Video of the Week

To get you ready for Exotic World, we'll be featuring clips from past performances as we lead into the weekend.

All The News That's Fit To Strip

Rumor has it that Christina Aguilera might shimmy onto the big screen with Burlesque, a film about a modern-day striptease dancer. According to MTV, Steve Antin, whose sister is Pussycat Dolls creator Robin Antin, wrote the script and is reportedly going to direct. Screen Gems, the studio behind the project, has confirmed the movie is in development and is aiming for a January 2010 production start.

In other news ...

Variety artist Scot Nery polishes his craft last week between striptease acts.

Tony-winning choreographer and director Jerry Mitchell unveiled his new Las Vegas spectacle Peepshow this weekend. Former Spice Girl Mel B. portrays "The Peep Diva," who serves as the evening's emcee, and guides "Bo Peep" (portrayed by Dancing with the Stars contestant Kelly Monaco on her search for love.

Rachel Shteir celebrated her birthday and the launch of Gypsy on Friday. Jo Boobs led the affair, which included performances by Dr. Lucky and Catherine D'Lish.

Video of the Week

Take a peek at even more of Jo Boobs' costumes with the video of the week.

Behind The Garter Belt with Jo Boobs

Tanya Cheex shares this interview with Jo "Boobs" Weldon, head mistress of The New York School of Burlesque and "Queen Bee mentor to the nearly naked." Can't make it to New York? Jo's got a new instructional video out.

What is the importance of costuming to the burlesque performance.? Do you come up with the act or the costume first?
It depends. With characters I usually come up with the act first, but with classic numbers it's often a costume idea that originates the number.

When did you realize that your costumes had to be custom made and not off the rack?
I made costumes for feature dancers in the 1990s, and when I was a feature dancer I made my own. We weren't allowed to wear things that came off the rack. so I've always known.

What inspirations do you draw from?
Lounge and heavy metal music, cartoons, and political agendas.

Do you get inspired from vintage burlesque photography or performers?
Absolutely! The white costume for my Honey Harlow Tribute is based on the clip from the film Lenny. My Sherry Britton tribute number was made with her consulting on the design and Garo Sparo working out the details. But I like to see classic bits in even the most neo-numbers. It connects us to our filthy-minded forebears and the history we are fortunate to repeat.

What are your favorite costumes that you've made? What was the most challenging?
Godzilla, by far. Making the tail was the best part. I was working on it while I was bartending at a place called Bellevue in Hell's Kitchen, and one day a guy named Troy came in and gave me a mask he'd made for the owner. I started talking to him and it turned out he was involved in major costuming. We ended up designing the tail surrounded by the heads of the rats from the Nutcracker and the actual wings from Victoria's Secret fashion shows. Always accept help when it's offered!

What is the funniest thing that has ever happened to you while making something?
Making Bambi's lobster costume, I laughed continuously.

What materials do you get the most excited about working with?
Weird fabrics and beaded fringe.

Explain the importance of closures and fastenings on costumes for the burlesque artist?
It has to work. It has to be fun for the audience to watch you undo it. And you have to rehearse it, and you have to check every time before you go on to make sure all your fasteners are in good working order.

What tips can you offer those who aren't crafty? What one Jo Boobs secret can you divulge?
Always carry a sewing kit, repairing costumes is part of the gig.

If you had an unlimited budget what would you make? The sky's the limit!
Something like Mistinguette

What batteries fuel an outfit? Charisma? Smile?
Sometimes batteries -- but understanding that costuming IS choreography is a plus.

Where can we learn to make our own costumes?
You can learn from my handbook which is coming out this year!

All The News That's Fit To Strip

Montreal's burlesque icon Miss Sugarpuss, recently voted on of Montreal's Most Desirable Women, plans to put together a Montreal Burlesque Festival, where the historical part of the art is emphasized as much as the bumping and grinding.

"For us to not have a vibrant burlesque culture is ironic," she told the Montreal Mirror, noting that Montreal was the last place in Canada to establish a revival, despite being a hub of burlesque since the ’30s. "We live alongside this history, why wouldn’t we show off our city from that angle—the sexy underbelly?"

In other news ...

By day she's Stephanie Lynch, a hard-working student. By night she's Sofire Rosa, professional belly dancer and burlesque performer.

Madonna puts a burlesque spin on Marc Jacobs.

Jo Boobs shows off pictures from the Liz Renay exhibit.

All The News That's Fit To Strip

Deirdre Franklin, who performs as Little Darling, thinks it's no accident that her fellow burlesque dancers and pinup models feel a kinship with pit bulls.

“They're people who chose to be on the outside and do it their way, who are used to being the underdog,” she told the Associated Press. “They identify with the pitbull — they want to change the stereotype.”

With her Pinups for Pitbulls calendar she hopes to change that sterotype and raise more than $10,000 raised to support pit bull rescue.

