Maya's Big Vermilion
Los Angeles, California, United States
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Life & Style - Entertainment News - Entertainment - Local
Sunday, Aug. 23, 2009
“Alice in Wonderland in a vinyl bustier”
By OTIS R. TAYLOR JR. - otaylor@thestate.com
Lyon Forrest Hill stands over Lorrie Rivers.
Rivers is lying on her back on an aqua drop curtain held down by weights. She is supposed to be underwater.
Hill, a visual artist, slides sandbags underneath a fan, hoping the slanted airflow angle will flutter Rivers’ hair.
Rivers performs jazz standards at Goatfeathers in Five Points. Lorrie Rivers of Columbia, is a performance artist that will be performing at Maya's Wonderland, August 27th, held at 701 Whaley. The performance will include a pie eating contest, a kissing booth, tarot card readings, and other performers. (Photos by Kim Kim Foster-Tobin/kkfoster@thestate.com)
Rivers performs jazz standards at Goatfeathers in Five Points. Lorrie Rivers of Columbia, is a performance artist that will be performing at Maya's Wonderland, August 27th, held at 701 Whaley. The performance will include a pie eating contest, a kissing booth, tarot card readings, and other performers. (Photos by Kim Kim Foster-Tobin/kkfoster@thestate.com)
Rivers performs jazz standards at Goatfeathers in Five Points. Lorrie Rivers of Columbia, is a performance artist that will be performing at Maya's Wonderland, August 27th, held at 701 Whaley. The performance will include a pie eating contest, a kissing booth, tarot card readings, and other performers. (Photos by Kim Kim Foster-Tobin/kkfoster@thestate.com)
It’s not working.
“Your hair is like lead,” Wade Sellers says as he peers through a camera lens on a ladder about 10 feet high.
“I think it’s because it’s against the floor,” Rivers says.
Hill and Sellers are producing a video for “Maya’s Wonderland,” a carnival and music performance that is being billed as “Alice in Wonderland in a vinyl bustier.”
It’s also Rivers’ goodbye to Columbia: She is leaving town next month to attend the Central School of Speech and Drama in London.
The carnival, which will be held Thursday at 701 Whaley, will have games, contests, a kissing booth and tarot readings.
The performance by Maya’s Big Vermillion, Rivers’ electro-jazz band, will feature songs accompanied by videos such as the one being filmed at Fulton Studios off Huger Street near Publix.
Rivers looks up at Sellers’ camera and moves her arms slowly, mechanically, like that of an animated papier-mache doll. Sellers is shooting in one-second frames, but the action is playing back faster than they want.
“Wow,” Hill says, “you’re in a tornado.”
Remember, she’s underwater for this video to her song, “Bejeweled Bread.”
Hill tries fanning Rivers’ hair, revealed as raven by the stage lighting, with a board, but there still is no movement. He has to pull and tussle the strands — and the aqua scrim — by hand.
“Got it,” Sellers says after each frame.
It take a few hours to get about one minute of video. This production: meticulous.
STARTING OVER
The English are sincere character actors.
Rivers will take the Central School of Speech and Drama’s yearlong intensive program, about $25,000 worth of lessons.
“They don’t just focus on the acting,” Rivers says. “They also have some classes for editing and directing, and you actually leave with a full reel.
“It is really connected.”
This is the second time Rivers, who is in her 30s, has made acting her career. The first is an experience that she’s now just fully recovered from.
In 2000, she moved to Los Angeles to chase what countless hopefuls seek: stardom. She had auditions and got called back for table reads, but she didn’t get any parts.
She couldn’t act — physically.
“I got really sick and had to move in with my boyfriend in San Diego,” she says. “It got to the point where I couldn’t take care of me anymore, and I had to move back here.”
Her sickness wasn’t anything a doctor could diagnose. Was it severe depression? Chronic fatigue? Rivers still isn’t sure.
“It got to the point where I actually couldn’t get up to get myself water,” she says. “Physically, my muscles wouldn’t work.”
If what ailed her remains incomprehensible, the cure, at least for the uninitiated, is surely as baffling.
She became involved with The Healing Codes, a company that uses internal energy — known commonly as the law of attraction — as a healing strategy. Proponents of the law suggest that a person can control their energy and use it to influence how they feel.
