"Drunken Dragon Nights" at Macao Trading Company, Photo by Mark Shelby Perry

Photo by Mark Shelby Perry

Next Monday is the October edition of "Drunken Dragon Nights"! RSVP at info@macaonyc.com. This month we are thrilled to host a party for Santa Teresa Rum (a 4 generation family owned company!) with an open bar from 9-10pm then drink specials there on. I've got Gal Friday and Rosie 151 - two of the hottest redheads in NYC burlesque - and Miss Catwings from Hawaii on the bill! What do you get when two redheads and two Asians walk in a bar? Well, you'll have to RSVP and hope to get on the guest list to find out!

SNAPPED! Gal Friday at Drunken Dragon Nights at Macao Trading Co. Last Night

This isn't a SNAPPED! of me, but of Gal Friday last night. I just loved this fan's IG video of her doing what she's best doin'! She is the resident DDN performer meaning she is with me every first Monday of the month.

SNAPPED! Last Night's Bar Bath at Macao Trading Company "Drunken Dragon Night"

SNAPPED by Audiomixer from my monthly show Drunken Dragon Night at Macao Trading Company. It was an EPIC night complete with Louis Royer Cognac repped by Jennifer (sitting on the right). I always end the show with a bar champagne bath. The timing however of the "bathing" isn't always accurate because, as you can see from the clip, Danilo got really into the music which was Def Leppard's "Pour some sugar on me", and I kept looking back at him going, "Now! Now! Now!" LOL But it was all good in the end.

New Photos by Jane Kratochvil at Macao Trading Company

The talented photographer Jane Kratochvil took these beautiful photos on Monday night where I performed at Macao Trading Company with Dandy Wellington and His Band for their monthly show "SouthSea Soirees". I have just returned from my week long hiking family trip in the Ozarks, and I wasn't quite sure how "on" I would be from a week off away from eyelashes, glitter, bobby pins, etc etc. But once I got there, I was right back in the groove! It was totally packed despite the random snow storm that hit NYC all Monday. I was happy to see all my Macao family like Bryan, Paula, Uros, and so many more. I admit with some guilt, that somehow when you are having this much fun, it doesn't feel like work!

It's always an exquisite luxury for me to perform in another producer/performer's show so that I can just perform and not have to do everything else too. On top of this, Jane is so easy to work with and a sheer talent to work with. We had some time before each act to do some portraits downstairs and really work with the Asian influenced decor at Macao.

Dandy is there on the 3rd Monday of every month, and I am there with "Drunken Dragon Nights" on the 1st Monday of the month. We try to work together as often as we can! He is also at Hotel Chantelle on Tuesday nights and on Saturday during brunch hours.

Photo by Jane Kratochvil

Photo by Jane Kratochvil

Photo by Jane Kratochvil

Photo by Jane Kratochvil

With Kirsty and Suzette. All the girls who work at Macao, I gotta say, are super cool, stylish, and awesome people. Photo by Jane Kratochvil

Photo by Jane Kratochvil

Downstairs where I usually do my "Drunken Dragon Nights" show. Photo by Jane Kratochvil

Photo by Jane Kratochvil

The one and only Dandy Wellington! Photo by Jane Kratochvil

Photo by Jane Kratochvil

Newish Classic-style Burlesque Acts

This is a picture of a new act that I am in love with! It's like Chinese Flamenco and I use a song called "Tamacun" by Rodrigo & Gabriela, a Mexican musical duo who specialize in playing fast, rhythmic acoustic guitars, and finish it off with "Sway" by Xavier Cougat. I use yellow silk fans for this act - which I really, really love working with.

Photo by Gabi Porter at "Drunken Dragon Nights" Macao Trading Company

The pants are covered from waist to hem with yellow fringe that I painstakingly sewed on by hand while watching "King of Queens" (my zone-out show that I hate but watch anyway). It shakes like crazy with the slightly motion. Every time I've performed this act the crowd starts clapping along.

Photo by Gabi Porter at "Drunken Dragon Nights" Macao Trading Company

Another act that is super classic and very flexible in terms of "approachability" is this white gown/fan combo. The gown is designed and made by Jamie Von Stratton in Seattle who have made me 5 commissioned dresses in total now, and we are working on a 6th one this year. This act gets a lot of play because it is popular during winter for "winter wonderland" themes, classic themes because of the big fans, corporate & wedding receptions like it as well because it is a long act (6 minutes) and it is "friendly" (ie: no hard grinding or inserting or pulling out anything). I use a song called "Creole Nights" by Dr. Michael White from New Orleans. I made the fans myself using Ms. Copperteal's acrylic base kit that I bought at BHoF last year. I LOVE MAKING FANS.

