Show on the Road: Sunday, July 21

Dear Constant Reader,


Only 2 days left! It’s your last chance to vote for The Boston Babydolls for “Best Theatre Group” and B.A.B.E. for “Best Dance Classes“!

(Need to catch up? Read about Friday and Saturday.)

We had a great plan for Sunday morning: pick up donuts at the afore-mentioned donut shop, go be tourists for a bit, then hit the road. This failed when we discovered the donut shop was closed. A little more research showed that the entire chain was out of business. Oh well. On to being tourists.

One of Johnstown's claims to fame is the Inclined Plane*. We weren’t going to miss that, especially one we found out we could take the car up and drive down. Here’s a bunch of pictures that don’t come close to doing it justice:
    
Scratch took some video, which maybe he’ll post somewhere.

Having asked a friendly local to recommend a good place for breakfast, we went to Our Sons’ where we sampled the local cuisine, i.e scrapple**. After deciding against getting a gob (kind of like a whoopie pie) for the road, we piled back into the faithful Babydoll-mobile for the long drive back to Boston.

It was delightfully uneventful. Scratch mocked my music choices. Betty coded. Brigitte drove for the last leg***.

We got to rehearsal at around 8 where D.D. and Stella were waiting on the loading dock to help unpack. At that time on the last trip, we were still in Pennsylvania, convinced we’d never get home.

This was the last performance of The Fine Art of Burlesque for me, but it’s not done yet. You can see Betty, Devora, Stella, and Scratch on August 16th in Portsmouth, NH and August 17th in Denmark, ME with Special Guest Diamond DeVille. Hopefully one of the other Babydolls will chronicle the trip for me.

But next up we’re headed for The Ohio Burlesque Festival to headline on August 2nd, and teach on July 3rd. And we’ll be stopping at Posh in Scranton to perform on August 1st!

M2

* The other being the *three* catastrophic floods that ravaged the city in 1889, 1936, and 1977. Hence, the name “Flood City”.
** And chocolate chip pancakes.
*** Don’t look at the speedometer when Brigitte is driving. Trust me.

Published in: on 24 July 2013 at 10:47 am  Leave a Comment  
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Show on the Road: Saturday, July 20

Dear Constant Reader,


Only 3 days left! It’s your last chance to vote for The Boston Babydolls for “Best Theatre Group” and B.A.B.E. for “Best Dance Classes“!

(Just joining us? Here’s Friday.)

Saturday began with the search for breakfast. We like diners, but Scratch had found a donut shop that sounded amazing. Then he discovered that we had crossed the IHOP/Waffle House line. Waffle House it would be*! And the donut shop had a location in Johnstown, so we’d save that for the next day.

Fortified with pecan waffles, we tried to visit a vintage clothing shop, but failed. On the road again! The drive to Johnstown was pretty easy. And there was surprisingly little roadkill compared to the last trip through Pennsylvania. At that time (because we were mostly delirious) we had come up with a game that if you saw roadkill, you grabbed someone’s boob. Remember that Betty wasn’t on that trip. Also, she spent most of this trip on her laptop, madly coding the new Great Burlesque Expo website. So, I call out “Roadkill!” and from the back seat I hear a scream as Brigitte gropes an unsuspecting Betty. From then on, if we saw roadkill, Brigitte just screamed.

Arkworks by MinaWe arrived at Art Works, unloaded, set up our dressing room in an enormous room, and figured out how we were going to set some of our bigger numbers on the little stage. On the recommendation of our hosts, we repaired to The Phoenix Tavern for some dinner. There were signs all over the place reminding us that they had chicken balls. This was an intriguing mystery which I will explain later. Suffice it to say, it’s not something you want to eat before a show.

Sadly, I don’t have any pictures of the show to share. A photographer was going to be there, but he was in a massive car accident the day before. He’s okay, miraculously. However, that kept him from making it to the show. And he was the ride for Abbey, our fabulous stage kitten/merch girl from The Rex, so she couldn’t be there either. Much sadness. Fortunately, we got a volunteer stage hand, who did great, especially on no notice.

