Eau de Jo

New York’s Newest Burlesque Performers!

Above: New York School of Burlesque students in a showcase in 2005

Come see shimmying, shaking, twirling, mischief, and glamour! The students of the New York School of Burlesque are shaking it down on the Slipper Room’s jewel-box stage—some of them for the very first time!

Featuring:
Bella Fighetta
Busty Springfield
Della Dare
Leta LeNoir
Lexi LeTite
Maia Moon
Selena Varius

With Special Guest Alumni
Gigi LaFemme!


Above: New York School of Burlesque students in a showcase in 2007


Friday, June 20, 8 pm $5
167 Orchard St at Stanton
http://www.schoolofburlesque.com

The Award-Winning New York School of Burlesque Presents
June and July Classes! Here's a sample:

Spellbinding Burlesque with Veronica Varlow
4-week class series is Thursdays June 19, 26, July 3rd, July 17th, 7-8.30 pm.
Learn how to prepare to entrance and bind your audience, whether for a private seduction or a stage presentation. Veronica teaches secret techniques for finding inspiration, for feeling you are at your peak to perform, and for letting your audience share your passion. Charm is the word!
"Veronica Varlow sees the beauty in You, and in falling under Her spell, you fall under YOUR spell. 'Spellbinding Burlesque' is all about charm, sisterhood, and secrets!" - Coco La Pearl

Onstage Glamour with World Famous *BOB* June 29
The Onstage Beauty workshop is a fun filled tour through the world of Showgirl & Drag Queen Beauty secrets! Well, they're not secrets anymore because the World Famous *BOB* is letting them out!!! Come with or without a wig but be sure to bring questions and concerns regarding the sometimes mysterious world of Onstage Glamour! Having the perfect dress just isn't enough- your hair & makeup are almost all you have left on at the end of strip anyways- make sure to impress! Lash application, lash customization, wig and hair piece care & styling, body make up tips, and more!!!!
"I have taken *BOB*'s Onstage Glamour class twice and fully intend to take it everytime it's offered! *BOB* worked her magic with my beehive wig and has taught me how to wield a brush and a fake eyelash simultaneously - this is an essential class for learning all the glamorous tricks of the trade from one of burlesque's most glamorous performers!"- Della Dare

Ultimate Self-Confidence with World Famous *BOB* June 22
Nothing feels better or looks hotter than pure self-confidence. World Famous *BOB* will teach you how to refuse to let your imperfections define you, and how to give yourself permission to feel beautiful and valuable all the time, onstage or off.
"Just HAD to mention, the class was AMAZING! I've never felt better about being a young lady in my life. *BOB* is a great inspiration and so empowering, I hope she has more classes in the future for us insecure ladies.. that don't know how to take a damn compliment!"
--Tiny

Go-Go Moves with Miss Exotic World 2008 Angie Pontani!
She shimmied her way to the top, and she's definitely got the moves! Learn captivating go-go stylings from one of the most sought-after dancers in the burlesque scene. Not only is she one of the hottest and most acclaimed burlesque performers in the world, Angie is one of the founders and coordinators of the New York Burlesque Festival, and this is your chance to get to meet her one on one.

The New York School of Burlesque is Proud to Offer Weekly Burlesque Dance Workout Classes with Miss Peekaboo Pointe!
Every Wednesday you can work your body with a combination of burlesque moves, pilates, and Peekaboo's patent-pending "Cardio-Twirl."

For details and registration, visit:
http://www.schoolofburlesque.com

http://chronicle.com/news/article/3937/embattled-president-of-william-and-mary-resigns

Why it's a bummer
http://chronicle.com/news/article/3832/yes-virginia-there-will-be-a-sex-workers-art-show

I do believe the person who's advertising their interview with Dolphina in the blog wrote that ad copy.

I'm very touchy about such stuff I suppose! Every week there's another article about someone who's bringing back burlesque or how someone's finally daring to wear duct tape instead of pasties or something. It does get old.

"Burlesque has become a hot trend again enjoying a revival due in part to Dita Von Teese and the Pussycat Dolls. However, no one has ever taught these unique moves until Dolphina,"

http://newyork.craigslist.org/lgi/bts/558977503.html

I know, I haven't posted in forever, and now this. I suck.

I did take tons of pictures of holiday windows all over the city, but for some reason this is the note on which I wish to leave town.

Today, Monday, Dec. 17th is the International Day to End Violence Against Sex
Workers. Here in NYC, $pread Magazine, SWANK, & PONY are co-hosting a vigil
from 5-7 pm on the steps of Judson Memorial Church (55 wash square south,
ACE/BDFV to w. 4th or NR to 8th st).

Over the past year, the international sex worker community has mourned the loss
of thousands of our comrades, with an estimated 2,000 killed in the United
States alone. Over the last year, serial killers have been reported in places
like Ipswich, Atlantic City, Edmonton, Guatemala and Russia, and many cases
remain unsolved. A few days ago in British Columbia, Robert "Willie" Pickton was
sentenced to life in prison for the deaths of six women - he has admitted to
killing forty-nine sex workers in total before feeding them to his pigs. Gary
Ridgway, the Green River killer of the 1980s, picked prostitutes as victims
"because they are easy to pick up without being noticed. . . . I thought I could
kill as many of them as I wanted without being caught." We are seen as nameless,
faceless, storyless, useless, and utterly without rights. In Philadelphia, the
serial rape and assault at gunpoint of sex worker Dominique Grindraw was written
off by Judge Deni as "theft of services," amounting to
state-sponsorship of violence against sex workers.

But we will not be silenced, nor will we accept what amounts to genocide against
our kind - SEX WORKERS' RIGHTS ARE HUMAN RIGHTS! By participating in one of
tomorrow's events, you are helping the world to see that our struggle is not in
vain, and that the sex workers killed in 2007 may be gone, but they are not
forgotten. We will not rest until the streets, cities, and countrysides are safe
for everyone, everywhere, every worker.

For more information on the day and events happening in other towns, check out
test17.swopusa.org.

here are some suggestions on ways to mark the day from legend Annie Sprinkle:

Ten Things You Can Do to Participate:

1. Do something of personal meaning alone at home; take a ritual bath, or simply
think about those who have died, light a candle, make a wish, have a cry, call a
friend and discuss the topic, etc.

2. Write a short personal quote or a statement about violence against sex
workers and send to the SWOP web site for them to post.

3. Send a donation to a nonprofit group that helps sex workers stay safer.

4. Organize a public memorial event in your town. If not, choose a place, and
time, where you can gather. Make an email letter and/or flyer and get it around
with news of the event. Invite people to bring writings, stories, readings,
thoughts, related news items, poems, performances, etc. Make a circle at the
event. Take turns sharing. This will make for a wonderful memorial and be great
for consciousness raising and outreach as well.

5. Organize a panel discussion about violence towards sex workers. You can ask a
church or other community space if you can do it there.

6. Send news of this event to any and all press you know, so the word gets out
that there are people who care about murdered sex workers, and who are concerned
with the safety of sex workers out there today.

7. Attend one of the events which is listed on the SWOP web site.

8. If you know any sex workers, send them some information about self-defense.

9. Send a personal email letter to people telling them how you feel about
violence against sex workers and the women who were murdered by serial killer
Gary Ridgway. Or email this letter around.

10. Read Daisy Anarchy's poem, to yourself or to friends, or at one of the
public events. Or email it around.

PONY will join $pread and SWANK (Sex Worker Action New yorK) on Monday for a candlelight vigil to honor and mourn the sex workers who have died this year and raise awareness of the violence faced by our community.

Current and former sex workers, friends and allies all welcome.

Monday December 17th 5-7pm
On the steps of Judson Memorial Church,
55 Washington Square South, New York, NY

Wear red or bring a red umbrella

For more info about December 17th:
http://www.swopusa.org/dec17

Saturday, Dec 15, 8 pm $5
167 Orchard St at Stanton



Come see New York's newest burlesque performers presenting their skills
at the New York School of Burlesque Student Showcase! They'll be
strutting, peeling, and twirling their hearts out on the glamourous
Slipper Room stage.

We'll also have a special holiday raffle, featuring Kelly DiNardo's
amazing biography of a burlesque legend, "Gilded Lili: Lili St. Cyr and
the Striptease Mystique."

Sponsored by
Bad Buttons
http://badbuttons.com/
Java's Bachelor Pad
http://www.javasbachlorpad.com
Viva Las Vegas
http://www.vivalasvegas.net/

The showcase will be followed by Mr. Choad's Upstairs Downstairs, New
York's Longest-Running Burlesque Show. Make a night of it!
http://www.slipperroom.com
http://www.schoolofburlesque.com

My friend Deb won an ASCAP Deems Taylor award for her book and I got to go to the awards presentation, which was awesome (I've had a ritzy couple of days).

I love that in the fancy, fancy Jazz at Lincoln Center they had this sign taped to the bathroom mirror:



I am a sucker for the Stars at Columbus Circle (same building as Jazz at Lincoln Center, although Lincoln Center itself is several blocks up):



And I love the fleshy statues everywhere, particularly this one in front of the bony Wolford mannequins:

In the dressing room before Marc Jacob's holiday party. What we do is put glitter into the palms of our hands and blow it all over each other.


This is me with Lisa in the dressing room--the same Lisa as in the photo linked a few posts back. Yes, we stay in touch. Wouldn't you?


Words fail me. So beautiful!


The toe was abandoned in the lobby at Rockefeller Center. The guards were not amused. I had to tell them it wasn't MY camel toe.

I love my manual cameras, but I just bought this Canon PowerShot a few months ago and having it on me all the time and being able to just capture the course of a day is really winning me over.

Well. I liked them a lot BEFORE I saw this. Imagine how I feel about them now!



http://www.thegiraffes.com/

Dec. 17th International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers

December 17th is the International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers. Every year, sex workers and allies across the globe gather to mourn the sex workers who were killed in the past year and raise awareness of the violence faced by our community.

NYC sex workers, allies, and friends Join $pread and SWANK (Sex Worker Action New yorK) to mark this day with a vigil in New York. Email sarahjenny@riseup.net to get involved or help organize this event.

For more info about December 17th or to find an event in your area:
SWOP-USA: http://www.swop-usa.org/drupal/node/95


December 17th is International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers. This event was created to call attention to hate crimes committed against sex workers all over the globe.

Originally conceived by Dr. Annie Sprinkle and put into action by the Sex Workers Outreach Project USA as a memorial and vigil for the victims of the Green River Killer in Seattle Washington, the International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers has empowered workers from over 30 cities around the world to come together and organize against discrimination and remember victims of violence.

During the week of December 17th, sex worker rights organizations will be staging actions and vigils to raise awareness about the violence that is commonly committed against sex workers. The assault, battery, rape, and murder of sex workers must end. Existing laws prevent sex workers from reporting violence. The stigma and discrimination that is perpetuated by the prohibitionist laws has made violence against us acceptable.

'Craig, 62, has a conservative record in the Senate — he has voted against gay marriage, opposed extending special protections to gay and lesbian crime victims and supported barring homosexuals from serving in the Boy Scouts. But Idaho Statesman reporter Dan Popkey said Craig has never been cruel in his opposition to gay rights....
'"I've been in this business 27 years in the public eye here. I don't go around anywhere hitting on men, and by God, if I did, I wouldn't do it in Boise, Idaho! Jiminy!" he told the newspaper.'
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,294953,00.html

This is a bit out of date, but I'm just now getting a look at some of the crazy-ass pictures I took backstage at the Sensuous Woman. Most of them I can't even post!

Every year I get as excited about Christmas decorations as if I hadn't just seen them go up last year at about this time. I love the commercialization of Christmas; I like to say that it's just what organized religion deserves, and to my mind a perfect representation of the true spirit of Christianity. The shopping! The decorations! The food! The cultural domination! What amazing assholes!







This year I have to admit I was a bit astonished by how early the store decoration went up. Usually when people complain about it, I think to myself that it could go on all year long, as far as my taste is concerned. But I was put off, not to mention concerned that all the good stuff would be sold off before I could get my hands on it.

So today an article in the New York Times informed me:

'Holiday promotions kick off at exactly the same time every year! Let me, a window dresser with more than 30 years of experience, assure you of the following: Dasher and Blitzen and Mrs. Claus and all the elves of the world have been working from the same notes, and the same schedule, for as long as we all can remember. '

Well, I know better than to argue with a professional window dresser! But why did I, who savor just about any aspect of Christmas except its supposed "true meaning," join in the "it's too soon!" chorus this year?

'And that please-don’t-tell-me-it’s-tinsel-time moment only serves to reconcile the two forces. It allows each of those sidewalk critics to indulge in a Tiny Tim fantasy: for that particular moment, he or she is the only person on earth who grasps the true meaning of this highly commercialized holiday. And then, once that therapeutic hissy fit has dissipated, these good citizens are free to shop their brains out. It’s their way of having their Christmas cake and eating it, too. '

Well, that sounds just exactly like me. I love to be the person who grasps the true meaning of whatever the fuck is being discussed.

Okay, I just have to say this annoying thing. It's "eat your cake and have it too," not "have your cake and eat it too." If you eat it, you no longer have it, except in the digestive sense. But you have to have it to eat it. Okay, you can hate me now. But know that I will eat not only my cake, but yours as well.