Photo by Jeffrey Grossman

Photo by Sam Polcer

"Les Fleurs de Shanghai" at Duane Park

Another act that I consider "classic with a modern twist" is this one to Reverend Horton Heat's "Loaded Gun". There's a lot of classic elements such as gloves, fur stole, garter belt, but also a lot of vinyl and strappy one-sies which I am VERY FOND of and own quite a few. I just can't get enough of them!

Photo by Mark Williams at Room 69, Hotel Chantelle

Photo by Mark Williams at Room 69, Hotel Chantelle

Photo by Mark Williams at Room 69, Hotel Chantelle

My Tail at Tales of The Cocktail 2012

Photo by Gabi Porter for Food Republic

Intense. Debaucherous. Stimulating. But above all SEXXXY!!! These are just some words I use to describe my first time attending Tales of the Cocktail in New Orleans at the end of June. I went with Employees Only, the speakeasy restaurant bar in the West Village where I am - as Eric the GM puts it - "our in-house burlesque dancer" and as Gabi Porter of Food Republic likes to say, "EO's resident temptress." EO is not just an employer to me. They are family. I book their "Silky Sunday" one-off burlesque act, and I also have my monthly "Drunken Dragon Nights" burlesque party at their sister restaurant Macao Trading Company. But they are also the hot brothers you can't have sex with! LOL. Every burlesque performer who I send on a regular basis to EO have a crush on someone there. We all have our special crushes and we compare notes. Think of it as the "Secret Girls Club of EO's Boys Club" Ha! So it was a great honor for me to be invited to go along with them this year to celebrate their big win at Tales 2011 ("Best Cocktail Bar in the World) with a pop-up party at One Eyed Jack's in New Orleans.

For those who are not familiar with the world of mixology, Tales is an annual event held in New Orleans, the birthplace of the cocktail. The week long event is attended by national and international bars, restaurants, brand ambassadors, and cocktail enthusiasts to learn about the history of cocktails (for instance, the origin of the blue drink, where the marischino cherry came from, etc), to compete for various titles, and also, to partake in the sampling of many, many, many glasses of specialty drinks and eat the complimentary Nola food! It is definitely not for the inexperienced drinker or the inexperienced late-night-stay-upper. I can only compare it to Burlesque Hall of Fame Weekend but on a much, much larger scale and with ALL guys and not show girls. The typical guy attending Tales? Moustache, tattoos, straw Fedora hat. Pretty appetizing, I say, even at 7AM as I boarded my flight at LGA. And like all industries, there are rock stars. The boys of EO are indeed rock stars in their field. I knew a bit about each of the 5 owners' credentials already. You don't get to where they are without a fine ass list of accomplishments from before. (See Dushan Zaric's books on Amazon).

Bar Room Brawl competition on Friday where EO won "People's Choice". This happened after the win!

EO's Pop-up party at One Eyed Jack's - at some point in the night, they all took their tops off

And I should say I've heard about various bartenders' "credentials" as well from the burlesque vine (wink wink). But here, I was experiencing firsthand their rock star status as I danced, sat, writhed, got wet, got bathed, (fill in the blank) on top of the bar watching many a starstruck groupie (male AND female alike) come by to say hello and do a shot with their chosen one. And who could blame them? I was once also on the other side of the bar in the early 20s and had a bartender crush on every block south of Houston. These godlike figures who poured me measured amounts of happiness, flirted with me, and made me feel pretty. Then I dated one (not from EO mind you, a bartender who was far less fun, good looking, and inferior) for eight months, and well, that cured the hangover to say the least. But that's my tail in another tale for another time.

