#blakesby

I had the most marvelous adventure abroad, and I can certainly say that it shall not be the last time. So that's the short of it, here's the long with all the "thank yous":

Los Angeles, San Diego, San Mateo/San Jose/San Francisco/Berkeley/Oakland, Portland, Olathe/Kansas City, New Orleans, and New York City, with stopovers at Phoenix and twice at Charlotte airports.

Not counting the times I may have napped on planes or on the car ride up from LA to SF, I slept/stayed in a total of 15 different places (including only three hotels).

Thanks to hosts Stephen Sayer (introducing me to Strictly Ballroom up in the valley, inviting me to share a hotel room at LAX Marriot for Camp Hollywood weekend, and teaching me the value of old wooden ships), Nicholas Engel (the reason I was in San Diego, who took me to get an amazing burger at a dive bar, gave me a vintage tie and some suspenders, and sold me some beautiful and super fine beaver fur felt hat bodies), Jennifer and Benny Reese (inviting me on the fantastic driving and antiquing/thrifting adventure along with Tyler Phillips, up from LA to SF for the Gatsby Summer Afternoon, then flying up to Portland for even more adventures, and finally letting me stay my final night in America at their place, with Benny selling me some ridiculously nice old things before I packed my bags for the airport), Greg MacDonald and Jen Cowitz (letting me stay at their place for a single night, unfortunately I moved the next day for convenience even though they were wonderful people to be around), Wendy Reese (Benny's mum, who I stayed with the night before Gatsby for convenience), Maxwell William and Amy Cartwright (hosting my entire week in Portland, putting up with my being unwell and spending most of my days lazing about on their couch and taking advantage of their Netflix, for Max putting up with many hours spent in thrift shops and antique stores, as well as picking up and drop off at the airport), Joy Morris and Grizz (inviting me to a living history old west event on a small farm thirty minutes south-west of Kansas City, introducing me to so many wonderful people in that reenacting scene, for letting me sleep on a bed in Grizz's bus rather than on the ground, for teaching me so much about traditional hat making and the value of being able to "bullshit", and for being incredibly supportive that I'm meant for this industry), Mackenzie Goodwin and Vi Nhan Tran (putting me up somewhat last minute for my last night in Kansas City), Kali von Wunderkammer (letting me stay in her house in New Orleans for almost a week while she was out of town, and when she had never met me, and apologies for leaving after you had returned and yet funnily enough before we were able to meet!), Melody Flores (stressing out about where I was going to stay, which was with her in a neat little place in the Meatpacking District where she was house/dog sitting, touring me around the place, giving me the illusion of being hilarious by effectively laughing at everything humourous I said, enjoying my occasional recital of hip-hop/rap lyrics, and also because Brazillians...), Vas Pelecanos (reminding me of home by letting me stay with him in upper-east Harlem, showing me a neat bar, late night somewhat tipsy dance-offs in the subway with Selena Kruse, and just generally being one handsome bastard), and finally James Jimenez (expressing great eagerness in my visit for quite some time, being incredibly welcoming and inviting me to his dinnerparty in honour of Oscar Wilde, introducing me to his family of interesting friends, lending me a whole bed and vintage pyjamas to stay the night, discussing all sorts of fascinating and in-depth topics on various subjects including but certainly far from limited to dandyism and what it means, dropping some sage advice, gifting me three issues of Zelda magazine, a detachable collar, and a pair of thick woolen knicker socks because he appreciates me and my style, and just being an wonderful and inspiring contemporary).

