Dear Constant Reader,
Tonight is The Teaseday Club! You can see Brigitte Bisoux, Ginny Nightshade, Nonye Brown-West, Stella Diamond, Zia, and Scratch on stage! You can see me in the box office! And I would much prefer you bought your tickets in advance…
This Saturday some of the Boston Babydolls and some B.A.B.E. students will be walking the runway for Kawaii Me. I hope you’ll join us!
Dear Constant Reader,
I bet you’re wondering what’s going on in the wonderful world of your humble correspondent. Or not, but I’m going to tell you anyway.
On Saturday afternoon, the Boston Babydolls have a private show down in Rhode Island. Depending on how tired I am after that, I might attend a gender-swapped staged reading of The Taming of the Shrew.
Monday night, March 31st, is Burlesque Through the Backdoor at The Burren in Davis Square. Door are at 7:30PM and tickets are $15 for general admission and $25 for reserved front row seats. We’ll be presenting a number of our favorite acts, with striptease, singing, tapdance and more. And you’ll see the debut of our backup dancers, Elyse and Olivia!
The very next day, April 1st (no fooling!) is The Teaseday Club! You’ll see burlesque from the hard-working Ginny Nightshade, Victoria Van Layer from The Beat City Beauties, and Cookie Queen Brigitte Bisoux. Also bellydance from Zia, comedy from Mike Lemme, and I’m sure Scratch will do something impossible again. Tickets have gone up to $15, but you can still buy them in advance (which makes things much easier on the box office gal) and support your favorite performer. [EDIT: Whoops! Ginny Nightshade will be performing in May. Stella Diamond will be appearing in April.]
Yes, that’s 3 shows in 4 days.
And B.A.B.E. continues to be busy! We have a brand-new website! It’s a work in progress, but what isn’t…
In April BABEfit is on Mondays at 6:00PM. Your lovely instructors will be Mandy, Brigitte Bisoux or Devora Darling, depending on which week it is. Registration is only $12 in advance and $15 at the door.
Introduction to Burlesque with Mandy follows at 7:00PM. The Early Bird Pricing is still in effect until next Monday — all 4 classes are only $85! Sign up now and save.
I’m sorry to say that “Putting It All Together” with Brigitte Bisoux is completely sold out. The lucky few who signed up are going to have an amazing time!
There’s a rumor that the next Beyond Basic Burlesque series is going to be on chair dance. I’ll keep you posted…
And that’s the news!
Dear Constant Reader,
I couldn’t neglect talking about the shopping at The Expo!
This was my small haul this year:
I needed a necklace to go with my hosting outfit for The Original Newcomers’ Showcase and Su’ad was able to hook me up with the lovely set on the left. Su’ad and Farasha are performers themselves, so they understand the need to have great jewelry that won’t break the bank.
Funny story about the pasties on the right. I saw them on the Glorious Pasties table and every time I walked past it, I looked at them. On Sunday Lili VonSchtupp mentioned she’d bought a pair of pasties, to support Cheeky Cheetah, and would be adding them to her collection. A quick glance at the table showed me just which pair she’d bought and made me realize how much I wanted them. Happy ending all round — I bought them from Lili and she bought another pair for her collection.
There was so much other great stuff, like from Meadhall (who stock up on the shiny trim for this event), Cleavage Couture, Booty & the Geek, Bella’s Tchotchkes, and of course, Vixens Ahoy (I know I missed a bunch), but I was just generally running around and too busy to do much shopping.
I didn’t buy either of these books at The Expo, but they’re still connected. Doc (of Doc & Stumpy) was selling his fantastic book Baggy Pants Comedy, now in paperback. That’s a hardcover above because I got it as a gift for Scratch as soon as it was published. The book (and its pricing) was really intended for academic institutions, but I wasn’t going to let that stand in the way of gaining really valuable information about burlesque comedy. Doc was gracious enough to inscribe it to Scratch.
The other is one of my purchases from early in my burlesque career. Angie was kind of amazed to see it (“published by Kinkos!”) and cheerfully signed it.