I was on the same flight leaving NYC as the rest of the crew from EO. It felt really weird to see everyone (and to have them see me) at so early in the morning. I feel like if they were going to see me that early at 7am, it better be the walk of shame! When we checked in the hotel, my room wasn't ready and Nikki Le Villain, who met me there, hasn't arrived either so I changed into my bikini and went to chill out by the pool. It was a gorgeous pool overlooking the famous Byzantine-esque cathedral next door. There were two other people by the pool and it was a gorgeous day. I ordered room service and had it delivered to me poolside, and by then Nikki had arrived and we set out on the town before tech/sound run-thru. Nikki knew all the places to go. This was only my second time in NoLa. My first time was last year for the New Orleans Burlesque Festival (read entry). We grabbed a bite at Muriel's and had our first drink. Then we went wandering around through the French Quarter shopping at Trashy Diva, a couple of voodoo shops Nikki knew about, drank some more, hid from a thunderstorm in a bar, drank some more again, went in somewhere famous and peed, drank again, bought tickets to hear jazz at Preservation Hall but we only sat through two songs because it was really late and it was hot as Satan's balls in there.

Nikki belongs in New Orleans

pre-storm afternoon

I really fell in love with the pedicabs this time

The lobby of The Roosevelt. This photo doesn't do it justice.

After our picturesque and leisurely Wednesday things got truly BUSY. Starting with Thursday night's pop-up party which Serious Eats described as,

"The Employees Only Pop-Up Night will become the stuff of legend at future Tales. The West Village staple and winner of last year's Tales of the Cocktail Spirited Award for Best Cocktail Bar truly showed everyone how to throw a party. Sure, they made cocktails, but they also threw a honey of a bash, and everyone wanted to go. It's very difficult to balance gravitas and good times, and the boys from EO once again showed that you can be a "serious cocktail bar" without boring people. Or judging them. Or telling them to stop dancing on the bar-top. The Second Line escorting people out at closing time was particularly inspired. Brilliant."

The party started out with Jayna Morgan and her band - they were AMAZING. New Orleans has the best music scene. Every street corner is a talent, it seems like. I am amazed every time I hear live music in NoLa. No wonder why all the burlesque performers there prefer dancing to a live band, a luxury we New York girls rarely get to experience. Nikki opened the show with a recreation of "Silky Sunday" with Grandpa (Henri) as the birthday victim on the stage. Nikki writhed, shimmied, and seduced the audience to "I Put a Spell on You"to a very interactive Grandpa bitting his fist and hanging onto her lingerie. Another hour goes by and Perle Noire took the stage performing with Jayna's band to "Tiger Rag". Perle KILLED it. She got the crowd so amped up - they were already amped up from the open bar, amazing truffle cheese sandwiches, rock shrimp, tuna tartare floating around prepared by EO's Chef Julia The Butcher's Daughter, and along comes this vibrant, fiery, charismatic dancer in flame red and orange throwing her arms around on stage to the rhythm of the drums, and doing backward bends and splits on stage! It's no surprise why Perle is touring with Dita von Teese AGAIN this fall! Nice, friendly, and a true professional, nothing phases her. I know, because last time she performed at my show at Hotel Chantelle, there was a problem with her mp3 and her music wouldn't play. So she yelled, "Put anything on, I'll dance to it!" And the only other playlist was the house list which I was not familiar with so I hit play on a random song and it was a long ass wailing country song! But she did it anyway and knocked it out of the ballpark! Once in a lifetime experience, I tell ya, seeing Perle improvising to a country song.

Perle Noire and Jayna's band! I love the one heel on the side. Haha!

Then around 1AM my champagne bath act started. I was lucky enough to find Mattie Stillwell, a local painter who have worked with burlesque performers before to paint me as if I was wearing a corset and stockings. It took about 2 hours for her to paint me before the party started, and the paint held up quite well despite the heat and me having through a lot of people.



I flew down with my over-sized champagne glass and this is what I used to contain the baby oil/soap water mixture to wash off my "outfit" on top of the bar.  As always, Igor is my main man who helps me with all things slippery and wet on the bar (hahahahhaha) and to help me off the bar so I don't slip and kill myself. Eric made sure no one broke the glass this time (unlike last time at Macao...another story), but nevertheless, once my act was done and the brass band marched through the club and chicken soup was served (the EO tradition if you are still at the bar at closing time), I myself forgot about my glass in favor of sitting on the bar drinking with my new friend Gogo Bell and forgetting what else might have happened after that... but I did NOT wake up with a new EO tattoo although the resident tattoo artist did do 36 in total at the party! Perhaps next year. ;-)

Said glass in Eric's hands

Igor, Dushan, Eric, Jason, Rebecca bringing out the chicken soup!

