Oh, The Glamourous Life!

Dear Constant Reader,

This past Thursday was our first live music show at Flying Embers and I think it was pretty successful! We had a pretty good crowd, especially for a Thursday, who seemed to be enjoying themselves. The bartenders were happy with everything, the band was terrific and I felt my performances went well.

Poor Scratch was run ragged, however. His assistant tested positive for Covid that day and our photographers bailed, so he ended up having to do pretty much everything himself — set up the lighting, work the door (checking reservations and vaccination cards), host the show, take photos, clean up some of the costumes, and run the FaceBook livestream.

The band played two sets — about an hour and a half total. Betty and I each did an act in each set. I went first with “Mina in Furs” and Betty closed out the set with “Lament”. She opened the second set with “Night Train” and I closed it out with a fan dance to “Harlem Nocturne”. 

I was so into my fan dance and enjoying it so much that I ended with a big sweep of my fans and dipped my head, forgetting that I hadn’t yet sewn a comb into my headdress and the whole thing fell right off! It hung around my neck and I was able to sweep in back into place. Oh the glamourous life of a showgirl!

The show has a couple of challenges which keep things spicy. The first is, of course, live music. The band is terrific, but as with any live performance, you never know what might happen. As it turned out, everything was fine. The other is that there’s no real stage. We decided to perform in the center of the room, which means people were seated at tables around the taproom as well as at the bar. Performing in the round is hard.  You are going to be seen from every angle and you need to make sure everyone has a good view most of the time. And don’t forget to make as much eye contact as possible. My fan dance is very directional, with either my front or back uncovered depending on which way I’m turned. I opted to perform directly in front of the band for most of it and come out into the center when I was covered front and back or entirely uncovered.

There should eventually be some photos and the whole thing was on FB Live (skip the first couple of minutes — it’s Scratch setting things up and there’s no way to edit a Live).

I’ll be back on February 3rd with Ava Fox and again on February 17th. I won’t be performing that night — I’ll be celebrating my birthday! I hear there will be cake.

Tickets are free, but reservations are suggested.

These writings and other creative projects are supported by my 15 Patrons. Thank you so much! To become a Patron, go to my Patreon page. Or you can just tip me if you liked this.

Dear Constant Reader,

Tomorrow is our first show at Flying Embers! Get your tickets for an evening of cheerful holiday burlesque that will warm your heart and soul (and other body parts)!

And we will be back on January 20th and every other Thursday after that to entertain you. This is a different sort of show because we’ll be performing to a live jazz band!

Performing to live music is a treat we don’t get to do enough. Once a year, we perform at the Mardi Gras ball to an amazing band and several years ago our Valentine’s Day show, Unlucky in Love, had a band and a trio of singers.

There’s an entirely different energy with musicians versus recorded music. It’s more exiting, in several ways. Even when the band plays the same arrangement you are used to, it’s never exactly the same as the recording, which can be fun and challenging. You have to trust and learn to communicate to create something fabulous. As you can imagine, timing is very important for striptease, so if someone feels moved to change thing up (it is jazz, after all), you need to think on your feet.

Betty and I have had this experience before. In fact, Betty is a mistress of improvisational dance and can make magic out of whatever the musicians throw at her. But it’s going to be new for Ava and Devastasia and I’m looking forward to seeing what they create!

These writings and other creative projects are supported by my 13 Patrons. Thank you so much! To become a Patron, go to my Patreon page. Or you can just tip me if you liked this.

Dear Constant Reader,

Our first live show in front of an actual audience! Although it was a long, hard process to make that happen.

If you’ve been following these chronicles, you know we often perform in lovely spaces which aren’t really theatres. And this was no different. The hall upstairs from the American Burlesque Collection is spacious with a proscenium stage, but it’s not actually a theatre. Scratch and Hunter put in long hours making sure we had decent lighting (and thank goodness they had the luxury to do that instead of scrambling day of).

