Los Angeles, Review 0 comments on Bootleg Bombshells Cosplay Night

Bootleg Bombshells Cosplay Night

Just because I’m traveling for work doesn’t mean I can’t go catch a burlesque show… and so I find myself on a Friday night in Los Angeles headed to the Townhouse in Venice.

For five years, Bootleg Bombshells have been hosting weekly shows there, and every fifth Friday they host a special show as well.

Tonight’s theme is Cosplay, so I expected to see my childhood memories perverted in the flesh. And the show certainly delivered on that front.

The Townhouse is a beautiful Venice venue that houses a speakeasy basement level, with a different cocktail menu from upstairs, and is a perfect setting for a fun Burlesque show that allows performers to work the floor and the audience as well.

As a special treat, tonight’s host is the fierce and fabulous Lux LaCroix, dressed as Rocket Raccoon.

Lux brings out the first performer, a guest star: Angie Cakes comes out as Evil-Lyn from He-Man – every young bad boy’s wet dream. Sporting a blue outfit with trademark crown and a lit-up scepter, the absence of Skeletor drove her into the lap of an unsuspecting audience member as she proceeded to wrap her witchcraft around his neck.

Elese Navidad scrubs the floor clean of money, of which there is plenty that came from a table close to me. Lux throws oil on the fire by calling out people throwing more bills right after she picked them up, causing her to do a double-take and a fresh bend.

The lights dim, and a shrouded masked figure makes an appearance. A palpable sense of youthful fear shoots through the room – Shredder is back! The tension releases when the mask and shroud come off, revealing a beaming Coco Ono, now dressed as Michelangelo, dancing to the show’s theme song.

Coco gets a pizza delivered in a box, puts it on the floor, and gets on all fours, eating a slice out of the box. She hands out slices to the audience (including one to yours truly) and I surmise it to be a vegan pepperoni pizza – excellent choice.

After that, Coco is writhing on the floor, wrestling with a yellow jumpsuit for her final transformation into April O’Neil – the real reason we used to watch the show. Three acts for the price of one, in a free show!

Time for the intermission – celebrating birthdays. One woman quickly steps up, but it takes some negotiating to find a second person having their birthday somewhere this year. Both people claim to be turning 34, an unlikely coincidence, but Lux goes with it as Lulu Mon Dieu sweeps up the money with her bare hands. “You’re from Brooklyn? I was born in Brooklyn! That’s why I’m allowed to be obnoxious. That, and I’m an only child.” After some more off-microphone interchange with the birthday boy, she goes “Oh no, that’s not how this goes. We’re not having a conversation. I’m talking to you and you’re liking it.” Our kind of sass.

Coco Ono delivers the birthday spanks, fifteen each, and the show continues with Ghostbusters. Elese Navidad comes out dressed like one, but her undressing is interrupted by the arrival of a gooey green ghost taking the stage, sending her hiding behind a barrel. To make matters worse, the Puff Man comes out too! Elese gathers her courage, headrolls to her ray gun, and does what she does best – bust! She celebrates her victory with a few twists and turns on the pole, before strapping her proton pack back on to keep warm and clothed. They do say, dress for the job you want.

The show continues with a slice of Star Wars. From the back of the room, a rebel pilot in orange jumpsuit and white helmet pushes through the crowd – it’s Lulu Mon Dieu delivering us her rebel yell. It’s only a few minutes before the Death Star is in firing range of Yavin-4, so she wastes no time shedding ballast, and swings from the ceiling to headlock another patron with her legs.

We reach the end of the show, and Lux introduces her favorite performer ever, amazing and modest at the same time: herself. Rocket Raccoon throws out the most adorable and powerful dance moves, leaving us both aroused and confused at the same time, questioning whether we should confront our latent specism.

55 minutes in, the show is over all too soon, given the fun we had reliving our childhood.

If you’re in Los Angeles, do yourself a favor – head to the Townhouse in Venice on Wednesday nights.

Crash Chords: Autographs 0 comments on CC: Autographs Ep. #78 – Feat. Nasty Canasta

CC: Autographs Ep. #78 – Feat. Nasty Canasta

Image Credits: Francine Daveta.



