Sparkly and Bones All-Star Wedding Hangover Show on Monday, October 11

Sparkly Devil and her new husband Bones will be celebrating their wedding on Monday evening at the Uptown's Hubba Hubba Revue show in Oakland.

And guess what? Some of the wedding guests are burlesque stars from other parts of the country, and they'll be performing Monday night! Revolva (Portland), Vivienne Vavoom (Denver), Lola Martinet (Chicago), and Twinkletoes McGee (Detroit) will be some of the performers helping Sparkly and Bones celebrate their wedding. And you don't want to miss local luminaries Lady Satan, Kiss Me Kate, and Honey Lawless!

Sparkly & Bones at Hubba Hubba Revue: Pirates (NSFW)

Finally, there will be a special performance by the newlyweds themselves! So catch this very special Hubba Hubba Revue show, hosted by Kingfish and Eddie. It's only five dollars, and it'll make Monday night seem like a Friday night! Hooray!

Hubba Hubba Revue: Sparkly & Bones Post-Wedding Show!

HOWDY FRIENDS!

THIS MONDAY, it's a VERY SPECIAL edition of the Hubba Hubba Revue! It's the Sparkly & Bones *ALL-STAR* Wedding Hangover Show!

Join the newly-married couple, and an INCREDIBLE LINEUP of talent from across the country, for one of the most amazing Monday nights EVER!

Starring:

REVOLVA! (Portland)
Vivienne Vavoom! (Denver)
Lola Martinet! (Chicago)
Twinkletoes McGee! (Detroit)
Lady Satan!
Kiss Me Kate!
Honey Lawless!
The Newlyweds, Sparkly Devil & Bones!
Zip the What-Is-It?!

..and everyone's favorite drunks/MC's, Kingfish & Eddie!

DOORS 9PM, SHOW 10:15PM
$5 -- 21&Up w/ID

THE UPTOWN CLUB
1928 Telegraph Ave, Oakland
(just 1 block from 19th Street BART!)
-------------------

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Thursday at the Burlesque Hall of Fame Weekend 2009

I arrived at McCarron airport at 4pm. Since I flew in alone from Oakland, I decided to take a shuttle. Took about 10 minutes longer than by cab, but i saved about $10. Not a bad tradeoff.

The site of the BHOF this year is the Orleans. It's a large hotel/casino west of the Strip. Just south of the Palms and Gold Coast. It's a nice place, relatively new and modern. And the word amonst attendees is that it's a much better place to deal with than the Palms was last year. And they have a nice showroom.

I checked in, got my room, then went to look for my bowling teammates. Many of the male guests were talking about there being a burlesque event here this weekend. They were doing so in rather restrained yet excited tones. Indeed, you can tell pretty much who's here for BHOF. Many are dressed to impress, and stand out from the shorts, tees, and athletic shoes crowd. They have a tendency to gawk and whisper things like, "There's a burlesque thing here this weekend."

No one was at the lanes yet, so I went to eat at the TGI Fridays here. Oddly enough, I received a text from Dizzy Swank, my teammate, saying that he was eating there. I looked around the restaurant, and recognized him sitting with other burlesque people. Turns out it's a popular place. I've seen Kitten on the Keys there and have had a drink with my friends Josie Starre and Lily LeRouge there.

There isn't a really a front desk for the event, so it's just a matter of waiting for one of the events to start. In this case, it was the bowling tournament. I met Magic Max who was with Dizzy, and recognized Vivienne VaVoom from pictures I've seen of her. They were all cool, friendly people, and we pretty much chatted and waited for the bowling to start.

Left to right: Me, Vivienne VaVoom, Dizzy Swank

Which of coures took a while. Once we got every team assigned to a lane, we started bowling. This being burlesque bowling, everybody was dressed. Lots of laughs, people mingling. A total blast! There were two games played until it was time for the Thursday night bash to start.

Hosted by Tigger, the event featured many, many talented performers. Darlinda Just Darlinda, Polly Wood, Nasty Canasta, and our own Bunny Pistol were just a few who entertained the crowd.

Tigger hosting the Opening Night Bash

The show started at 11:30, and went to almost 3am. I chatted with Kitten on the Keys and The Frightening Mr. Tinkler, Douglas Good, and others whom I recognized from the Bay Area. By that time, I was ready to crash. The good thing is the room is only a 5 minute walk from the venues.

Oh! And my teammate Magic Max married Little Stormy earlier in the day. And I was told that Michelle L'amour and Franky Vivid would marry onstage on Friday. Weddings in Vegas. Who would have thought?

Burlesque Hall of Fame Weekend 2009

If you've been following my Twitter feed over there in the sidebar, you'll know that I'm on a team for the 1st Annual Barecats Invitational Bowling Tournament. Yay! So it follows that I'll be attending the Burelsque Hall of Fame Weekend in Las Vegas, June 5-7 (www.burlesquehall.com). I'm pretty stoked to be on the same team as Dizzy Swank (www.myspace.com/dizzyswank), Magic Max (magicconversations.blogspot.com), and Vivenne VaVoom (www.viviennevavoom.com). Since none of the local performers competing in the 19th Annual Miss Exotic World Pageant, I'll be cheering loudly for my teammate, Vivienne. Woot!

