Notes from the Parlour...
September 2005


A rough cut of Ice Cream Ants just arrived in my mailbox (see Parlour archives July 2005). This is the surreal thriller where I play a sinister femme fatale, alongside Tom Noonan and Marcus Ashley. Director Jeremy Carr forwarded a working version with a bit of temp music for me to contemplate the score. Being quite a ritualistic soul, I felt like I needed to do something special to commemorate my very first glimpse--the manifestation of our hard work. This was the moment. (Should I call people? Open a bottle of champagne? Light candles?) I just stood there at the mail service counter clutching the padded envelope.
Alas, real life is a let-down that way. It never seems as real as our imagination hopes it to be. Most often, the poignant, celebratory moments simply pass...no violin swell, no fanfare, swooning, or pyrotechnics. The only thing that places them above other moments is our perception. The intensity lies in the aftermath. I simply drove home, cracked a Diet Coke, and watched the film's debut alone, in the middle of the afternoon, with the grinding blare of a neighbor's power saw in the background.
The film is looking beautiful. My song Pulling Your Insides Out is set to be the opening and end title. Ice Cream Ants is scheduled to be completed before the end of the year. Stay tuned for screening info!



Paying homage to the golden era of burlesque and variety, Little Minsky's has developed into quite a lively scene at Deluxe in San Francisco. Established in the late 1940s, the Deluxe has is own collection of vintage ghosts (and classic spirits); it's an ideal locale for the monthly event. I was September's featured musical performer and Mistress of Ceremonies, amidst the tantalizing line-up of Harlem Shake, The Indra, Valentine, The Paper Dolls, The Flying Fox and others. (Thank you Douglas and Margo.) The vibe and the crowd was fantastic....this was the perfect night to reveal something altogether different--channeling (yet again) those fond, uncharted waters--I was about to make my mind-reading debut!
Yes, that's right Ladies and Gentlemen...I'm tapping into my hidden cerebral powers. Get ready WB TV--here's a piano-playing chanteuse, composer, and femme fatale who can transmit and receive thoughts through psychic ability. (Maybe I could even solve crimes, save the lives of depressed teenagers, and drive some sort of tricked out car.) It makes total sense. But I digress...
You see, last year I became very inspired working with acclaimed mentalist Bob Taxin onstage at the Hypnodrome. We were both in acting roles, but I became just as immersed in our dressing room discussions of mind reading, telepathy and the stage history of this art form.
Don't get me wrong. The Grand Guignol plays were exciting enough: not only did I get to capture Bob in a straightjacket, throw him on a chaise lounge, and whip his feet with a riding crop-- but I was also attacked by a bloody savage wolf -boy who ends up dying in Bob's arms. (Hell, this is all in Act One!) But offstage, Bob would never cease to amaze. He'd have me present 3 or 4 books, open one at random, secretly select a word--any word--and he'd tell me what it was! Not to mention that TERRIFYING thing he does with knives!! No mirrors, no gimmicks, no props or gaffs. Forget the stage blood. How'd he do it?
Bob began sharing with me some of the secret techniques and theories used by the old-school greats--the mentalists and illusionists. All I will say is that it's very complex, and difficult. It's real old world magic. And that's what draws me to it. There are no hidden cheat sheets, trick props or mirrors at all. Bob introduced me to a way of opening up my mind to a completely new form of communication, utilizing all the senses, all the sciences at once. It's liberating to allow this new type of thought processing. It's startling when you realize how much we have been socially conditioned to shut down our brain's capabilities.
I was nervous in front of an audience for the first time. I was attempting a card-reading stunt at Little Minsky's Bob and I had never done before. The difference with playing music or stage acting is that if you flub a note or line, it's easy to fake and recover. If you're doing a mind-reading act....and you get it wrong--well, you simply failed! I was prepared for that. But I am proud to say I nailed it each time. Exhilarating!
Of course, Bob then followed up with that terrifying knife thing that always has the audience shrieking!