Today Matt welcomes Nasty Canasta, a burlesque producer and performer hailing from Brooklyn, NY. A producer for Wasabassco, Nasty is known by the tag line “The girl with the 44DD brain.” She was a previously a guest on the Crash Chords Podcast, Ep. #183, where she brought on Donker Mag by Die Antwoord for discussion. Today, Matt inquires into her earliest ambitions and her transition from theater to burlesque. They chat about what she looks for in other performers and the types of acts and shows she identifies with most. They chat about her most recent Wasabassco show “Unstripped Mysteries” (a tribute to the show Unsolved Mysteries), as well as her costuming skills and what goes into creating outfits. And so, from Nasty’s future as a producer to the future of burlesque as a whole, here’s presenting Matt Storm and Nasty Canasta.

Next Interview:
w/ Richard Torres

Review 0 comments on Bathtub Gin (Tuesday, 2017-09-12)

Bathtub Gin (Tuesday, 2017-09-12)

Boo Bess is back as your host tonight, dressed in red as a pantsless executive, opening the proceedings sharply at 21.45.

I promise I’ll be gentle. I never keep my promises.

Matthew Holtzclaw is up first, giving us a choice between an old Broadway song or a magic trick. If I tell you it ended in fire you know what the crowd chose.

“Shall I bring out the next performer? Are you ready? No you’re not. But I’m going to do it anyway, cause it’s my only job.”

Medianoche comes out to a Count Basie song, perfectly timing her rear shakes to the keys of the piano break.

Hazel Honeysuckle is next, playfully scorned after being taken advantage of, feathers on her head, and dropping her cherry red balls to her mouth.

Sydni Deveraux comes out all dressed in yellow, showing off her nine feet of legs.

Nasty Canasta closes the set pinkhaired to an unspotifyable song by Royal Crown Revue called “Take a Long Drink for Me”, which she proceeds to do before getting in the tub, emptying her glass in it, and marking the splash zone with a few kicks and hair throws. She ends lodging her flute glass between her rear cheeks twice and filling it sight unseen, and then empties the whole bottle for the finish.

Tuesday Talk 0 comments on Tuesday Talk #63 – Sydni Deveraux

Tuesday Talk #63 – Sydni Deveraux

An in-depth conversation about burlesque, being a naked lady online, not feeding the trolls, rock music and acclimating to NYC with Sydni Deveraux.

Stay Up to Date with Sydni Deveraux

  1. Upcoming Shows
  2. The Golden Glamazon
  3. Patreon
  4. Instagram
  5. Facebook
  6. SmartandNaked.com

The Cliff Notes

  1. Thumbnail Photography by DeboraSpencer.com
  2. The Laziest Way to have your Coffee
  3. Burlesque
  4. Competition Flute Player
  5. Vocal Jazz
  6. Some Shooby Doo-Wops
  7. Smashing Pumpkins
  8. The Cranberries
  9. Miles Davis – Kind Blue 
  10. John Coltrane – Blue Train
  11. Ella Fitzgerald – Greatest Hits
  12. Sarah Vaughan
  13. Ella and Louis
  14. Billie Holiday
  15. Pin-Up Modeling
  16. Suicide Girls
  17. DYI of Burlesque
  18. Ray Charles – Mary Ann
  19. Falling into Her Passion
  20. Acclimating to New York
  21. Reliability in NYC is a Premium
  22. Stuck on the Subway
  23. The Legends of Burlesque
  24. Blaze Starr
  25. Tempest Storm
  26. Dixie Evans
  27. Toni Elling
  28. Dirty Martini
  29. Miss Indigo Blue
  30. Michelle L’amour
  31. Julie Atlas Muz
  32. Tigger Boylesque
  33. Dita Von Teese
  34. Catherine D’Lish
  35. Being a Rockstar Ruckus on Stage
  36. Professional Kittens
  37. Paris is Burning
  38. Perle Noire
  39. Led Zeppelin
  40. Bathtub Gin
  41. Doc Wasabassco
  42. Nasty Canasta
  43. Stripping Dancing Sandwich
  44. The Sociology of Sexuality
  45. Being a Naked Lady Online
  46. Not Here to Escort or Call Girl
  47. DJ Kool Herc
  48. Coco Chanel
  49. Yves Saint Laurent
  50. How did History Inform their Journey
  51. Giuseppe González
  52. Duke Ellington’s Harlem Nocturne
  53. Bumps and Grinds
  54. The Johnny Staccato Band – Three For the show
  55. Man with the Golden Arm – Elmer Bernstein
  56. Sounds of New York
  57. Mister Softee
  58. Last Car of the L Train
  59. Don’t Feed the Trolls
  60. Creating a Venue
  61. Black Sabbath 
  62. AC/DC
  63. Woodstock
  64. Seattle Space Needle
  65. Experience Music Project Museum
  66. Tamir Rice
  67. Freddie Gray
  68. Big Brother and the Holding Company
  69. Janis Joplin
  70. Jimi Hendricks
  71. Cream
  72. Virtue Signaling and Superfluous Words
  73. Animaniacs
  74. Super Bleeding Heart for the Animals

