Burlesk ROCKS!

Well it does...

For such a small audience these guys had big hearts and big voices and it reminded me why I love this so much. It was real, raw, live entertainment in the upstairs of a pub with a quintessentially Brighton student audience. It was brilliant.

The event was at The Lectern. As always, utter bliss not to sit on a train for an hour and a half. Hosted by Sally Monella the most fabulous drag queen ever with an incredible talent for getting the audience 100% involved.

I was headlining and somehow ended up getting ready way too early. I was panicking because my usual trusty trick of mixing my loose glitter into body moisturiser hadn't worked and I was trying frantically to get the moisturiser to soak into my skin before I got dressed. I think I may give up and buy the canned glitter spray. Much more reliable. Although I'll never forget the time that one of the girls at the NYE show couldn't get the can to stop spraying! In the end she had to stick it in a sink.

The upshot of getting ready so early however was that it was so relaxed at the venue I could watch in full costume from the door which meant I caught nearly all the acts! Fay la Foe and her high energy dancing, Coco Deville (again! It's like we're stalking each other)where I FINALLY got to see her peacock act, and Domino Burlesk from Burlesk in Hastings doing Hasta La Visa (which somewhat summarises my feelings on shopping!).

I enjoyed every minute, never mind also getting a surprise visit from Infinity Favour before the show. We were all getting ready when ta da! There she was, her fabulous self in a fabulous dress as usual.

Danny and Kim from Pulp Press were there, along with an old friend and a fellow Brisbanite. The girlfriend of the owner and I got chatting and were astounded to realise we were from the same city (because you never really meet other people from Brisbane overseas) and got talking about tap, burlesque and performing solo.

All that and I still got to bed at a reasonable(ish) hour. Fancy that!

Pulp Press Party!

Danny Hogan, big daddy of Pulp Press Brighton had contacted me months ago to tell me about this party they were planning for the launch of three of their new books. Let me die a woman, Die Hard Mod & Windowlicker Maker.

As you might know I'm the official Burlesque Dancer for Pulp Press so there was no contest as to whether I would get involved.

The only problem was finalising the line-up. We already had Kitty Peels on board but we needed one more to seal the deal, so I got in touch with Bea Devile to see if she wanted to join the party. A most definite yes!

Unfortunately, a volcano in Iceland had other plans for our little shindig. Kitty got stuck in Barcelona for over a week so I was left to find another burlesque beauty who could fill her shoes.

The thing about the Pulp Press night though is that it had to be someone with the right style to suit the Pulp Press ideal. I'd just done Smooch with Coco Deville and knew she would be perfect so I sent her a message and waited with baited breath. When I text Danny to say we'd found a replacement - Coco Deville, he squealed like a little girl in the middle of a trendy London market.

Phew! Back on track.

Kim (Danny's fiance and Brighton Rollergirl) and Danny rocked up in the Pulp Press mobile on Saturday afternoon and we bundled all the girls in and off we went, into the endless monotony of weekend traffic to get to The Horse Hospital, as it's still called, in London.

The show went well, besides some technical difficulties in the first half it was a great fun, a nice venue and a great party. My hat goes off to Bea Devile as I helped her into her costume for her geisha act and realised quite how much work goes into that costume. Layer after layer!

After a bit of a dance and packing up we bundled back in the car for Brighton. The brilliant part of which was having the time to actually talk to Coco, Bea, Kim and Danny about performing, Burlesque, feminism, art and studying. Usually it's so loud in clubs and there is so much going on before and after a show that it's impossible to have a serious (well it's never that serious) conversation but we had a couple of uninterrupted hours on the way home.

Well except for the stop off in Acton for food when we thought the car might get jacked.

A successful party all around!

And here come the waterworks....

So...I'm reaching back into my memory banks here. I'm usually quite like a goldfish in terms of memory length but this is important so I will share it with you.

My final Club Smooch was April 9th and what a show. We were dogged by poor lighting, terrible sound and a sparce audience. But nothing could dampen our party spirits and I most of all was determined to P-A-R-T-Y? Because I gotta!

Bea Devile and I had been working on a special double act, a one-night only affair that we'd been considering for such a long time. The WI cake bake. We are both almost obsessive about cake and had long said we needed to combine the two passions - cake and burlesque, in an all out food fight extravaganza. I got to play the ultimate in trophy wife stereotypes while Bea tried every possible way to sabotage me. It was slippery, it was messy and it was so bloody funny!

The Vegas Showgirls (me and Therese la Tease) and our gimp rocked it Pulp style and I got to debut my new balloon pop I mentioned such a long time ago. It worked so much better than I thought it possibly could and I've decided that I make a damn good blonde!

But the moment I was not expecting came when I was dragged onto the stage, like the oscars and given the most enormous bunch of beautiful pink flowers before Bob, Zerrin and the cast played me a leaving video of all my Club Smooch highlights. There were tears aplenty and it felt so surreal it just didn't feel possible that it was my last CS night. BW, who so rarely comes to my shows also shed a little tear.

