"Days of Wild" and then some!

This past Saturday, I performed my stand-up at Papa Guyo Guyocious’ “Days of Wild” show at the Starving Artist Café on City Island.  It was very uplifting to be part of the evening.  What amazing talent doing all of my favorite Sly and the Family Stone songs.


Click here for A sample of the evening!

I did stand-up during the music break.  The audience, for the most part, was with me, and, of course, that felt great.  Plus Papa Guyo is behind me on the stage sitting at his drums.  When he finds something funny, he just laughs and says aloud, “I love Mindy.”  Support right there on the stage.  Not your comedy club comedy show.  Not at all.  No being given “the light.” I generally do not hog the stage.  I like to leave the audience wanting more.  He had told me it was for the musicians’ break, so I planned about ten to twelve minutes.  That seemed to work for everyone.

I had a friendly heckler who I know from the place, so when he disagreed aloud with something I said, I smiled.  Then I told him he was part of the problem.  Later in my routine, I named him where it was appropriate, and that turned out to be funny.  Later, outside the place, he told me how much he enjoyed it.

As I was doing my set, I looked at the audience, not all of whom I was previously able to see from my seat, and I saw the face of someone who was once a sort of comedy pal until he revealed himself as an active enemy.  He had made my ex look like at least bronze (not gold, let’s not get crazy).  I had wanted this comedy guy and I to achieve peace as I always figured our paths would cross again and again.  He didn’t want peace.  He wanted/needed to be in battle.  His ex would probably love my comedy.  His and my paths do cross.  It’s, at least, awkward.  He was never able to own his shit and apologize, so it remains not quite neutral.  For me, I feel good to see my own growth in accepting that something is a reality (whether I like it or not) and staying more centered.  It serves me well at jobs and everywhere else in my life where narcissists may lurk.

When I stepped out for a cigarette, a man from the audience came outside and told me I was very funny and asked if I would clean it up for television and did I want to be on Jimmy Kimmel's show.  He claimed Dennis Leary is his cousin.  Maybe all that is true, but I once saw this guy at the place chasing a possibility to get laid.  The woman he was drooling after had two small children who wanted to go home and not watch this man try to get with mommy.  Plus she had a small dog with her who wouldn't stop barking at him.  They were at an outside table and came in and out of the place.  I found it so disturbing because she looked very depressed, her children were whining, her dog was barking, and this guy went after her seeming only to care about his mission to get laid.  I remember leaning over to my friend and saying, "I wish she'd listen to her dog."  So whether he is Dennis Leary's cousin or not, whether he has pull with the Jimmy Kimmel show or not, my instinct was watch out.  I gave him my card at the end of the evening, and he said he would make a call to somebody.  Every vibe from me said, "I'm penis-free."  I'll let you readers know what happens, if anything.  I won't hold my breath nor will I pay a pussy tax.

If you want to catch me on stage -- whether for comedy, poetry, or prose – and you prefer to plan in advance, here’s what’s going on so far. 

·        Friday, Sept. 29^th 8pm, Open Mic Night (for all talents) at Starving Artist Café on City Island.  Free to enter and participate.  $10 minimum on food & beverages.  The food is good.  I will do something, probably comedy.

·        Friday, Oct. 13^th 6pm, Cornelia Street Café (downstairs), Greenwich Village, NYC.  The 4 Horse Reading Series curated by Bob Quatrone.  $10 includes a drink!  I’ll be reading poetry.

·        Sunday, Oct. 29^th 7:30pm, F.U.C.K. (Funny Underground Comedy Krew) show at Broadway Comedy Club.  Produced by Aaron Smith.  It’s a fundraiser for a young man whose mom passed.  $10 on line; $15 at the door.  I’m hosting.

·        Friday, December 22^nd 6pm, Cornelia Street Café (downstairs), Greenwich Village, NYC.  What Were the Sixties Really Like?  $10 includes a drink!  I’ll probably share a short memoir piece.

·        Friday, Jan. 12^th 8pm, Sir D’s Lounge, 837 Union Street, Brooklyn, NY.  Twisted Lipstick Comedy Show.  $10.  I’m doing a 12-minute comedy set.

I’ll keep you updated as things get added or change.  Glad to be back on my Tuesday schedule with all you She So Funny readers.  I truly appreciate your interest and time.

