Late on a Saturday Night

Dear Constant Reader,

I mentioned yesterday that Brigitte and I were supposed to perform before a showing of Bettie Page Reveals All but the movie was canceled because of a snow storm. I had already done my makeup when the call came, so I decided to have a little fun.

Before we get to that… Boston is a great city and I love living here, but there’s a few ways in which New York has it all beat. Two words: costuming supplies. Every time I’m in The City I head down to the 30’s and pick up fabric or trim or beads or rhinestone jewelry. You name it, someone’s got it.

I was down for Thanksgiving and I had one thing on my mind — feathers. I have some gorgeous fan staves and I needed some equally gorgeous ostrich plumes. I was going to do a little comparison shopping, but The Feather Place was closed for the holiday, so I went to Dersh Feather. Oh my goodness gracious! What beautiful feathers! What helpful people! I highly recommend them (caveat: they’re wholesale only). And the price was less than I had budgeted.

So what does this have to do with my makeup and free Saturday night?

Scratch and I had a little fun with a camera…

I have to give Albert (the Manor cat) credit. He was clearly *very* interested in all those wonderful fluffy things on the floor, but stayed on the daybed through the shoot. Although he was poised to pounce, just in case those vicious feathers tried to attack me.

M2

Published in: on 17 December 2013 at 10:44 am  Comments (2)  
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Brrrrlesque

Dear Constant Reader,

Friday night we took our winter show, Brrrrlesque to Laugh Boston, a brand new comedy club in the Westin Waterfront hotel. It’s a pretty sweet venue — cushy green room with direct access to the stage (you’d be surprised how often that doesn’t happen) and super helpful staff.

The only drawback is the stage itself. Like I mentioned, the venue is a comedy club, so the stage is perfect for stand up. Not so much for dancing en pointe, walking on chairs, or 5 dancers flourishing silk veils. And the lighting is kind of dim, despite the spotlight we brought in. But we managed.

I promise you a look behind the curtain of my glamourous burlesque life and here’s a peek. I had a couple of bad moments on stage. The key is not to let the audience know that something is amiss. Or as best as one can.

Our opening number is “Factory Elves” (it’s “Factory Girls” from Madame Burlesque with some Christmas touches) and I walk down a series of chairs. Twice. Normally I’m pretty confident, but that night the chairs were wobbling all over the place. The second time through I do a little butt bump as I step each chair. I knew that was a bad idea, so instead, I grabbed the back of each chair and stuck my butt up in the air. Brigitte said it looked like a sexy crawl and not like a panicked attempt to keep my balance.

My next appearance was with a hula hoop. I was very aware of the size of the stage and I was using my LED hoop which is the smallest in my collection. Still, I would occasionally hit the curtains behind me and I was very aware of the lighting bar just overhead. And the audience was at tables quite close to the stage. Although when the mishap finally occurred, it wasn’t because the size of the stage screwed me up. I just missed a catch, but before I could grab the hoop again, it went right off the stage and into the audience. Thankfully it was returned to me and I went on with the routine, not even having missed too much of the next verse.

The rest of the show went more smoothly for me. Thank goodness. I think “Sugar Rum Cherry” was a high point of the 2nd act.

Back to the good stuff. We had a special surprise guest in the audience. After the show, Evie Sphinx revealed herself to the Babydolls. She’s been out of state doing school stuff so there was much squealing & hugging.

The very next day Brigitte and I were supposed to open the showing of Bettie Page Reveals All at the Coolidge Corner Theatre at midnight. Because of low ticket sales due to the snow storm, the theatre canceled the movie, so we didn’t get to present “Mistress & Maid” (which was inspired by Bettie Page and Tempest Storm). I was already beautifully made up when we got the call and it seemed a shame not to put that face to good use. Perhaps tomorrow I’ll show you what I did.

M2

Published in: on 16 December 2013 at 2:14 pm  Leave a Comment  
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Friday Tip!

Dear Constant Reader,

It’s Friday and we’re on the verge of a storm here in New England. Of course, the Boston Babydolls will still be presenting Brrrlesque at Laugh Boston tonight and Brigitte and I are still planning to warm up the audience of Bettie Page Reveals All at the Coolidge Corner Theatre tomorrow at midnight.

Here’s your tip!

Give your bras a break!

Avoid wearing the same bra two days in a row. Like any vacation, the day off gives an opportunity to relax and rest and ultimately be happier. The fabric gets a chance to dry out from contact with your skin (especially if your bra has padding. I won’t tell.). The elastic can contract fully after being under tension for most of a day. Just simply rotating through your bras can prolong their fit and life.

Obviously, I’m talking about everyday bras here. Show bras are a different story, since we’re not wearing them for hours and hours on end (usually). Still, air your bras out after each show.

M2

Published in: on 13 December 2013 at 1:46 pm  Leave a Comment  
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Wish List

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.