Other non-hosting folks of note and particularly worth thanking include Nial Bruce, Annabelle Hale, Tyler Holmes, and Tamaryn Elizabeth (the other Australian swing dancers over for Camp Hollywood, who I hung out with quite often and joined for a visitation to the Griffith Observatory), Tiffany Jean Barnes (being delightful, and her enthusiasm for people called Blake), Simon Bressanelli (who I had befriended some time ago and didn't know I'd have the pleasure of meeting at Camp Hollywood, and for the excellent private lesson in 1920s partnered charleston), Christian Ribiat (meeting me at The Queen Mary deco event and then giving me an early 1930s tie), Danielle Deborah (being lovely, tipsy charleston dancing, and plying me with alcohol at Gatsby), Brenda Russell (for being lovely as always, and always enthused to be my charleston partner), Simon Cheesman (of Avalon Antiques & Vintage Clothing, for selling me an amazing 1920s one-piece swimsuit and giving me a discounted price on a lovely early 1930s tie), far too many people to mention many specifics at the living history event in Olathe (though the Hollingshead family at the cowboy camp, the Camp family whip crackers, and magicians Valerie and Robert Wolf were all of note), Mark White (taking Grizz and I to the National WWI Museum and the Arabia Steamboat Museum), Damian Blake (who I did not expect to meet during this trip, was just as lovely and handsome as you may expect, invited me to a performance so that I could see him and his partner perform live, helped me find someone to stay with before I moved on to New Orleans, and bought me a coffee, hung out, and drove me to the airport on my last day), Jon Bennett (I shared my New Orleans house with this fellow, and he's also from Adelaide originally, such a small world sometimes!), Samara Askew, Kate Ramsey, Tressa Steele, and Laurel Fischer (Samara I met at Camp Hollywood and was pleased to see again at Lindy Showdown, where I was introduced to the other Phoenix swing dancers over for the event, who I effectively spent most of my time around and all made for excellent and hilarious company, even if they did end up hearing many of my smartass comments several times over), Steve Murphy, and Vivi Kalman (the other two Australians over for Lindy Showdown, and neither I had met prior), Joshua Mclean (not really so much of a “thanks” as much as this is just a note that we own the exact same scimitar tie bar, and that Josh is a fantastic solo dancer, pay attention to this guy over here!), Pascal De Maria (being someone who convinced me back at Camp Hollywood that I should join him and Stephen by going along to Lindy Showdown), Enrique Crame III (selling me some neat socks and a comb in his store, FineAndDandyShop.com, and putting up with my loitering), Audrey Au, Shorty George, Selena Kruse, and Juno Mklovin (being the first several swing dancers I met in New York while out at a regular social dance in a bar, and to think that if I had come a week later I would not have caught the last three of them before they relocated to other countries), Hatty McSplee (for a wonderful afternoon which involved unexpected photographers asking for our photo, a late brunch, a quick dash to a thrift store, and a stroll), Michael Benabib (of Michael Benabib Photography, one of the aforementioned photographers who noticed a street photographer taking our photo while he was out walking his dog, and asked us to come up for an impromptu photoshoot), Neal Blangiardo (taking me to a particularly neat spot in NY, showing me an excellent time, plying me with alcohol when I definitely should have eaten more than just a bagel beforehand, and selling me the most amazing Edwardian era necktie which I later wore at James’ Oscar Wilde dinnerparty), Ryan Wilde, and Cody Wellema (of NY’s JJ Hat Center and California’s Wellema Hat Co respectively, both being very supportive and helpful in telling me what I needed to know and opening my eyes to some aspects I evidently knew so little about), Dandy Wellington (of Dandy Wellington and His Band, his brunch gig at Hotel Chantelle, followed by late afternoon thrift shopping, and later in the week another gig elsewhere), Mark Nadler (putting on an excellent show as always, being very glad to see me in his town, and performing two of my favourite numbers from his repertoire), Joe Correia (unexpectedly being in NY at the same time as me and inviting me to see your outdoor alternative marching band gig), Kristin Jarrell (being the most lovely of late night subway train company), Raymond Chu (thanks for coming out to meet me, even if I was somewhat all over the place that night), Destinee Cushing (dressing up and travelling two hours out of your way, each way, just to see me, putting up with my sarcastic mean comments, trusting me that where I was taking you was in fact something that exists, even if we had to go through an unlikely looking area to get to it, and almost missing your final bus home), Michael W. Haar (even if you recalled me as being from England, it was a pleasure to meet you), Sean Crowley (unintentionally notifying me of the Inspiration event being in NY for the first time), David P. Lochner (excellent to finally meet you, especially when I was expecting it would not happen), Gregory Moore (similarly great to meet you when I had already assumed the opportunity had passed, even if we do have the same waist size and you nabbed those really nice knickers, you beautiful jerk! But hey, thanks for the wine), Tony Mercuro (dropping me off at LAX), and finally Jessica Storey (for being wonderful company all the way from Brisbane to Adelaide, just from my noting you great taste in music when I saw you were listening to Bobby Womack).

Also thanks to Keith Lo Bue for last minute vintage replica cap delivery (I wore you cap from The Well-Dressed Head: Vintage Caps for Men proudly, and I hope there’s some good photos of it on me kicking about, though I'll hopefully take some more of the cap in the near future regardless), Abby Wegener for supporting me with so many things on this trip, including setting me up with my host in New Orleans; Victoria Bennett for being a supportive mum and maybe not crying non-stop while I was away, as well as definitely making positive changes to the house while I was away; and Joseph Fishlock for being my super supportive best friend as always, even if he is awful and smells like fish (no pun intended... okey, a little pun... minnow pun? Not sorry).

Also unnamed as far as I know them, but still worth thanking are the numerous happy Uber drivers who delivered me to my destination, the many other thrift and antique stores I found some wonderful scores in, the staff at the RRL stores (who complimented the scarf I wore which they funnily enough had in their very store for sale, as well as expressing great interest when it was discovered I’m a hat maker), $5 airport shoe shines (especially after a week on an Olathe farm kicking up dust in my black shoes), the easily half a dozen or more people who asked for my photo (including several street photographers, and that one girl who asked for my photo because she was in love with my moustache), and the great number of kind and complimentary comments from people on the street (seemingly a near-daily occurrence).

Apologies to all who I missed out on seeing while I was there, but there shall always be next time. Also apologies if I forgot anyone else above. I’m sure there is more to note of this trip, but I cannot think of it at this time. You can always inquire with me if there’s anything I missed or that you wish to know more about. I shall be aiming to sort through photos and videos and post them in the coming days or weeks, as well as taking some new photos to show off all the neat things I picked up abroad.