Asylum.com Checks In!

'Lucky for us, the classic striptease has experienced a revival in recent years -- leading to the popularity of Ivan Kane's 40 Deuce burlesque clubs in Vegas and Hollywood, Dita von Teese's mainstream popularity and, well, the Pussycat Dolls. And just last week, a flood of tasty tassel twirlers hit NYC for the New York Burlesque Festival, inspiring us to stake our pics for the sexiest gals to ever shake their pasties.'


20 Hottest Modern Burlesque Dancers



When using photos or text you found in this blog, please credit the following:

Posted by Jo Weldon, Headmistress of the New York School of Burlesque, for her Burlesque Scrapbook. Failure to credit properly will mark you forever in my eyes as shady and dishonorable.

Onstage Photos

Here are a few photos I took onstage during the finale of the New York Burlesque Festival Saturday Spectacular--teeth! teeth! teeth!










When using photos or text you found in this blog, please credit the following:

Posted by Jo Weldon, Headmistress of the New York School of Burlesque, for her Burlesque Scrapbook. Failure to credit properly will mark you forever in my eyes as shady and dishonorable.

Preparing for the Festival

The New York Burlesque Festival begins tonight, and here are some of the visuals from the past few days:




Miss Astrid checking out the smoke machine on the video set



Jo Boobs and Miss Astrid, camera test



The World Famous Pontani Sisters in rehearsal with FIsherman's Famous Burlesque Orchestra



Little Brooklyn at the rehearsal



When using photos or text you found in this blog, please credit the following:

Posted by Jo Weldon, Headmistress of the New York School of Burlesque, for her Burlesque Scrapbook. Failure to credit properly will mark you forever in my eyes as shady and dishonorable.

Coney Island Fashion Moments

At the Miss Coney Island Pageant Bunny Love had the cutest purse and some cute shoes, too, which it turns out that she and Bambi the Mermaid, her BFF, both bought without consulting each other. Since they often deliberately dress to match each other, they were pleased with the coincidence.






On the train on the way back, I saw something.




It turns out this rubber hen is the purse of Heather Holiday, the youngest female sword swallower in the world.




She showed me a note a guy on the train slipped her a few days before.




Although she wouldn't tell me where she got the purse, I found one, and I'll carry it, but not to Coney Island. Heather owns all the rubber chicken purse territory there.



When using photos or text you found in this blog, please credit the following:

Posted by Jo Weldon, Headmistress of the New York School of Burlesque, for her Burlesque Scrapbook. Failure to credit properly will mark you forever in my eyes as shady and dishonorable.

Howl Festival and Arias with a Twist

Howlucination, a cabaret of Luc Sante's Low Life, is absolutely my favorite thing at the Howl Festival. Although I didn't take many pix, here are a few moments:



Backstage with Heather Litteer, with whom I worked in Atlanta.



Amber Ray's Eyes.



Dirty Martini.



Joey Arias/


If you have a chance to see Arias with a Twist, don't miss it. It is one of the most amazing shows I've ever, ever seen!


I went to see it for my birthday with Mickey, Joe, and Whitney.



Whitney and Joe in the lobby at HERE. Joe and Joey were in the film Mondo New York together, an underground classic about NY cabaret and performance art made in 1988.



Joey and Me. Photo by Whitney.




Gorgeous, Gorgeous!




When using photos or text you found in this blog, please credit the following:

Posted by Jo Weldon, Headmistress of the New York School of Burlesque, for her Burlesque Scrapbook. Failure to credit properly will mark you forever in my eyes as shady and dishonorable.

A Few Pix From My Birthday Backstage at Starshine Burlesque

On my birthday, I guest lectured in Lukki's class at NYU, taught a bachelorette party, and performed at Starshine Burlesque.













When using photos or text you found in this blog, please credit the following:

Posted by Jo Weldon, Headmistress of the New York School of Burlesque, for her Burlesque Scrapbook. Failure to credit properly will mark you forever in my eyes as shady and dishonorable.

It's My Birthday!

I walked by these mosaic pinups in Soho yesterday.
















They will also make a mosaic from any photo.