Other than all the shopping, the Costume Exhibit, and the Bordello stage, the Vendor Hall has the cafe. You see, unlike BurlyCon which has attendee-provided hospitality, the Hyatt won’t allow any outside food. And it’s a hotel, so the dining options are kind of pricey. Scratch does what he can to help out there, like having breakfast included in The Whole Shebang ticket, having local take-out menus at the reg desk, and arranging for the cafe. It offers soup, sandwiches, salads, and the like for pretty reasonable prices and they’re quite good. And then there are tables in the Hall, so you can sit, eat, socialize, and plan your shopping.
Saturday I had gotten my lunch from the cafe and Scratch waved me over to the table where he was sitting with Angie and her husband Brian (who is one of the nicest guys on the planet). I’ve known Angie quite a while, have some of her hand-me-downs in my closet (we wear about the same size), and have performed in a bunch of shows with her. So, here I was, sitting with some friends, chatting about stuff, but, in the back of my brain, there was this little voice squealing like a fangirl “Oh my God, I’m having lunch with *Angie Pontani*!!!”
Dear Constant Reader,
The Expo has been and gone and I’m exhausted! Over the next couple of weeks I’ll be giving you a recap in bite sized pieces, but today I wanted to give some thank yous.
Everyone who worked on The Expo deserves big thanks and if I tried to list them all I’d surely forget someone. However, there are some people who helped me out personally and I want to make sure you all know who they are.
Thank you to:
…Brigitte Bisoux, Devora Darling, Stella Diamond, Lucie Luxe, and Mandy for running the B.A.B.E. drop-in classes all weekend long and for packing up the classroom at the end of each day. And special thanks to Lucie for toting all the gear back to B.A.B.E.
…Donna Denise, Femme Brulee, Gorejess, and Scandal from Bohemia for judging the Main Event and making it one of the fastest, easiest, and most conflict-free deliberations ever.
…my tea party ladies: Brigitte Bisoux for getting MEM Tea Imports and Runa: Clean Energy on board as sponsors, Mimi Mischief for making the adorable centerpieces, and Blaze for helping with set up and making sure the tea pots stayed full.
…the backstage crew at The Original Newcomers’ Showcase: Claire, Linda B., Lia, and Diamond DeVille. You guys were fabulous at keeping everything running smoothly, even with all the messy acts.
…Betty Blaize and her Web Guys, Marcus DeBoyz and John K. The casual user of the event site has no idea what useful features they created on the back end. It made my life so much easier when I was prepping for judging and hosting shows.
…a stage kitten whose name I never caught who cheerfully pinned me into my tea dress when the zipper was failing.
…and of course, Scratch, without whom none of this would have happened.
Dear Constant Reader.
It’s almost time for The Great Burlesque Expo of 2014! I’m so excited. It’s going to be so much fun! I hope I’ll see you there.
I’ll be teaching Friday afternoon and Saturday morning and then taking all the classes I can! B.A.B.E is sponsoring drop-in classes all day Saturday and Sunday (included with any ticket), so even if you’re not attending The Conference, you can get some burlesque basics.
The Boston Babydolls are performing in The Rhinestone Revue Friday night, I’m judging The Main Event on Saturday, and hosting The Sunday Night Showcases.
And finally, I’ll be hosting a Tea Party Sunday afternoon!
Not to mention shopping, watching The Pontani Sisters’ movie, going to the fashion show, pool party, Friday Night Bordello and the costume exhibit!
And of course, seeing my burly-friends from all over the country.
I’m exhausted just thinking about it all!
A lot of people work really hard to put in this great event, but they can always use more help. It you want to make a fabulous event even better, volunteer. It’s fun!
And in all the Expo excitement I don’t want to forget that tomorrow is Teaseday! And you should get your tickets now for the spectacular Mardi Tease on March 4th. They’re only $10 until tomorrow!
Busily Yours,
Dear Constant Reader,
Even glamourous showgirls get sick. Usually that means I lie wanly in my bed, propped up on pillows, coughing delicately into an embroidered handkerchief, wearing leopard-print pajamas, and genteelly sipping tea. Visitors are welcome, from a distance, and I entertain myself with cross-stitch or reading Stephen King.