I missed most of the performances unfortunately, including Marianne Cheesecake who was on straight after me. Also Coco Deville who I did end up seeing twice more over the next few weeks!

After managing to catch the last couple of acts we pushed back the tables and got down to dancing. Given the rare opportunity to cut loose being in my home town (I never drink much if I've got to catch the last train from god knows where), BW and I finished off a small bottle of whisky and boogied on down!

I don't know where the future of Club Smooch lies as the organiser looks to other creative ventures. What I do know is that the group of women involved in this night are the most fabulously creative, interesting, different, powerful and supportive group as I could have possibly had the pleasure of knowing.

I take my hat off to you ladies.

Holy Moly!

I just realised how long it's been since I posted. I mean, are you guys still there! Still reading? Wow. Thank you for your patience.

While I gather my thoughts about the last couple of gigs I've done and my wrap up of my time in the UK I'll give you a little taster.

A very little taster. The adorable little sweets in the picture are cake pops. How did I not know about these sooner?! They're even cuter than cupcakes! In fact they are mini, mini cupcakes and it doesn't get much cuter than that.

Now there is absolutely no way I'd have the patience to make these suckers (pardon the pun) but my hat goes off to the baker who does. Who is incidentally called Bakerella. Could I be any more in love with this woman? http://bakerella.blogspot.com/

Stranger than Paradise

What a completely bizarre and wonderful night. Stranger than Paradise is an event run by Amanda Rogers & Sacha Dieu both of whom I hadn't actually met in person before this evening. When I arrived at the venue just before 9pm I asked to see Amanda and was pointed to a lady in a pink creation with flowers on her head and a tiny little dog in a leopard print coat on a leash.

Right, so it was definitely going to be a fun night then!

I met Sasha who would be on the decks later that evening and popped my stuff in the bathrooms which was unfortunately the only place to get ready. In all, the venue was really nice and would have been very comfortable if it wasn't for the owner, who was a bit of an a-hole. We won't go there though. No seriously, I probably wouldn't go back to that place. Despite the fact that the girls who worked there were really, super sweet and lovely, I would prefer not to take my business to somewhere run by a man like that.

Moving on!

The night itself was fantastic. After meeting Amanda's dog Sheba and getting changed for my first act, Amanda and I tottered off down to a nearby restaurant where their friend was having a birthday dinner. She had of course cleared it with the owner of the restaurant! We burst in, Amanda with a speakerphone, me in full burlesque regalia and proceeded to do a little skit in between the packed tables. Anyway, it was hilarious and they loved it and we quickly dashed off back to the venue.

I was doing Ne Touche Pas and La Belle femme en rouge. Honestly, I've got to shorten that name, it's a bit ridiculous really.

They both went very well, although by the time we were ready for the second act, both trying to get ready in a bathroom full of very drunk people and trying to take gloves off when it's really hot became quite a tricky affair! Although at least I didn't have my balloons stolen like the other burlesque performer (she got them back, don't worry!) who's name I stupidly forgot to get.

I should have photo's soon from Paul Raggity who also came along. He told me off for wanting to see the photo's on the mini-screen but I thought they looked good!

The music was great, I know I've said this before but the Trans-Siberian Marching Band playing 'The Final Countdown' might be the highlight of my life. Think of it like a gypsy-polka version and you'll kind of understand what it sounded like.

I also got chatting to the bass player of a number of bands who suggested I come dance to live music at their Thursday night gigs. I just need to find the damn flyer. If you're out there, please send me details! I've wanted to dance to live music for a while.

So, what else happened that weekend? The damn clocks went forward that's what! It caused havoc with the trains and meant I couldn't go back to Brighton that night. Amanda very kindly let me stay at her utterly adorable flat with her and Sheba. I love interesting people and their homes, book shelves in particular. Don't ask me why. Unfortunately it meant that I missed a bellydance workshop on Sunday I'd been looking forward to for a while but that's life.

I made it back in time for rehearsals for Club Smooch and that's the most important thing!

It was a really fun night and I can't wait for 1st May when we'll do it all again in a different place with one of my new acts, the honeybee balloon pop.

Next time I write I'll be telling you all about tonight's show, Club Smooch Spring Faire in Brighton. My last one! There is still a chance to get tickets if you're going to be in Brighton or fancy a night out by the shore. http://komediabrighton.ticketsolve.com/shows/23498194/events

See you there!

Trailer Trash

Not me, I swear!

The Trailer Trash Baz Lurhman extravaganza has been and gone, and what a weekend it made! I had my fake flowers, my silver bra, and my Moulin Rouge costume packed and headed down for our final rehearsal on Saturday night.

As ever, the panic and frantic preparations of the weeks prior all came together with a click as we got on the Komedia stage for our group rehearsal. Trailer Trash is all about the movies so it's a multi-media affair with a huge projection screen at the back of the stage.