Still, there was a lot to do. We had to hang curtains in all the (huge) windows, set up the audio equipment (kindly lent by our good friends at Deacon Giles), set up the dressing room, set out chairs, assemble goody bags for the VIP guests, make a sign or two, and of course, rehearse, checking lights and sound as we went.

Our faithful stage manager Marek was working at his farmers’ market in NH (visit if you’re in the area!), so he wasn’t available and we missed him! However, we did have Sarah, the museum’s intern, and Gabe, a cast member for this show, to be the stage crew. And all the performers did their best to help them out with their first show, with Betty acting as a stage manager during the second act when she had a fair bit of down time.

By they way, those lovely signs on the easel that someone had to switch every act, were done by Devastasia.

Of course, it was pouring rain. Despite that we had a good turn out and even some walk-ins. And they were definitely enthusiastic! VIPs got a tour of the new exhibit at the museum — which I haven’t seen yet! — Lights! Camera! Burlesque!, showcasing burlesque as portrayed in movies, burlesque performers who made the jump to Hollywood, and filmed burlesque shows.

The show was a celebration of things summery and patriotic, which a little USO flavor. Alas, there are no photos, so you’ll just have to make do with my commentary.

Gabe & Sarah: Candy Butcher
This is a classic burlesque bit, where a fast-talking con man sells boxes of candy by promising ridiculous prizes in some of the boxes. This particular night, being “Bank Night” (sign by Devastasia), there is an additional promise of cash prizes. It’s all a lie. Gabe took the original script and ran with it. In true burlesque fashion, he improvised bits and added some physical comedy. Poor Sarah could barely keep up with the orders and plaintively asked backstage if there were any more boxes of candy. We were stunned that we’d sold all we had in no time flat. Gabe was a more successful pitchman than we expected!
A peek behind the curtain: The Uncle Sam’s Whiz-Bangs (with that All-American Flavor) were actually boxes of Starbursts with a paper wrapper Scratch designed (and your humble correspondent did most of the wrapping. Such a glamourous life!)

Betty Blaize & Mina Murray: The Lion Sleeps Tonight
Such a silly number. We created it in less than a week as kind of a throw-away act. Who would have imagined we’d still be performing it over a decade later *and* teaching it so others can perform it. It’s a bit unusual in that we do a spoken word intro. Also, many of those ridiculous hand-gestures are authentic 16th century mudras from classical Indian dance (of which Betty is an expert practitioner).

Devastasia: Cape Cod
One of the surprises of the Pandemic was learning that Devastasia has a beautiful singing voice. She sang in two of our recorded shows, but this was her first outing before a live audience. She did a wonderful job singing of the pleasures of a trip to the Cape.
A peek behind the curtain: Devastasia did all the audio editing to make the backtrack exactly what she wanted, including adding in the sea gulls and distant harbor bells.

Ava Fox: In The Mood
This was a great stage for tapping, so Ava let loose with this joyful striptease with a 1940s feel.

Betty Blaize & Scratch: Baseballs
A brief comedy bit that leads into the next act. We like to throw some comedy bits into a show in homage to the original burlesque shows, which were not all striptease.
A peek behind the curtain: Although we try to base our comedic interludes on actually comedy sketches from the Gold Age of burlesque, we have to substantially rewrite many of them as they are often too sexist, racist, or violent for modern sensibilities.

Betty Blaize: Stuff Like That There
Keeping with our summer theme, Betty appeared as a devoted Red Sox fan who gets so excited that her clothes come flying off. Betty made the entire costume, including the baseball bra and infield undies.

Scratch: Martini Time
Bottles keep mysteriously multiplying to the bafflement of Scratch and the audience.
A peek behind the curtain: this magic trick is choreographed to the song “Martini Time” by Rev. Horton Heat. However, in tech rehearsal, there was something wrong with the track — this is why you have tech rehearsals! — so Scratch used a different song in performance. Nobody was the wiser; he’s just that good!

Mina Murray: French Champagne
I love this act, despite its complicated set up. I felt badly about inflicting it on our novice stage crew, but they did great! What does it have to do with our theme? I’m cooling down with some ice!

INTERMISSION

Ava Fox & Devastasia: Don’t Sit Under the Appletree
This act was created for L.D.R.: Love in the Time of Coronavirus, but this was its first outing in front of a live audience. Ava and Devastasia are military cuties, with a friendly rivalry.
A peek behind the curtain: Ava made those beautiful fans completely from scratch. She cut the acrylic staves, sewed the fabric feathers, assembled the fans, and decorated them.

Gabe & Scratch: Deductions
Another vintage comedy bit. They laid the groundwork for Scratch as the overbearing boss and Gabe as the put-upon employee during the opening of Gabe’s song above.

Betty Blaize: 1812 Overdrive
Despite the 1812 overture not being about the War of 1812, it has become an Independence Day staple. Don’t ask me why. Betty goes all out with a gambling-themed act including a huge stack of dice that she can climb up on.
A peek behind the curtain: Betty built and decorated those dice herself. She’s also the one who assembles them — if you need to trust the security of a set piece, you need to trust those who set them up. If this sounds like a Friday Tip, it’s because it is.

Ava Fox, Devastasia, Mina Murray & Scratch: Date Night
Another classic comedy bit. We did this one in The BeauTease Holiday Special where Devastasia actually got to say her scandalous last time, since Scratch could bleep it instead of having to interrupt.

Ava Fox, Devastasia & Mina Murray: Stompin’ at the Savoy
This is one of our standard adorable trios. Now that I’m thinking about it I believe we debuted this on the Harbourlesque boat at our tenth anniversary party. We switched up the look a bit so we were in red and in white and in blue.
A peek behind the curtain: Usually I’m in the center position, but I also had a red costume, so I moved to the appropriate end. The choreography is just different enough for the three positions that I had a heck of a time adjusting at first.

And that was the show! And then we had to strike everything and load out, so there wasn’t much time for more than briefly greeting our beloved audience.

These writings and other creative projects are supported by my 12 Patrons. Thank you! I appreciate you all so much. To become a Patron, go to my Patreon page. Or you can just tip me if you liked this.

Dear Constant Reader,

This was our second on-line show and we tried a few experiments, some successful, some not.

The first was that the show was themed around a TV series. We’re all big fans of The Umbrella Academy and were so excited when the announcement for season 2 dropped. And thus The Underwear Academy was born.

One of the things we loved about the first season was the killer soundtrack. Everyone chose songs that spoke to them and created acts around them, not necessarily Umbrella Academy-themed. Just two of the acts used other music, but they were thematically related.

The second thing that was new and different was that we figured because we weren’t pretending to be on a stage, or even all in the same place, we’d have some fun with the videos and explore the options of editing. Scratch handled all the editing (and some of the filming), except for one act.

The last and hardest new thing was that some of this show was broadcast live. We used a program called StreamYard, which worked like a dream in a couple of tests, but, of course, was all kinds of problematic when it came to showtime. I think some of the issues have been figured out. I think…

And here’s how The Underwear Academy went…

One of the lessons we learned from our first on-line show was not to start on the dot of eight, like we would with a show with an in-person audience. So this show opened with a countdown timer and then another countdown, more in character. Scratch was hosting live between each act as well as running all the tech.

Opening Credits

Ava Fox: Good Morning Little School Girl (Johnny Lang)
This was the first number that didn’t use a song from the show. It had Ava in a schoolgirl outfit, completely with rhinestoned umbrella patch on her blazer and UA mask, performing in a ruined classroom (did I mention we got a green screen?).

Betty Blaize: Istanbul (Not Constantinople) (They Might Be Giants)
Our first live act! Betty performed direct from her living room!
One of her earliest stripteases was done to this song, but she’s upgraded the costume quite a bit since then. Her gorgeous outfit started its life as a wedding outfit she bought in Hyderabad, India and modified into a burlesque costume.

Devastasia: Stormy Weather (Emmy Raver-Lampman)
Despite the stormy weather, Devastasia has her usual sunny smile as she teases with a parasol (back lace, of course) amid her plants and skulls. I was really excited to see this one as Devastasia hasn’t been able to come to rehearsal and has been working with Scratch remotely. This video was edited by Dave D’anranjo.