Here is the lineup of contestants and performers for Miss Exotic World 2009, hosted by by El Vez and Miss Astrid:

Arabella Trapeze (Brooklyn, NY)
The Chicago Starlets (Chicago, IL)
Dinah Might (Vancouver, BC)
The Evil Hate Monkey (Baltimore, MD)
Foxy Tann & the WBTYM's (Twin Cities, MN)
Gigi and Pop (Brooklyn, NY)
Hot Toddy (Chicago, IL)
Miss Indigo Blue (Seattle, WA)
Kalani KoKonuts (Las Vegas, NV)
Knicker Kittens Burlesque Revue (Stockholm, Sweden)
Kristina Nekyia (San Francisco, CA)
Little Brooklyn (Brooklyn, NY)
Lux LaCroix (Los Angeles, CA)
Madame Rosebud (New York, NY)
Melody Mangler (Vancouver, BC)
NANDA (Portland, OR)
The Oona Tramps (Chicago, IL)
Ophelia Flame (Minneapolis, MN)
Paco Fish (Baltimore, MD)
The Peach Tartes (NYC, NY)
Peekaboo Pointe (Brooklyn, NY)
Perle Noire (New Orleans, LA)
Renea LeRoux (Atlanta, GA)
Rita Star (Vancouver, BC)
Roxi D'Lite (Windsor, ON)
The Schlep Sisters (NYC, NY)
The Shanghai Pearl (Seattle, WA)
Sugar Kane (Helsinki, Finland)
Tatah DuJour (Key West, FL)
Trixee Sparkle (London, UK)
Trixie Little (Baltimore, MD)
Vicky Sin (Chicago, IL)
Vivienne VaVoom (Denver, CO)
...and a special, farewell performance by
the Reigning Queen of Burlesque, ANGIE PONTANI

You'll notice that Miss Indigo Blue and The Shanghai Pearl, who will be here this weekend for the premiere of "A Wink and a Smile" and various associated events, are both up for Miss Exotic World. So see some of their last performances before they head to Las Vegas!

There will be some Bay Area burlesquers performing in Vegas, though. Thursday's Opening Night Bash will see Bunny Pistol and Mariel a la Mode doing their thing. Friday's 52nd Annual Striptease Reunion Showcase features legends Holiday O'Hara and Viva LaFever (with The Devil-Ettes). San Francisco native Satan's Angel will also be there! Yay!

I'll probably also do the Pinup Safari with Don Spiro (www.donspiro.com)and Dale Rio (www.dalerio.com). Basically, there will be a bunch of photographers and models and performers loaded on a double decker bus and going to several venues to take pictures for about three hours. This year, the sites so far include the Aruba Hotel (www.arubalasvegas.com) and the "Welcome to Las Vegas" sign. Though I'm not a pro, I'm thinking it will be fun to go along for the ride and try to take some shots. I've never stood by the sign or been to the Aruba. Should be fun!

Interested in going? There's still $98 (plus taxes and fees) roundtrip (SFO to LAS) tickets available online from United Airlines and US Airways as of this posting. Prices sometimes change within minutes or hours, so check with your favorite travel websites for the latest fares.

It being Las Vegas, there's usually some decently priced lodging somewhere. Hotels.com has a deal at the Orleans, which is the site of the BHOF Weekend. You get the third night free. So if you arrive on Thursday night, Saturday night is free. That could be worth up to $110. Once again, prices and offers may change, so check to see what rates are available.

Tickets for the BHOF Weekend are available from the Orleans Casino site (www.orleanscasino.com/whats-new/events/burlesque-hall-of-fame-weekend). You can purchase a weekend pass for three nights, or you may purchase show tickets individually. For more information, see the BHOF site at www.burlesquehall.com.

If you do go, let me know. Perhaps we can plunder a buffet together! Arr, matey! Ha ha! :-)

Books about neo-burlesque

I was reading the Vivienne VaVoom "Candy Gram " on the Candy Pitch blog, and I noticed the two books she has on her nightstand. One was Gilded Lili: Lili St. Cyr and the Striptease Mystique, and the other was The Happy Stripper: Pleasures and Politics of the New Burlesque. Now I'm always curious about the latest evolution of burlesque, so I chose to Google the latter title.

It seems that Google has a preview of the book, which may be found here. It includes the first 23 or so pages, as well as the table of contents and covers, so it should give you an idea if you would like to purchase it for yourself. I'm finding the introduction interesting, so I'll probably buy the book sometime soon. It seems to focus on the sociological implications of burlesque, especially with regards to feminism and post-feminism.

Oddly enough, I also discovered that Ms. VaVoom has written her own book about neo-burlesque. It's called Burlesque and the New Bump-n-Grind, published under her offstage name, Michelle Baldwin. It has very favorable reviews on Amazon.com, and it seems like it includes quite a bit of the history of burlesque as well as an exploration of the reasons for its latest popularity. It also has a preview on Google Books, so you can take a look at it also to see if it's worth a purchase.

Between those two books, one can get information about other books covering burlesque that are referenced and included in the bibliographies. It's a book and burlesque fan's dream come true. Hehe.

Happy reading!