Jo Weldon's New York School of Burlesque

Here's a clip someone posted of the show. Plus, an article about a workshop I taught at Swarthmore: Swatties Learn to Shimmy at Burlesque Workshop I am THE LUCKIEST GIRL IN THE WORLD.

Many of my friends and I were interviewed for a piece scheduled to run on tomorrow's CBS Sunday Morning . I'm told they taped about 80 hours for a 5-10 minute segment, so there's no telling what will make it in, but the CBS people I encountered during the interviews were so awesome that I feel confident it'll be a great piece whatever they feature. Above: The camera crew with Julie during our benefit for the Burlesque Hall of Fame . CBS Sunday Morning Showtimes by Area

You might have to be a ridiculous burlesque fanatic to enjoy this post, but here goes. I recently got this copy of Fortune Magazine from February, 1935, that features an article called "The Business of Burlesque." Sadly, the first half of the article is missing from the magazine, and I have no idea who the author is, but the writing is actually quite tangy and good, so I suspect it might have been Somebody. If you're obsessed like me, you'll be able to tolerate my terrible scans enough to click on these images to read some of this fantastic stuff. I never get tired of reading old stuff where the demise of burlesque is direly predicted, or looked back upon--I think the death of burlesque has been predicted every year since anybody ever reviewed it. And I suspect also the revival of burlesque was predicted or described shortly thereafter, burlesque being so frequently brought back. If you know anything about this article, please contact me! And if you ever wan...

Loving the Bouffant It's not just me--check out this fabulous bouff! Edited April 26 to add youtube footage that doesn't automatically start when the page loads.

I saw this when I was a kid and even though I was pretty repelled by Dustin Hoffman's character (I never liked him at any point in the movie) and felt sorry for both the mother and the daughter in the film, I have to admit the stripper left more of an impression on me than anything else about The Graduate. I am a very single-minded girl. Brought to my attention in the Burlesque Atlanta Blog .

Above: Selene Luna. Photo by Peter Palladino. “Selene Luna lives in a building once inhabited by Lucille Ball, and whatever magic Ball left in the walls seems to have rubbed off. Luna radiates old Hollywood glamour, and it's not just the kitten heels or the torpedo bra. She's got a quirky humor reminiscent of the red-haired comedian, made naughty by a touch of Bettie Page sensuality and the girlish charm of Betty Boop. It's that kind of presence that has made Luna one of the most recognizable faces in the city's burlesque-revival scene”. PANDORA YOUNG LA WEEKLY, LA PEOPLE 2007 Selene is pretty irresistible, I must say. I’ve known her for years, but I really got to know her while performing with her in Margaret Cho’s Sensuous Woman show, and she has as much charisma and charm backstage as she does onstage. Besides being one of my favorite performers and an intensely glamourous lady and an all-around lovely person, she makes me pee laughing. Above: Sel...

New Yorkers often bring their most inventive A-Games to Coney Island's Burlesque at the Beach , a series which has been taking place at Sideshows at the Seashore for nearly fifteen years. A theme show at Coney Island is a whole other kind of magical world. Bambi the Mermaid , for many years the co-producer of the BOTB series, has created some outrageous theme shows there, and one of my favorites so far was the Blacklight Spectacular. She begins planning some of her theme shows years in advance, and they're just not like anything else. All photos courtesy Norman Blake. Bambi Represents the Blacklight The Great Fredini , Co-Producer of BOTB. Amber Ray , Professional Sensationalist. Me , pulling out an old strip joint number for the occasion. Julie Atlas Muz goes radioactive. Velocity Chyalld does Badass Blacklight Burlesque. Also amazing was Amber Ray's second number featuring her with Muffinhead , in which she came out covered with balloons filled with n...

Click and enjoy the glamour! Presented by It's a Chick Films .

Burlesque Legend Sherry Britton Dies Above: Sherry and me at the National Arts Club, with one of her favorite pictures on the wall behind us. She loved socializing with her friends and that was a very appropriate picture to be her fave. I know I'm not the only one who's going to miss her like crazy. Sherry's obituary in The NY Times: Sherry Britton, 89, a Star of the Burlesque Stage, Dies

Sherry has been a fine, fine friend to me over the past several years, and she has been coaching me on working on a tribute number to her for the past few months. I just found out that she passed yesterday and I want to acknowledge her charm and magic, and send good thoughts to everyone who adored her as I did (and still do).

Sorry about the uncropped scans, my Photoshop recently stopped functioning. You'll definitely have to click to view the larger version to be able to read it: Here's a fab story--when I first moved permanently to New York in the late 1990s, I was writing for a fetish magazine. Basically, the entire magazine was written and photographed by my friends Kate and Misa , and me . I wanted to write about some of the amazing paper memorabilia I was seeing around New York related to pulp and vintage men's magazines; the dumb (one day he asked me what my alter ego's name would be and I said, "Dick Van Dyke," and he didn't get it, sitting there surrounded by strap-on experts) publisher at the fetish magazine wasn't interested. I contacted Tease! , a magazine I greatly admired, asking if they needed any writers or photographers in the city. My call was returned by Eve Wynn, who is no other than Torchy Taboo, with whom I had gone to film classes in college...