In other news ...

Dita Von Teese finds Johnny Depp fascinating and maintains her image even when working out.

Christopher Plummer, oterhwise known as Captain Von Trapp, has fond memories of Lili St. Cyr.

Eartha Kitt passed away.

Jo Boobs interviews Dita Von Teese, in two parts.

The Washington City Paper gives a nod to The Candy Pitch and Bambi Galore.

For the last five years, Le Cirque Rouge -- a troupe of dancers, singers and musicians has worked to bring back old-time burlesque.

The Sassy Life

Sparkly Devil reports via Jo Boobs that Life magazine has published much of their photo archives on Google. Here's one shot of Lili St. Cyr.

All The News That's Fit To Strip

After an historically insensitive federal holiday, we're back with more Dita Von Teese. The burlesque queen admitted she started stripping before she was eighteen and that in the '90s she was a raver. "I used to be a rave girl in the early '90s, so I have a pink Adidas tracksuit somewhere that I've worn," Dita told reporters. "But it's a lot of effort to do up all those zippers I feel much more comfortable when I have my slip on."

In other news ...

The Stage looks at Bette's burlesque and New York burlesque.

Jo Boobs posts a few pix from Tease-O-Rama.

All The News That's Fit To Strip

Dita Von Teese continues to dominate burly news. She tells the San Francisco Gate, "I don't regret ever (having) been married. I was a good faithful wife. I quite enjoyed it. I am hoping the next time I find someone who has the same ideas about marriage that I have."

Want to look sexy in your undies? The burly queen has plenty of tips including remembering you're worth it. "Don't be ashamed of indulging yourself. The big mistake people make is thinking they have to sacrifice beauty for fit. I'm not saying everyone should wear frilly little things all the time, but so many women have this utilitarian attitude towards lingerie."

In other news ...

Blue Light Burlesque revives old-style burlesque in Montreal.

Strip club ads atop taxis in New York causes a stir.

Jo Boobs uncovers the New York Burlesque Festival. And don't forget to check out the winners of the Golden Pasties Awards.

All The News That's Fit To Strip

Dita Von Teese reveals some interesting tidbits to Black Book. Here's a little sample:

- "But when sexuality, style, humor and playfulness all come together, along with a bit of innocence, well, that’s when a burlesque show becomes great."

- "You always have that double-edged sword. You’re like, Well, I feel empowered because I’m independent and no men in my personal life can tell me what to do. ... But then there’s the other side of things: Am I using my body? ... But I think that if I were Nicole Kidman, and I were in a movie, and they were negotiating over my body parts—what my tits are worth, what my ass is worth, how much extra money that’s going to get me — how is that any different?"

-"I’m not really concerned by the competition, because I’ve already moved on to the next thing by the time they think they’ve caught up to me."

The burlesque star is also included in the magazine's Style Gallery.

In other news ...

Gothamist chats with the reigning queen of burlesque, Miss Angie Pontani.

Check out this "manifesto-in-progress about what it means to create a burlesque scene that is feminist."

In another story on Dita's new lingerie line, Ad Age wonders if Jo Boobs will be the new face of Victoria's Secret.

Do you have a constitutional right to learn how to lap dance?

Burlesque dancer Trixie Minx was one of the New Orleans dancers who rode out Gustav.

Revealing Images: Jo Boobs

The Candy Pitch is pleased to announce a tasty new feature, Revealing Images, in which photographer Don Spiro shares some of his favorite burlesque photos and the stories behind them. Don's first treat is a photo of the ever-lovely Jo Boobs.



This picture was taken back in the day when I was only shooting film. I used an old trusty Nikon 35mm. I didn’t have a studio so Jo asked her friend Whitney if we could shoot at her place in Manhattan. Whitney had amazing artwork on the walls, fabulous furniture and plenty of taxidermy and other bizarre props.

When I shoot I try to get something of the subject’s personality in the picture. Jo founded the NY School of Burlesque, she radiates confidence and on stage she can be captivating. She styled the shoot and came up with her own poses, I didn’t have to direct her other than to adjust for lighting or composition.

The space was small, regular lights might trip a circuit and strobes would have been overpowering, so I rented a Dedo light kit, which is extremely small and directional. Once I composed the image through the lens I trained one light high and just to the right of my camera, illuminating her body from head to toe and casting hard shadows down and to the left. I used the light’s barndoors to cut the spill light off of the right side of the frame and moved a stuffed cat into the light by her feet to balance the image.

A stuffed beaver was on a table by her waist, so I brought a second light in close and covered it with diffusion to make it very soft, bringing the beaver out from the darkness and lightening the shadows on Jo’s body. I wanted to emphasize how pale she is so I over-exposed her body by two stops, which also made the red costume just pop.

