Kitten on the Keys and Roky Roulette in Palm d'Or-nominated film, Tournée

San Francisco's own burlesque luminaries Kitten on the Keys (left, top) and Roky Roulette (right, below) will be walking the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival this May with the likes of Tim Burton, Kate Beckinsale, Russell Crowe, Naomi Watts, Sean Penn, Cate Blanchett, Mike Leigh, Javier Bardem, and other movie stars and show business titans.

Kitten and Roky are starring in the French comedy Tournée (see the trailer), a film directed by and starring Mathieu Amalric (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Quantum of Solace). It is one of the films selected to compete for the Palme d'Or. Also starring in the film are San Diego's Mimi Le Meaux, New York's Dirty Martini and Julie Atlas Muz,and Los Angeles' Evie Lovell.

The film follows an American neo-burlesque troupe across various towns and cities in France. They are led by one-time Parisian television producer, Joachim (Amalric). After bring back the troupe from his self-imposed exile in America, he hopes to finish the tour in Paris with a big show that would cap his comeback. Alas, a betrayal by an old friend leads to the loss of the theater at which they are to perform, leading to an explosive finish. Along the way, the troupe plays in a series of French port towns, entertaining fans and creating an atmosphere filled with warmth, fun, and imagination despite a life of cheap hotel rooms and having little money.

The troupe of burlesque performers was discovered by Amalric when they were in Nantes, France, performing as "Cabaret New Burlesque" in 2007.

Kitten on the Keys, also known as Suzanne Ramsey, has performed in many burlesque shows in San Francisco, across America, and around the world. She's been the emcee for Tease-O-Rama, The Burlesque Hall of Fame Weekend in Las Vegas, and the New Orleans Burlesque Festival. She's staged her one-woman play "Does This Piano Make My Ass Look Big?" at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2009.

On the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival, Kitten will be wearing a 1930s-styled gown designed by San Francisco's Jessica Lansdown.

Roky Roulette has Roky Roulette is the world's only Pogo Strip Tease Artist! He has been featured in Lucha VaVoom, Cabaret New Burlesque and the Extra Action Marching Band. He will be competing at The Burlesque Hall of Fame Weekend in Las Vegas for Best Boylesque in June.

From Lucha VaVOOM to San Francisco with love this Valentine's Day weekend!

This coming Friday, Lucha VaVOOM returns to brings their brand of Sexo y Violencia to San Francisco for Valentine's Day weekend! All with a dash of love! Yes, it's Lucha VaVOOM: From Lucha with Love at the Fillmore on Friday, February 12, starting at 9:00pm.

Lucha VaVOOM comes to the San Francisco Bay Area several times a year. If you've never been, Lucha VaVOOM (or LVV) is a mixture of Mexican Lucha Libre wrestling with burlesque. Add in the live commentary of a couple of comedians, and you've got a one-of-a-kind evening of zany sexiness that can't be matched. I mean, where else can you see mini chicken wrestlers jumping off of balconies and being escorted by striptease artists?

LVV was created in 2002 by Rita D'Albert and Liz Fairbairn in Los Angeles. Since then, they've also taken their show on the road to Chicago and New York. It should be noted that their upcoming shows this week at the Mayan Theater in Los Angeles have sold out!

This time around, LVV is bringing north burlesque performers Carolina Cerasola, Harvest Moon, Lux LaCroix, Lucy Fur, Karis, Roky Roulette, and Ursulina. You may remember Carolina Cerasola from last year's Superstars of Dance on NBC. If not, here's a clip from that show!



Hold on! You don't want to forget about the wrestling! Not only will you see the very sexy wrestler Hector Garza, Dirty Sanchez, and "oily" Joey Ryan, but the Chickens are back! Plus see the debut of the Mini Kissing Bandit! And perhaps a wrestler will strip for you, too...

But wait a minute. That's still not all! Yes, ladies and gentlemen, Tom Kenny of Spongebob Squarepants and Mr. Show fame will be back as one of the comedic announcers! That just about completes a fantastic line-up that will leave you breathless. Oh my!

So grab your sweetheart, friends, family, and countrymen and head on over to the Fillmore this Friday, February 12, for an evening of laughs, sexiness, and unique sights. Tickets are available at the door (if available) and in advance at LiveNation.com. So get your tickets now for an event that you and your sweetie won't forget!

Oh! And if you're going solo, you may just meet someone special at the show! ;-)

Sexo y Violencia!

Mexican Masked Wrestling + Burlesque + Comedy = Lucha VaVOOM

Lucha VaVOOM is a non-stop, action-packed scream-a-thon, where Mexican Masked wrestlers flip and fly, performing breathtaking acrobatic feats. It’s good vs. evil played out in a one fall, Lucha Libre exhibition-style match for maximum enjoyment.

In between matches, the finest, handpicked burlesque acts from around the world astound us; at Lucha VaVOOM, we like a little sexo with our violencia. Raucous aerial acts, Pogo-stick peelers, hula-hoop hotties; we’ve got it all.

But wait there’s more! Our color commentary is handled by comedians Tom Kenny, Dana Gould and Blaine Capatch. In the past, other guest commentators have included Fred Armisen, Brian Poussein, Patton Oswalt, Jeffrey Ross, Chris Hardwick and Bobcat Goldthwait. Even Jack Black sat in, proclaiming “Lucha VaVOOM is the sh*t!

San Francisco Valentine's 2010
FEBRUARY 12th at The Fillmore.
1805 Geary Blvd – SAN FRANCISCO
$32.50

All ages (Edited 2/11/2010)

Lucha VaVOOM has come up with world’s most romantic Sexo y Violencia extravaganza yet:

Starring…

HECTOR GARZA the sexiest Lucha superstar in the world, CAROLINA CERASOLA the sexiest dancer in the world!

Our Valentine’s gift to you…the adorable L’IL CHICKEN and the debut of the MINI KISSING BANDIT!

For your date night pleasure, there will be lovable CHICKENS, oily JOEY RYAN and for the more adventurous types, CASSANDRO and KARIS!

BEWARE OF STRIPPING WRESTLERS – YOU NEVER KNOW WHEN THEY WILL DISROBE!!!

Celebrate the year of the Tiger with li’l kittens LUCY FUR & LUX LACROIX!

And, adding color commentary to the proceedings, it will be TOM KENNY in the announcer's booth! Yay!!!

Isn’t it time you shared DIRTY SANCHEZ with that special someone?


Scheduled Burlesque Performers:

Carolina Cerasola - She made her LVV debut last Cinco de Mayo and the place went crazy. She was the star of Forty Deuce and still appears on various dance programs on TV. She is spectacular!

Harvest Moon - From NYC - A former San Franciscan and founder of The Cantankerous Lollies. She may do her birdcage act. Otherwise, she'll do another one of her astounding contortion acts.

Lux LaCroix - Lux is a trained ballerina and will do an act en pointe. She performed at Burlesque Hall of Fame Weekend 2009.

Lucy Fur - Will perform her special Chinese New Year act. It will of course end up with her tassle-twirling skills on full display.

Ursulina - Her alter-ego is one of the producers of the show. She will start things off with a sing and strip.

Karis - Always a showstopper, Karis will do a futuristic number, of course with the hula-hoop.

Roky Roulette - Your favorite stripping pogo-stick boy will be back home at the Fillmore!

http://luchavavoom.com

http://www.livenation.com/venue/the-fillmore-san-francisco-ca-tickets

Lucha VaVOOM special Halloween Eve show at The Fillmore on Friday, October 30, 2009

I once read that Lucha VaVOOM (www.luchavavoom.com) is one of the few burlesque-related events that can fill an arena. Indeed, the mixture of lucha libre wrestling and burlesque— along with some well-known comedians as ringside commentators such as Greg Proops, Tom Kenny, Patton Oswalt, and Fred Armisen—is quite the complementary combination of entertainments. It's "Sexo y Violencia!" Which happens to be Lucha VaVOOM's motto.

This Friday, you'll have an opportunity to see what it's all about as the Los Angeles-based Lucha VaVOOM visits San Francisco for a special Halloween-themed show. This time, they're featuring Miss Exotic World 2005 Michelle L'amour (www.michellelamour.com) as one of the burlesque acts. I've seen her perform twice, once at last year's Tease-O-Rama and this year at the Burlesque Hall of Fame Weekend in Las Vegas, and she's one of my favorites!

Michelle L'amour and apples

Also, the Buxoticas (burlesque dancers) will include another performer I saw perform in Vegas, Lux La Croix (www.myspace.com/luxlacroix), Moana Santana (www.myspace.com/moanasantana), Lucy Fur (www.lucyfurpresents.com), and San Francisco's own Roky Roulette (www.myspace.com/rokyroulette). The dancers will perform to the music of The Cramps, who regularly played The Fillmore on Halloween.