Anita Stagename: Don’t Stop Me Now
Anita sang and accompanied herself on the keyboard in front of an appropriately apocalyptic background. I think this was the PMJ arrangement of the song.

Mina Murray: Never Tear Us Apart (Paloma Faith)
This was one of the acts that both used music from the show *and* was directly inspired by it. I loved the song, but had no idea what to do with it. Scratch, looking in my closet, suggested I dress as The Handler. I’m pleased to say it all came together after that. I did have to buy a wig, fingerless gloves, and red Pleasers, but everything else — dress, lingerie, all accessories — came from my wardrobe. I did have to modify the dress to put in pockets to hold my sunglasses and cigarette case (which I ended up stashing in my bra instead). Scratch provided the briefcase.

We shot this on three locations at The Manor so I could “time travel” between them. I may have a reputation for always looking cool and collected and I hope that came through because it was 95 degrees at 11 o’clock at night. We did minimal takes of each scene so nobody died. The last scene was a single take, so I hope it looked good!

Lady Marin Era and Penny Rain: Happy Together (Gerard Way (feat. Ray Toro))
Our apprentices in a duet! Betty Blaize created this adorable choreography with umbrellas for the two of them. Marin and Penny worked really hard on this and it’s certainly not easy performing a duet by yourself, as they did on film.

Scratch: Magic
I know it was a card trick, but at this point I was no longer watching the show.

Boobdini: Burlesque Deck commercial
Our good friend Lili VonSchtupp (aka Boobdini) has a great new project, The Burlesque Deck, available now! 26 gorgeous performers in 54 fabulous poses on playing cards! You should get one and play with yourself!

Ava Fox: Mad About You (Hooverphonic)
Ava, dressed simply in thigh-highs and a man’s shirt, shows up her sultry dance abilities and acrobatic floorwork skills. Beautiful and powerful.

There was a technical issue with this file so that it didn’t upload properly. Scratch figured ended up doing a screen share later in the show, but it was supposed to go here. I’m glad he managed to make it work because it would have been a terrible shame to leave it out.

Anita Stagename: Dancing in the Moonlight
This song showcases Anita’s beautiful voice so well. I wasn’t waiting the show at this point, so I don’t know if she had another great background.

Betty Blaize: Kill of the Night (Gin Wigmore)
I believe this song was everyone’s second choice song, but only Betty managed to pull it off. She drew upon her many years of training in both martial arts and dance to create this menacing choreography.

Mina Murray: Heroes (Pete Gabriel)
This was the other song that wasn’t actually used in the show*. It seems thematic though. As much as I love the Bowie original, the Gabriel version is so hauntingly anguished. I was so nervous, like I haven’t been in years, maybe decades, to perform this live. I think it came out okay though.

At about noon (with the show launching at 8pm), Scratch said “I think you should wear a mask”, by which he meant the current style, not a superhero mask. I dashed to my sewing room and made one, realized it wouldn’t show up well on video, and made another one. Then practiced the act while wearing it.

*It was used in Stranger Things though…

Ava Fox, Betty Blaize, Devastasia, Devora Darling, Evie Sphinx, Mina Murray, Scratch: I Think We’re Alone Now (Tiffany)
One of the great things about filming remotely is that some of our far-flung troupe members could participate! We were so happy to have Evie and D.D. performing with us again (Brigitte is out on maternity leave right now).

This act was probably the most inspired by the show, or really, the second season teaser. All of us created an act to “I Think We’re Alone Now” somewhere in our respective houses, which Scratch then intercut together. For the final section we had a unison choreography (again created by Betty) and all six of us appeared on the screen together, yet separate.

I filmed my scenes in the bathtub and it worked out that you only actually see my face once. Betty writhed on her kitchen island, Ava sauntered down creepiest hallway ever, while Devastasia was in the conservatory with a watering can. Evie was moving boxes into an empty room and D.D. looked a bit like the Creepy Doll in her rocking chair.