First up was the Whiskey River Panhandlers, so we got to listen to some awesome music while we got ready. The show went just fine. We didn’t have a Special Guest for this iteration, so Scratch did another magic trick to give everyone time to change and Betty took the SG spot in the Act II opener.

You can’t please all the people all the time. Although the majority of the audience had a really good time, I did overheard Scratch apologizing to an indignant audience member that we hadn’t intended to offend anyone. Uh-oh. What had we done? I feared Brigitte’s Still Life act was to blame.

As it turns out, it was one of the numbers I think is cute and (relatively) wholesome. Our finale involves artist’s canvases with only the blank backs visible for most of the number. When we finally reveal the paintings, the first 2 are the same (and always get a big laugh, but I’m not going to give away the joke here) and the 3rd is different (which gets a different laugh). It happens to be a painting of a Renaissance Madonna and Child**. And that was the problem. Not Brigitte deep-throating a banana. The Blessed Mother at a burlesque show. There’s a first time for everything.

After we packed up and loaded out (and thanks to everyone who helped out!), we went back to the Phoenix Tavern with some folks. All Brigitte could talk about was trying a chicken ball.

It’s shredded chicken and stuffing formed into a ball about the size of my two fists, dipped in batter, and deep fried. It’s served on mashed potatoes and covered in gravy. Brigitte & Scratch did let me have a taste before they devoured it. I’m told the banana split cake was pretty fab too***.

And then bed. Morning was going to come very early…

Tomorrow: home again!

M2

* A new experience for me.
** Chosen because it was visually the best contrast with the other two. No other reason.
*** You know how I feel about bananas.

Published in: on 23 July 2013 at 1:32 pm  Leave a Comment  
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Show on the Road: Friday, July 19

Dear Constant Reader,


We’re down to the final days! It’s your last chance to vote for The Boston Babydolls for “Best Theatre Group” and B.A.B.E. for “Best Dance Classes“!

We were back on the road and back to Pennsylvania. The crew this time was your humble correspondent, Scratch, Brigitte, and Betty. We didn’t have a show on Friday night, so things we a little more relaxed. Nor did we hit the godawful traffic that we did on the way to the Jersey Shore. It was, however, unbelievably hot.

The plan was to stop in Scranton, PA for the night. We’d been hoping to book a show half way between Boston and Johnstown, but the timing didn’t work out, so we had some R&R instead. First stop, The Houdini Museum.

Houdini MuseumI’m still not clear on the Houdini/Scranton connection, but what the heck. It’s one of those tiny, crowded, labor-of-love museums, with some real gems. One room has items arranged roughly chronologically to illustrate Houdini’s career and the other has more eclectic artifacts. There’s a *lot* of ephemera (programs, posters, photos, clippings, &c).

The gems, in my opinion, were the personal items: huge gold-leaf frames containing photograph portraits of Rabbi and Mrs. Weiss (Houdini’s parents) that hung in Houdini’s house, one of Bess Houdini’s costumes (Betty examined it pretty closely and said it was finely appliqued and the beads were larger than she expected), a vest of Houdini’s with a card-raising gimmick sewn into the pocket, but the one that struck me the most was a tallit (a prayer shawl). It’s unknown if it was Houdini’s personal item or if it belonged to his father, but Houdini kept it at his house. I know that’s not very magical, but it’s very human.

Scratch, using his super-restaurant sense, picked Stirna’s (since 1908) for dinner. Everything was awfully good, especially the chive-parmesan salad dressing, and dessert was included. I could only finish one of the lovely little brownies, so I asked the waitress to wrap up the other. She slipped another one in the box, so it wouldn’t be lonely.

Scratch wanted to check out a potential venue (which turned out to have no potential for a burlesque show) and then we kind of lamely thought about going back to the hotel. Then we saw this mysterious light and decided to check it out.

Electric CityIt’s high atop the Electrical Building. The real thing is much less blurry, and blinks. After reading a plaque about why Scranton was The Electric City, we wandered around gawking at the amazing architecture. Downtown Scranton has some incredible buildings; the Courthouse looks like Hogwarts. Brigitte was sure that every elaborately carved stone edifice was the University of Scranton, so we kept walking and looking.