Lucy Fur and twirlin' tassels

A pogoing Roky Roulette

And the highlight of the wrestling matches will have to be the battle between Los Crazy Chickens and the Mexican goatsucker Chupacabra and his new hatchlings, the Chupacabritas. The other luchadores (wrestlers) will include Las Calaveras, Dirty Sanchez, and Cassandro “Queen of the Ring.”

Beware! A flying chicken wrestler...


Los Crazy Chickens' enemy, Chupacabra!

To call the play-by-play, former San Franciscan Blaine Capatch of Mad TV and Mind of Mencia will be joined by Tom Kenny, famously known as the voice of SpongeBob SquarePants.

Since co-promoters Rita d'Albert and Liz Fairbairn have a history in burlesque, they only book talented and authentic burlesque acts. Lucha VaVOOM has been in existence for about six years, but they've just recently started to take the show on the road. In addition to San Francisco, they've recently entertained in Chicago and New York.

At $32.50 per ticket, the show is a bit spendy, but Lucha VaVOOM has comes to these parts only several times a year. So dig under those couch cushions and scrape up some loose change, because it's sure to be a show you don't want to miss!

Lucha VaVOOM: Sexo Y Violencia!
Friday, October 30, 2009
9pm
$32.50, advance tickets available at www.livenation.com
18 and older

The Fillmore
1805 Geary Blvd.
San Francisco, CA



For this special Halloween-themed show there will be four exciting matches featuring Las Calaveras, Dirty Sanchez, Cassandro “Queen of the Ring,” and Los Crazy Chickens who will battle the venomous Mexican goatsucker Chupacabra and his new hatchlings, the Chupacabritas.

In between matches, the finest handpicked burlesque acts from around the country will ensure there’s never a dull moment. As a special tribute to The Cramps legendary run of Halloween performances that began at The Fillmore in 1987, the burlesque acts will perform to the music of the late frontman Lux Interior and his seminal psychobilly band. L.A.’s buxoticas Moana Santana, Lux La Croix and the famed tassel-twister Lucy Fur will be joined by burlesque superstar, Michelle L’Amour (“the ass that goes pow”) for some raucous rock ‘n’ roll stripteases. S.F.’s own Roky Roulette, the world's only pogo striptease artist, will wow with his aerial antics.

The evening will be presided over by master of ceremonies and former SF resident Blaine Capatch (“Web Soup,” “Mind of Mencia,” “Mad TV”). He will be joined by Tom Kenny, the voice of “Spongebob Squarepants,” to call the matches and offer sidesplitting comedic play-by-play.

Lucha VaVOOM Sizzle Reel from Redbird Management on Vimeo.

http://www.luchavavoom.com

http://www.thefillmore.com

Lucha VaVOOM in San Francisco this Friday, August 7, 2009

Rita D'Albert, co-producer of Lucha VaVoom (aka Ursulina), let me know that the show will feature a line-up of burlesque performers specially selected for our city! SF's very own Roky Roulette will be featured along with Miss Exotic World 2008 first runner up Lux La Croix! Here's how Rita described the burlesque performers:

1. Lux LaCroix - always makes a great showing at Miss Exotic World. She is doing a high-energy number that got a standing ovation in Los Angeles when she did it earlier this year.

2. Moana Santana - a LVV favorite, this is her SF debut. She has a real go-go feel and an amazing shape. She really shakes!

3. Karis - Hula Hoop hottie Karis is a big SF favorite - has to be seen to be believed.

4. Cherchez La Femme - she is over 6 feet of belly-dance magic, we are really lucky to have her for this show. She is incredible!

5. Roky Roulette - SF resident and Pogo-stick superstar. He always brings it - the crowds love him.

6. Ursulina - that's me. I haven't decided whether to do a number, but I just might.

Add to this all of the wrestling mayhem that will happen in the same venue, and the hilarious commentary provided by the comedians, and you've got a fantastic night at The Fillmore. Ice Cream Man says, "Well, it is the brilliant combination of Masked Mexican Wrestling and Burlesque dancing, otherwise known as the great blend of sex and violence. With fat sweaty men in spandex and half-naked girls in pasties, what more could one want?" NPR says, "Lucha VaVoom bills what it offers as sexo y violencia — a tried-and-true hybrid for hard times."






When does this all take place? What does it all cost? Where will it be?

Lucha VaVOOM
Friday, August 7, 2009
9pm

The Fillmore
1805 Geary Boulevard
San Francisco, CA

Tickets $32.50, available at http://www.livenation.com/edp/eventId/409409


More information at: http://luchavavoom.com/