The Candy Gram: Millie Dollar

In our ongoing Q&A series --"The Candy Gram"-- we ask the same quirky questions of burlesque's various performers. If you want to be added to the mix, drop us a line at kellydinardo AT gmail DOT com. Today, say hello to Millie Dollar.

What is your hometown?
Liverpool, England

How long have you been interested in burlesque/performing?
As long as i can remember I've wanted to perform! I used to try and teach myself tap dancing in my bedroom when I was young. Then I started to teach myself a bit of strip tease when I was far too young! I don't know why but I've always wanted to get attention that way. I knew of it as burlesque from the age of 16, and only got the confidence to do it at the age of 19.

How many pairs of pasties do you own?
I own a few but I keep losing them. I've modeled for a couple of companies including Ruby Rouge, Truly Fallen, and Gothfox Designs so i have been given lots for free. I usually get mine to match outfits handmade by Adora Belle. If I had to say it'd be about 30-40 pairs.

What are your three favorite songs to perform to?
The Girl Can't Help It
Shiva's Regal
In The Mood

What three items could you not live without as a performer?
Makeup, feather fans, and my suitcase.

Who had the biggest influence on your career?
Sally Rand. We share the same real name and I perform two tribute acts to her, my fan dance and my bubble routine.

Who is your favorite burly queen?
I'd have to say Sally Rand again.

What is your favorite item of clothing?
I buy lots of lovely dresses to wear for after performances and have a great collection building up, but probably my new purple, stop-staring dress.

What's the last movie you saw?
I recently watched the whole John Waters box set so I think I may have messed up my thoughts a bit.

What's on your must-see-TV list?
Shameless! It's fantastic. And Hero is very addictive. I also like a few darker comedies such as It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

What book is on your nightstand?
I used to read lots and lots of books but rarely do these days, sadly. I buy books for the pretty pictures now like Pretty Things, which is full of such great information too.

If you could go anywhere for vacation, where would you go?
I'm going to L.A. to perform in June which I've always wanted to do, but I've always wanted to live or holiday in New York.

If you could have any superpower, which one would you want? Why?
Telepathy. I can get quite paranoid so I'd love to know what people really think.

Satisfy your appetite for more Candy Grams: Joanie Gyoza, Bonbon Vivant, Lola Martinet, Frankie Boudoir, Vixen Violette, Ravenna Black, Veronica Lashe, Amber Ray, Beatrix von Bourbon, Angie Pontani, Tanya Cheex, Bloody Belle, Clams Casino, Trixie Little, Michelle L'Amour, Margaret Cho, Miss Dirty Martini, Princess Farhana, Miss Delirium Tremens, Paris Green, Jo Boobs, Jack Midnight, Heidi Von Haught, Diamond Minx, The Titillation Twins, Scratch, Creamy Stevens and Gina Louise.

The Nin Diaries

Listening to Garrison Keillor's The Writer's Almanac this morning, I learned today is the birthday of erotic writer and diarist Anaïs Nin. As Keillor said, "she is best known for her diaries, which she began writing at age 11 and continued for more than 60 years - and which include accounts of her passionate love affair with Henry Miller in Paris. Anaïs Nin said, 'We write to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospection.'"

In one of her diaries, Nin wrote of Lili St. Cyr:

"Great admiration for Lili Saint Cyr. Women should learn from her. She does not express the narcissistic self-eroticism of stripteasers, she conveys the presence of the man, an expression of contact with the man. She uses her body with enormous grace and skill, to invite, to expose, to suggest, to respond, but it is always a gift, an offering. She is a great artist. She is never vulgar. The common men do not like her. ... Women should study with her. She is an artist in erotic lore. ... She stands apart. She does not make up or dress like other stripteasers. In one act she takes a bath. In another she tests her seduction before a painting of a Spanish matador. The man is always present, so it is charged with currents which flow out and around the audience."

Video of the Week

Here's Paris Hilton's birthday tease.

All The News That's Fit To Strip

Hillary Rodham Clinton, Paris Hilton and Pamela Anderson -- you can almost see Jon Stewart's head imploding with punch lines -- dominate our bump 'n' grind news this week.

Sprinkled through the regular Upper Deck 2008 baseball cards are caricatures of each presidential candidate in a baseball role. Hillary Rodham Clinton stars as Morganna, "The Kissing Bandit" -- the "buxom stripper who gained fame" in the '70s and '80s "by running onto the field during games and kissing a player."

Paris Hilton said cheers to her birthday by performing a striptease routine that started off with the heiress in a giant champagne glass.

And Pamela Anderson gave a nod to Brigitte Bardot, when the Baywatch alum performed a racy routine to Bardot's iconic Harley Davidson in two sold-out shows at Le Crazy Horse in Paris.

The Candy Gram: Joanie Gyoza

In our ongoing Q&A series --"The Candy Gram"-- we ask the same quirky questions of burlesque's various performers. If you want to be added to the mix, drop us a line at kellydinardo AT gmail DOT com. Today, say hello to Vancouver's Joanie Gyoza, who is working on the Vancouver International Burlesque Festival.