The strongest testimonial is from the one of the company’s founders, Ben Johnson, who appeared in “The Secret,” a film and book that attracted mainstream attention, with his story of overcoming Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), or Lou Gehrig’s disease.
“Nothing else was helping,” Rivers says. “The doctors weren’t. Traditional medicine wasn’t helping.
“I started to look into energy medicine, which I had never done before.”
She was prescribed codes — hand pos - The State
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Maya's Big Vermilion - Maya's Big Vermilion
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Alice in Wonderland in a vinyl bustier
By OTIS R. TAYLOR JR. - otaylor@thestate.com
Lyon Forrest Hill stands over Lorrie Rivers.
Rivers is lying on her back on an aqua drop curtain held down by weights. She is supposed to be underwater.
Hill, a visual artist, slides sandbags underneath a fan, hoping the slanted airflow angle will flutter Rivers hair.
Its not working.
Your hair is like lead, Wade Sellers says as he peers through a camera lens on a ladder about 10 feet high.
I think its because its against the floor, Rivers says.
Hill and Sellers are producing a video for Mayas Wonderland, a carnival and music performance that is being billed as Alice in Wonderland in a vinyl bustier.
Its also Rivers goodbye to Columbia: She is leaving town next month to attend the Central School of Speech and Drama in London.
The carnival, which will be held Thursday at 701 Whaley, will have games, contests, a kissing booth and tarot readings.
The performance by Mayas Big Vermillion, Rivers electro-jazz band, will feature songs accompanied by videos such as the one being filmed at Fulton Studios off Huger Street near Publix.
Rivers looks up at Sellers camera and moves her arms slowly, mechanically, like that of an animated papier-mache doll. Sellers is shooting in one-second frames, but the action is playing back faster than they want.
Wow, Hill says, youre in a tornado.
Remember, shes underwater for this video to her song, Bejeweled Bread.
Hill tries fanning Rivers hair, revealed as raven by the stage lighting, with a board, but there still is no movement. He has to pull and tussle the strands and the aqua scrim by hand.
Got it, Sellers says after each frame.
It take a few hours to get about one minute of video. This production: meticulous.
STARTING OVER
The English are sincere character actors.
Rivers will take the Central School of Speech and Dramas yearlong intensive program, about $25,000 worth of lessons.
They dont just focus on the acting, Rivers says. They also have some classes for editing and directing, and you actually leave with a full reel.
It is really connected.
This is the second time Rivers, who is in her 30s, has made acting her career. The first is an experience that shes now just fully recovered from.
In 2000, she moved to Los Angeles to chase what countless hopefuls seek: stardom. She had auditions and got called back for table reads, but she didnt get any parts.
She couldnt act physically.
I got really sick and had to move in with my boyfriend in San Diego, she says. It got to the point where I couldnt take care of me anymore, and I had to move back here.
Her sickness wasnt anything a doctor could diagnose. Was it severe depression? Chronic fatigue? Rivers still isnt sure.
It got to the point where I actually couldnt get up to get myself water, she says. Physically, my muscles wouldnt work.
If what ailed her remains incomprehensible, the cure, at least for the uninitiated, is surely as baffling.
She became involved with The Healing Codes, a company that uses internal energy known commonly as the law of attraction as a healing strategy. Proponents of the law suggest that a person can control their energy and use it to influence how they feel.
The strongest testimonial is from the one of the companys founders, Ben Johnson, who appeared in The Secret, a film and book that attracted mainstream attention, with his story of overcoming Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), or Lou Gehrigs disease.
Nothing else was helping, Rivers says. The doctors werent. Traditional medicine wasnt helping.
I started to look into energy medicine, which I had never done before.
She was prescribed codes hand positions that work on energy centers, like your forehead and she did them for three to six hours per day, she says.
Rivers is a practitioner for The Health Codes, with most of her clients in Europe. While visiting one of those clients in Bari, Italy, she met her current boyfriend, Mario, a former tennis player now prepping to become a judge.
London is a lot closer to Italy than Columbia. More importantly, though, Rivers has the strength to pursue an acting career.
She now has a strong core, a foundation.
SAYING GOODBYE
Rivers is a captivating singer, a performer whose eye shadow even dazzles.
Earlier this month at Goatfeathers, Rivers sings jazz standards accompanied by Bert Ligon, a USC music professor. Like Mayas Wonderland, this is a fundraiser for Rivers.
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