FierceNESS
CHERRY BOOM BOOM, she is one fierce cookie!
PHEW, what a year! 2020 was tough but CBB was tougher. Despite many challenges and curveballs, CBB did some AMAZING things! We started 2020 in Las Vegas with our continued residency at Hooters / OYO Casino + Hotel where Cherry Boom Boom was creating quite the buzz. Our LA-based, immersive, female empowered Rock Cabaret given the title “The Planets Hottest Dance Show” was turning heads and I was taking meetings with bigger hotels like MGM just as Covid hit and shut down Las Vegas in March. Our contract and residency at OYO was cut short by Covid but not the impact we made on Vegas in such a little time. In fact, the same week as all entertainment went on lockdown, Las Vegas Sun did an article on CBB as “The Jewel of OYO and the talk of the town” Everything came to a screeching halt but I knew we had to keep our momentum going…
We were told the show would be shut down for two weeks but of course, as we all know now, two weeks turned into months. After 5 months the doors to the OYO Vegas Casino were still dark and locked with all of our costumes, sets, and props inside. It was high time to get our “show”, bring her home to Los Angeles and regroup…
In August, when our initial contract was up, we were finally able to get inside OYO Las Vegas Casino + Hotel and gather our show’s belongings. It was a surreal experience as Vegas was a ghost town, the casino was dark and empty and there were no people in sight. My husband and I quickly gathered all of CBB things, packed them into a U-Haul van and drove back to LA in one day. That Vegas run, the venue, the residency, and the investors were gone but CBB, thee fierce creative creature with a life of her own still had a fire to burn… The virtual world happened overnight and I knew I had to take CBB on my shoulders and pivot immediately to keep her alive.
I became resourceful. I took what Cherry Boom Boom DID have, which was exclusive show footage from inside Harvelle’s Santa Monica (the coolest historical venue in SoCal and our Los Angeles run that launched our Vegas residency) and created CBB WATCH PARTY. The virtual watch party is still available today and I’m so thankful I have it to celebrate all the pre-Covid celebration that intimate cabaret shows provide. Harvelles is one of a kind and we love collaborating with them.
In August, I received a phone call from Harvelle’s and they said “We’d like to do a Livestream Show, are you interested?” I jumped at the opportunity! Not exactly sure how it would as this was new territory but I knew my team and I would figure it out. What I did know was the virtual world would be the way to keep live entertainment alive during these unprecedented times. My teammate, Lisa Eaton, and Harvelle’s had much to learn by taking a very public show and turning it into an online virtual experience, but we were up for the challenge.
Now it was time to pave the way with our newest adventure of a virtual world. With the dancers in masks and CDC regulations, we rehearsed and shot our first Live Stream Show: JUST PUSH PLAY. It uplifted my spirit to be in the same room again with my cast and teammate who I hadn’t seen since March. We definitely learned so much thru the experience. Live Stream was exciting and also nerve-wracking as we were learning as we were going. For our first Live Stream show under crazy circumstances, I’d say we did a great job! The show didn’t create some of the results I wanted but it sure was a great learning experience, good to play with my team and created new numbers. More than anything the process brought lightness to some dark days. Creativity has always been a saving grace for me and truly it was a quarantine highlight. Sooooo worth it!
Now, with funding limited, I took some time off to contemplate what our next move would be… I felt it was time to re-brand and take Cherry Boom Boom in a new direction. With so much heaviness and unrest in our society, I couldn’t help but feel CBB had outgrown the beginning of the year’s image and needed to evolve and reflect on the changing times and feelings.
For our next project, I wanted to go with a 90’s grunge rock feel, a woman’s anthem, an emotional song that had all the “FEELS” of the times. Alanis Morisette's “You Oughta Know” is passionate, raw, strong, and vulnerable. It’s a powerful song that has an emotional effect. It seemed like the perfect song and it was!
CBB is known for its visceral effect on its audience by “breaking the 4th wall” and so doing this video was the way to connect to our audience in a new way. In fact, in a deeper way. I wanted the dancers to know the lyrics in their gut, heart, and soul and live it thru choreography (by Melanie Lewis-Yribar) and in our pure theater "The Style” way, connect their emotion thru their eyes, out thru the choreography and to our audience in a whole new way.
Along with a 1-day rehearsal via Zoom, and an ambitious 6-hour shoot with Covid regulations and restrictions, we created CBB’s most raw, passionate, and powerful project yet. I’m so proud of my team that day and all the dancers who put their hearts on the line. I watch that video and it’s everything we envisioned, I wanted to leave people with a feeling that was uncensored, the movement organic and the emotions full and it does ALL OF THAT. It’s a modern-day version of You Oughta Know and I’m so proud of finishing 2020 STRONG. We brought humanity to sexy.
Cherry Boom Boom keeps trailblazing! From our live stage show in Vegas to the WATCH PARTY to on-line classes BOOM BOOM SKOOL to our first LIVE STREAM to our World Premiere “MAKING OF U OUGHTA KNOW” CBB has proven she’s one BadAss Babe, FIERCE and here to STAY!
We’re doing what we can to keep Live Entertainment Alive and we look forward to rockin’ it with you once again in a live venue when everyone feels safe. Until then we’ll keep pushing the envelope and find innovative ways to keep dancing, celebrating and LIIIIIVVINGGG! We look forward to this new year, our year of GREATNESS, FIERCENESS and GOING GLOBAL! Stay Connected ‘cuz, Lover…. “WE’RE STILL ALIVE.”
Making of “U Oughta Know”