here in the Bay Area, that people are living the dream.

HB: It’s really important to me to make the opportunities that I wanted to have when I was younger and make those opportunities and a safe space for talented people because as a performer I’ve seen crazy shit, and I’ve dealt with crazy crazy stuff and it doesn’t need to be like that. And I like making the opportunities that I want.

• On the Skylark bar:

HB: They’ve been really supportive and so I … sought the opportunity to produce shows there. We sought other venues as well, but (skylark) never disappoints… they’re just really nice.

BV: So the Skylark is kind of like the once and future home of [Hunny Bunny Burlesque].

HB: It’s almost like I rent that place for me to live in for a couple hours every week. It’s like my living room away from home.

•  On selecting particular talent for a show night:

HB: Some people do themes, specifically Dottie and I really don’t do themes because we are here to encourage people to bring their best game, whatever it is. Sometimes you are just scraping for a performer who is out there but at this point in our career [we select performers] because they are going to be there on time, professional, and just knock people’s socks off artistically. It’s less about choosing one style and more about putting faith into people that we really enjoy working with.

Well on that note we  also like to choose a range. Usually I book a belly dancer per show because sometimes there’s more, but there’s at least one belly dancer per show because that’s such a gorgeous style of dance and there’s so many talented belly dancers here that we like to incorporate that into the variety format. and it is a variety show.

Usually it’s a little heavy on burlesque but whatever.

I like to do comedians or I like to book them but they always. well 50% of the time skylark doesn’t respond to them.

 

(Editor’s note: Challenge accepted. I just need some material and a routine.)

• On music:

BV: So on the note of inspiration and music and everything, we said we’d geek out about music. So what’s on your mp3 player or media device currently?”

HB: My favorite song to perform to right now now is Stanklove from Outkast, it’s like an older .. Oh my god that is my favorite now. I listen to a lot of hip hop. Tech N9ne, I’m really all about right now. And ooh what else. There’s a couple Dr. Dog songs that I really like … that’s more like rock and roll. There’s two songs: Die Die Die and Shame Shame, which like, the names are so ridiculous but they’re so good, absolutely my favorites. And theres a remix of Ginger & The Ghost that I’m really into, and DJ Kastle, he just put out a couple days ago, something you can listen to on SoundCloud…. there’s a sample of this guy reading some sort of meditation guide it’s so great he’s talking about multiple universes but we’ll call them multiverse around you….walking you through imagining different scenarios. I really like that.

• She then turned the tables on me for a bit:

HB: What do you listen to, what do you like?

BV: Oh gosh, I mean, that’s kind of one of the things I wanted to talk to you about. I’m pretty much stuck on listening to Postmodern Jukebox right now, because it’s just so pop meets vintage style and… I just can’t get enough of those cover songs.

 

• I went on to talk briefly about my love of 90s music in a rather inarticulate way.
• We digressed into talking about online gossip rags, and the unfortunate rise of clickbait style articles. It was a whole thing. 
• On finding music for work vs. play:

BV: So does the music you listen to at home or commute to, is it different?

HB: No, it is all the same. Finding new music is hard. How do you find stuff you’ve never heard of before? I asked a really good dancer friend of mine Cera Byer, I was teaching for her, and she said whatever band I like I see what they like so, I think that’s one really good way to do it. But you also have to slog through a ton of music.”

• Choosing music for performances:

BV: As far as music that you perform towards, are there certain aspects to the music… the cadence, the base, the rhythm that makes certain songs desirable for that purpose or not?

HB: Its helpful if the story arc of the music fits what you’re doing…. [this performer] Ginn Fizz was just playing me this song, that she’s using for an act and it’s totally wild, jazzy … she’s describing the ostrich comes out, she’s the ostrich, and its dancing, and it’s doing this mating dance, and there’s a section that matches the mating dance, and then she describe the hunter coming out and all the different activities, and the song has all those different sections so perfectly aligned with her vision, so that’s one thing that you look for like .. it’s easier to get the audience involved if the song prompts them to react a certain way.

