Okay kids...

Ya gotta be here for Halloween, Saturday OCTOBER 31.  Not only is it gonna be an off-the-chain party, we are going to blow it out with CASH PRIZES!  We will be offering $300 for first place, $150 for second place, and $50 for third place in our KARAOKE COSTUME CONTEST.

It's about the overall effect:  how well your song and your costume jive.  And of course, there will be points awarded for originality and stage presence.  The contest starts at 9PM.

And if karaoke's not your thing, the great DRAG RACE will be on the corner of 14th & Woodland (you hoes know where that is) starting at 8:30.  Always a lot of fun to watch boys in heels sprint up 14th Street!

We love your ass!  Happy Halloween from the Lip!

Hey y'all!

We got a Tony-award wining Broadway musical coming to TPAC, "AVENUE Q," that combines the worlds of puppetry and faggotry, politics and porn, all combined in singing zinging silliness. It's a wry take-off on Sesame Street that is very definitely for adults only. In other words, right up our alley.

LIGHTNING 100 and THE LIPSTICK LOUNGE are sponsoring a contest to win VIP passes to see "AVENUE Q" at TPAC. To win, here's what you do:

1. Make a puppet. It's gotta be one you made yourself.

2. Write a little one-minute skit. It can be about anything, but you need to make us understand how bad you want to see the show.

3. Come perform your skit at the LIPSTICK LOUNGE on Oct. 25th (next Saturday), with sign-up starting at 7PM, and the puppet shows beginning at 8PM.

Judges from WRLT-FM, Lightning 100, will decide who wins the big prize which is...

• Two VIP passes to see AVENUE Q at TPAC
• Two backstage after-party passes
• An interview with your puppet on Lightning 100
• Your puppet featured on the Avenue Q/Lightning 100 web sites

How bad-ass is that? So come out and win! We'll see you at the Lip!

Hey y'all....

For years, there has been some severe gender discrimination on Broadway.

Girls get all the good songs.

For real. Statistics have proven that for every twelve show-stopping songs on the Great White Way sung by women, there's only one for men. And usually, it pales in comparison. I mean, "On The Street Where You Live" from My Fair Lady vs. "And I'm Telling You I'm Not Going" from Dreamgirls? Please. It's not even fair.

This SUNDAY, OCTOBER 12TH at the Lipstick Lounge, we're reversing all that with SONGS WE'LL NEVER SING, a musical revue by the Music City Theatre Company which gives men a chance to sing all those great ballads and torch numbers that the ladies have made famous all these years. We'll open at 6PM for dinner. The show starts at 8PM. Tickets are available in advance at the bar for $10, or at the door.



So help us end gender discrimination with a little live music this Sunday! We'll see you at the Lip!

We love your ass!

Hey everybody!

We're so proud that today we crested the TWO THOUSAND mark... in less than two years on MySpace, the Lipstick Lounge is now up to 2,000 folks sharing love for our little bar. We're touched!

Our 2,000th friend is EAST SIDE MOWERS, a lawn service right here in the 'Hood. We've offered them lunch for two, on us.

Thanks to each and every one of our MySpace and real-life friends for making us what we are: the best bar in the world!

We love your ass!

Sláinte! That’s Irish Gaelic for "Cheers!"

We’re normally closed Monday, but we gotta be open St. Paddy’s Day... we’re a friggin’ bar, for Blarney’s sake!

Anyway, you won’t find green beer, because... ewww... but we will be having great IRISH-THEMED specials... how about...

$3 Shamrock Shooters -- $5 Jameson Irish Whiskey -- $5 Red-Headed Sluts

So... bring your leprechauns and come to the Lipstick Lounge, 1400 Woodland Street in East Nashville, for a St. Pat’s you won’t soon forget... oh... actually... if you do it right, you won’t remember it at all!

Hey y'all...

Jonda and Rachel got married on Friday, which is very happy.

Nooooo, of course it isn't legal. Nooooo, of course it wasn't a church wedding. So why call it a marriage? The answer is: why not call it a marriage?

Two people love each other. Why should it matter they're both women?

Society seems to have some kind of vested interest in making people unhappy if they're going to push so much hatred toward something so beautiful.

The ceremony was gorgeous. The reception was sumptuous. The party was phenomenal. It was a wedding, like so many others-- except it was between two women.

I pray we will come to a day when we won't have to explain it all. That two women (or two men, or a man and a woman) can get married and not have people get that look of confusion on their faces. Until then... set folks straight (ahem) every chance you get on why gay marriage is important. Talk it up. For help on the issues, download this booklet from the Human Rights Campaign. It's clear cut, and makes the case. Your job is just to get folks to listen.

We just want to take a moment to thank everyone who showed up last night to support our friend Jan Taylor in her fight against non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Jan looked resplendent... bald head and all, accented by her "Bald Head Island" shirt. She was able to take off he face mask long enough to catch that gorgeous smile.

A particularly beautiful moment occurred when Jan got up on stage and sang one of her favorite songs, "Only Love," standing beside her partner Mallory Church.

Cori Dodson of the American Cancer Society, and one of Jan's dearest friends, was on hand to run a fantastic silent auction, Debra Christian, our karaoke queen, was there for a dare-eoke event that raised a lot of money, and in a supreme act of kindness, Lipstick owner Christa Suppan announced that if we could raise another $1000, she'd let Jan shave her head.

We made the extra grand in about five minutes, and the hair was gone.

