Tournee’s opening weekend

•07/03/2010 • Leave a Comment

Mimi Le Meaux & Mathieu Amalric, cover of Inrockuptibles

Tournee was released June 30 in France and is picking up some stellar press. The film, written and directed by Mathieu Amalric (star of The Diving Bell and the Butterfly), already scooped up “Best Director” at Cannes. Amalric stars as a rumpled, ambitious producer returning to France with a gaggle of burlesque performers in tow; the film follows the troupe as they tour French port cities and stay in cheap hotels. It’s a comic, but tenderly written road trip inversion with actual performance footage of burlesque stars Julie Atlas Muz, Dirty Martini, Roky Roulette, Evie Lovelle, and Kitten on the Keys, who played themselves…but different. San Diego’s Mimi Le Meaux is the female lead, and has been busy promoting the film and her own performance career since returning from the whilrwind of Cannes (she recently won “Most Classic” at the Burlesque Hall of Fame pageant).

There’s no American release date set, but check out the film’s trailer here:

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Nightfall in New Orleans, redux

•06/30/2010 • 1 Comment

Kitten La Rue's tribute to Evangeline the Oyster Girl (photo: Jules Doyle)

The unmistakable sound of cicadas, jazz funeral mourners in various states of undress, ladies in petticoats languidly fanning themselves- it must be summer in the Deep South. The Atomic Bombshells bring back “Nightfall in New Orleans”- an impassioned love letter to their spiritual and literal home (Kitten La Rue and Fanny N. Flames are N.O. natives) – July 2-3 at The Triple Door in Seattle/July 10 in Bellingham. The production is decidedly steamier than the naughty but nice sets we’ve come to know and love from the Bombshells; expect a little more skin and a lot more humidity.

Tributes to New Orleans legends abound. Previously, Miss Indigo Blue reprised Wild Cherry’s sexually charged “Temptation” act, host Jasper McCann got down and dirty “Streetcar” style, and Kitten La Rue channeled Evangeline the Oyster Girl (aka New Orleans starlet Kitty West) emerging from a shell to roll around and play with her…pearl. Though the girls remain tight-lipped, encore performances are likely.

Follow THIS LINK to see footage of “Nightfall in New Orleans” on Emmy-winning series “Full Focus”.

The Atomic Bombshells present:
“Nightfall in New Orleans”
WHERE: The Triple Door, Seattle
WHEN: July 2 and 3rd, 7pm (17+) and 10pm (21+)
TIX: $22adv/25dos
www.thetripledoor.net

July 10: Mount Baker Theatre (Bellingham) call: 360-734-6080
www.mountbakertheatre.com

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The Golden Glamazon: from Vegas to “New Orleans”

•06/27/2010 • Leave a Comment

Photo: POC

Recently returned from rocking from her Carnival de Brazil-inspired fan dance in the Best Debut category at the BHOF Pageant 2010, Sydni Deveraux, Seattle’s Golden Glamazon, took some time to write about her experience:

My performance was on Saturday night, and I was 4th or 5th on the lineup, I think. I had arrived for my call (an hour prior to the show) and got to our dressing tent (98 degrees outside-no air conditioning) to get ready. It was hot. Really fucking hot, and all I could think about was my pasties staying on. I hung out mostly backstage before my show, watching the madness. For the most part, I was super calm. I think I had worked out most of my nerves over the last month getting ready.

I gave a good show and I’m proud of myself. I didn’t buckle under the pressure, and most importantly I had a ton of fun on stage. I got to do what I feel like I’m made to do. And I totally won some love from people I respect and look up to, and met a ton of people. I was honored. Honored to be among some of the most interesting, dynamic performers in the burlesque world. Also, the experience cemented my desire to get back up on that stage again- and lots of other stages. It helped cement even more in my mind that I love being an entertainer. I have fun doing what I do.

On her first taste of the tease, Sydni credits her mom and early backstage experiences with putting a little sparkle in her eye:

I’m sure my burlesque training began then when my mom came out. Back then, in 1990-having gay parents wasn’t something that was “normal”-and my mom, doing her best to be the best lesbian thespian she could be, joined gay choruses (which she is still rocking in today). As a kid, I went to most of her rehearsals, and gay men and their drag counterparts became what I was drawn to.

Music is a huge part (the most important part) of my burlesque process, so naturally, when I heard that there was this thing called “burlesque” and that it included glamorous women dancing to the songs and legends that I adored, I had to find out what it was. It changed my life-or rather-sped me to my calling.

Next up, you can catch Sydni as special guest songbird with The Atomic Bombshells in their absolutely fantastic “Nightfall In New Orleans” summer show. Perhaps singing is another gift from that talented mom.

Click HERE for “Nightfall” tix.

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Girls on Film

•06/20/2010 • 2 Comments

Finally, it’s coming- the Seattle premiere of Behind The Burly Q will be August 6 at the Grand Illusion in the U-District. The documentary is a goldmine of interviews with the last remaining grand dames of burlesque and a respectful look at their experiences and what happened to these performers when the spotlight faded. Director Leslie Zemeckis (wife of Robert Zemeckis-Forrest Gump, Cast Away fame) started researching burlesque in 2006, and over the next two years zigzagged across the country gathering as many interviews as she could- Tempest Storm, Dixie Evans, Blaze Starr, and Sherry Britton appear (many of those interviewed passed away before the film’s release)- as well as memories from comics and family members such as Sally Rand’s son. Kitty West (aka Evangeline the Oyster Girl) recounts stories from her post-Katrina FEMA trailer in New Orleans; actor Alan Alda speaks candidly about his father, Robert Alda, who began his career as a singer and dancer in vaudeville and on the burlesque circuit.

Screenings in Dublin, NYC, and LA have sold out; this summer Behind the Burly Q‘s loving oral history of a vanishing era debuts in eight additional cities:

Denver, CO Starz Film Center (July 2-8)
Kansas City, MO Screenland Crown Center (July 9-11, 16-18)
Normal, IL Normal Theater (July 13-14)
Ottawa, ON Mayfair Theatre (July 16-17)
San Francisco, CA Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (July 22-25)
Seattle, WA Grand Illusion Cinema (August 6-12)
Cleveland, OH Cleveland Museum of Art (August 12)
Harrisonburg, VA Court Square Theater (August 16-18, 23-25)

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Blue Moon(s) Cabaret

•06/17/2010 • Leave a Comment

The aforementioned Stranger column is out now, if you haven’t heard enough about Jo Boobs or Waxie Moon this week…but I have to ask- who possibly could?

That evening at Blue Moon, I also happened to meet the exceedingly lovely and curvaceous Belle Cozette…in the bathroom. Which seemed appropriate given the nature of one of her recent numbers, the notorious “Porcelain Promenade”, which I marveled at previously here and in the BB as well.

Evilyn Sin Claire (left) and Belle Cozette (right)

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