Vintage

Big exciting news for me this week: I've been invited to perform at Tease-O-Rama in San Francisco! It's quite an honour being that they bill the festival as "the Best of the Best in New Burlesque!"

We will have quite a number of Vancouver performers represented in the festival. Also from Vancouver will be April O'Peel, Melody Mangler, Madame Mae I, Lola Frost, and Burgundy Brixx!

Tease-O-Rama was one of the first burlesque festivals around. It started in 2001 in New Orleans, and even back then it drew thousands of people to witness what was the as-yet-unpublicized phenomenon of modern burlesque. In 2002, they moved the festival to the gorgeous Bimbo's 365 Club in San Francisco. With its 1940's-style supper club décor, it's the perfect venue for burlesque.

The original 365 Club opened in 1931, with San Fran still weary from the Great Depression. The club became a favourite hang-out for celebrities from across America. The club moved to its current location in 1951. Here's how it was described back then:

"Jugglers, dance teams, stand-up comics, crooners, chantootsies, Stage Door Johns, a proper band in proper uniforms… Multi-course dinners, Red Sparkling Burgundy in the silver bucket, and a nice-bucketed lady in a silver fox stole topped by a gardenia bought by a ‘pro’ in the men’s room." -- Herb Caen

I can't wait to check out San Francisco and to perform in this incredible festival, and in this historic venue!

The next Beatles Burlesque show will be at the historic Columbia Theatre on March 24th! Tickets are available from Brown Paper Tickets.

Formerly known as the Burr Theatre, the 1927 theatre is valued as one of the only surviving atmospheric theatres in B.C. and one of only a few remaining in Canada. The inside has been completely restored and it's beautiful!

The theatre is just a block from the Columbia SkyTrain station, so it's easy to get to even if you don't live in New West.

Last night I had the pleasure to model for Dr. Sketchy's Anti Art School. If you're not familiar with this, it's quite a phenomenon now. There are currently Dr. Sketchy's in over 100 cities around the world!

The first Dr. Sketchy was started in 2005 by an art-school drop out at a dive-bar in Brooklyn. Here is how its creator describes it:

Dr. Sketchy's Anti-Art school is the world's premier alt.drawing movement. Artists draw glamorous underground performers in an atmosphere of boozy conviviality.

I guess that means that I'm a "glamorous underground performer!"

Dr. Sketchy's Anti Art School is what happens when a simple question is asked: Why can't figure drawing be sexy? The models for Dr. Sketchy Vancouver are primarily burlesque performers. Part art class and part cabaret, it's three hours of drinking, drawing, and decadence.

Dandy of the Underworld

Shary Contrary of Dr. Sketchy Vancouver wanted to do a tribute to Sebastian Horsley for her next event, and when she thought about which man in Vancouver might be able to pull it off, she thought of me. I am not much like Horsley, but I certainly do have the wardrobe!

Horsley was an eccentric artist and a self-professed dandy. "Clothes are not clothes. You're wearing your thoughts, your attitudes to life." He never travelled without his top hat. He once said, either "you conceal who you are and you hope to be accepted, or you reveal who you are and you risk rejection. I'm in the second category."

He describes Dandyism as "a form of self-worship which dispenses with the need to find happiness from others, especially women." ....

It was four years ago today that I first stepped onto stage in a burlesque show. The first show I performed in I co-produced with Pink Flamingo Burlesque and Malaika Millions. I was the bandleader and guitar player. And yes, I took my clothes off on stage. I even did a shoulder-stand in my boxers while playing "Harlem Nocturne" on the guitar, upside-down!

These four years seemed to have passed quickly, and yet that first show feels so long ago. Since then I have played almost every role a person can in this business. I have been a producer, musician, solo boylesque performer, group dancer, composer, DJ, festival board member, lighting designer, and recently stage kitty.

I love burlesque and it's hard for me to imagine my life without it. But I know that day could come.

A guest in this community

I attended BurlyCon for the first time this year. I learned a great deal and also heard many things that got me thinking about burlesque and my place in it. In a panel discussion, Waxy Moon (a man) said something that pricked up my ears. Appreciating the joy he feels to have burlesque in his life, Waxy Moon gave a heartfelt thank-you to the burlesque community and said, "I feel so grateful to be a guest in this community of women."

When I heard that sentence my heart sank and for the rest of the day I couldn't help from asking myself this question over and over again: "Am I just a guest in this community?"

The remains of that day at BurlyCon were all the more interesting to me. As I walked the hotel halls, attended the seminars, and conversed at the parties, I noticed more than ever before that I was part of a minority. I was one of only a couple men in every class I attended. I don't know the numbers, but I would guess that BurlyCon was attended by about 95% women.

It's not surprising. But having worked in burlesque for four years now, I forgot that I am a minority in this business. I had become so accustomed to the company of women, and I have gratefully become so accepted by the women I work with, that I forget I am different. . . .