Interview: At Home With Jen Houston

Sometimes she is called Jennifer, others Jennifer Leigh Houston, but most of the time this crafty country-rock chick just goes by Jen Houston (pronounced Hew-Stun, not How-Stun) because Jen Houston has a simple, straight forward feel and sound, and this chick is a simple, straight forward gal. After her body determined for her that her ballet career would be a musical comedy one, Ms. Houston segued into the land of Fosse and Smokey Joe with some Neil Simon and nightclubs on the side. Houston is like Holly Golightly, that wild thing that cannot be tamed, so she branched out into voiceovers, on-camera work, make-up styling, and politics, lots and lots of politics. Somewhere along the way, she became a master baker with a company she created and a web series where which she demonstrates the best ways to bake creatively (and deliciously!) at home. With concerts at Rockwood Music Hall and other bohemian small music venues, Houston has been playing her self-penned songs whenever she's not in the kitchen filming or in her home studio recording political parody songs for Now This.

So what does a Jane-of-All-Trades do when living under a Shelter In Place order? Make Boho candles, of course!

This interview was conducted digitally and Jen Houston's answers appear below, as she typed them, to give readers a feel for her enthusiasm.

Name: Jen Houston
First Cabaret Show (Title, Year, Club): The Andrew's Sisters! (3rd cousins, twice removed) 2001, Sam's Cabaret and Don't Tell Mama's
Most Recent Cabaret Show: The Story Teller (musician, guest soloist, back up singer) at Don't Tell Mama
Website or Social Media Handles: Insta @jensshutyercakehole
Jen Houston Music https://www.facebook.com/jenhoustonmusic/?ref=bookmarks
Jen's Shut Your Cake Hole https://www.facebook.com/leopardlounge1/
E.Vil Sublet Movie https://www.facebook.com/eVilsublet/

Jennifer, you have done almost every kind of on stage performing that a singing and dancing actor has done, haven't you?

Oh my Lordy, yes. I feel like I've had my finger in all the possible musical theatre "pies" as possible: from local basement productions to cruise ships, to industrial shows, to bus and truck tours, to original cabaret ventures, to singing waitress at Ellen's Stardust Diner and Sam's, to gigs with entertainment companies (where my Chezzam people at? Holllllla!), summer stock, parades, some really amazing venues, (remember that super fun Smokey Joe's Cafe I did back in 2002?), being in bands and writing and singing original music, having my own band and singing and singing my own original music, writing and recording my own albums, writing and recording music for the award-winning documentary Married and Counting, singing country music for line dancing in Staten Island in front of cardboard cows and rubber chickens (I wish I was joking) and finally, being asked to sing political musical parodies for NOW THIS. It's been a hell of a run!

Your most recent stage time has been in downtown rock & roll venues, hasn't it?

My most recent musical forays have been mostly rock venues around town and in Brooklyn. Both with my old band His Boy Elroy, singing back up for the Rice Miller Band, and finally, with my very own band singing my own music.

When you aren't working on your music, you are still performing in front of a camera or a microphone, aren't you?

Yes, when I'm not working on music I mostly spend my time doing voice-overs or working on my very own cake show called Jen's Shut Your Cake Hole.

Have you been spending your shelter in place time Netflixing, cleaning, or creating?

Ha....no, I really haven't been spending my time sheltering in place Netflixing, although there's absolutely NOTHING wrong with that. I've been doing some voice-overs, and auditions, and been trying to keep my crafting skills sharp. I've had to get pretty creative in the kitchen as well....I mean, of course, I'm always creative in the kitchen when it comes to baking, but actual food is not my forte. I've definitely ramped up my skills. Truth is, I'm not really happy unless I'm making something. It's just the way my brain works. I'm sure it's my mama's damned fault....all that "idle hands are the Devil's playground" razz-ma-tazz I was raised with. That woman kept me BUSY! I guess it just stuck.

Jen, your crafting has led to the creation of some amazing artwork. Tell me how you started making your Boho Candles.

