Join CON*tourage and Dr. Rockzo for ROCK U LIVE KARAOKE, Dec. 11th

Simplified map to Birmingham's "The Nick"

(Dec. 9th UPDATE) CON*tourage got a great plug in Alabama’s largest daily newspaper, ‘The Birmingham News’ in regards to the upcoming ROCK U LIVE KARAOKE event on December 11th. Read the online article HERE.

**Be sure to check out Birmingham’s ROCK U LIVE KARAOKE new website at www.rockulivekaraoke.com for videos, photos, band bios, future shows and updates!**

Get a baby-sitter, break out of jail, kidnap your girlfriend, score you stuff earlier, take the bread out of the oven, wash your hair the night before….whatever you need to do, just DO IT and come rock out with CON*tourage and ROCK U LIVE KARAOKE on December 11th, 2010 at Birmingham, Alabama’s own “dirty little secret”…The Nick Rocks.

He was banned from Music Television ‘cause you could see his junk, through his jumpsuit. He’s tried every drug known to man, or in this case, clown. He recently caught headlines due to a stint in rehab. Since being released, rumors have swirled of a possible reunion with his old band ‘Zazz Blammymatazz.’

And now, on Saturday, Dec. 11th, 2010, Dr. Rockzo, the rock n’ roll clown, has decided to invade Birmingham’s dirty little secret, ‘THE NICK,’ for one crazy night of ROCK U LIVE KARAOKE. What Rockzo does after ‘The Nick’ is everyone’s guess….

…so snap on the studs, do up the hair, slide on the leather, pull on a rock tee & flash devil horns for a night like Birmingham’s never seen! Add in special guest Dr. Rockzo,the washed-up, strung-out rock n’ roll clown — his friends from CON*tourage (who have promised to bring along some of their iconic rocker friends (Axl Rose, Ozzy Osbourne, Dee Snider, Vince Neil, Nikki Sixx, Blackie Lawless) and a legendary night at ‘Birmingham’s dirty little secret’ starts to take shape. (costumed look-alikes, for sure)

ROCK U LIVE KARAOKE, Birmingham’s hardest rockin’ live karaoke band, can crank out well over 80 songs and it’s up to fans in the audience to be their lead singer. ROCK U, founded in 2008, is known for playing songs ranging from AC/DC, KISS, Poison, Def Leppard, Motley Crue, Van Halen, and Guns N’ Roses to Weezer, Journey, Green Day and Alanis Morissette (plus many more bands).

Although ROCK U LIVE KARAOKE performs a few times a month, CON*tourage & Dr. Rockzo crashing their party isn’t be a regular thing…at least they hope not!

PRIZES will also be given out for best live karaoke performances.

Check out the Facebook EVENT PAGE for more details and help us spread the word by posting the event on your friend’s FACEBOOK walls.

Birmingham's 'The Nick' is the perfect venue for LIVE KARAOKE and CON*tourage

This post is a re-post that I had to share to all here on CON*tourage  – it has ties to our friends at Wolf Pack Elite. This must be read and appreciated by all. It was written by Cassandra White – Hoopgirl who many of you have seen at DC and Spooky. Let it be said, that I barely know this girl except for meeting her briefly at Spooky Empire the last two years and seeing her do her hooping there, and I never knew Kris Bristow, but he looks like a guy anyone could have been friends with. It is about love found at Dragon*Con and the haunting face of the man she fell in love with and lost. It touched me. So Here it is.

This is a story. A true story of how I found something and someone special in a hoop. And how that someone helped me find myself in a plastic ring. I want to share it because everyone should know this. I want the world to know. We all have people in our lives that change us. He is mine…

The Jigger hoop
*This hoop has been retired, hung up, never to be used again. As Kris was the last person to use it.*

In the early summer of 2008, I was surfing videos on Youtube. Let’s face it. That thing is addictive! I ran across this 1987 video of Mat Plendl, National Hula Hoop Champ…. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJQdMXEf5Y0 I thought, “I have to learn how to do that!” Yea right. So, i did the research and decided to purchase my first adult hula hoop.

Well, here I am. With a hula hoop and I can barely waist hoop with it! But I took it in my backyard and did everything I could that caused bruises, welts, cuts and scrapes. Annnnnnd i still sucked. Even when I did show a bit of improvement, I still never left my yard. Why? Well, let me tell you a not so secret secret. I suffer from Anxiety. I have for many years. It’s caused me to quit a job, lose friends and shut everything and everyone out of my life. Most people think it’s something you can just “get over”. Easier said than done when you aren’t the one with the speedy heart rate that feels like you’re having a heart attack. Or the feeling of a golf ball lodged in your throat. And the shakes that feel like a seizure. So, hooping in public was NOT an option for me. So it was just a yard hobby.

Fast forward to Labor Day weekend 2008 aka Dragon*Con. And allow me to introduce Kris Bristow. Kris knew of my Hula Hoop hobby, and asked me to bring my hoop to Dragon*Con to hula hoop for just him. Well, ok, for him. He also knew everything about my Anxiety. He was always there to rescue me from a social Anxiety attack, and I would never had to say a word. We actually had hand signs. Silly yea. But he always came to my rescue, taking my hand and saying, “hey let’s go outside for a second.” As not to draw attention to the fact I was having an attack. He’s so sneaky.

