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Tuesday Tease: Hollywood Burlesque Festival

Hollywood_Burlesque_Fest_banner2_9701This Friday, the inaugural Hollywood Burlesque Festival kicks off in Los Angeles and we are especially excited for this one as it’s produced by longtime Brown Paper Tickets supporter and producer/hostess of Monday Night Tease, LA’s longest running weekly burlesque show, Lili VonSchtupp. Lili is the perfect example of what is possible if you are passionate and devoted to your art form. To host a weekly show that packs ’em in week in and week out is no small feat and burlesque producers could learn a lot from Lili. She’s definitely got the skills to pay the bills!

Lili’s taking her incredible production skills to the next level this weekend as she hosts the first ever burlesque festival in Los Angeles. She’s got four days of shows, classes, tours, movies and parties planned and I’m especially excited because I get to go down there and be a part of all the fun. If you’ve ever wanted to meet me or know more about Brown Paper Tickets, you can look for us in vending where we’ll have a table set up all weekend or come to the Three Clubs on Sunday, December 8 from 6:30pm to 8pm, where we’ll be hosting a meet and greet with anyone that’s curious about us, what we do and how we can help you out with your burlesque show, festival or classes. If you’re going to be in LA this weekend, please find me and say hi.

I got a chance to catch up with Lili and pick her brain about the LA burlesque scene, her personal burlesque history and the festival. She even offers some valuable advice to producers out there that are thinking of starting up their own festival.

So, without further ado, I give you, the one and only Lili VonSchtupp!
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Tuesday Tease: Barbarellesque Blasts Off in Baltimore This Sunday!

289494-250Well, last weekend was Burlycon here in Seattle and over 600 members of the “glitterati” descended upon our fair city for four days of classes, parties and networking. We were honored to host Saturday night’s hospitality suite and got a chance to chat with some old friends and meet some new friends. Unfortunately, we quickly ran out of food given the increased number of attendees but were able to send everyone off with the great earrings that we were giving away. Would love to see some shots of folks sporting the earrings. Feel free to share them on our Facebook page!

Me and fellow BPTer Michelle also taught a class on effectively ticketing a burlesque event and had a great group of fully engaged producers that not only seemed to learn a lot from the class but also brought a lot of great advice themselves. There seemed to be more of a focus on producers this year at Burlycon, which is great, as these are the folks that are going to bring the art form to new audiences through effective marketing and shows that push boundaries and expand the definition of what burlesque is.

All in all, it was a great weekend. There seemed to be a larger contingent of burlesque performers and producers from outside the Pacific Northwest than last year and one such performer/producer was Kay Sera from Baltimore-based Compound Productions 50/50.

They are producing a tribute to Barbarella, the 1968 sexy, sci-fi Jane Fonda romp, with Barbarellesque: An Ecdysiast Theatrical Experience this Sunday, November 17 at The Windup Space in Baltimore. We highly recommend that you check it out. The producers at Compound Productions 50/50 promise that this is “More than a themed show and beyond nerdlesque, this fully scripted performance follows the film’s delightfully cheesy plot and dialogue and adds even more sexy silliness with striptease and song!”

Check out the original trailer and you can already see that this movie was bound to get the burlesque treatment eventually. I’m just shocked that it hasn’t happened until now.


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Tuesday Tease: The Great Burlesque Exposition

picBurlesqueExpo130329BShanghaiPearl_0493w1050f-540x767This past weekend, our East Coast Ambassador A.J. Andrews and I had the honor of attending the Great Burlesque Exposition in Boston. This incredible showcase of burlesque talent was celebrating its 7th year of existence and both A.J. and I were bowled over by the amount of talent that was presented to us over the course of this past Easter weekend.

This week on the Tuesday Tease, I’ll give you a breakdown of, what proved to be, an incredible weekend featuring burlesque royalty and newcomers alike. I personally left Boston feeling inspired and excited for the future of burlesque and I have to give a big shout-out to Scratch and Miss Mina, the Exposition’s founders, for putting on an amazing festival.

So, without further ado, here’s what went down:

Friday Night:

Friday night’s kick-off show, The Rhinestone Revue featured a wide spectrum of burlesque talent: from classic burlesque to comedic burlesque routines to boylesque and I’d be hard pressed to pick a favorite act since they were all so incredible but I will talk about a few of my favorites.

The Boston Babydolls are Boston’s “home team” burlesque troupe and Mr. Scratch, their director, is the organizer of the Exposition. The act was a Vegas-style number set to the JXL Remix of Elvis’ “A Little Less Conversation.” The only lighting in the act was from flashlights that the girls were holding and they used them to great effect to create an exciting routine that had the audience on their feet screaming for more. To me the act was able to feel new and exciting, while paying homage to classic Las Vegas showmanship. Well done Babydolls!

A couple other highlights for me were two girls from BPT’s hometown of Seattle: the always graceful and stylish Shanghai Pearl (pictured) and Scandal from Bohemia, who did an act to Weird Al’s “My Bologna” that involved meat pasties and a big ‘ol sandwich. The centerpiece of Shangai’s act was an absolutely stunning peacock costume and her effortless grace impresses me every time I see her perform.

Dot Mitzvah did a great operatic routine to an Yma Sumac song. The high notes were not lyp-synced! She sang it all while taking it all off. Boylesque performer Paco Fish did a hilarious routine in a  judges wig and robe, which ended with his gavel in a most compromising position and Canadian performers St. Stella and James and the Giant Pasty, did a highly original act that was inspired and super sexy, with references to great works of art.

On the classic side of things, modern-day burlesque legend Jo Weldon did an incredible fan dance that was a tribute to Pink Light Burlesque, an organization that she founded that offers free burlesque lessons to breast cancer patients (See video below). Cherokee Rose displayed some impressive tassel twirling technique and Canadian performer Burgundy Brixx busted out a sweet boa that ended up being a robe in disguise.


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