Closing credits with bloopers and bonus post-credit scene

This was a huge amount of work, but also a lot of fun along the way. I’m sorry that technology conspired to give our audience a less smooth broadcast than we expected. I think all the videos came out beautifully. We might present an encore performance, but that would require reshooting Scratch’s hosting bits and we’ve got some other projects on the immediate horizon that are going to take a lot of our time.

These writings and other creative projects are supported by my Patrons. Thank you so much! To become a Patron, go to my Patreon page. Or you can just tip me if you liked this.

Dear Constant Reader,

This Friday was our Valentine’s Day show at the Speakeasy Lab at Deacon Giles Distillery in Salem. We’ve been performing there for three years at this point and at this point we’ve got a system to our set up. Want to know what happens before a show? Well, I’m going to tell you any way.

We drive into the distillery itself to unload our gear. I cannot emphasize how convenient this is. No schlepping from distant parking lots or making multiple trips or hauling stuff up stairs. After unloading, we need to set up both the backstage (in the distillery) and the theatre (the tasting room). Everybody helps out.

The guys at Deacon Giles are good enough to build us a stage. It’s two pallets stacked with a piece of plywood on top. It’s very sturdy, great for tap dancing on, but only 4′ x 8′. We’re used to working with those size constraints now — we used to have a space the same size taped off on our dance floor for rehearsals. We’re not stuck up there, however, we can go down on the floor or into the audience if we want.

We also set up some striplights behind the stage and a follow spot up near the door at the highest point in the room. The spotlight operator also runs the video camera. Sometimes we even get decent footage. We also set up the music and microphone for Scratch. Fortunately, there’s a house system we can use and don’t have to bring our own.

We set up our merch on and near the drink rail over by the stage and then set out tip envelopes throughout the audience. They have a slip of paper and a wee pencil inside, so the audience can leave us little notes if they like.

Backstage there’s already a table and some chairs for us, which becomes the makeup/snack station (Devastasia always brings snacks). We set up a clothing rack and hang up our costumes. Any set pieces (like our boudoir bench) get assembled and props set out. The glass door between the backstage and theatre is propped open and we put up a curtain rod and two curtains in the door way. We discovered early on that if the door is shut, you can’t hear anything backstage and it’s heavy to open — hard if you’re carrying something, like fans. We cover the glass walls with our banners. There are convenient hooks already in place and we just use some binder clips at the top of each banner.

Then Scratch has pizza delivered and we do hair and makeup in between warming up our numbers on the stage up until doors open — 30 minutes before the show starts.

We’ll do two shows because we can only seat 35 people. We get an hour break between the shows as people from the first show finish their drinks and close out their tabs and then the second audience is let in. We use that time to reset costumes, re-tape pasties, fix makeup, etc.

During the second show we’re also breaking down set pieces, packing costumes, &c. as they are no longer needed and generally getting as ready to load out as possible, so we don’t have to do it all at the end when everyone just wants to have a drink and relax before heading home.

Well, that was a lot about the behind-the-senes of a show. Here’s a short list of the acts, just for posterity:
Betty Blaize: Betty, It’s Cold Outside
Devastasia: “All For You”
Ava Fox: “Feelin’ Good” (a tap dance)
Mina Murray: “I’m in the Mood for Love” (a fan dance)
Scratch: Magic
Betty Blaize: “Sweet Child o’ Mine”
Devastasia: “Sunday Kind of Love”
Ava Fox: “The Man I Love”
Mina Murray: Whole Lotta Mina

One thing we tried for this show was that every ticket got a cocktail from the special Valentine’s menu. I don’t know how the other drinks were but I had the FWB mocktail (pineapple, hibiscus, lime, and maraschino) and it was amazing. I should have taken a picture of its beautiful purple foam.

Our next show is Taste o’ Burlesque on March 8th! I don’t know if I’ll be performing or not yet, but it’s going to be a great show no matter what. See you there!

These writings and other creative projects are supported by my Patrons. Thank you so much! To become a Patron, go to my Patreon page. Or you can just tip me if you liked this.