~Don Spiro

All The News That's Fit to Strip

The City University of New York revealed the art of burlesque in a symposium called "What is Burlesque? Art or Erotica or Ars Erotica?" Several performers including Jo Boobs, Tigger, Velocity Chyaldd and Rosewood put on demos and discussed burlesque. Lynn Sally told audiences:

"Burlesque is an utterly amateur form that anybody can do. But this makes burlesque a democratic art, where audiences can watch a show and say 'Wow! Look! You don't have to be super skinny to be on stage.' Burlesque feels accessible to the audience."

In other news ...

The Pussycat Dolls is back in prime time.

The Greater Boston Burlesque Exposition had "spectacular" turnout.

Don Rickles used to do impressions and jokes in striptease houses. He told the Las Vegas Sun: "I was the comedian while all the girls were undressing. By today’s standards they’re fully dressed. But I used to be the time-killer in between acts. I did bad jokes and lousy impressions and so I started talking to the audience and making fun of the place I was in, and that started out for what I do best. That was mainly because that was my personality — I was always being sarcastic."

Bible Stories

Burlesque troupe Skin Tight Outta Sight puts on its fourth Biblical Burlesque show this weekend. "Think of it as a church pageant gone wrong," troupe member Sauci Calla Horra told the Toronto Star. Not surprisingly, the article ignited a firestorm of responses.

Jo Boobs points out that religion often serves as inspiration burly-q performers and offers up several neo-burlesque examples. It's not a new trend.

Lili St. Cyr staged a short dance based on Oscar Wilde’s Salome, a tale of the woman who dances to encourage King Herod to behead John the Baptist. One reviewer described the performance as a “barbaric portrayal [that] shows her gloating over the head of the prophet and [ending] in a wild, frenzied dance." And a routine she called "Eve," in which she danced around a large apple, inspired a Montreal priest to start a crusade to run her out of town. “Who’s ignoring the repugnant obscenity of the shows presented in Montreal by Lili St. Cyr,” he wrote. “All affirm that a stench of sexual frenzy plagues the theater the whole time this dancer’s exhibition lasts.” The priest caused such a brouhaha that Lili was arrested, but the trial lasted less than two hours and she was acquitted.

Montreal’s business owners fully recognized Lili’s bottom line appeal and in their newsletter wrote: "One must never have seen the chaste and statuesque Lili to be able to decry her thus. She is the ideal woman incarnate . . . she has us experience the entire spectrum of emotion, by a gradation of personal pleasures, by all degrees of hope, desire, and enjoyment. . . . With a sparkling light she executes the most fantastic dances of eternal theme. . . . She gives a wake-up to adolescence, a stimulant to the young man, comfort to the middle-aged man, sweet memory to the old man. . . . Lili is the goddess of love reincarnate . . . She is at the same time immortal desire, and immortal enjoyment. Bravo to all those who refuse to let themselves be moved by these false cries of conscience. . . . We’d be a city dead to love and to pleasure."

All The News That's Fit To Strip

Immodesty Blaize tells the Telegraph about her start in burlesque, the British burlesque scene and burlesque's appeal.

"In an age where we're constantly being bombarded with sexual imagery, burlesque was going right against the grain. But what appealed to me about it was the idea of making erotic entertainment joyous and glamorous and tongue-in-cheek. In a funny way, burlesque reminds me of a horror film. You're always more scared when you haven't seen the monster than when you have. Although I don't know if that's a very good analogy."

In other news, everyone's chatting about what burlesque is ...

Dr. Wasabi offers his spin. "Burlesque literally means 'to turn upside down.' It was to parody. And old-fashioned burlesque featured singing, dancing, dirty humor and stripping. But neo-burlesque is different from stripping as it's practiced today, because stripping focuses on particular body types. Neo-burlesque is about all types of body and all genders."

The discussion continues with PhD candidate Alexis Butler, who says, "There's the neo-burlesquers who use the mechanism of burlesque, and maintain the issues of sexuality and gender as a means to burlesque popular culture now, so sending up everything from standards of beauty and desire, to mainstream film, mainstream music, whatever it may be -- politics. And then there's the other sort of more standard form that tries to imitate some sort of sense of a perceived historical tradition. They're sort of historical re-creationists in a lot of ways."

And Job Boobs explores the difference between stripping and burlesque. She'll peel away the layers of the debate even further in a panel discussion at NYU on March 12.

Video of the Week

Here's a Jo Boobs montage to brighten up your week.

All The News That's Fit To Strip

Greta Garbo. Doris Day. Zsa Zsa Gabor. And now, Dita Von Teese. Rumor has it that the burlesque queen is the latest actress to take on the role of Mata Hari, the femme fatale who was executed after being exposed as a double agent during World War I.

"Who the hell is Lili St. Cyr?" I answer the question for USA Weekend.

Jo Boobs talks to Lady Monster about the Full Body Project and interviews a burlesque memorabilia collector.