(You can listen and subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Subscribe on Android, iHeart Radio, Mixcloud, TuneIn, Stitcher, PodBean, PlayerFM, Google Play or listen via the media player above.)

This episode is sponsored by Gorilla Coffee.

Review 0 comments on The Wiggle Room (Wednesday, 2017-09-06)

The Wiggle Room (Wednesday, 2017-09-06)

On this rainy Wednesday I make haste from Nurse Bettie to the Slipper Room.

Walt Whitman is on stage, and introduces Sean Blue, who deftly throws a whole lot of rings around. That takes us to the intermission already, and Stormy Leather comes out with the tip bucket while Puss-N-Boots starts of the go-go in green, followed by Madame Rosebud, who, apart from swallowing a full hand holding a bill, keeps it uncharacteristically low-key on the gogo box tonight. Madame Rosebud was an unannounced performer tonight, most likely falling in for Emily Shephard who was on the bill but did not show up tonight.

There is royalty in the audience tonight – I spot Albert Cadabra, Gigi Bon Bon, Ellie Steingraeber, Cassandra Rosebeetle and Lucy Licious all in attendance.

For the second set, Go goat boy replaces Walt Whitman. I don’t think I’ve seen Goat Boy before, because I think I would remember, because this act still needs some work to stitch the performances together – the audience clearly appreciated the performances more than the MC. Maybe with more time and less obvious jokes it could be a good act.

Anyway, we came for the performances, and Puss-N-Boots certainly delivered as The Cat Woman – a shame I can’t find The Marketts song on Spotify.

Chipps Cooney showed us why the Magician’s Guild has threatened to take his license away. I certainly appreciate his deadpan delivery of magic trick explanations.

I had never seen Broody Valentino perform before, but I like what I saw and he would make a great addition to the monthly Boylesque nights! The audience certainly enjoyed the performance.

Rosebud does her David Bowie tribute, and while Freddie Mercury had no trouble coming after David Bowie, he would probably not have enjoyed the pantomimed pan flute rendition of “I want to break free” that Goat Boy gives us. At least it expresses what we all feel in the moment, and I have a feeling that was the whole point of the act.

Sean Blue is a welcome return, this time showering the audience in balls, and actually stripping while keeping his juggle going. At one point, he goes into the audience to ask for help to unbuckle his belt, and then when he’s just in his underwear he goes around the room sitting on people’s laps while keeping his balls in the air. He ends his act by juggling the clothes he just took off.

Stormy Leather closes the night with her amazing “Mrs. Robinson” act, ending naked save for the rope dress she just fit to her body. A classic.

Review 0 comments on Spanking the Lower East Side (Wednesday, 2017-09-06)

Spanking the Lower East Side (Wednesday, 2017-09-06)

I come in and Hoodoo Hussy is manning the windowsill for the pre-show gogo.

It’s a rainy Wednesday so Nurse Bettie is a little more empty than it usually is. But that doesn’t matter to Shelly Watson, a consummate professional who early on introduces one of the patrons to her balcony. Shelly kicks off the night by singing Night and Day, and then introduces us to the first act: Hazel Honeysuckle is back from a short trip to Venice and Los Angeles, and delights us with her B-O-O-B-S song, adapted for the occasion to feature references to Shelly, the host.