There’s this one song, oh it’s so good, Break Up by Sean Garrett and Gucci Mane and that’s a song I’ve been dancing to for kind of a while, and there’s one part of the song where it builds up builds up builds up and everything drops out for a split second and then it comes back with Gucci Mane going like Ohhhhh! And it’s perfectly built for “blah blah blah” some reveal and then the audience and Gucci Mane are like Ohhhh! And having that in the song helps some people let loose.

• On how she discovers music:

HB: Google, YouTube, the radio, and to be honest, I’m always pulling songs off of KMEL, 105, KalX is probably my favorite because that’s any and all weird stuff there.

You just really have to listen to a thousand flowers bloom, and just listen to as much stuff as possible. I think.

• More on sharing music growing up, and the influence of her parents. And how they are big snarkers apparently.
• A digression about Uber’s recent highly publicized fumbles in the media.
• A shared moment of disgust about how people can be incredibly rude about what you’re eating.
• On producing:

BV: So being a producer. Producing things, what does that mean exactly?

HB: It could mean a couple different things. One option is that if you’re an executive producer that means you have a large chunk of money and you fund something, maybe you have some artistic decisions.

On my level and what I talk about when I talk about producing events, it means I secure the venue, bring performers, do the promotion work myself, shape the arc of the evening or the format of the evening. And I do put some money behind it … I’m the puppet master, and all the performers get to do their thing.

• There was a candid chat about the profitability of burlesque. They were roughly breaking even in 2014 with the monthly format, but there’s strong expectations of profitability now that they are going weekly at the Skylark.
• On looking back and looking forward:

BV: On the whole new years theme how would you summarize 2014 for Hunny Bunny and her Hot Toddies, and what do you expect the theme for 2015 will be?

HB: I think… the theme for 2014 was satisfaction, getting a lot of stuff done and being really proud of it, we had a lot of fantastic new acts, and new performers and new collaborators and we’re really excited about it.

Over the last couple of years there’s been this change in perspective where instead of, where I’m still scrambling to make things happen with these new opportunities, and you know, just take advantage of everything that I have. But I noticed there’s a shift where people are asking me that question, asking me how to do things, and asking me for advice, and that… just hearing somebody ask me for advice is something that kind of lets you know that you don’t need to be so anxious anymore like, I can kind of take that as a sign that I’m doing something right.

So for 2015, I think we’re just going to go for growth, just keep doing what we’re doing and do it bigger and better and more… what’s that great phrase? Sustainability.

Actually I think we’re at sustainability. And we need to go … glamour? Excess? Gluttony?

BV: I’d go with… aggressive development I think.

HB: Aggressive development! I like that! That’s the theme for 2014. Aggressive development.

BV: Alright! We’ve accomplished something for you!

HB: I’m excited!

More proof that talking to me is useful to people. Hit me up.

• Finally we ended up on a note of serendipity.

BV: So again, you’re moving towards a weekly format rather than the monthly format. How did that happen?

HB: There was a lot of venue turnover in San Francisco recently, so I contacted the owner of the Skylark and kind of panicked and asked him if there was anything he needed to tell me … and his response was absolutely not, Skylark is not going anywhere, we’re fine, and then he kind of turned it around and asked what do you want? What do you need?

I know, I know. This is why I’ll never leave, because he treats us so well and he’s so appreciative of the hard work we do. It may be a fluffy sort of medium, but he really appreciates it. And so yeah, we decided that I should go weekly.

So where can you find such a remarkable lady? If you’re near The Mission District in SF, you’re in luck. As of this week (again) you’ll be able to catch Hunny Bunny and her Hot Toddies at the Skylark every Friday now, as they kick off their weekly schedule. And no cover! Hard to beat that.

You can also catch her at Red Hots Burlesque and Tourette’s Without Regrets. For other appearances, check the calendar!

TLDR; I had a fun chat with a burlesque performer and manager and now have a whole bunch of music to check out.