Oh, wow....she says as she puts the finishing touches on this... Well, I'm not sure really. I've always been candle crazy (drives my hubby nuts) and I collect all kinds of lanterns and holders now, and I think it was just born out of an idea that I wanted my candles to be more colorful and more festive. Wow, now that you're asking me, it seems strange...it was really just something to fill my time after having sold the bakery after 11.5 years. I felt a little lost...i guess I wasn't truly ready to give up making stuff, but I never wanted to see another spatula as long as I lived.

You have a significant following in the confection community. Tell me about Shut Your Cake Hole.

Shut Your Cake Hole came about as such a random idea. Ok, so let's backtrack. Back in 2002 when it seemed my whole performing career was all but over, I started a bakery with my (then) boyfriend. Fast forward 11.5 years later, we sold it and tried to go back to our normal lives. HA! I didn't know what my "normal life" was supposed to be but it appeared that I was then semi-retired except for voice-overs, and I spent a ton of time watching cake demos, and classes, and realized that all those years pumping out thousands of confections a day at the bakery, I never really learned anything about cake artistry. I got hooked man! I watched every tutorial I could get my eyes on, and even pay to be a perpetual student of one of the most renowned cake artist's in the country. But something that was seriously lacking in all these tutorials? Pizzaz. They were incredibly informative, but man, they were dry. So, I went to my former style show editor/director husband and announced that I wanted my own online cake show. He said, "mmmm, ok." and here we are, two and a half years and 24 episodes later, still trying to hone my craft and learning as I go. It's been a real blast. The most hilarious part of it, to me, is that if you had told me 20 years ago that I would have a baking show on "the web" I'd have laughed my ass off. (I must have taken a wrong turn at Albuquerque lol.) Life...she's a strange one.

You're an animal lover, how did you feel when you found out that one of the results of the quarantine was an increase in animal shelters with all the critters being fostered and adopted?

Yes, it's true. I think I love animals way more than most people. When I found out that folks were clearing out the strays from the shelters, I literally wept. Weeping....over animals....it's what I seem to do daily. I could fall into a "The Dodo" hole and use up an entire box of Kleenex.

When the lockdown went into effect, a film in which you play the lead role had to be shut down; but that's only temporary until things go back to a normal place, isn't it?

So, yeah. One of the biggest bummers of this whole illness-shutdown thing (and I KNOW how insignificant this is going to sound in the grand scheme of things....I know, people, I know!!! White people, first world problems...I get it!!) is that we were in the middle of filming a really cool horror/comedy full-length feature in which I am the lead and had to shut it down until probably the beginning of next Winter. We were just two weeks away from filming the scenes in which the delightful Sally Struthers was to appear. Yup. The one and only. We had been planning on finishing those and most of the really complicated scenes during the month of April. Alas...we will pick it up later. Continuity is going to be a BEAST though....lol!!! I think I've aged 10 years last month.

One of the actors appearing in E Vil Sublet is cabaret and nightclub show broad Leanne Borghesi, isn't it?

Yes, we are so beyond grateful that the divine Ms. Borghesi agreed to be in our flick. She's freaking perfect for the role and now I simply cannot imagine anyone else possibly playing the part.

You and singer Toni Stanton recently covered The Changing Table by Susie Mosher - what made you choose to do a country-rock version of the song?

Yes, I jumped on board in covering The Changing Table (Susie Mosher) because no one else had done a country version. And even though I am SUCH a city gal, I can't keep the country out of my singing and writing. I just can't explain it. I don't even listen to country music. Go figure.

Jennifer, what's the best horror movie of all time?

Oh, GOD! What's my favorite horror movie, you ask? That's like me asking you what your favorite musical is...geez. I guess it has to be a toss-up between The Exorcist and The Shining....ok, and Alien, and Jaws, and The Others, and The Sixth Sense, and Rosemary's Baby, and Psycho, and Silence of the Lambs......

What is the one baking tip you think everyone should know when they walk into their kitchen to make something sweet?

Baking tips? That's easy: do not skimp on ANYTHING. Buy the best ingredients and you will come out with the best treat. Also, start with all your ingredients at room temperature.

Photos of cakes and boho candles provided by Jen Houston. Other photos by Stephen Mosher

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