Every show there is at least one fight scene acted out by the Trailer Trash Troupe and ours was to be Romeo & Juliet with the Capulet's vs. Montague's. I was part of the Montague girl gang as some strange blend of Mercutio and the pink haired one (I can never remember the names).

There were lots of silly costumes, gesticulating, hair pulling, bananas flying, CPR giving, tumbleweed rolling, comedy running, prancing, posing and ultimately the whole experience was hilarious. I only hope the audience enjoyed it as much as we did!

As ever with the Brighton shows there was just as much fun to be had backstage as we all got ready. With so many strong personalities in one show the conversation is usually completely hysterical. Or maybe it's the extreme heat and the excess of alcohol...who knows. I can't wait to see the photo's.

The other brilliant thing is that because our group act went on first, I practically got to experience the ENTIRE NIGHT. Which is practically unheard of and I was very excited. I got to see Kitty Peels and her fantabulous Juliet act on the silks, The Flirtini's, Ruby Demure and Infinity Favour did a new Ballroom Blitz act. They just might be the funniest two women in the UK. BIG thumbs up for that one.

Then there was Cancan, fire twirling, acrobats, trapeze, best dressed awards, and dancing. So much dancing!

The ultimate cruelty of it all was that we (all the cast) had a Mad Hatters double birthday tea party the next day at 2pm for Kitty Peels and Baby Bones.

There were a lot of very tired and hungover faces there I can tell you, but with everyone dressed up, the table laid and the drink me, eat me signs all over the place I have to say my own hangover added such a surreal air to the day that I felt like I was in some kind of Luis Carrol dream. I quite possibly confused the hell out of the friends I bumped into on the way home who had also been at Trailer Trash the night before.

And so started another week of industrious preparations for more shows, more acts and more plans. Hence why I'm only writing about Trailer Trash now. Next stop...Stranger Than Paradise.

Valentine's Treat xxx

You would not believe what I got up to last weekend. Or maybe you did from the photo. Yes I was an actual living, breathing, window display for the Valentine's Vintage Fair at Laura J in Islington London!

In the window was my makeshift boudoir as I primped and preened, giggled down the vintage phone and had tea and cupcakes while reading all about beautiful vintage costumes. You might be able to see in the window there are show times. On the hour I would vanish only to emerge as La belle femme, to do my fan dance. Which I have to say is going through a very popular stage as I was asked to perform it at a private booking later that evening as well. I suppose it is VERY valentine's appropriate.

I had found some beautiful red vintage reproduction underwear at the back of my drawer that I hadn't got around to using which was perfect for the window performances. As although I like to cause a stir, the beaded 1920's style g-string and bra/pasties is not entirely suitable for the middle of the day in a public place! As the reverend's wife in The Simpsons would say, 'Think of the Children!'

So my red agent provocateur corsolet and full 50s style pants were a sexy and safe option which let me focus on making pretty shapes with my fans, rather than on covering my ass! Having seen the pictures, I think it looks really cute. I think I've found an excellent 'Boston' version for this act.

Shaking off my feathers in the Laura J window.

Anyway, the vintage fair. There was naturally the full selection of Laura J shoes, of which I now own a stunning pair of black, patent heels I intend to wear out on my date tonight with BW.

The Laura J Lovelies!

Very saucy and uber cute Bann Bee lingerie, the divine French Kiss Vintage girls had a table of sparkly jewellery, handbags, vintage clothes were hung on the window, LadyLuck Rules OK necklaces and Lucy J Freeman doing vintage style makeovers. It was girly heaven!

And the French Kiss Vintage cuties!

The event was running all day although my contribution was from 1-4pm. Being more of a night owl, it was a bizarre experience finding myself up and about in London before midday. Luckily I was provided with cupcakes on my floral plate and tea in my dainty china tea cup as crowds gathered outside the shop window.

The girls took great care of me, constructing floaty curtains around me and getting the heater on and pointed in my direction to avoid the possibility of becoming an actual mannequin, frozen solid by the cold February winds!

I have to say, I was genuinely surprised by how the crowds really did gather and how many people filtered into the shop as a result. I suppose working in performance makes me immune at times to unusual sights but when I think about it, a woman in a pink chiffon and feather nightgown drinking tea in a window is quite unusual.

The crowds gather.

There was one little girl in particular who was just adorable and stood transfixed in front of the window. Her papa took her over the road so she could keep watching from a distance and before they left they came over so she could wave goodbye. She reminded me of myself as a little girl. If it was pink, I was fascinated!

She was just so adorable!

So altogether a very successful day. I took the opportunity to meet up with Duchess Divine for a quick dinner before heading out to Hitchin for my private booking.

Valentine's Day was a quiet affair as I recovered from carrying my bag up and down the thousands of stairs on the tube (seriously, more elevators please!), although I consoled myself in the knowledge that I must have had a great work out at the very least.

I was woken with a cup of tea from BW and we had a picnic on our living room floor - champagne, ploughmans and a movie.

Just perfect.

xx