Scranton Girls  Scranton Boys
This is us under the appropriate entrances to a former school (they say “Girls” and “Boys”; I know the pictures aren’t great).

Masonic TempleThen we walked past the Masonic Temple — heck, it was a Masonic Cathedral! It appeared to be the happenin’ place on a Friday night in Scranton. Someone overheard our wonderings about some of the buildings and gave us a little orientation, pointed out where the University of Scranton actually was located, explained that everyone pouring out of the Masonic Temple had just been to hear Lamas chanting, and recommended a nearby place for drinks.

We had seen Posh at The Scranton Club on our walk but figured we were too grubby for what looked like a classy joint. After being assured we were dressed just fine, we decided to go. The cocktails were fabulous — and you know I’m not a big drinker. I had a “Hemingwayish” of white rum, St. Germain, orange bitters, honey, muddled strawberries, and lime juice. Just lovely on a sultry evening.

Scratch had a long chat with the owners about performing there in the future, possibly even sooner rather than later. And then it was time for all little Babydolls (and Betty) to go to bed and be well-rested for the drive to Johnstown on the morrow.

M2

Published in: on 22 July 2013 at 3:33 pm  Leave a Comment  
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Show on the Road: Sunday 6/23

Dear Constant Reader,

Vote for The Boston Babydolls for “Best Theatre Group” and B.A.B.E. for “Best Dance Classes“!

Buy your tickets to The Teaseday Club on July 9th in my name!

When last we left our intrepid burlesquers, we had conquered Asbury Park and then Pittsburgh. Now it’s time for the long trek home.

This missive is going to be long. Appropriate as it was the longest day. Not really, because the previous day had been the Summer Solstice; this just *felt* like the longest day ever.

I have to supply a little backstory here. Part of the reason we played Pittsburgh (other than because Chris really wanted to see us) was that Scratch had to get some stuff out of storage near by. Early Sunday morning we were to pick up a trailer, load it up, get back on the road and have everyone snug in their beds by midnight or so.

Saturday afternoon Scratch got a call from U-Haul in some town in PA we’d never heard of asking why he hadn’t picked up his trailer at noon. Uh-oh. He called the place we were supposed to go, but they didn’t know anything and didn’t have a trailer for us. Apparently U-Haul thinks switching reservations without notifying the customer is okay.

Then there was a fruitless call to the local customer service which ended with the bitchy supervisor refusing to acknowledge that there was a problem and hanging up on us. Fortunately we reached Dee, a saint at the national customer service, who was bound and determined to make this right. The best she could do was a trailer at a place near our hotel (yay!) which didn’t open until noon (boo). Still, something is better than nothing.

Hugger MuggerThe glitch in our plans wasn’t all bad. We slept in a bit Sunday morning and then went to Hugger Mugger Tasty Recipes for cinnamon groovy-cakes with warm hyrup (that’s exactly what the menu says! Why would I make this stuff up?). Then Scratch took us to Living Treasure Animal Park to make up for skipping Reptileland, Penn’s Cave, and all the other attractions we could only stare at longingly from the car window.

Stella goatsIt was a fun little zoo. We fed and pet many baby animals. The picture shows Stella determined to feed a baby goat which kept getting shoved out of the way by its elders. But she stood firm and made sure the little one only got his treat. Everyone was quite charmed by the tiny deer and amazed by the horns on the Watusi cattle. And we got to pet a baby kangaroo.

Brigette boaI tried to get the ostrich to hand over just a couple of feathers, but it was having none of it. There was a gorgeous black leopard (one could see its spots in the sunlight!) that rolled over as though to have its belly rubbed, just like a certain cat we left back in Boston. We just had time for a quick pass in the gift shop before we had to hit the road again. You can see Brigitte trying on a new boa.

cargo carrierWe were delighted that our trailer was actually where it was supposed to be. And then I had to get under the car to unhitch the cargo carrier, so the trailer could go on. Touring is so glamourous! After some tense moments when there were issues with the hitching, we were good to go! Off to the storage unit, where loading up was fast and easy, thanks to Stella & Brigitte who worked hard despite having no connection to the stuff in storage. The GPS said we’d be back in Boston just before midnight.