All in all, the event raised a breathtaking $10,000, all of which will help Jan in this terrible time of need as she faces expensive treatments, and cannot work.

We'd like to thank the sponsors who made the event possible: Cruzan Rum, Absolut Vodka, Malibu Rum, Red Bull, Michelob Ultra, all the great folks who donated prizes for the silent auction... but most of all, we want to thank you, our friends, for the tremendous outpouring of love for one of our dearest patrons, in a time of need. We know why you did it: only love.

We love your ass! We'll see y'all soon!

How many times have you heard somebody lament all the drama? "I'm not looking for a lot of drama," someone says. Or another complains, "Too much drama with her."

Three MySpace friends all wrote blogs today about drama and gossip and people interfering. So it must still be a problem. We spend a lot of time preaching against the evils of drama. We've written two recent blogs about it: "Gossip Folks" and "The Ex Files."

Maybe y'all aren't listening.

So we're going to take a more academic approach. Kids, get out your books, turn to to Chapter 5: "Interpersonal Relationships."

There are some truths to bear in mind when dealing with other people, which is the nature and definition of interpersonal relationships. Please memorize these, and exercise them well. There will be a quiz.

TRUTH 1: YOU ARE NOT THE ONLY PERSON WHO EXISTS IN THIS WORLD. So have a little consideration for other people's feelings. Ask yourself, "If I do or say this, how will affect Jane/John?" And then act accordingly. You don't just act in a vacuum. Anything you do or say will have repercussions, reverberations, lasting effects and reactions. Think about it before you do it or say it.

TRUTH 2: PEOPLE GOSSIP. They shouldn't but they do. You shouldn't. But you do. We all do. The tip is, don't do it. But remember that anything you say is likely to be repeated. Think about who may eventually hear it, and plan accordingly.

TRUTH 3: MOTIVATION IS KEY, a.k.a. IS IT ANY BUSINESS OF YOURS? A lot of people genuinely believe that the gossipy things they say about other people is helping the situation. To wit:

"Well, I just wanted you to know she cheated on her last girlfriend, and so I'd keep an eye on her."

"He was in rehab last year, and so if he's gotten distant he may be on drugs again."

"I care about you, and I don't want to see you get hurt, so you should know: your girlfriend tried to hit on my roommate."

Yeah... no. Suppositions and prejudices don't help anyone. Forewarned is forearmed, perhaps, but people need to be allowed to make their own decisions about the folks they associate with. You don't like anyone else telling you how to behave, do you?

TRUTH 4: UNLESS YOU ARE DIRECTLY AFFECTED BY IT, IT'S NONE OF YOUR DAMN BUSINESS. And by the way, that whole "Well she's my friend, and if it affects her it affects me" thing is total bullshit. So save it.

We're just saying... for God's sake... mind your own business. Stop all the tale-toting and act like adults instead of fifth-graders. Is your own life so empty that you have to sit around and stir up someone else's? If you want drama, watch TNT.

Peace,

Tom

People break up. It occurs. As sure as love grows, it fades or changes, or is sometimes beset by external forces, and unfortunately, it sometimes reaches a point of pain that people simply must part ways.

If we are affected by a break-up (trust me folks, we at the Lip all know a thing or two about it), we have a choice. We can let it destroy us as individuals as well as obliterate us as a couple; or we can rise above the situation, find our resolve, let it test and strengthen us, and survive.

And it is definitely a choice we must each make. Love affects us sometimes to such a degree that we act as though we have no control whatsoever over the way we react to a break-up. Fortunately, that's just not true. It's not easy, but we can master our emotional displays. And our friends can help us in this, or make it hard for us. They have choices too.

I'm writing this because this week at the Lip I've seen the choices at work. In one instance, a customer (we'll call her "Earlene," to protect her identity) came in Tuesday night and was really enjoying herself. Earlene's friends surrounded her, and she seemed not to have a care in the world, enjoying tasty food and beverages, and playing some trivia.

Then, in walked her ex. The break-up isn't exactly fresh, but it's not been too long either. Suddenly, the whole table looked like they were plotting someone's death. Clearly, the friends, genuinely trying to be supportive, were talking a lot of crap about the ex, running her down, gossiping and being, frankly, catty bitches. Earlene's night was shot. You could see it in her face. I think she really wanted to just relax and be done with it, because she herself wasn't contributing much to the conversation. But her friends were reveling in tearing the ex to shreds wih their words, and it wasn't doing anything but creating.... what?.... drama.

Then in another case, another customer (we'll call him "Albert") came in with his posse, all happy and smiles, until he noticed his ex was already in the bar. Albert was not happy to see his former lover, and he started to go all oogy and sad. Just then, one of Albert's friends said to him, "Hey... this is a night with us, not a night with him. You know he's not even going to come over here, he wouldn't dare. So just act like he's not here, and have a good time. And if for any reason he does talk to him, just smile at him and tell him all is well. Then, you win. Even if seeing him still hurts you, he doesn't have to know that."

So who has the better friends? It's not about that. All the friends were being good friends, in the best way they knew how. Earlene's friends just didn't know how.

Albert's friend offered more constructive advice and Albert wound up staying all night long. The ex left long before he did, and I was proud of him for bucking up and not letting an unpleasant encounter ruin his evening.

We all have friends who break up, and we often crack about the drama it causes. Before we do... let's make sure we're not contributing to it!

We love your ass! We'll see you at the Lip! And if your ex shows up... smile. The bar's (now) big enough for the both of you!

Peace,

Tom