On The Reel: Tracking Emilie: Where in the world is Veronica Varlow?

Remember when this blog was about movies? Good times right? Those will be back eventually. In the meantime I’m going to do as much as I can to break up the monotony in these “Tracking Emilie” posts by branching out a bit.

Before we get started, a bit of housekeeping around the blog, I’m still only halfway through all the Best Picture nominations for the Oscars, so I don’t see me making another huge dent in that list with my schedule as it is. That being said, I’ll probably do what I did for the Globes and just wing it, I’m sure it’ll be fine. I also think I have a grasp on what this tracking book assignment is all about. I’m going to focus on how Emilie Autumn & her Crumpets abandoned their “acceptable” life in order to join the Asylum, things like Emilie’s founding of Traitor Records, how Emilie & her fans see her departure from classical music while at the same time her rejecting pure rock / industrial music. So, that’s going to be the direction I’m taking, I’ll run it past the professor next I get a chance though.

Seriously though, I do need help. I know next to nothing about Contessa & Maggots for their posts, and I want them to make it in. Also, I do need your opinions on EA’s leaving classical music (feelings on Laced vs. Unlaced & on), and just general opinions about EA. The next few posts in the series will talk about whatever I can find on EA’s past, the other 2 current Crumpets (and maybe some past ones), and EA’s more recent displeasure with people asking for tickets. If you have EA’s book, I would very much like to hear from you, as I cannot afford it at the moment, and I hear it has very good insights

With all that out of the way, let’s talk about Veronica Varlow (Real Name: Tara Heffner aka The Naughty Veronica, VeVa, VV)

To understand the full extent of subversion in Emilie’s shows, you must understand all the performers. Today, Veronica is a fashion designer, a burlesque performer, and of course a Bloody Crumpet, but Veronica was certainly not born as The Naughty Veronica, in fact, she was once a temp. She worked in cubicles and wondered what the fuck “PC LOAD LETTER” meant, just like the rest of us. She had seen burlesque before, and she says in her interviews that she had wanted to try it, she “was enraptured. I dreamed of getting on the stage and doing classic burlesque - being graceful and glamorous”. Of course, as so many of us do, she did not follow these dreams because her job was a large part of her life, and it is often difficult to follow your dreams while complying with societal wishes. So for about three years, she continued working, silencing her dreams, until something happened that would bring out the VeVa we know today.

On December 28th, 2003, while volunteering in an animal shelter, she was attacked by a Rottweiler, which ripped off her nose and nearly blinded her. Veronica spent the next 8 hours in surgery during which time she contemplated her dreams, stating: “[b]eing faced with a traumatic situation like that definitely made me reevaluate what I was doing with my life. It hit me how short life really is and how important my dreams are. As embarrassing as it is - the only reason I wasn't doing my dreams is simply that I was afraid of what other people would think of me. I am grateful every day that it wasn't the last five minutes of my life on that operating table and that I had a second chance to live my life fearlessly and walk forward into my dreams”.

After that incident, Veronica began modeling. Despite still having clear facial scarring at the time, she says that’s when she felt most comfortable in front of the camera “I was just me” she said “and I was sharing myself and my experience with the world. Facial scars and all.”

Since then Mrs. Varlow has established herself as an icon. She began by selling her designed clothes on eBay, which was popular enough to quit her day job. At which point she wanted more, she really wanted the world to see all she had created, and so “Danger Dame” came into being, inspired by the film noir girls of the past, the ones would would kill first and kiss later.

Due to the success of Danger Dame (link below) and her iconic position as a burlesque performer Veronica was afforded the opportunity to be a life coach on the show MADE on MTV, I’m not going to delve too deep into it, but the link is provided below. Veronica is a true inspiration proved herself as a force to be reckoned with over the course of the show. While dominating, you could still see Veronica’s passion to help Andrea (the girl she was coaching) right down to the end. Beyond that, I would just say watch it!

As all this was going on, Veronica was also establishing herself and a lot of it is due to her style and the drive she has behind everything she does, “Human freedoms” she explains “are the most important to me . . . and that wasn’t really happening back in the 50s. So, I can take the freedom of living today and surround my self with the beautiful things from the past . . . the classic films, the burlesque...”.

Even still, Veronica has yet another passion, one she desribes as “the very reason [she’s] alive”, and that is getting her film: Revolver onto the silver screen. The trailer (shown below) won a “Golden Trailer” award and for good reason, the Grindhouse appeal, and the balance between the fun and the seriousness of it makes it a movie I would very much like to see (and review for all my wonderful readers right here!) sadly, the film is in a state known as “production hell” at the moment, which is a hard place to pull yourself out from, but if you have learned anything from this, it’s that when Veronica Varlow puts her mind to something, it generally gets done.

As all this was happening, somehow Veronica caught the attention of Emilie Autumn, it’s not hard to see why. Varlow’s entire experience is a testimony to the power of subversion. Having left the world of the normal and entering a world of beauty, fashion, and danger, it was only a matter of time before she found her way into The Asylum. EA likes to say that there is no audition to become a Bloody Crumpet, you simply are one, and it’s just a matter of when you are discovered. Veronica certainly fits that description, she is an icon, and inspiration, and one hell of a performer who will stop at nothing short of total world domination, and considering her rise to fame so far, that might not be so far off. One thing we can all learn from Veronica: never, ever give up on your dreams.