Midnight. Ha ha.

It was a long, long drive. We tried to keep the driver awake and each other entertained. A sampling of the frequently heard in the Babydoll-mobile:

“Hey, more roadkill!”
“Look at all the fucks I do not give.”
“BBBBOOOOOBBBBB!” “EEEEEDDDDDDD!“
“I’m so happy I’m shooting my dick off.”
(sung)”We are never, ever, ever getting out of Pennsylvania.”
“SCOTCH!!”
“We are totally trending right now.”
“Google, you two-faced whore!”
“#rimshot”
“Al-bert!”

Late in the evening, still in PA (as we were for most of the trip), seeking dinner, we ended up in a biker bar. We feared this was going to be a big mistake, but the bartender was very welcoming, the kitchen was open, and the wings were quite good.

Under the super-moon we drove and drove.

At some godawful hour we finally got to the Pike, and even more godawful hours later everyone was home. I tumbled into bed at 4:30am. The drive was hellish, it was epic, but it was also fun. Stella & Brigitte are great traveling companions and I would totally do it again. And will — we’re playing Johnstown, PA in July and the Ohio Burlesque Festival in August.

M2

Published in: on 1 July 2013 at 9:56 am  Leave a Comment  
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Show on the Road: Saturday 6/22

Dear Constant Reader,

Vote for The Boston Babydolls for “Best Theatre Group” and B.A.B.E. for “Best Dance Classes“!

Buy your tickets to The Teaseday Club on July 9th in my name!

Taylor Ham Sandwich 2013-06-22Saturday morning, we eagerly went to The Blue Swan for a real NJ diner breakfast. Although I live in Boston and was raised in CT, my family hails from New Jersey. There’s one treat that I only have when I’m in Jersey (which as far as I can tell exists nowhere else) — Taylor ham. I know the classic is Taylor ham on a hard roll with egg & cheese, but I don’t like my meat product adulterated.

The drive to Pittsburgh was most uneventful, except for a lot of whimpering (mostly from Stella) as we passed roadside attractions that we had no time to visit. We were 5 minutes from the venue, according to the GPS, when traffic… just… stopped. Kenny Chesney was to blame, we later learned. Still, we only made it to the lovely Rex Theatre about 20 minutes behind schedule.

Rex
The theatre was great! Big stage! Huge dressing room! Full bar! Wonderful staff!

We met our Special Guest, Smokin’ McQueen, and our wonderful stage kittens, Lita D’Vargas and Abbey B., then set things up, rehearsed a bit, met up with Chris R. (whom we met via The Twitterwife), and headed out to dinner. We went to Cambod-Ican Kitchen (noteworthy for the world’s most secure bathroom key). It wasn’t so much Cambodian as I’ve had it before, but the chicken and vegetable stir-fry was just the perfect pre-show meal.

The show went wonderfully. There were several photographers there, so expect to see more pictures! (Teaser photo by Colin Sheehy.) The audience was fantastic, enthusiastic, and begged us to return. And they bought a ton of merch. Abbey, who was acting as Merch Girl as well as Stage Kitten, was amazing! She refolded all the t-shirts, did an inventory count, and kept meticulous notes.

Here’s a little behind the scenes tidbit: the big framed canvas is assembled with a lot of nuts & bolts of various sizes and we discovered that they kept vibrating apart in transit, making us scramble to find all the %&$*# washers. After I finished my fan dance/silhouette act (hence the framed canvas…), I picked up my fans in the blackout and the nut popped off the left-hand one, spraying washers everywhere in the darkness. I did manage to get it into some semblance of fan shape to screen me on my walk back to the dressing room. Thank goodness it happened at the *end* of the number. But lesson learned to check *all* bolts.

After the show we had many hands helping us pack up all our stuff so that it went super-fast. When we were finished loading stuff onto the car, lovely Lita, in her short leopard print dress & heels, tied a chiffon scarf over her hair, donned a pair of sunglasses and hopped on the back of a motorcycle. It was one of the most marvelous things ever. I wish I had a picture.