This was not the case this week. I was felled by a vicious flu bug that had me unable to rise from bed for practically 48 hours. There was nothing glamourous about my convalescence in the least.
Due to this, I missed The Teaseday Club for the first time. Fortunately, Claire, the new Production Assistant, was going to handle the box office, but I was supposed to train her. I hear she did a fine job solo. Scratch says he’ll write up a little report for you (and me), so we all know what went on at the latest meeting of the Club.
Dear Constant Reader,
Yesterday was one of our favorite holidays: Babydollmas! It’s so hard for us to get together during the holidays, so we celebrate in early January. It was within the 12 days of Christmas, so we’re good.
We had rehearsal first. We’re working really hard on our group number for the Vermont Burlesque Festival. It’s so much fun!
Then it was time for Super Sunday Social. For those just joining in, it’s our tradition to relax after rehearsal on Sunday with some wine and nibbles, which we call Sunday Social. This being declared Super Sunday Social, the offerings were a little more extravagant: Betty brought 2 kinds of pate (duck foie gras and chicken liver with truffles), Scratch made a pitcher of our new favorite beverage (cinnamon hard cider with a shot of Fireball), I baked a King Cake (and I got the “baby”), and more.
Then came the gift giving. Stella gave everyone locally-made dark chocolate bars — I snagged one of the darkest ones. Brigitte got us all gift cards to our usual haunt down the street. Devora made beautiful magnets, painted and embellished with rhinestones, different for everyone. I made everyone zippered bags, just the right size for packing a thong and fishnets, maybe some pastie tape too. Or a tie, pocket square, and cufflinks if you’re Scratch. Or spare cable ties if you’re Hunter.
Scratch gave Stella the same polka-dot purse the rest of us got just before she joined the troupe, so we can all be perfectly matchy-matchy. Then he gave all of us rhinestone bracelets and fabulous rhinestone name necklaces, with personalized details (mine has crowns, D.D.’s has smiley faces, &c.).
Betty was the big winner in the giving department. She made us all matching bolero jackets in our favorite red and black! Scratch got a matching vest, but because Hunter wears almost exclusively black, his vest is in his signature color, but trimmed the same as the rest of us.
We are totally going to have all of this finery at the Vermont Burlesque Festival!
Here’s a quick shot of the entire haul.
Scratch gave me an amazing holiday gift, but I think it gets its own missive…
Dear Constant Reader,
2013 was kind of a rocky year for us. It certainly had some high points and some lows, moments that were glamourous and some that were “glamourous”. Here’s a little month by month guide.
January & February
We spend these months preparing for and performing The Bod of Avon, a Shakespeare-themed burlesque show. We have a lot of fun with it, but it was not without its challenges. I am often frustrated trying to learn and rehearse a new solo, a trio, a quartet, and our big 6-dancer finale. We have the luxury of 2 preview nights at Oberon, after which we were able to tweak the show a bit based on audience feedback.
The “real” show is at Naga in Central Square, a new venue for us. Every night we set up the theatre and strike it again. Annoying, but we get it down to a science and everybody pitches in. However, just before the run of shows starts the venue cancels some of our nights, having double-booked the space and deciding we would lose. Then a blizzard wipes out another weekend. Frustrating for all involved and seriously cutting into the profit margin.
March
I host the last Naked Girls Reading salon. I am terribly disappointed that the new management decided to revoke our charter just as we’d figured out how to make it all work smoothly.
The Mardi Gras Ball, postponed due to the blizzard the previous month, is rescheduled for that same night. We have a blast and feel like total rock stars.
The Expo! 7th annual! We’ve been working very hard on a new number, the best thing we had done to date.
(Photo by Jo Weldon)
Sadly, there’s no video. If you have any idea how to film an act that’s lit only by flashlights, do let me know.
April
The debut of The Teaseday Club!
Something really bad happens in Boston, but we’re all okay.
May, June, & July
We prepare for and perform The Fine Art of Burlesque, our summer touring show.