The Iron Matrons rotate around a pole.

All The News That's Fit To Strip

There's no Xzibit, but I am bedazzling book stores as I pimp my book. Actually, Jo Boobs is adding much of the dazzle as she's doing a great glove removal demo at my New York readings. If you're in the area and missed Monday's reading, head over to the Drama Book Shop Tuesday at 5 p.m. for Gilded Lili and Head Mistress Jo.

In other news ...

Bookgasm reviews Gilded Lili.

Margaret Cho's Sensuous Woman gets extended again.

Posh Spice tries pal Dita Von Teese's corset-training regime.

Things get saucy Down Under.

Burlesque dancer Amy Mathieson stars in film about a promiscuous bi-sexual's dream to become a glamorous show girl.

Celebrity-designed corsets raise money for The Clothes Off Our Back Foundation. And Dita's brings top dollar.

Who wears it better?

The secret to Dita's porcelain skin? Mineral powder.

In Full Bloom

It's been a week since Gilded Lili popped up on store shelves. So, with this shameless self-promotion alert, here's an update on all things Lili.

Readings:

For Washingtonians, I'll be at the Olsson's in Dupont Circle this Thursday at 7 p.m.

Monday, October 29 and Tuesday, October 30, come visit me and Jo Boobs in New York. I'll be reading, answering questions and signing books. Jo, who runs the New York School of Burlesque, will do a glove-removal demonstration. Monday, you'll find me at the Barnes & Noble in the West Village at 7:30 p.m. and Tuesday, I'll be at the Drama Book Shop at 5 p.m.

In case you missed it:

I chatted with Bob Edwards and WTOP about Lili, the burlesque scene in the Fifties and why it's important to know about Lili St. Cyr.

The book launch party caused quite a stir.

I dished on my favorite foods, got hot and heavy between the covers with Daily Candy and took a Naked Approach with Page Six.

All The News That's Fit To Strip

Ali Larter chats with Playboy about the whipped cream bikini she donned in Varsity Blues and researching strippers. In the October issue the Heroes star explains her role as Niki was intended to be a stripper and says: “I did some research. I went online. What struck me most was the blankness in most of their eyes. That was what I wanted to show. I thought it was sad, but my boyfriend thought it was thrilling. He’d call while I was researching and say, ‘Hey, what are you doing?’ ‘I’m online, watching some girls stripping.’ He was like, ‘On my way!’ In a recent episode I play a pole dancer. I took private lessons for a week, a couple of hours a day. I have a newfound respect for those women. It’s harder than you imagine, but I made it look good.”

In other news ...

Margaret Cho's Sensuous Woman shimmies into New York's Zipper Factory. Catch up with one of the show's performers, Princess Farhana, in last week's Candy Gram. And stay tuned for upcoming Candy Grams with other Sensuous Woman stars, Dirty Martini and Margaret Cho.

Britney Spears VMA performance lacked the strip-tacular factor of past shows.

Are you ready for some football?

New York's Playpen closes.

The Philadelphia Inquirer gets a spanking from Feministing for an awful story about stripping.

New York's Forty Deuce hits a bump in the bump 'n' grind road.

Lola the Vamp leads the burlesque revival Down Under.

Jo Boobs interviews Satan's Angel.

Monique Honeybush chats about how she started in burlesque, performing at Bonnaroo and her hot dog routine.

Congratulations to Angie Pontani, Jo Boobs, Tigger and the rest of the winners of the Golden Pasties Awards.

All The News That's Fit To Strip

Miss Exotic World 2007, Immodesty Blaize, chats with The Guardian. Among the highlights are her thoughts on burlesque: "It is certainly misinterpreted. Burlesque is erotic, ironic cabaret. People often forget its theatrical nature in favour of the titillation."

In other news ...

Reviews and pix from the New York Burlesque Festival are trickling in.

Jo Boobs' burlesque salon is like "a book-of-the-month club with nudity."

Kitty Victorian purrs about how she got into burlesque and her new workshops.

Australia's burlesque revival tips a hat to the novelty of it all, Dita Von Teese, "burlesque's sexy, but non-threatening nature, the love of vintage and retro clothing; even the influence of pin-up star Bettie Page or raunchy American web sensations the Suicide Girls"

Maggie Gyllenhaal poses for Agent Provocateur and her "Lessons in Lingerie" ads launch Friday.

Dances of Vice, a new monthly 1920-30s dance and cabaret night held in the spirit of the early 20th century days, takes place on the third Saturday of each month upstairs at The Pussycat Lounge in New York, NY. The September 15th event will feature photos by Don Spiro. He'll show "a few pieces from a photo series inspired by drugs of a bygone era when absinthe was legal and dens were filled with smoke from pipes of opium."

Bustout Burlesque is holding auditions the first week of October.