After a show, we like to have a celebrational libation or two. We hoped to find a quiet cocktail lounge to chat with Chris and her friend Steve, but such things do not exist where we were (plenty of loud bars, yes). Steve pointed out that we were mere minutes from his house and there he had mead and a nice backyard. After a quick stop at Primanti Bros. so Stella could satisfy a life-long desire, we were settled into a charming courtyard with our sandwiches and home-made lingonberry mead.

After too short a time, we had to say our goodbyes, as we had another hour to drive before we slept. We will definitely be returning to Pittsburgh!

Coming soon: Sunday and the longest day ever.

M2

Published in: on 27 June 2013 at 11:42 am  Leave a Comment  
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Show on the Road: Friday 6/21

Dear Constant Reader,

First, a few reminders:

Vote for The Boston Babydolls for “Best Theatre Group” and B.A.B.E. for “Best Dance Classes“!

Buy your tickets to The Teaseday Club on July 9th in my name!

babydollmobileBright and early Friday morning Brigitte, Stella, Scratch & I loaded up the trusty Babydoll-mobile with our trunks of costumes and props and headed south to Asbury Park, NJ for the premier of The Fine Art of Burlesque at Asbury Lanes. Part of loading up involved me sliding under the car to secure the cargo carrier. This amused Brigitte greatly: “Oh, the glamourous life!” she said “I suspect there’s a blog post in the future.” And then she regretted not taking a picture.

The plan was that we’d get to the venue around 3pm, get set up, meet our Special Guest and stage kittens, rehearse a little, have a meal, explore the beach a little. Our show wasn’t starting until 10pm.

Mann macht, Gott lacht. Just around Rye, NY we hit traffic. Oh such traffic. We crawled all the of the way to Asbury Park, subsisting on naught but carrot sticks. Despite the frustrating drive, everyone remained upbeat right up till the end when Stella couldn’t take it any more and suddenly bellowed “SCOTCH!”. I had visions of a St. Bernard with the little cask under its chin coming to save her.

Frame scrim 2013-06-22We got to the venue just before 6pm and scrambled to set up our big setpiece — a framed canvas (Fine Art, get it). I was a little nervous because I made the “canvas” and the first try was too short, despite my careful measuring. I had made a new one just the night before, so it was untested. Fortunately, it was perfect. We were done before the Dr. Sketchy’s started, but just barely.

I have to praise the hospitality at the Asbury Lanes. They comped our dinner, which I hadn’t expected. Everyone was craving cheeseburgers and beer and they provided magnificently.

For this tour we’re using what we think of as “The Burlesque-A-Pades Model”: 3 dancers and Scratch plus a local Special Guest, and local stage kittens. The logistic of dealing with the entire troupe’s schedule (plus cast members and crew) could make one crazy, as happened last year. So, the show is different on each leg of the tour!

Our special guest for the show was Hayley Jane! She was a dream to work with! So professional, talented, and nice. We have an act in which the special guest has a cameo. It’s mostly a matter of posing and looking pretty as an artists model, but there are 2 little bits of choreography. We ran through it with her and she picked it up quickly. On stage, she totally nailed it. I was sad I couldn’t manage to see her act — that picture doesn’t do her stunning costume justice.

The show itself went well and seemed to be received well. After a post-show libation at the bar, we broke everything down, packed up, and loaded up the car. Fortunately the staff asked if we wanted one last check of the dressing room before they locked up, because we hadn’t finished carrying out all the trunks yet. It would have been quite problematic to have left our props in NJ. After all that time on the road, We were so glad our hotel was only a short drive away.

And that was the first day.

M2

Published in: on 25 June 2013 at 3:02 pm  Leave a Comment  
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Home Again

Dear Constant Reader,

We have return from our triumphant tour of the South (NJ & PA are south of Boston…). I have so much to tell you, but I think it shall wait. 2 and a half hours of sleep do not make for fine prose.