What is your hometown?
Vancouver, British Columbia

How long have you been interested in burlesque/performing?
A little bit of me has always harbored a fantasy of being a larger-than life model or performer of some sort from when I was little: think dressing up in costume and launching full dance numbers to Madonna's Like A Virgin with my sister. However, I grew into a very shy child/teen and didn't start coming out of the shyness until after high school. That was about the time that I started becoming aware of burlesque then it HIT ME LIKE A TON OF BRICKS: sexiness, glamor, performance, hilarity, empowered women and crafting! I found burlesque two years ago and have been performing for almost a year.

How many pairs of pasties do you own?
Nine in total. I pride myself on collecting and making unconventional pasties like lemon shaped ones, or cucumber slice tassels and ganja leaf pasties crafted by the amazing Melody Mangler.

What are your three favorite songs to perform to?
David Rose's The Stripper
Java by Billy May
Pentaphobe's I Cash Radii (after watching a Rachel Brice tribal bellydance number)

What three items could you not live without as a performer?
red glitter lipstick, curlers and mints

Who had the biggest influence on your career?
My influences come from far and wide. I'd have to say that the Vancouver burlesque community regularly warms my heart, inspires my hands and fires my loins with brilliant performers such as VaVa Vanderlust and Crystal Precious. Then there are the ladies from the Screaming Chicken Theatrical Society (Melody Mangler, April O'Peel, Violet Femme and Fanny Fabulous) whose Becoming Burlesque Class, zany creativity and warm tutelage did much to help nurture the burlesque babe in me. Finally I'd have to say that the Muppets (Jim Henson in particular) TOTALLY influenced my style too.

Who is your favorite burly queen?
I have so many! I've already named some -- of the contemporary queens I also love love Miss Indigo Blue, The Shanghai Pearl, Diamond Minx, Fuschia Foxx, Precious Metal, Lola Frost, Malaika Millions, Little Woo and Darla DeVine! Of the classic queens I'd say my favs have to be Zorita and I profoundly admire Dixie Evans and Doris Eaton Travis. It's hard not to fall in love with any burly queen after you've seen her perform though.

What is your favorite item of clothing?
I'd have to say it's my sexy curve-enhancing corset. How wonderful would it be to have a seamless flesh-toned one of those suckers for everyday Vavoom.

What's the last movie you saw?
Kill! directed by Kihachi Okamoto which is a classic Japanese samurai movie. It's HILARIOUS, beautifully filmed with a lovely blend of limb-slashing action and moral drama. If you're in Vancouver the Pacific Cinemathique has a festival of Samurai movies.

What's on your must-see-TV list?
Hands down, So You Think You Can Dance. I am a huge fan of Mia Michaels and often the performers are amazing. The Office, BBC Version too.

What book is on your nightstand?
Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. It's a total kindred spirit, heart-song book and hilarious as all hell. Also Lonely Planet books to Vietnam and Japan.

If you could go anywhere for vacation, where would you go?
Vietnam and Japan. Vietnam because it's in my blood and I want to know my parents' stories better -- I also would love to refresh my Vietnamese. Japan because I'm totally fascinated by the culture.

If you could have any superpower, which one would you want? Why?
Right now in particular, I would love to have the power to sleep only for recreational purposes. In my other life I'm a nurse and though I love the job, switching from night to day shift and cultivating a rich life with burlesque-y flavors can sometimes be hard.

Satisfy your appetite for more Candy Grams: Bonbon Vivant, Lola Martinet, Frankie Boudoir, Vixen Violette, Ravenna Black, Veronica Lashe, Amber Ray, Beatrix von Bourbon, Angie Pontani, Tanya Cheex, Bloody Belle, Clams Casino, Trixie Little, Michelle L'Amour, Margaret Cho, Miss Dirty Martini, Princess Farhana, Miss Delirium Tremens, Paris Green, Jo Boobs, Jack Midnight, Heidi Von Haught, Diamond Minx, The Titillation Twins, Scratch, Creamy Stevens and Gina Louise.

Valen-Tease

Apparently, nothing says "I love you" like a burlesque show. Here are a few that will add a little sass to the holiday. Know of others? Add 'em into the comments or send them to kellydinardo AT gmail DOT com.

The Pontani Sisters team up with hula-hoop whiz Miss Saturn, hostess Dulche de Leche and others for Burlesque-A-Pades at the Birchmere in Alexandria, Va. I'll be there before the show signing copies of Gilded Lili.

The Boston Babydolls prove love is a carnival at T.T. the Bear's in Boston.

Blue Light Burlesque presents La Fête de l'amour at La Tulipe in Montreal. The show features both male and female performers, live 1950s-style Chicago and Arkansas blues music and audience members are encouraged to dress up.

photo by Ted D'Octavio

Video of the Week

The 1980s hit series Knight Rider returns to TV in a two-hour movie special on NBC this Sunday. And that's just another excuse to share one of my favorite burlesque videos.