Dear Constant Reader,
I was delighted to be accepted to perform at the New York Burlesque Festival this year, in The Teaser Party on Thursday night at The Bell House in Brooklyn. This is the same show I played 2 years ago, so I was familiar with the venue.
Thursday morning Scratch & I packed up Super Screen and the backlight and headed for NYC. Super Screen was supposed to ride of the roof, but due to one thing and another, it went into the Babydollmobile. Not ideal, as it just barely fits, but at least I didn’t have to worry about it up top.
Before going to the venue, we dropped in at Minnie Tonka’s place. Minnie had kindly opened her home to out of town performers for a little hospitality. It was a lovely gesture. She had found herself welcomed with open arms when traveling oversees and wanted to do similar. A little fresh fruit crisp, a little conversation, and it was time for my tech rehearsal.
I was pretty nervous about this act. It relies so much on other people (setting the screen, and the light, and then hitting the lighting cues). I shouldn’t have worried. I was in excellent hands with the tech crew. It even turned out that Scratch could do the lighting cues. I left the venue a lot more secure than went I arrived.
Because Scratch has excellent restaurant sense (it’s one of his superpowers), he found a barbecue place within walking distance of our parking space. I picked at a couple of lamb ribs, having returned to nervous, until we went back to the hotel for me to get ready.
With one thing and another, like the GPS having no idea how to deal with Brooklyn, we missed the first few acts and arrived near the climax of Legs Malone’s number. I honestly can’t do much of a recap of the other numbers as I was anxiously waiting for my time to go backstage.
But first, I participated in the Great Tassel Twirl Off. As many people as possible were going to get on the stage and twirl to “Bad Reputation”, led by who else — Jo Boobs.
(Filip Wolak Photography)
A few seconds in, my left tassel simply exploded. The pasties stayed on, but the tassel turned back into its component strands and fell to the stage. Still, I twirled away for the full 3 minutes with the sole remaining tassel. I know that doesn’t sound like very long, but trust me, it is. If you look very careful in the above photo, you can just see my leopard dress in the second row, between Cheeky Cheetah and Ruby Solitaire.
Before I knew it, it was time for my number. Everything went very well! The set up was fast. Super Screen worked perfectly. Scratch hit the lighting cues perfectly. And most importantly, the audience seemed to enjoy it.
(Filip Wolak Photography)
Besides being the debut of Super Screen, this was also the first appearance of what I was calling Baby’s First Merkin. For my non-burlesque readers, a merkin is a g-string without the string. I wanted to present a naked silhouette at the end of the act, without being actually naked (because one can’t be). The waistband of a thong tends to leave a little indent around the hips which is magnified in the shadow. So, I made & wore a merkin for the first time. It stayed on — I’ll call that a success!
After leaving the stage, I got a flying hug from international supermodel Sarah Hartshorne, who I was completely stunned to see. In fact it took me a moment to even realize it was her! That whole out-of-context plus dim lights plus post-performance daze. I was delighted she came out!
The rest of the show was kind of a pleasant blur as I enjoyed the acts on stage and the compliments from people off-stage, had a well-deserved drink and checked out the Scan-A-Rama.
And here’s the curtain call:
I bet you’re all dying to see my act and I won’t keep teasing you too badly. First I really need to thank a bunch of people:
Angie Pontani & Jen Gapay for inviting me to the party.
The Bishop of Burlesque & Scary Ben for making sure my set up went smoothly.
Steven Speliotis for the wonderful video.
And Scratch, for everything.
It wasn’t all soggy drudgery. While there was no leaf peeping or sightseeing, there was a lovely respite at 
Here’s one wing, marked for cutting. Those holes are so we can cut out the center, leaving a frame. Well, Scratch did all the cutting with the somewhat-scary jigsaw. My job was holding the plywood steady, which mostly meant draping myself across the sheet of wood, pressing down with all my weight and clinging to the opposite side of the sawhorse. That was kind of exciting.
Tada! A cut-out wing! I love the graceful curve at the top. It mirrors the curve at the top of the front frame. Almost like we planned it that way. You can see how it will eventually attach to the front.
Once everything was cut, it was time for painting. The color is “Champagne Mist”. Seems appropriate, no? After a couple of coats of paint, it was sealed with some clear polyurethane.
Here’s the nifty part. Instead of using fragile rice paper, we’re filling in the frames with Tyvek. It’s strong and waterproof. While it was probably overkill, the Tykev is both glued & stapled in place. After the glue had a little time to set, we trimmed away the excess Tyvek.
And after the Tykev went on the main frame, we added some lovely oak trim to jazz it all up.
For several years now I’ve been using a silhouette screen in some of my acts. It’s one of those lattice-work rice paper tri-fold screens you can easily get in a college town like Boston. But it’s far from perfect. The panels are a little narrow. The screen is a little short. The paper is delicate. It doesn’t travel well. Sight lines are often an issue. I’ve been dreaming of a custom-built screen for a long time.
We started with a sheet of nice plywood, 1/2″ thick, that the lovely folks at the Home Depot cut down to 6′ by 3′. It’s not light. Carrying it down the basement stairs to the workshop by myself proved impossible.
First step, Scratch drew the outer frame. We’re going to use the wood in the middle for the side pieces (wings). Waste not, want not!
The top of the screen is going to be curved. The T-square is useless for that, so Scratch made a compass out of a piece of scrap wood.
In just one week, I’ll be performing at The New York Burlesque Festival on Thursday, September 25th at The Bell House. I’m so excited to be back at NYBF and can’t wait to see some old friends. And go shopping. Because as much as there are many things about Boston that I love, it can’t hold a candle to NYC when it comes to fabric shopping.
That same weekend, on October 10 & 11, many of the remaining Boston Babydolls with be presenting Out for Blood at the Shea Theatre in Turner’s Falls, MA.
Oh, The Glamourous Life! 