M2

Published in: on 24 June 2013 at 10:38 am  Leave a Comment  
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Martha’s Vineyard

Dear Constant Reader,

On Wednesday we performed at the Sand Bar in Oak Bluffs as part of their Full Moon party. We were only on the Vineyard for about 18 hours, but they were terrific ones.

We arrived by ferry in the late afternoon and unloaded our trunk of costumes at the venue — fortunately very close to the ferry dock, because of the aforementioned trunk of costumes. Figured out where we were going to perform (indoors or out) over a delicious dinner. They’re supposed to have the best sushi on the Vineyard. Betty & Devora thought it was rather amazing. Scratch and I were more traditional with a lobster roll and crab cakes, respectively.

hotelThen went to the hotel to rest before the show. Our contact at Red Bull had booked us into the Wesley Hotel. I had seen the building from the ferry and fantasized that it was our hotel, but knew we couldn’t get that lucky. But no, we did. I should have known from the sign that I was expected to stay there. sign

The show was what I think of as a typical bar show: less than optimal performance space with less than optimal lighting, using the manager’s office as a dressing room, &c. But we’re used to that and made the best of what we had.

Our first set was classic burlesque. Devora danced to “Blue Prelude” with her new blue boa (which she named Grover), Betty performed to “Night Train”, her standard, and I did a fan dance to “Harlem Nocturne”, my standard.

Then we changed both costumes and mood for the second set, a sampling from The Wrathskellar. I started with Mackie Messer. Devora and Scratch did Creepy Doll, and Betty performed her Knife Dance.

A photographer from a local magazine was snapping away and said it was the best show he’d seen. The manager seemed pleased, so maybe the bar will book us again. We’d love to come back.

cottageWe were staying on the edge of the Campground and in the morning I strolled around taking pictures of the fabulously painted gingerbread cottages. Each one was wonderful — the use of color, ornate woodwork trim, architectural details. I was inspired to embellish Stately Babydoll Manor just a little bit more. While not of the same vintage as these, it’s still technically a Victorian house.

After a nice breakfast, we had just enough time for a ride on Flying Horses Carousel, the oldest carousel in America. It’s quite beautiful and relatively recently restored. The horses don’t go up and down, but you do get to try for the brass ring! I was so excited since I thought there were no carousels left with rings.

Every time you go around, you can try for a ring, which are just ordinary metal, held in a wooden arm. There’s one arm for the outside horses and one for the inside horses. There’s a spike sticking up out of the horse’s head on which to stack them. During the last round, they announce that the brass ring is in the mix. And I got it!

We didn’t have time for my free ride, but that was okay. Really, just getting the ring was a huge thrill and the ride would have been a little anticlimactic. I bought a souvenir brass ring instead. It makes me smile every time I see it.

On my way out, one of the carousel attendants politely asked if I was a burlesque performer. He’d seen me, not at the Sand Bar the night before, but at The Devil’s Carnival in Boston. Fame!

Another smooth and quick ferry ride back and our whirlwind trip was over.

Published in: on 2 August 2012 at 5:23 pm  Leave a Comment  
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Touring: Portland

Dear Constant Reader,

This past weekend we took A (Re)Movable Feast to Portland, Maine (my apologies to any West Coasters who thought we were coming their way).

The is our second time at Lucid Stage, so we had a good idea what to expect and load-in and set-up was relatively painless. There was still some scrambling, like when we discovered the theatre had no backdrop, but that sort of thing is to be expected and was handled.

Saturday, after a trip to the Goodwill to replace a missing costume item (and a few other things got bought too), we went to Duckfat for lunch. Their specialty is french fries cooked in duck fat and there’s a lot of other ducky goodness on the menu. We ended up ordering a bunch of stuff and sharing it amongst the 5 of us. Everything was fantastic. We had green garlic soup with fava beans, a roasted beet salad with duck confit, toast with duck liver and barely cooked egg (even I had this and I hate both liver and eggs), a charcuterie platter, and poutine. Scratch tried the sour cherry, marscapone, and vanilla gelatto milkshake, of which he generously allowed us all to have a sip. For dessert there were beignets and churros. I would go here again, no question.

