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.

Burlesque at the Dickinson Gallery

Last night there was a lovefest and a festschrift for our dear friend Mickey at the amazing Dickinson Gallery. My very close friend Whitney and her husband Joe, who are directly responsible for so much of my inspiration in life, not to mention my survival, invited me and a few other performers to take part in the celebration.



First I had a lovely cabride. When I was a real estate agent I would ride up First Avenue in a bus to show apartments on the Upper East Side. I miss the money, yes, but more than that I miss that lovely morning ride! So I indulged.









Then I had a lovely scallop appetizer with Joe and our friends.










The performers got dressed in the archive room.









Bunny Love was a walking photo album of Mickey.











By the end of the night most of the photos had come off. The photo on her left nipple is Joe's painting of me. In this photo with Bunny, I'm wearing a g-string and cape that used to belong to Liz Renay.








Whitney wore the insane mermaid tail that Garo Sparo made for her. Incidentally, my interview with Garo is in this month's print edition of Alarm Magazine.









The tail has an "assgina." You can put your hand in. I did.










Darling Hugo and lovable Tigger had a drink together and bonded a bit.











Somehow I ended up with no photos of Mickey in my possession.





And then I rode home to the Slipper Room in a cab with Bunny and Tigger.



My life is pretty good some days (in spite of, or maybe because of, the lack of real estate commissions), but it's definitely not THIS good every day!



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: