All The News That's Fit To Strip

Rita Alexander the Oyster Girl returned to her home city for the New Orleans Burlesque Festival two weeks ago to participate as a panelist and judge, but she needed a little convincing from producer Rick Delaup. She said:

"The burlesque [revival], I was like, 'Where is this going to go? Is this going to end up cheap, or tawdry, or insane?' I didn't really trust it. ... Ricky was doing the panel discussion for Exotic World, and of course when he came to Vegas, he says, 'Please let me take you to lunch.' For two years he did it, and the second year I was almost feeding him questions to ask [the panelists]. It was like we were a little team there. He [had] this dream of this thing that he's doing, and I said, 'Well Ricky, if you ever get that on, I will come, I will participate.' And damn, he got it on! I made a promise."

In other news...

Montreal launched is inaugural Burlesque Festival this past weekend. Headliners included Michelle L'amour, Dirty Martini, Roxi Dlite, and the current Reigning Queen of Burlesque, Kalani Kokonuts.

The Associated Press explores the implications of modern women performing burlesque in a recent article that focuses on the Chicago scene.