Since it was right around the corner, we all met up at the Shipyard Brewery for a tour and tasting. This was basically wasted on me although everyone else had a great time. They were bottling Pumpkinhead Ale, which just taunted everyone since it won’t be available for months.

Then off to the International Cryptozoological Museum. It was exactly as expected — quirky, fun, educational, and occasionally stretching the point. We were amused to see this banner that Dr. Wilson had painted.

Around the corner was The Green Hand and I can never resist a bookstore. I got out lightly with just a 1956 Chinese cookbook by “The Benedictine Sisters of Peking”. Scratch picked up a number of midcentury cooking pamphlets (my favorite: “The Exciting World of Rice Dishes”) and the Trader Vic’s bartender’s guide.

The Saturday show had a fantastic audience, cheering, clapping along with the music. In fact, while we were setting up for the curtain call, they were yelling “Encore!” We’ve never had *that* happen before.

Scratch really wanted to go to J’s Oysters, having fond memories of our meal here with Angie Pontani and Kitten de Ville, but alas, it was not to be. Post-show they had stopped serving and Sunday morning, they didn’t open until noon. Instead, we had breakfast at Bintliff’s American Cafe. Everything was so good. No wonder they have been the Phoenix winner for best brunch 8 years in a row. My corned beef hash was a giant pile of shredded corned beef and chunks of potato. I took half of it home. Scratch’s bagel did not come with thin slices of lox, but a slab of house-smoked salmon.

Another good time on the summer tour.

Published in: on 13 July 2012 at 10:00 am  Leave a Comment  
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Touring: Salem

Dear Constant Reader,

This past weekend we were in Salem, MA at the Griffen Theatre. Most of the time it’s “The Witch’s Cottage”, but they took down (most of) the spooky stuff for our audience. We could still see the enormous bat attached to the ceiling above the stage.

On Saturday afternoon, along with friends from The Betsi Feathers, we made an appearance at A Beautiful Corset as living mannequins in the shop windows. I wore this corset. I’m grateful it wasn’t *quite* my size or I think I would have had to buy it right then and there.

Just as Ashley (our marketing gal) said it was time to get unlaced and back to the theatre, the clouds turned black and the skies opened up! The rain was torrential and the streets were awash. How were we going to get back to the theatre without assuming the appearance of drowned rats?

Scratch to the rescue! He pulled up his hard-working SUV as close to the store as possible (it was in a pedestrian square) and the first batch of dancers ran for it. He ferried us back to the theatre and went back for the rest. We ended up only a little damp.

Every show on this tour has been different so far, since not everyone has been available for every show. Betty Blaize was a guest at a dance conference this weekend, so her two numbers were out. One of our backup dancers was also out of town, so the two numbers she appeared in also had to be cut.

We added a new group number and Evie and Stella each had a new solo. But still, after Friday night, we felt the show seemed short. That’s when Stella said “I can learn Dagny’s part in Evie’s act.” So, instead of going out for drinks after the show, Evie taught Stella the choreography. Then Evie, Stella, and Gigi rehearsed it over and over again until Scratch was satisfied that it was up to our standards. Stella Diamond is one fast learner and great sport!

Now we have 2 weeks off and then we’re of to Portland, ME. Just because we’re not on the road, it’s not that we’re not busy! This Sunday I’ll be hosting Naked Girls Reading: Memory Lane with Jena Kitten, Lady Grey, and Fonda Feeling. We’ll be reading our favorite books from our childhood and there will be an audience participation “Choose Your Own Adventure” reading! Next Saturday, Scratch is presenting Mod Carousel’s “Wham! Bam! KaBOOM!”. Come see these Seattle’s super-sexy BOYlesque superheroes in the only Boston appearance of their transatlantic tour!

And lastly The Boston Academy of Burlesque Education has applied for a small business grant, but to even be considered, we need 250 votes! I feel like I’m always asking you all to vote for us, but I’ll swallow my pride again. You can use Facebook to log in, then search for businesses in Allston, MA. There’s just 5 days left and you only have to vote once.

Published in: on 25 June 2012 at 3:06 pm  Leave a Comment  
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