If you were thinking about taking up a collection for my birthday, here's a ballpark: the panels start out at about $31K, the standups at $19K. I'd be perfectly content with one of the standups.



For more information, see the company's website. But don't buy me one, honestly, I just wouldn't know where to put it.



When using photos or text you found in this blog, please credit the following:

Posted by Jo Weldon, Headmistress of the New York School of Burlesque, for her Burlesque Scrapbook. Failure to credit properly will mark you forever in my eyes as shady and dishonorable.

Me in the New York Press

Jo Boobs and More at Public Assembly Party



This was a great party. Larissa Fuchs, who produces Swing House, is working with my friend Robert Prichard, with whom I used to co-produce Surf Burlesque at the Bowery Poetry Club (and who played Slug in The Toxic Avenger), to create a new venue in Long Island City that promises to be one of the Next Big Things. I can't wait!



I had a great time at the show, but I was a little lonely, having the whole backstage to myself most of the time. I took some sort of creepy pictures.








I like the color choices this camera makes. Although I'm actually somewhat proficient with a camera, and learned to shoot using a K-1000 and slide film while photographing live bands at Masquerade, I'm crazy about this little point and shoot.


Flashback: Masquerade was also the first place I performed regularly with fire, as an honorary member of the Impotent Sea Snakes.



From which era, of course, I have no freakin photos of myself.




When using photos or text you found in this blog, please credit the following:

Posted by Jo Weldon, Headmistress of the New York School of Burlesque, for her Burlesque Scrapbook. Failure to credit properly will mark you forever in my eyes as shady and dishonorable.

Monday Night Burlesque and Tuesday at the Sideshow

Proving that there are no off nights in my week, I worked performing at Monday Night Burlesque and on Tuesday conducted the next to last class in the Coney Island series.


The Evil Hate Monkey backstage at Monday Night Burlesque:





Clams Casino onstage:





Gigi LaFemme in the dressing room in her Chrysler Building costume:





Tuesday night I goofed off in the sideshow during breaks in the Burlesque Master Class. Adam Rinn is teaching the Sideshow School at the same time, and I have been getting a few lessons:

Me walking on broken glass:





The sign in the bathroom:






Marie Roberts' new paintings in the blowoff:







When using photos or text you found in this blog, please credit the following:

Posted by Jo Weldon, Headmistress of the New York School of Burlesque, for her Burlesque Scrapbook. Failure to credit properly will mark you forever in my eyes as shady and dishonorable.

My Trucker Hat from Frank's Chicken House

In the early 1990s I was a feature dancer. Among other things, this meant that I was doing MUCH more elaborate acts than I am now, in sets lasting up to fifteen minutes. Another thing it means is that I went to some out-of-the-way places, including Frank's Chicken House. Men would walk in through the front room and would get a chicken leg and a can of soda, then walk into the back, where the girls would whip off their clothes and rush right up to the edge of the stage to lay down and give the customers a gynecological view. I wish I could say I thought this was terrible, but I actually thought, and still think, that it was total hoot, as did the other dancers there. When I would perform, the customers who had been there before would be mildly amused by the elaborate shows I was doing (the dancers LOVED the routines), and the ones who didn't would be incredibly annoyed that I was interrupting their gynecological inspections with my fancy costumes and themes. I would want to rush to get to the spread-eagle part of my routine so they wouldn't be disappointed for long, but I was required by the management to do my entire routines. I had a contract, and they were paying a me A LOT and had given me my own huge dressing room and this very boss hat, so I complied.



So I still wear this hat when I do a number for which a trucker hat is de rigueur. Actually, this is a replacement for my old one; a friend picked up it for me when they were last in Manville. I think Frank's is closed now, but I'll wear this hat till it falls apart. "Home of the Only Real Strippers"!




When using photos or text you found in this blog, please credit the following:

Posted by Jo Weldon, Headmistress of the New York School of Burlesque, for her Burlesque Scrapbook. Failure to credit properly will mark you forever in my eyes as shady and dishonorable.