One night he actually got me dressed and out with my hula hoop. But I didn’t hoop. I just carried it around. Even that was brutal.

Here we are. The Annual Wolf Pack Elite DC party. Kris and I, along with our Cobra Nightwatch crew, in attendance of course. And my hoop, propped up against a chair. Then Kris asks me to please hoop. How could i say no to that face? It’s impossible, because I grow weak with just one look from him. I pick up my hoop and as shaky as I am i start spinning it over my head with my sweaty hand, then OOPS! The hoop flies out of my hand, into the crowd and hits a guy in a wheelchair. I wish I could say i made that last part up. Kris and my friends start making jokes to cheer me up. But there is no way I’m hooping now! Kris gives me a hug and says, “You’re like a hoop ninja. I know you can do it. Silly girl, don’t worry about those people. Just keep looking at me. It’s just me and you.” Well, who could argue with that pep talk?! So let’s give this another try. My Anxiety is through the roof after that slip of the hoop. But I started again. Crazy scared. Then I looked at Kris. There he was with a big goofy grin. He was my biggest fan. I stayed with him as I started to smile so big. Suddenly no one else was in that room but me and Kris. That’s when the Anxiety went away. And I hooped for him. You can say that sounds lame, but it’s the truth.

The second time I hooped that night, Kris decided to video tape it, and struggles to keep the camera on a wobbly me…(warning, bad hooping ahead!)…

http://s11.photobucket.com/albums/a156/_Carolina_Girl_/DragonCon08/DC08%20Video/?action=view&current=MOV04681.flv

It didn’t matter how bad I was, he thought i was great. Later that night we headed to the Cobra panel where I gave another shot at hooping, with Kris by my side.

I started to video tape my practices. I’d show them to Kris and he’d praise me. He always found a way to tell me how great I was. There was no escape from his compliment downpours. I started to feel really good in the hoop. Beautiful. Untouchable. Strong. Thanks to Kris. I associated my Hooping with Kris ever since that party. I wanted to practice all the time so that I could get better to make him proud. Lame right? I thought about him every time I hooped, and when i did I had no Anxiety. He turned the hoop into my Anti-Anxiety shield.

Kris Bristow died August 15th 2009. The last hoop video he saw was my Never Give Up, What Hooping Means To Me contest entry. Where I talked about my Hooping and Anxiety. Another friend made me realize that Hooping is where I get my PMA (positive mental attitude) and that Kris was my PMA in that hoop. I won that contest on August 14th.

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=213853590037

I never wanted to hoop again. Every time i looked at my hoops i saw him and it made me angry and sad.

Skip to Dragon*Con, September 2009. Over the summer, Kris told me that I should be the Hooping act for the Annual Wolf Pack Elite DC party. The party I did my first public hooping at a year earlier with Kris. I told him that i would only do it if he was there. Agreed. Well, now that he’s gone I decided to back out. I was too scared to do it. Then I started thinking about not doing it because I had to, but because I wanted to….for him….because of him. I got up there and pictured him as i looked over the crowd. Then it happened. That voice in my head “just keep looking at me.” And I stayed with him. And I hooped for him. No one else was in that room. Here came the smile, and the Anxiety went away.

I wasn’t awesome. In fact I tripped after the first 20 seconds. But I knew, once again, it didn’t matter because Kris would have thought it was great. The song that was playing was randomly chosen by the DJ because i didn’t have a song at the time since i was so frantic. The song says “every time i see you falling, i get down on my knees and pray.”..I cried after that performance…

http://www.vimeo.com/6557912

So there it is. If it wasn’t for Kris I wouldn’t be hooping. If i didn’t hoop, i would be hiding in my room overwhelmed with Anxiety. I wouldn’t have met all the people I know now that I met because of Hooping. I wouldn’t feel pretty and in control. Kris changed my life. I will occasionally go back and reread a note or a silly myspace comment he would leave me, telling me how great he thought I was. I still think of him every time i look at my hoops. I think of him while i hoop. I think of him when i think of hooping! It never ends. Some days though, it gets hard. To have something i love so much make me think of someone I will never see again. Sometimes I get angry and want nothing to do with Hooping. Other days I cry in the hoop. Then there are those wonderful days Kris gives me where I could hoop for hours upon hours. I hope to one day be able to control the sadness that comes along with my love for hooping and for Kris.

Never stand to close to me when I hoop in public. I don’t see you. I only see him.

Cellular nonsense

I wanted to share this story because everyone should know about good people. Kris is an amazing person who is doing something wonderful for me. The couple years I’ve known him he was always happy, upbeat and never had anything mean to say about anyone. He was truly a lovely soul. I never want his memory to fade away.

I kept this about Hooping. Anything else is really no one elses business. If you don’t care for my story, then don’t read it. And please keep your negativity to yourself.

Thank you

Who will be the recipient of the 2011 CON*tourage Roast??

**BIG ANNOUNCEMENT** After much deliberation, we have chosen the first-ever “CON*tourage Roast” recipient. Who, you may ask, could this be?? We aren’t letting that meat out of the bag quite yet, but we CAN tell you that this not-to-miss event party will be like NO OTHER you’ve ever attended and sure to be talked about for years to come!! We have tentatively set the date of this fun-as-all-get-out event for Saturday of April Fool’s weekend, 2011, with the venue already secured.