Jo Weldon's New York School of Burlesque

Above: Michelle Baldwin at the New York Burlesque Festival. Photo by me. "For the first time since the 1930's a theatre is being built specifically to house burlesque, headed up by Reyna Von Vett of last fall's acclaimed Leadville or Bust-- a playful romp through 1880's burlesque (Reyna played Tanya for 2 years in the Las Vegas company of Mamma Mia!) and Michelle Baldwin, a.k.a. Vivienne VaVoom, the Mother of Neo-Burlesque in Denver and creator of one of the first neo-burlesque troupes in the U.S., Burlesque As It Was. Converting the space recently known as the Black Box Cabaret in the Denver Civic Theatre ( 721 Santa Fe Dr. , Denver ), Von Vett and Baldwin aim to bring burlesque back while playing homage to the great tradition of burlesque that began in the late 1800's and all but disappeared in the 1960's." Burlesque Theatre Opens 3/13 At The Denver Civic Theater Michelle Baldwin is the author of Burlesque and the New Bump N Grind," which is the ...

Click here to purchase. I love love the company I worked with, World Dance New York. I also love that they are primarily a bellydance company, because there's some historical synchronicity: the company that released Ann Corio's "How to Strip for Your Husband" was also produced bellydance music, and at one point released Ann's album as part of a set with a bellydance how-to album. The music on "How to Strip..." was mostly by Sonny Lester and is a large portion of the music on the ubiquitous "Striptease Classics." The music on my DVD is by Ronnie Magri . I'll be posting my interview with him shortly. Ronnie is AMAZING!

Check out Lili’s Burlesque Revue (one of my fave faves) on the Travel Channel's "Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern." We can’t be sure how many of our little vignettes made it into the show, but we hope you’ll get to see Nadine Dubois, Sweetpea, Ophelia Flame, and Gina Louise. We had a great time shooting it, and the show itself is always… well, bizarre! Episode: "SEXY FOOD" Tuesday, Feb 10 & Saturday, Feb 14 9pm Central Travel Channel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRHFIVJtqpc I love the shoe.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPZwNZGKDkM Sent to me by Lady Monster.

Lux Interior, frontman of the Cramps, passed away yesterday. The Cramps, with their visual mashup of pinup, fetish, and horror, their dirty and incredibly danceable retro/neo/psychobilly music, their unapologetic admiration of perversion and outsiders, and the outrageous stage presences of Lux and his wife, band guitarist Poison Ivy, represent everything that makes burlesque so loveable when it is more than merely glamourous. They have been a significant influence on and fans of burlesque from way back, and Poison Ivy has always represented the pinup as an active and dangerous force of nature in a way that many burlesque performers have emulated, some without even realizing it. I actually feel totally inadequate to describe the Cramps and what they have meant to me over the years, but I'd love comments from Cramps fans and friends. I'd especially love to hear from burlesque performers about numbers they do to Cramps music. You tell me yours, I'll tell you mine--I'm...

The extremely charming Larry Hoff hosted his morning show at the Slipper Room this morning, and Gal Friday and I were in there in full drag at 7 am. See the video here: WPIX News Blog