All Kinds of Stuff & Upcoming Events

Well, my belly has outgrown most of my pants (not that I have many items of clothing).  I am so disappointed.  There was a time that my behind was the most protruding part.  But my belly took over.  I no like.  Not only did I have to spend some bill money on a few clothing items so that I can go to work with clothes on, but I was so hard to fit.  Damn.  This isn’t the look I was ever going for.  I have to do something more about this than I have been doing.  Ugh.  I was wondering if I should just go to the maternity section.

I have been fortunate to have been invited to participate in a number of things recently.  I was part of #SheReads at N.A.M.A. again this year.  They had come to know me as a comic, but this time I delivered poetry.  Some of it is humorous, so they were laughing anyway.

This past Friday, I was honored to read at a book launch for Bryan Cornel Fox’s book, The Political Romantic Tales of a Bronx Boy. 

The author was busy autographing and selling his book.  He also listened attentively to the invited readers.  The person who basically produced the event was Gabriel Don, and she was great at what she does.  She's the one at the mic with her shoes kicked off.

Listening to Gabriel’s writing, I liked her more and more.  Then she heard me read several poems, and she said I was a woman after her own heart.  There were good vibes all around.

It took place at Sensei Gallery Bar where I’d never been to before but would definitely go to again.  I gained some new fans.  One woman who actively listened and later, when I went to thank her, told me that what I read was “so on point” works as an assistant district attorney.  Always wonderful to meet folks from all walks. 

Speaking of mixing it up, I am adding comedy to a wonderful music show on Saturday, September 23^rd at 8pm at The Starving Artist Café on City Island.  Papa Guyo Guyocious of Days of Wild is a very talented, caring, community-minded, and fun person.  It’s his show, along with some accompanying musicians, and he enjoys my stand-up enough to ask me to join his party.  I really appreciate it.  

https://www.facebook.com/papa.guyocious/videos/10151851890276837/

Those of you who always wanted to stroll along City Island, do it before the cold weather arrives, and conclude it with dinner, music, comedy, and great vibes here:

No cover charge!  Just eat the wonderful food (at least $10); there are always some yummy things offered for vegetarians as well; you are free to bring your own alcoholic beverage if you wish.  It’s a very homestyle atmosphere. 

The Bronx Isn't Burning, I Am By Rhonda Hansome

The Bronx has Yankee Stadium, a world class Botanical Garden, and an award winning zoo. I live in the Bronx - and I hate it.

I grew up in the borough of churches, Brooklyn, the county of Kings.

I can’t forget Paul Newman’s eyes in Fort Apache the Bronx or Melanie Griffith’s baby woman lilt in Bonfire of the Vanities. Those movies painted for me the soul of the Bronx and convinced me I preferred my gritty NY, Brooklyn style.

It’s not that Brooklyn was less violent, or had a lower drug fueled body count. I just loved the county of my birth.

Not really. As a child, “Bed-Stuy do or die!” was "Mostly die!" The violence, drugs and burned out buildings made me want to leave as soon as I could. And I did.

I left with Phil, my high school sweetheart, to a 5 flight walk up on E.110th St.  
The Young Lords collected our rent and junkies paused mid-fix to let us pass by. 

We were an interracial Romeo & Juliet, searching for our Camelot. When we said goodbye to Spanish Harlem, Brooklyn welcomed us back. For a time we lived rent free as sextons of an Ocean Ave. church, then moved to a 1 bedroom (in an elevator building!) on Linden Blvd. near Bedford Ave. When Flatbush began to feel too provincial, we found cosmopolitan cache in lower Manhattan. 

It was a short walk to Soho, China Town, The Village and Little Italy, but even taxis didn't know the route to our new home off the Hudson. No neighborhood stores, banks or streetlights for Washington Market area pioneers, made moving to Independence Plaza an even more romantic adventure. 

We settled down and had a son. 

In the years that followed I was shocked to find myself in THE center of the universe, when Robert De Niro christened MY neighborhood - Tribeca. Now, we had stores; but just to buy coffee I had to pick my way through a gaggle of celebrities, like Naomi Campbell, John John Kennedy, Nathan Lane and that's just in August when no one is in NY.

Phil and I made it through 9/11 but not our marital strife. 

