Anyone who knows me is well aware of my obsession with Tim Curry—and of the profound influence he had on the creation of Josephine. In this video, I present highlights from my video chats with Tim, interwoven with a home recording of Josephine performing “Fanfare” from The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

A fascinating detail: the voice of Dr. Frank-N-Furter was inspired by a group of rather "posh" women Tim once encountered on a bus. He described their accents as caricatured. Josephine is my interpretation of how I imagine those women might have sounded. Their voices may well have been higher-pitched, but Josephine is an older woman who has unapologetically denied the aging process—with the help if plastic surgery. She is the million dollar woman!

I chose to sing in a lower register for two reasons:

1. I am an alto, and my upper range is limited.
2. I wanted to channel the rich, resonant depth associated with Bea Arthur to better reflect Josephine’s intended age and presence.

The video concludes with a special cameo from my cat, Tiptoe. I adore my character Josephine, I deeply admire Tim Curry, and I cherish my cats. I hope you enjoy watching this as much as I enjoyed creating it.

This is an old video of Josephine. I'm sure you've already figured that out, just by looking at the retired wig (and profound lack of 'bust'). But nonetheless, this is one of my favorite videos simply because it demonstrates one of the greatest joys in life: collaborating with your best friends. Joseph Schreiner (the musician in this video) is my BFF for life. We became close pals when we met in 2009 as performers for The Felt Show (an adult comedy puppet troupe) in Lawrence, KS. That was 17 years ago and we are still besties to this very day. When you have friends who also carry an artistic medium of some sort, ALWAYS find ways to collaborate. Even if you both do entirely different things, find that common ground. You'll look back on those days smiling like you've never smiled before. This video is one that I treasure forever... Even though Josephine's voice kind of fades into the background. But luckily, I have provided captions for you. Enjoy =)