Published in: on 12 December 2013 at 11:46 am  Leave a Comment  
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Gift Suggestions Addendum

Dear Constant Reader,

After my list of authors and artisans to patronize yesterday, I was reminded of a few more, all of whom, as it turns out, make jewelry. Here’s a quick list:

Emrys Handcrafted Fynery is a little steampunk, a little geeky, and all fabulous. (Personally, I love the Poe bracelet.)

Sunspot Designs for unusual jewelry with a goth bent.

Artist Laurel Cunningham-Hill makes Capsulariums, tiny showcases with delicate artwork made from wee animal bones.

More suggestions are welcome!

Happy shopping!
M2

Published in: on 11 December 2013 at 12:33 pm  Leave a Comment  
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Gift Suggestions

Dear Constant Reader,

In a previous missive I recommended you buy gifts from various artists in the burlesque community. I didn’t give you any suggestions because there are so many talented people out there and I couldn’t possible include them all. I just know I’d forget someone fabulous and feel terrible. I encourage you to go treasure hunting!

Today I’m going to recommend some of my favorite other gifts sources. These are all little artists and businesses that make good stuff. It’s not particularly burlesque-y, but I like to support my friends.

I know a whole bunch of fabulous people who are authors and you should get their books. There’s a listing of individual titles here, but in brief they are:

  • Marrus (anecdotes, art, and advice)
  • Andrew Kirschbaum (fantasy detective novels)
  • Jennifer Pelland (disturbing SF)
  • Rory Raven (esoteric and spooky history)
  • Teresa Noelle Roberts (paranormal erotica, i.e. supernatural smut)
  • Andrew Shaffer (biographical sketches)

As well as having written a book, Marrus makes art for the smart. Check out her work at Marrus Art. I’m pleased to say a (very atypical) Marrus original graces Stately Babydoll Manor.

Star Cat Books is a brand new indie bookstore in Vermont. They’re in the last couple of days of an IndiGoGo campaign to help with their initial start-up costs and they’ve got some very cool rewards, including signed books from Neil Gaiman (our Twitterhusband) and Jane Yolen for top-level donors.

There’s also Rickert & Beagle Books in Pittburgh. Chris (that would be the Rickert half) is a big Boston Babydolls fan and part of the reason we played Pittsburgh over the summer. The Beagle half is the author of The Last Unicorn. Yes, really.

My talented friend Rae has a line of handmade cameos that she calls Kreepsakes. These are not your grandmother’s cameos… Some of them even glow in the dark.

The Boston Babydolls are dancers, and despite the cutsie saying that “dancers glow”, we sweat. A lot. So we’re grateful for Urban Kitchen whose workshop is just down the hall from B.A.B.E. She makes a whole variety of scented soaps, candles, lotions, and other lovely stuff that help us and the studio get sweet-smelling after rehearsal.

The designer behind Vixens Ahoy has made costumes for The Boston Babydolls for years (including the fantastic polka-dotted dresses we wore at The Ohio Burlesque Festival). I can attest that her aprons and other items are of excellent quality and sturdily made.

The Scarlett Rose made my beautiful feather fans (one pair captured here at The Teaseday Club by Rich Jarvis Photography), but she also creates fancy hats.

Chandler & Kemp makes decorated pillar candles. Nice for these long, dark nights.

And to wrap everything up, Giftable Boston, founded by Dagny Vanderlust, provides concierge gift wrapping services.

Who are some of your favorite indie artisans?

M2

Published in: on 10 December 2013 at 9:49 am  Leave a Comment  
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Friday Tip!

Dear Constant Reader,

Happy Friday! Here’s your tip:

Watch burlesque.

Don’t perform in a vacuum. See what other people have done and are doing. Watch burlesque live. Watch burlesque on film. Watch new burlesque. Watch old burlesque. Watch performers you love. Watch performers you hate. Be frustrated. Be inspired. Become better.

M2

Published in: on 6 December 2013 at 11:15 am  Leave a Comment  

The Teaseday Club 12/3/13

Dear Constant Reader,

The Teaseday Club opened for members on December 3rd. Sadly, there were only about half the number of guests as in previous months. The late Thanksgiving really messed with everyone’s schedule, but those who were there got a real treat! Once again I was in the box office, so my reporting is a little spotty.

Scratch hosted the show. Our stage kitten was Naughtia the Elf. Photos were taken by Aaron Macks.

Set 1
Lucie Luxe, reigning Cookie Queen, reprised her chair dance to “Toxic”.

Rory Raven brought up an audience member and showed her his long Christmas wish list. She was asked to choose where he should cut it and then read off the item at the top of the new shorter list. Another audience member was summoned to whom Rory had given a sealed envelope before the show started. She opened the envelope and read off the very same item from the list. Amazing!

Vikki Likkerish performed an act I haven’t seen in a long time. She danced out to “Almost Like Being in Love” wearing pajamas & slippers and carrying a toaster (what the heck?). After stripping to a more showgirlish outfit (including heels!), she gleefully climbed into a bathtub and dropped in the toaster. And shimmied and shook as she was “electrocuted”.