When divorce sent me packing back to Brooklyn I found a great one bedroom in a neglected brownstone. I was so depressed, the only time I laughed was when EVERY visitor and I do mean EVERYONE said, 
"You should rent your walk-in closet. You could get 7 or 800 a month."
"On Macon St. and Malcolm X?" (I laughed)

I was alone for the first time in my life. No husband, no work, no health insurance. My only comfort was that the hood reminded me of simpler times: Red Light Green Light 1-2-3! and Double-Dutch with that girl who was always double handed.

My life was in tatters. Emotionally adrift and so distracted, I didn't notice that the center of the universe followed me to Bed-Stuy. The lone white family on Macon St. should have been my 1st clue. Then, I missed a 2nd clue - The A train.

Usually on the A train, after Borough Hall, my fellow travelers were all melanin gifted. One night at my stop, Utica Ave., I looked at the crowd on the train and left wondering, "Where are all those white people going? Somewhere for Scientology?"

I finally got the message when the city repaved Nostrand Ave. and put benches at bus stops on Fulton St. I saw white people: walking at midnight, heads in i-phones - not even looking up! Blonds and redheads jogging in their little shorts and walking their little dogs; and that was just the men.

House after house was sold and bought changing the complexion of my block. For a minute I considered buying the brownstone I lived in. The broker said it didn't matter I was unemployed, because payments wouldn't increase until much later that year.

When the brown skin sister who wrote for the NY Post bought my building I thought, "I got this!" 

Little did I know I'd dodged a sub-prime mortgage bullet only to get hit with a rent increase cannon ball. 

When my lease was almost up, Sister Land Lady informed me I could stay another year at double the rent. Yes, double the rent! My random extra work on movies and TV, left me with a thousand dollar budget for shelter. 

Because white kids, from I don't know where, were eager to pay 3 times my "reasonable rent", I had 3 months to leave. 

"Mayor DeBlasio's Affordable Housing lottery is a joke." I tweeted daily. 
All I wanted was a nice 1 bedroom for a thousand dollars a month.

After 9 months of looking and a nervous breakdown, I bought a co-op in the South Bronx. Yes, I bought a co-op, because I didn't earn enough money for "affordable housing"; except the two times they told me I made too much???!!!
Yes, the Affordable Housing lottery is a joke.

The first week I moved to Soundview, there was a murder around the corner. After 2 years, I'm use to the helicopter noise and fleet of emergency vehicles investigating the monthly shootings.

When I notice I've no friends near, nor shops I prefer, not even my bank close by; I feel petty AND sad that I bought an apartment in Fort Apache, The Bronx. Speaking of movies...

Down the street on a lot just off Bruckner Blvd., York studios broke ground on a $100 million dollar studio for movie and TV production.

 No the Bronx isn't burning. 

The heat I feel is the center of the universe breathing down my neck. 

Rhonda Hansome (actress, director

storyteller & stand up comic)

Heard 2-5 PM Mondays on SiriusXM 

Ch 121 with John Fugelsang.

See Rhonda here, there and around.

One Less Brick ...

I can only suppose that my blogging absence has been partly due to trying to write my piece for the “What Were the 60s Really Like?” show.  It was the decade in which I grew up.  I wrote in my head for weeks, then kept running from it.  I was tempted to drop out of the show several times.  Yet I knew if I could get through it, I'd feel good.  At least one brick off my chest. 

The show was not a comedy show, so I’m often mixed about sharing it here.  Yet this “She So Funny” site is about the female involved in comedy in some way – it isn’t necessarily funny.  We all have a back story, a life that is not necessarily joke-filled.  Somehow, I did mix some humor in.

We were under a time limit, so many voices could be heard.  

The part I am in is below.  If you want to go straight to my presentation, start it at 14:50 where I get introduced.

The summer was sprinkled with many nice moments and days, but until my son and I are okay again, I carry a great weight on my heart daily.

In spite of much, I managed to cause laughter at Broadway Comedy Club in the Funny Underground Comedy Krew (F.U.C.K.) show and will be back there on Sunday, October 29th for a 7:30 show.

But don't wait that long.  I will be doing stand-up on Saturday, September 23rd during the break in an 8pm music show on City Island -- the Starving Artist Cafe.  Days of Wild with Papa Guyo Guyocious & Friends.