The brass band closed the night!

Friday night was the Bar Room Brawl in which four of EO's principal bartenders (Dev, Steve, Milos, Vincent) made a different cocktail each as part of a competition with a bunch of other bars around the US and world for the judges to taste. Nikki, Moxie, and myself were there to do atmosphere and be the EO cheerleaders. Moxie and I each did a burlesque act with the band TribeFlow. I sat on the end of the bar where Dev was pouring so I only got to taste the Mata Hari which was amazing!!! I did taste Steve's Ginger Mash at the other end where Nikki and Moxie sat, that was really good too. EO won People's Choice Award at Bar Room Brawl. It was a lot of fun watching all these people come by station to station drinking. Some people had four cups in their hands, and by the end after the awards were given out, we were giving people cognac shots straight down their throats! I discovered that I really like given alcohol away to people while perched on top of a bar manned by handsome boys. You can never make an enemy when you give away alcohol with a smile! Words to live by!

The Win!

More Press about EO in NoLa:

• Exploring the “Unparties” of Tales of the Cocktail 2012 by Emily Cavalier - Underground Eats 
• Michael Neff and Carey Jones Look Back on Tales of the Cocktail - Serious Eats
• NYC To New Orleans: Scenes From The Employees Only Pop-Up by Gabi Porter - Food Republic

Photo by Rick Delaup

Dallas Burlesque Festival 2012 & Lots of Other Info & Pics!

I just returned from my trip down home to Dallas, Texas to perform in the 4th Annual Dallas Burlesque Festival produced by The Ruby Revue, one of the biggest burlesque troupes in the greater Dallas/Fort Worth area. One of the producers, Ginger Valentine, was just recently crowned "Queen of Burlesque" at the New Orleans Burlesque Festival. You may wonder, what's the big deal with the festivals? Well, you are not alone. You are asking the same question as my Mom! She was surprised when I told her that we don't get paid to perform in the festivals, if we are lucky, we get an honorarium which can vary from $25-300 depending on your level of "fame". The headliners (for instance, in the Dallas festival, they were Michelle L'amour (Chicago), The Schlepp Sisters (NYC), and Bazuka Joe (Chicago)) will usually have their airfare and accommodations covered by the show producers. The rest are responsible for their own transportation and accommodation. I could see my mom's reaction. Naturally her next question was, "What do you get out of it? You spend so much money! How come you girls don't have personal sponsors? Someone should start a 'scholarship' or something for you all to apply for to cover your costs for costuming and flying around."

All good questions which I tried to answer. I explained firstly, for me, I like to travel and go to cities I've never been to or cities where I have friends (and obviously family) in so that factor greater determines my application decision. Secondly, festivals are worth doing because you get to meet other performers and expand your network. As a producer I am always looking for established, out-of-town performers to shake things up here a bit. It's immeasurably valuable for me to meet some of the ladies in person and watch them perform in person. And thirdly, I think every performer secretly wants to win a title of some kind if they are performing in a pageant-based festival. These titles don't really mean much in the real world sense. They are only relevant in the burlesque community. Most civilians don't know what the titles are or care, but performers are still introduced with a string of titles they've won such as "Miss Coney Island", "Best Debut at the Burlesque Hall of Fame", "The Legends Award" so on and so forth. The creativity behind the titles are amusing. The biggest honor, however, is to perform AND be titled in the annual Burlesque Hall of Fame weekend in Las Vegas. This festival is THE Oscars for burlesquers. It's also like a weekend summer camp for performers and burlesque aficionados alike. I have never been but perhaps this year I will. 

The Dallas festival took place at the House of Blues, and the place was HUGE. I have seen the girls of Ruby Revue perform at the anniversary show last year and I thought they were all very talented, detail oriented, and super polished. So it was really awesome to meet at least three of them in person: Ginger Valentine, Missy Lisa, and Black Mariah (who I met in an elevator, drunk, when I was in New Orleans). The girls also had Tami True on the set list. If you don't know who she is, she's one of the legends from the olden days before "burlesque" is feminist and it was just straight up stripping. Tami True was one of the headline dancers at the striptease club The Carousel Club owned by the infamous Jack Ruby! She is now 70-something but still spitfire. We were both in the second set on Saturday night and we shared a small gripe backstage about how it was already midnight and we still haven't performed yet. If you look up anything related to Jack Ruby, she will show up. I even saw a documentary about Jack Ruby where her name was lit up in the marquee outside the Carousel.