We use what we call “The Burlesque-A-Pades Model”: 3 dancers plus Scratch plus a local Special Guest & stage kitten. It works really well and we only need one car and one hotel room. We have a ton of fun and perform in some new states (i.e. New Jersey and Pennsylvania). We pet a baby kangaroo. We’re accused of blasphemy. We drink crème brûlée beer. We’re very well received everywhere we go, however, we barely make enough to cover expenses. There are no dressing room horror stories to report.
Also, Evie leaves. We know this is coming, but it doesn’t make it any easier. To complete her degree and get her license, she needs to do clinical work out of state, so she moves to New Jersey and then will be moving on to Arizona. For more than a year and a half we’ve been six dancers sharing a hive mind (as Betty likes to say). Now there’s an Evie-shaped hole in everything. We miss her terribly.
August
We headline the Ohio Burlesque Festival. No big deal.
(Photo by Eric Paul Owens)
We work incredibly hard on our number. Betty took a duet she had created four years ago and revamped it for 4 dancers. We sweat over the choreography only to change it and change it again. Very little of the original moves are in the final product. We spend hours and hours gluing rhinestones onto our dresses, only to have such lousy lighting that there was no sparkle at all. However, we’re incredibly happy with the final product. Sadly, there’s no video.
Dixie Evans dies. Dixie Evans Week goes ahead, but tinged with sorrow.
September
Production for The W.R. Athskellar Cavalcade of Curiosities is in full swing. We have a band, singers, actors, aerialists, dancers, other misc. performers, &c. It’s going to be the biggest and best thing we’ve ever done. It’s like all the good parts of the previous 4 productions of The Wrathskellar wrapped up in a new story.
October
Our venue for The W.R. Athskellar Cavalcade of Curiosities hasn’t been able to get the proper licenses for us to perform. We cancel all shows. We are crushed. And take the biggest financial hit yet in a year full of them. The show is too good to abandon and we will perform it some day, hopefully sooner than next October.
The Babydolls see Dita for the first time. It cheers us up a little and inspires us a lot.
November
Scratch and I go to BurlyCon. He teaches; I don’t. We see old friends and make new ones.
We are invited to headline at the first-ever Vermont Burlesque Festival in January. We scramble to come up with a 5-person number, since all our good ones need 6 (or 4).
December
We present Brrrlesque, a holiday-themed show and make a few other appearances (or plan to, but there’s snow). We play a couple of new venues and are likely to return to all of them.
I learn that my article on the costume exhibit I curated will be published in Berlesker: Handcrafted Literary Journal.
In Conclusion
Some good, some bad. We’ve continued to improve as performers and our shows just keep getting bigger and better. But money-wise, it wasn’t great this year. And as much as we do this because we love it, a gal does need to pay the rhinestone bill. Everyone is excited for 2014 to be better and better. Onward, upward!
I hope your New Year is fabulous and glamourous!
Dear Constant Reader,
Gypsy Rose Lee had a tradition of eating 12 grapes at midnight, one at each stroke of the clock, for good fortune in the coming year.
And I wish you all good fortune, with or without grapes.
Dear Constant Reader,
I’ve given you some ideas (and then a few more) for places to acquire gifts this year. So, what would *I* like to see in my stocking this year?
* Any of the books on my Library Wishlist (or any burlesque related books that aren’t already in my Library). Bonus points if you buy them at an independent bookstore.
* Gift certificates are easy. Perhaps for Atomic Cosmetics, Secrets in Lace, Trashy Diva, and Stop Staring. I can always use skin care products, stockings, and dresses. Also, dance shoes, rhinestones, and other costuming supplies…
* Interesting and high-quality chocolate, like that at Vogses Haut Chocolat. If one is going indulge, it should be worth it.
* Cage panties from Dangrrrous Designs.
* Yoga blocks and a mat to help my quest for splits.
* Tickets to Sleep No More. I’d rather see the Superior Boston Production one more time, but I’ll take what I can get.
* Rhinestone jewelry. No such thing as too much.
but really, more than anything, I’d like you to nominate Scratch for the Burlesque Top 50. He deserves to be recognized as one of the movers & shakers in burlesque.
Oh, The Glamourous Life! 