For the Love of Burlesque

So the other weekend a friend of mine called me up and asked me if I wanted to see a "burlesque show" at some bar in out in Brooklyn. I said, 'Umm... let's see..let me think about that....umm...how bout... Yes, totally!!!!' Is there any other answer to that question?

I've never really been to a burlesque show. I didn't even know they still did that kind of thing so I didn't know what to expect. The bar, called The Living Room, was a fairly typical looking bar place with a few rows of old couches set up toward a makeshift stage. I was psyched. Couches! (Standing gets to be a drag after a while because I have flat feet). So I plopped down on an old couch with some friends and I ordered a budweiser. Perfecto!

The show starts up and this chick comes out pretty much naked except for the pasties on the nips and some underwear. She did a reverse strip and put lingerie on. Garters and stockings and stuff. Until she was covered up. She was the host of the show so that's why she kind of had to get it over with. It was a good way to handle the situation.

She starts introducing girls and one after another do some sort of fun simple plot-based striptease. One girl sitting by a phone waiting for someone to call. Then she dances and strips. One girl came out in flannel and sunglasses and danced a tribute to Guns and Roses. Another dressed as some office girl or something. Nobody got totally naked. It was all teasy leading up to thong and the tassley nipple things.

The truly fun part about it was the performers seemed to be having a really great time with it. It wasn't like a strip club scene where sometimes the atmosphere is depressing or angry or scammy. It didn't even seem like a "sex" thing really. It was more just straight entertainment. The girls weren't all in perfect shape and I don't think any of them had fake boobs. It was nice seeing a woman be all free of worrying about judgment on the body issue stuff. And the crowd (which was mixed probably 50/50 men and women) hooted and hollered totally which the performers seemed to really eat up. I get the feeling girls in the crowd dug it extra because the girls weren't perfect. So that whole women being threatened by other women thing was gone. It was all in good fun. And although the nipple thingees don't cover alot- I was happy they were there. It kept things within the realms of 'we're all friends here'.

All in all there was probably five performers. Each went twice. They had names like 'Clams Casino' and 'Creamy Stevens'. So that was funny too. I drank my beers. And cheered for performances. And watched girls in the audience clap away and cheer like the guys. Nobody shouted anything rude. No drunks got up and tried to grab anybody and had to get themselves all punched in the face by a bouncer. Everyone was nice. As much as it was girls dancing around in underwear it really seemed like actual good clean fun.

On top of it, $5 cover charge made everything seem fair all around. So I say support burlesque! It might be the best thing since....umm...  burlesque?

ok bye!

tOdd