Jo Weldon's New York School of Burlesque

September 29-October 2 The New York Burlesque Festival It was the first burlesque festival of its kind in the world, and people come from all over the world to be in it! Thursday September 29th THE TEASER PARTY Hosted By: The World Famous *BOB* The Bell House 149 7th Street (between 2nd & 3rd), Brooklyn thebellhouseny.com Doors 7:00pm | Show 8:00pm $10 advance, $15 at the door Friday September 30th THE PREMIERE PARTY Hosted By: Scotty the Blue Bunny Brooklyn Bowl 61 Wythe Ave, Brooklyn brooklynbowl.com Doors 8:00 pm | Show 9:00pm $10 at the door Saturday October 1st THE SATURDAY SPECTACULAR Hosted By: Murray Hill BB King's 237 West 42nd Street, Manhatten www.bbkingblues.com Doors 6:30 pm | Show 7:30 pm $25 advanced, $30 at the door $65 VIP advanced SATURDAY NIGHT OFFICIAL NYBF AFTER PARTY Featuring DJ Bill Coleman, GOGOs, & More! 11pm - 1am @ Lucille's Bar (Next door to BB King's and free for all Saturday ticket...

Angie Pontani and Murray Hill tied to win the Golden Pastie for Biggest Media Whore, and from the coverage I'm posting you may get the sense that the GP was well-deserved! Here's a link to coverage at Cultural Capitol by JD Oxblood: The first installment of JD's four-part series I realize I've never posted this much about any one thing before, but I've never had this much info sent to me before. I do rely somewhat on suggestions. I can't post everything people send me--this isn't a blog where I want a bunch of show announcements, or just another promo opportunity for press releases not at ALL--but if you have something unique that you're not posting everywhere else, or something that you really think might rock my personal world (this is my blog, not a public service), let me know!! rocknycity@aol.com Posted by Jo Weldon, Headmistress of The New York School of Burlesque , for burlesquedaily.blogspot.com .

There's a great video of the fest on time.com: Burlesque Festival Vid You get an amazing sense of all the different styles and some great commentary from Angie. Some of my pix from the Fest I had a really emotional performance that night--I was doing my tribute to Sherry. Posted by Jo Weldon, Headmistress of The New York School of Burlesque , for burlesquedaily.blogspot.com .

Backstage at Le Poisson Rouge. Photo by Darlinda Just Darlinda. Posted by Jo Weldon, Headmistress of The New York School of Burlesque , for burlesquedaily.blogspot.com .

The audience at Corio (they're focused on World Famous *BOB*) Allen Lee in the audience at the Saturday Spectacular Lola Rock N Rolla with Dirty at the Saturday Spectacular Trixie Little onstage during the Finale at the Saturday Spectacular Paparazzi at the red carpet at SOBs Dirty Martini at The Golden Pasties Posted by Jo Weldon, Headmistress of The New York School of Burlesque , for burlesquedaily.blogspot.com .

A photo essay on the NYBF on Metro Mix Thursday, September 18th is the night to mix, mingle and get to know the cast, crew, press and VIPs of the Festival at the exclusive This is Burlesque Teaser Party at Corio in Soho. Hosted by NYC Superstar, The World Famous *BOB* with performances from Pepper Potemkin (Sweden) Pandora (NYC), Pookie Patootie (NYC) & many more. Friday, September 19th, step back in time to Brooklyn’s newest venue, The Bell House. A space that embodies the excitement of a Prohibition-esque extravaganza, it is the perfect start of our show stopping NYBF Premiere Party. The ubiquitous and scandalous Scotty the Blue Bunny is back from San Francisco to host this party, which features burlesque beauties; go-go dancers and side show acts from around the world. Wet your whistle for burlesque at this notoriously wild party that is sure to have extra shenanigans, with performances from over 25 bombshells, including Wild Card Kitty (Scotland), Miss Indigo Blue (Seatt...

Jen in the middle. Image from Go Magazine's "100 Women We Love." With the New York Burlesque Festival almost upon us, this seemed like a great time to nab a quickie interview with Producer/Entrepreneur/All-Around-Hottie, Jen Gapay! Jen is the owner of Thirsty Girl Productions, which produces the NYBF with the Pontani Sisters, and I'm happy to have a chance to tip my pastie to one of the most charming and hard-working producers in the scene. What would we do without her? How did you become involved with producing? I was born in Sacramento California, hopped around on the East Coast (NY, Virginia & Maryland) until I was 10. Then we moved to Montana where I spent my “formative years” growing up in Big Fork. I went to college in Missoula Montana and it was there where I started putting on shows. The first show I ever organized was a benefit for a non-profit that I was working for, which involved booking a couple bands and selling beers in a union hall. S...

Every year at The Burlesque Hall of Fame Striptease Reunion , several performers bring numbers constructed to tribute their favorite superstars of classic burlesque. Sometimes they are recreations, sometimes they are simply inspired by and include elements of movement, costuming, and/or lore associated with those performers. This year I'm tributing Sherry Britton, for which I have the honor of having had her guidance and suggestions before she passed away. As the BHOF Weekend nears (or I should say, zooms in, as I'm feeling a bit behind in my preparations!), I want to make note of some of the loveliest tributes I've seen, so I've asked the performers who did them to make some comments on the experiences they had with their numbers. This is the first of two or three posts I'll make about tribute numbers. Above: BOB and Ruby at the New York Burlesque Festival. Photo by Kitty Kowalski. Video of an Interview with Liz Renay "Last year for the NYBF 2007 I de...

At the end of the Festival, all the performers were called onstage for a curtain call. I took my camera with me. Diamondback Annie in the midst of the crowd of performers onstage. The mostly unsuspecting audience. The photographers when my name is called. Me onstage. Photo by Little Brooklyn. NYBF Website