James Earl Bones appeared at The Teaseday Club for the first time. He performed in the second year of “The Boston Babydolls’ Out for Blood” and boy, has his act become even more polished and impressive. I couldn’t do it justice. Let’s just say it involved comedy, stripping, feats of flexibility (he passed his body through unstrung rackets of increasingly smaller sizes) and balance, and tasticle* twirling.

Set 2
Peril S. Curves opened up the second set in one of her elaborate costumes. I only caught a glimpse because someone wanted a ticket.

Scratch did a little bit of the impossible by making a bottle of booze vanish. Not the contents — the whole bottle.

Lucie Luxe performed a humorous striptease to the old classic “The Stripper”.

Alissa Coates sang “How High The Moon”.

Vikki Likkerish performed her crowd-pleasing Muff ‘N Mix.

Set 3
Rory Raven returned and I think did something miraculous with a deck of cards. Once again, someone had the impeccable timing to need a ticket right at the start of a set.

James Earl Bones astounded and appalled the audience with some contortion. This was not pretty, I-can’t-believe-she-can-sit-on-her-own-head, Cirque de Soleil contortion. This was freakish, painful-looking contortion that made you wince. And hearing him calmly announce, in his Australian accent, that is was going to dislocate his shoulders now, made it even worse. Yet, no one could look away.

Alissa Coates, seasonally appropriate, sang “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”.

Peril S. Curves closed out the show to her gloriously showy Fan(ny) Dance. I think this was the first time a merkin** graced the stage at The Teaseday Club. Well, graced a performer on the stage. It stayed where it was supposed to.

And who won The Great Teaseday Cookie?

For the first time in the history of The Teaseday Club we had a tie! The cookie was shared by Lucie Luxe and Peril S. Curves! You’ll see them both on January 7th.

M2
*It’s a thing. Just ask Jonny Porkpie. And yes, the tassel was exactly where you think it was.
**Think g-string without the string. Now stop thinking about how it stays in place.

Published in: on 5 December 2013 at 11:47 am  Leave a Comment  
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UConn Post Script

Dear Constant Reader,

I know I was a tease yesterday by mentioning that we learned from the source why there is a tap dance prohibition at UConn, but not sharing that information with you.

We originally thought it had to do with marring the stage surface and suggested bringing a tap board for Brigitte, but nope, no tapping allowed.

The culprits told Scratch that they were members of the college Tap Team and last year a dancer fell on stage and split her chin open. After that, all tap dancing was banned as too dangerous. And the irony of it all is that at the time of the accident the wounded dancer wasn’t even tapping!

Also, I forgot to mention that a reporter for the campus paper was at the show and raced home to get this story into the next day’s paper.

M2

Published in: on 4 December 2013 at 9:40 am  Leave a Comment  
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The Boston Babydolls at UConn

Dear Constant Reader,

The Boston Babydolls were invited by the frightening sounding SUBOG* to perform at the University of Connecticut yesterday. I was excited because we’ve never managed to have a show in Connecticut, my home state, although we have performed in all the other New England states.

We knew this show was going to be a challenge from the beginning:
1. Betty and Stella would still be away for Thanksgiving. Fortunately, Brigitte, Devora, Scratch, and I were available. And Corinne Southern was able to be our Special Guest.

2. We had to keep our bras on. That required some re-choreographing of every striptease.

3. The theatre had hardly any lighting, so we had to bring down our own, plus a tech crew.

We dealt will all those issues. No problem. Then about a week and a half before the show, the school asked if we were doing anything dangerous, like pyrotechnics, knife throwing, or tap dancing. Tap dancing? Umm, like Brigitte’s tap piece to “Nut Rocker”? Not something she could just do as a soft shoe, so she rechoreographed the whole thing as quickly as possible.

Then we got a request for a private show. It happens a lot at the holidays. But this party was on the very same night at the college show. Scratch summoned the Legion of Substitute Babydolls and arranged what I’m sure was a fine show from Dagny Vanderlust, Ginny Nightshade, and BettySioux Tailor.

We arrived on campus. There were thousands of people eager to cheer and holler. But not for us. Did you know that UConn has a basketball team? Yeah, The Huskies. They’re kinda popular. And they had a game exactly during our show. So, our audience was the tiny percentage of students who would rather see boobs (albeit in bras) than basketballs.

Still, it was a fine show. We each did two holiday-themed acts, one strip and one variety, plus two group numbers. Scratch did some magic, of course. And we all did some classic (that means corny) burlesque comedy bits. The audience, small but mighty, appeared to be having a great time.

Two of the gals in the audience explained that the no-tap-dancing was their fault. No one would take credit for the no-pasties rule.

If you’d like to see what the show looks like with 5 dancers, pasties, and tap dancing, we’ll be presenting it at Laugh, the comedy club at the Westin Waterfront on Friday, December 13th and the House of Mood in Rhode Island on Saturday, December 21st.

Just before we got on the road I learned that an article I wrote will be published in volume II of “Berlesker: Handcrafted Literary Journal”. I’m so excited!

M2
*Student Union Board of Governors

Published in: on 3 December 2013 at 12:34 pm  Leave a Comment  
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