All The News That's Fit To Strip

Burlesque bumps and grinds its way back into stereotypically buttoned-up Washington DC. The Washington Post reveals the Capitol's "Va Va Voom Boom."

Washington got its first taste of burlesque's new era with Trixie Little and the Evil Hate Monkey, the vaudevillian Lobster Boy Revue and the World Famous Pontani Sisters who made regular jaunts down I-95 from New York. Today, Gilded Lily Burlesque in Baltimore, Kitty Victorian, left, and The Gurly Show keep things twirling along.

In other news ...

Virgin Mobile drops its striptease campaign.

Lola van Ella and the Alley Cat Revue and three other burlesque troupes descend on Kansas City for the fourth annual KC Fringe Festival.

Roxi Dlite "didn't even know it was called burlesque" when she got hooked.

Copious Magazine returns.

Celebrating Gilded Lili

Unfortunately, I have yet to befriend Bill Clinton. Thankfully, I have plenty of really fabulous friends who helped me celebrate the launch of Gilded Lili on Tuesday. Here's a snippet of what Bethanne Patrick at Publishers Weekly had to say:

"However, the real treat came at 7, when Miss Kitty Victorian carefully descended the stairs in heels, coif a marvel of curls and twists, to perform. After all, what would a book party for a book about one of the most celebrated burlesque performers ever be without... a burlesque performer?"

And U.S. News & World Report whispered about the potential for political scandal.

UPDATE: More photos will be coming soon, but a very talented photographer friend of mine Stacey Vaeth sent the one to the left.

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.