On to mind-melding activities of a completely different nature-- this month saw the return of the elaborate and notorious hush hush Absinthe Party hosted by Unkle Paul and Random. I love the events that you cannot promote for whatever legal reasons, so you create a whisper campaign, sell tickets online only the day of the event...and still a few hundred people turn up! Never underestimate the power of the underground.
I performed two full sets during the lavish all-night affair with members of The Malcontent Orchestra: Randy Odell (drums) and Alex Nahas (Chapman Stick.) The night was an endless array of sophisticates and absinthe connoisseurs from all over the world. Just check out the menu and you'll see this is the serious deal! I was thrilled just to partake in most of these I'd never come across before. Ahhh, I must say, I did a remarkable job of "pacing myself"--after all, I had TWO full musical sets to perform...
Author Barnaby Conrad III (Absinthe: History in a Bottle) is one of the leading authorities on the subject. I had not seen Barnaby since we did another absinthe event some time ago filmed for NBC. He was on hand for discussion in the finer points of preparation and the history of the elixir.
My favorite by far was the German brewed Taboo! It had a distinctive chocolate tone and slight creaminess. Impresario RJ Owens prepared mine igniting a cube of turbinado sugar so it caramelized as it touched the absinthe. The great discovery of these top shelf varieties of absinthe is that sugar is not really necessary; in fact, I preferred most of the others unsweetened. The Philippe Lasala with just a little cool water was so smooth, perfect in its natural state. If you research the history, sugar was added (certainly for the sweet tooth and ritual), but sometimes merely to mask the taste of cheaper absinthe, later even being put into the bottles themselves. There is more on this fascinating and little known part of history at the Virtual Absinthe Museum.
The entertainment was as entrancing as the liqueur--including Ukrainian illusionist Voronin (the fascinating star of Teatro ZinZanni), magician Paul Nathan, The Indra, and the seductive trio Kitty Kitty Bang Bang.



In keeping with my penchant for shows with historical allure, I collaborated once again with the San Francisco Performing Arts Library and Museum and Thrillpeddlers in July for an evening entitled Unfettered Souls: Hypnosis, Grand Guignol and the Guillotine. The event sold out days in advance and a large crowd had to be turned away. Always befitting to witness a mob scene at shows like this.
Author/UC Berkeley professor Mel Gordon (Voluptuous Panic, The Grand Guignol: Theatre of Fear and Terror) sent me a rare film he had recovered from the Vienna archives of Erik Jan Hanussen, the eccentric stage clairvoyant who later assisted Adolf Hitler in achieving power. This short film had not been seen since 1920! He wanted me to compose and perform a score on a grand piano for the screening. I get so jazzed at these situations. I become an archeologist unveiling an artifact most of the world has never even heard about before. The little bit of footage (about 12 minutes) had no sound whatsoever. It retained the original sepia and hand tinting. The titles were in German. I tried to interpret, as I sat at the piano, what was going on...I later got a translation. The plot involved Hanussen as a turbaned madman hypnotizing young women into a world of sex slavery. A father even handed over his six-year old daughter to Hanussen in trade. Some of the footage was actually Hanussen performing stage illusions, transforming a goat into a Bavarian dwarf!
I had two days to compose this music...and I was really proud of the end result. It evoked both the sensual mysticism and tragedy of the story in an extremely emotional way. Some of the museum staff who had seen the film without sound, and then watched it with my score thought it was a different film entirely! For those who attended the show, it was certainly a singular experience, as neither the film nor the score exist outside of that evening.
I performed my new song Torture (which has since become the most-requested new song!) as Guignol artist Tony Grat (Thrillpeddlers) brought to the stage his letter perfect recreation of the famed 1792 French guillotine, known as "The Widow."
Now, back in the day when German engineer Tobias Schmidt was comissioned to create a "beheading machine," it was really because the French National Assembly had agreed to develop a much more "humane method of capital punishment." Yikes! The 18th century French physician Joseph-Ignace Guillotin went to such extents to convince the Assembly, he had the dubious reward of having the contraption named after him. He was not the inventor. Through the years, the design was improved upon, and accoutrements modified--the wicker basket used to catch the severed head was replaced with a shiny metal one, etc. The lore was that the guillotine was first presented in raw white wood, and after claiming her first victim, displaying his blood stains...Madame Guillotine was then painted red...

Here's to showing our true colors,
Jill Tracy


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the plot thickens...
read Notes from the Parlour archives:
Nov 2005
Sept 2005
July 2005
May 2005
Mar 2005
Feb 2005
Dec 2004