On another smaller stage the "All Stars Weekend" boy band was playing. I heard that they are on the Disney Channel but there was a HUGE line of pre-teen and teenage girls lined up outside the venue at 430pm waiting for them! I don't know who they are but they seem popular with the teen girls. They were in another dressing room but seemed very curious about all the burlesque performers changing backstage. Hahaha. This was the biggest stage I've performed on besides the Colorado Burlesque Festival which is really good too. I highly recommend applying for both Dallas and Colorado's festivals! My mom, aunt, my brother and my man were in attendance on my night. And my old childhood friend came with a friend of hers. And I am happy to report that thanks to those of you (Dixie Rising in particular) who commented on my Facebook wall inquiring about the right color of stage lighting for Asian complexion, I asked for a pink light and it looked simply MAAAARVELOUS! 

(I've now started to watermark all my pictures front and center because people keep stealing my photos and not crediting who I am or at least who the photographer is. Sorry for the visual disturbance..)

And the dressing room is BIGGER than my old studio apartment in LES

I love going home to Texas. I don't take my computer so I am away from technology (except my iPhone), I don't have to think about what to feed myself every day (my Mom is a killer cook), and I sleep in every day and go shopping with my Mom and aunt. The biggest decision I have to make while at home is whether or not I should indulge in fast food dri-thru. It's so nice to give my brain a rest for a few days. We closed out the festival weekend at the Sunday Awards & Show at Dish Restaurant in a nice neighborhood that looked to me like the "Chelsea of Dallas". Everyone in my family came even my dad! I didn't perform so it was okay for him to be there. My sixteen year old cousin had to stay home with Chewie but he didn't mind. I don't think he knows what "burlesque" is yet. He just immigrated to the States from Taiwan less than a year old and teenagers in Taiwan are much less precocious than American teens. The food was delicious and so were the drinks! The show was really fun and had more sing/strip acts than the Saturday night show. I got to meet more girls from Dallas and elsewhere. My brother wanted pictures with everyone! My dad said afterwards that he wasn't very shocked but then again he was drinking whiskey straight up.

I am wearing Michael (on the right) and Haute Hippie dress (on myself)

Rockin out my vintage Norwegian fox stole

Group shot at the end of Sunday night's dinner & show! I have my finger inside Violet O'hara's cleave! Cha cha cha!

Back in NYC, I am happy to announce the return of "Drunken Dragon Nights" at Macao Trading Company on Monday, February 20! Two hours of open bar from 9-11pm with burlesque by myself, Gal Friday, Nikki Le Villain, and new to DDN, Tansy at 10pm! Kittening by Minx Arcana. It is a free event but you must RSVP to get past by our doorman Mauricio at info@macaonyc.com

Secondly, tonight, February 9, 2012 marks the 2nd year anniversary of my THURSDAY night at Nurse Bettie! Incredible, eh? I've never been committed to anything this long!

2nd year anniversary!

Thirdly (is there such a term?), "Les Fleurs de Shanghai" returns to Duane Park on Wednesday, February 29, 2012! Just so happens that this month's show lands on a leap year, how lucky for us! Last month's show sold out completely, even the bar was packed so don't wait til last minute and take your chances. Dinner & Show RSVP are required by calling Duane Park at 212.732.5555. I am extra excited this month to introduce our fans to an extraordinary musician from Julliard, Andy Lin, who will be playing the traditional Chinese instrument "er hu" which is absolutely and unbelievably haunting. It will bring tears to your eyes.

DeeDee Luxe (right) plays a mean hand of poker! "Les Fleurs de Shanghai", Wednesday, February 29, 2012 at Duane Park

Lastly, you can see me this Saturday, February 11, 2012 at 9 PM on the quirky TV series "Oddities" on Science Channel! If you are unfamiliar with the show, I highly recommend it! It's about an old antique shop in the East Village of NYC and all the quirky characters who come in looking for particular items. They are not your grandmother's kind of antique shop. Tune in to my episode called "Seeing Scars"! (Read my earlier post about being filmed for the episode here)

"Seeing Scars" on ODDITIES, Saturday 9PM, February 11, 2012 on Science Channel