Glove Peel Class

Here are a few of my students from a glove peel class improvising with the moves they just learned. My video technique is not so good here, but aren't they great????






http://youtube.com/watch?v=i6lsAONYk4A




When using photos or text you found in this blog, please credit the following:

Posted by Jo Weldon, Headmistress of the New York School of Burlesque, for her Burlesque Scrapbook. Failure to credit properly will mark you forever in my eyes as shady and dishonorable.

I'm Making a Google Map!

View Larger Map



Map of New York Burlesque



Just what I needed, another project!



Send me a link to your burlesque show, wherever you are, and I'll add it. If I've already added your venue, send a short description of your show and a url and I'll add it to that venue's description. Email me at schoolofburlesque@gmail.com.



If you know of a spot that's relevant to the history of Burlesque, let me know and I'll add that too. Because of the format, a very short description and a link to info is best. That doesn't mean I necessarily want a link of every place that ever had a burlesque show for a night, but you get the idea. Like, the address of the club where Gypsy Rose Lee first stripped--that's burlesque history. I'm only doing this for my personal entertainment which is dependent on what I find interesting, so I don't guarantee I'll use every link I'm sent. But my intentions are good.



When using photos or text you found in this blog, please credit the following:

Posted by Jo Weldon, Headmistress of the New York School of Burlesque, for her Burlesque Scrapbook. Failure to credit properly will mark you forever in my eyes as shady and dishonorable.

Sweet and Nasty Burlesque

Honi Harlow showed how she spent her summer vacation:






Nasty Canasta did "Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend":




Yup, she's a miner. She uses a real pickaxe in the act, and the dirt in her shoe had to be microwaved so it would pour properly.


Alexa Fleur disneyfied her nipples:





Albert Cadabra swallowed:






And then I acted like I wasn't about to do something terribly vulgar:

Shopping for Eyelashes and Starshine Burlesque

Yesterday I went into a wig store I often visit on East 14th St for inexpensive but really huge eyelashes, and Dirty walked in two minutes after I did.







Later, I went to Starshine Burlesque after teaching one of my "Flirting with Burlesque" classes. Here's Ruby Valentine backtage talking to Misty, the stage manager:







Lil Miss Lixx, who is truly a licker, go-goed:







Shelly Watson hosted, but I mostly couldn't take photos in that light. Shelly's brilliant! I did her Inter-Arts Variety Show last month at the Zipper, it was awesome. I did get one photo of Little Brooklyn doing one of my favorite acts, "Put the Lotion in the Basket."










Later we went to breakfast (I was supposed to be doing a book review, but I figured I'd do it tonight) at Remedy and Little Brooklyn came across an exceptionally cute pickle.










So I would be writing the book review now, but I got called into the Cutting Room for an emergency bartender fill-in. I love doing that occasionally! Plus, the Cutting Room was the last home of the Blue Angel Cabaret, back when I was a weekly regular performer, so it's always like going to one of my homes away from home.



So there will be no book review tonight, but you can take a look at my lunch:

A Documentary Shoot at the Slipper Room

Yesterday Gary Beeber and Laure Leber interviewed
Bunny Love for a documentary Gary is doing about Dirty Martini, filming in the Slipper Room. They also interviewed me. This meant, among other things, that Bunny and I were in full burlesque drag in the middle of the afternoon. We were both thrilled to be interviewed about Dirty, who, in addition to being an astonishing performer, is one of the most loving and lovable people not just in burlesque but surely in the world.











When using photos or text you found in this blog, please credit the following:

Posted by Jo Weldon, Headmistress of the New York School of Burlesque, for her Burlesque Scrapbook. Failure to credit properly will mark you forever in my eyes as shady and dishonorable.

A School Day In Coney Island

On Tuesdays in July I'm teaching the Coney Island Master Class at Coney Island, and we're using the Coney Island Museum as our classroom. The Museum is on top of the Sideshow. Before the class this week, I went by the Sideshow to watch a documentary crew taping Angelica's fire act.











One of the exhibits in the Museum is this fabulous float:











I also love this poster on the wall, which I think is from the 1990s--it looks to me like the image of the woman on the right is from a photo of Billie Madley: