showtime: tease-o-rama, april 19, 2012

It finally came and went. Tease-O-Rama 2012 in San Francisco. I was so happy and honored to be part of it. I saw the show Friday night at Bimbo's 365 Club (this is the club of my dreams, click the link, imagine yourself there) and I was BLOWN AWAY. I am in no way informed enough about the performers I saw or the history of the event to go into any detail about it, but I am so glad I went. What a spectacle! I saw Dirty Martini perform! The Devil-Ettes were en masse and off-the-chain! I know who The Schlep Sisters are now (and I adore them)! I saw many of San Francisco's living burlesque legends (who have still got it, by the way). Hats off, WAY off, to the producers of the show. What an achievement!


And of course, as I've been talking about here and here, I performed with Bombshell Betty and her Burlesqueteers at the Tease-O-Rama opening party the night before at the DNA Lounge. SO. FUN. So many great performers.


We performed our wonderful synchronized water ballet act to old-timey song "Sylvia" (as heard in the John Waters film "A Dirty Shame"). We descended down the stairs in bath towels, dropped them in the cabana, and emerged onto the pool deck (a.k.a. the blue tarp) in our skivvies. Then we danced our graceful dance. And then a giant bear came out of no where and scared us out of the pool. Betty, of course, was hiding in that bear suit. She has a thing for animals and burlesque (see here, for example)!


Now, without further ado, the photos. I've pushed them down far enough here as to not offend anyone, I hope. There will be boobies, folks! All of the following images are copyrighted by Steven Lowe, the photographer who so kindly allowed me to use them. Please do not use these images without his permission.

Last things first. Here we are toward the end of the act. You can see Betty the

bear approaching in the top left corner. Yours truly is in the bottom left corner,

demurely obscured by the arm of one lovely Hazel DeVille!

 There I am at 12:00. No, UP THERE!

 And at about 1:00 here. Don't you love how we

all are smiling so sweetly at one another?

Still smiling!

 This one's great. I'm on THE BOTTOM! Holding

a grown woman on my back! Crazy.

This one is an outtake from Steven's shots. I love how
once again Hazel DeVille is keeping me modest. I'm at
the top of the shot.

Here are a couple of really mortifying shots from my cell phone that night. I need to find a balance here with the makeup that I just haven't been able to achieve yet. Something a little less "shiny clown" and a little more "silver screen vixen". I need to take another class.

 At Betty's studio, with the craziest bat-lashes I've ever worn!

That is some crazy hair. It all got stuffed into a beautiful molded rubber

floral swim cap, bedecked in rhinestones, so it's okay!

The caliber of performers I witnessed this past weekend really made me question if I want to take it to another level, and if I even could. The great thing about that is that I have the guts to try, should I choose to. I learned a lot watching such a variety of performers and performance styles. Another fun burlesque experience I won't soon forget!