Shelly mentions she read something on “Face Libre – that’s Italian for Facebook everyone!”

For the next act, she asks if anyone in the room is an Arrested Development fan? She introduces someone debuting at Nurse Bettie – and Peachy Kink comes out dressed like a Bluth banana to Abba.

“She popped her cherry here tonight, everyone! Incidentally, I told my last lover that I popped it a while ago, but that I still have the box it came in!”

Shelly introduces the third act of the night – Hoodoo Hussy, who was doing the gogo before, in a classic white and green outfit accompanied by Harry Belafonte.

Shelly sings “Moderate Spender” for a different take on the classic, and as Hazel goes around with the tip bucket, Shelly serenades her with “Whatever Hazel Wants”, and as a result Hazel takes the stage again for the intermission gogo.

I couldn’t stay after the break for Tutu Toussaint and Lillian Bustle – next time.

News 0 comments on Help fund Delysia La Chatte’s startup “Meow” on GoFundMe!

Help fund Delysia La Chatte’s startup “Meow” on GoFundMe!

Help fund Delysia La Chatte‘s Meow startup business!

From her page:

I am a young African American woman from the South Bronx (South Bronx Forever) working in the fields of visual art, fashion and performance. It’s been my life long dream to own my own business and express my personality and independence through fusing my three passions. The result is La Chatte’s Meow!

Even if just a small amount of my friends and followers will contribute $2.50, $5.00, $10.00 etc. to my campaign, I will be well on my way to success. It may sound like a modest “ask” but it will have an enormous result. You will be investing in a strong independent, proud, black woman who will never forget your help and will support you and your endeavors in any way I can.

Receiving your help now will go a long way towards helping me with my business loan and securing my inventory (I’d be almost 20% of the way there, and I can do the rest!)

Review 0 comments on The Slipper Room Midnight Show (Saturday, 2017-09-02)

The Slipper Room Midnight Show (Saturday, 2017-09-02)

After going to see Wasabassco’s Hellfire Club, we moved on to Slipper Room and arrived at the end of the earlier show.

Bastard Keith was talking to two girls on stage, one a UFC fighter, the other a chef. One of them was from England, and about to get married. “What is going to be your new surname? And surname in England is the name we give to a sir.” “You’re going to love this”, she replied. “It’s Handside hyphen Dick.”

I think she temporarily broke Bastard Keith. I haven’t often seen him at a loss of words due to a fit of laughter before, but she sure did it.

Bastard brought out Jonathan Nosan, a contortionist, who wowed the crowd bending every which way.

Then The Maine Attraction the came out, dancing with fire on her hands, ending her act by setting her pasties on fire.
With that, the first show ended, and Cheeky Lane took the gogo box, inviting people to send her dick pics, and showing them to passersby as they came in.

Wilfredo was our host for the second show, and started off the night with his song for all seasons, throwing flowers into the audience.

Madame Rosebud came out in a gorgeous gold dress, performing a perfectly undercooled act, causing Wilfredo to inform us that we all just nibbled on the nipple of excitement.

Ellie Steingraeber let us in on her all-American aerobics routine, and seeing all those hoops definitely got us excited.

Wilfredo introduced Jonathan again, saying “He’s just trying to make ends meet.” Jonathan did a long act where he essentially ripped up a newspaper, then made it whole again – an interesting twist for a contortionist.

Wilfredo was in fine form tonight, throwing out zingers like “I see you taking a look at my Lower East Side!

Cassandra Rosebeetle was a bride in white, a convincing ball and chain.

Zero Boy was next, bringing his one-man sound effect comedy to the Slipper Room. Afterwards Wilfredo asked him about his upcoming show, but not before he commented “You’re so tall your wife must go up on you.”

Peekaboo Pointe gave us her salty salute to “Nobody Does It Better”

Cassandra came out for the gogo intermission as a blood red nurse.

Wilfredo took us back into the show for the second half with his rendition of “Those were the days”. Rosebud paid tribute to David Bowie with “Wild is the Wind”.

Ellie brought us hoop aerial, contorting in the hoop and bringing the eighties back.

Cassandra had both hands red with candle until she poured the wax out over herself.

And Peekaboo gave us the ultimate send-off with her Lazy Stripper act, telling us all to “go away!” and asking us “Why are you still here? Urgh!

Uncle Earl came out for the traditional Saturday night “Sweet Caroline” singalong (which saw two patrons dive into the backstage and join the dancers on stage to fill it up, as some of the performers had left already on this late night). And then Wilfredo came back out too, and they did a duet to “Theme from New York” to close off the show.

Wilfredo wanted to bring someone out for gogo, but didn’t know who was next (and frankly, there weren’t any dancers left that hadn’t taken the gogo box yet). He asked the DJ to get creative, and the DJ announced “On the gogo box, it’s your host – Wilfredo!” Good move, and Wilfredo obliged, and I made sure to make it worth his while.

It had been a while since we had closed the Slipper Room together, but this was a perfect way to celebrate our four years in New York!

Review 6 comments on Wasabassco’s The Hellfire Club

Wasabassco’s The Hellfire Club

Once every few months, Wasabassco hosts a burlesque show where the performers go all the way. We had seen it at the Kraine Theatre in the East Village, but since then the event has moved to the Gemini & Scorpio Loft in Brooklyn and changed slightly to have a dress code and only allow pre-sale ticket entrance, which we assume helps to keep it classy and filled with people who really wanted to be there.

We arrived about fifteen minutes before the show’s start, and there was already gogo action on the stage. Logan Laveau and Puss-N-Boots were bar bunnies on duty, Sapphire Jones walked among the patrons as hospitality, and we spotted both Gigi Bon Bon and photographer Ellen Stagg in attendance.

At 9 sharp, Nasty Canasta bookended her sleazy Nightrain routine inbetween two slivers of classic burlesque music for the parts where she kept her pasties on.

Tiger Bay commanded us to comply with her futuristic permafrost act, dressed in black like a female robocop oozing control with a baseball bat held with those black leather thumbless gloves that sadly were about the only thing that didn’t come off by the end. Her icy death stare dominated the audience throughout, and this act was a definite highlight.

Sydni Deveraux brought back the nineties in a bubblegum school outfit going to the beach, spreading out a bathing towel and putting the cream back in suncream, accentuating her youthful transgressions with “oops,I didn’t mean to do that” looks.

This first triad took us to the break, which ended with Nina La Voix coming out sitting at a table dressed in long lilac feather boa’s (which were hard to avoid stepping on later in the break for some patrons, as it turns out).

Qualms Galore took it back to the seventies with Donna Summer.

Delysia La Chatte took the stage dressed only in a large black sheet, which she, after revealing it all in the opening, expertly used to draw sharply outlined partial views of her body. That is, until she brought out a skull, proceeded to make out with it, and then had it nibble on her breasts before disappearing it between her legs. The act pulled off both funny and erotic at once, and my partner and I both agreed this was the highlight act for the evening for us.

I used the second break to unclog one of only two bathrooms in the loft to speed up the proceedings. After that, Gigi La Femme (who moved out of New York, but was back for the week) performed an act to Dimitri From Paris’s “Une Very Stylish Fille”, which I sadly can’t find on Spotify.

Jenny C’est Quoi usually has acts that go just a little bit more out there, and this time was no exception. We couldn’t really see what happened exactly, but it seemed she slid something between her legs, took out her phone, and handed it to a woman in the audience to play with. We were guessing that the phone controlled the something. A little bit later, she passed the phone to a man on the other side, who gingerly said “Watch out!”. At the end she took out the something and pretended it was a phone as well, talking to an imaginary someone on the other side as she walked off.

The show ended with the traditional unwrapping of Amanda Whip: Amanda takes a seat, and performers one by one come up to remove an article of clothing as suggestively as possible. Gigi made off with a necklace, and Sydni and Qualms came up together, allowing me to settle the burning question of “which of them is taller?” (answer: they both are, as far as I could tell).

And with that, the show was over, the gogo started again, and we mingled with the guests for a bit before buying a Hellfire Club photo book and making our way back to Manhattan to the Slipper Room.