Thursday, Dec. 03, 2009

Burlesque at the Beach?

Neo, Retro and Boho-a-go-go

Burlesque is an often misunderstood and sometimes-maligned form of entertainment that can be best described as vaudeville's naughty cousin. Mention the word burlesque and many images spring to mind - pasties, feathers, fan dances - ribald music and comedy and a bevy of lovely ladies of all shapes and sizes. Some folks' minds might hearken back to a bygone era of music halls, sideshows, pinup girls and carnival barkers, romanticizing the art form with references to Gypsy Rose Lee, Sally Rand or Bettie Page. Others might dismiss it outright as the precursor to strip clubs and a seedy underworld of vice and exploitation.

Although on the fringe, burlesque has influenced popular culture in countless ways from fashion, dance and music to advertising and photography. One needn't look far to find elements of this form, which has been quietly gaining a renaissance just under the mainstream radar. Think Pussycat Dolls, or the 2001 remake of "Lady Marmalade" and the video featuring jaw-dropping burlesque-inspired outfits donned by Pink, Christina Aguilera, Li'l Kim and Mya, or Courtney Love's 2004 tour with her all-girl band The Chelsea and one would be on the mark. Or go deeper and consider comedian Margaret Cho, who cites participation in burlesque as a cure for her lifelong body image issues.

Author Robert G. Allen in his book " Horrible Prettiness: Burlesque and American Culture," provides an interesting take: "Burlesque's principal legacy as a cultural form was its establishment of patterns of gender representation that forever changed the role of the woman on the American stage and influenced her role on the screen. ... The very sight of a female body not covered by the accepted costume of bourgeois respectability forcefully if playfully called attention to the entire question of the 'place' of woman in American society."

Neo or retro burlesque is flourishing in pockets of the U.S. and around the globe, and burlesque troupes tour constantly, but can it gain a foothold on its way to a viable scene here on the Grand Strand? Local burlesque guru William "Boz" Martin offers a resounding "yes" if he has anything to say about it, and indie promoter and musician Michael Wood has been booking various forms of this lively art for years - first at now-defunct venues such as The Social and the Clubhouse Myrtle Beach and occasionally at Crazy J's/The Basement in Myrtle Beach, where Wood managed to secure a whistle stop on Monday night only for the Pretty Things Peepshow, a full-blown touring burlesque revue featuring performers who have appeared on the Vans Warped Tour, Ozzfest, and HBO's "Real Sex."

If anybody has a passion for burlesque on the Grand Strand, it is Martin. Emcee, comedian, certified hypnotist and impresario with his Ballyhoo Burlesque company, Martin developed a love for what he calls "the liveliest of the arts" early on, and says he has dedicated himself to building the burlesque scene in Myrtle Beach for the past three years. Under the banner of Ballyhoo Burlesque, Martin has mounted several shows with intriguing names like Unlucky in Love (at Headliners in Columbia), Easter Beaster with Torchy Taboo's Burly Foo Revue (at the Clubhouse Myrtle Beach), Bettie Page Night and Hurly Burly-Q (Crazy J's/The Basement) - ambitious undertakings in the spirit of what he calls "neo, retro and boho a go-go," and bringing together quirky musicians, bands, comics, and of course lovely ladies with names such as Lila Lavender and Nikki Sweetcheeks.

Martin barnstormed the Carolinas as emcee with the Mighty Mighty Aphrodite (fashion) show in the late 1980s and has fond memories of performer Reddi Sloane at the bygone Oasis Club on U.S. 501. Sloane was billed as "the Ann-Margaret of burlesque" when she relocated here from New York.

But it was U.K. impresario Chaz Royal who made a real impact on Martin. "As for the exciting, eclectic new breed of burlesque entertainment, Royal cracked open the market here with a really hot show by the Fluff Girls at the late, lamented Social a few years back," he says.

Wood was responsible for booking The Fluff Girls show at the Social. "There was sword swallowing and all of that, and I was impressed with the audience," he says. "The crowd was not the younger, hip rock 'n' roll audience. There were people in their 60s who were used to traditional burlesque." Wood says the Suicide Girls, an online community of punk, emo and Goth girls touting alternative beauty and adopting updated styles of 1940s pin-ups, were getting popular at the time, and that was what interested him in booking burlesque troupes.

"Burlesque is a uniquely American form of entertainment [although it also thrives in places like the U.K. and Canada] that incorporates music, comedy and lovely ladies dancing provocatively," says Martin. "If you saw 'Gypsy,' there was the idea that burlesque was a step down from vaudeville, but it was bawdier and sexier."

Many of the old school comics like Bert Lahr (the Cowardly Lion) cut their teeth on burlesque, and comedic icon Lenny Bruce was involved early in his career. Martin says he sees echoes of noted choreographer/director Bob Fosse's hallmarks in today's burlesque. Early radio comedienne Fanny Brice, to whom Barbra Streisand paid homage to in "Funny Girl" and "Funny Lady" comes to mind, and we suggested Bette Midler to Martin: "Midler is a very burlesque kind of persona, and although she got her start in the bathhouses, there's a lot of crossover. The routines Johnny Carson did were very burlesque-y. 'Hee Haw' was pure burlesque translated to a country genre." These elements also reached into what Martin calls the chitlin' circuit, a network of performance venues for African-American performers during the age of racial segregation in the U.S.

But what of the lovelies? To be sure, neo burlesque is a bit shadowy, but there are always elements present in pop culture. "The closest it's come to mainstream is Dita Von Teese because of the money she brings in," says Martin. Von Teese was married for a time to shock rocker Marilyn Manson and appeared on the cover of Playboy Magazine. "She has brought back the retro burlesque thing to a very high degree," says Martin.

There also seems to be a punk twist to neo burlesque - replete with piercings and ink - and Wood, who performs in a few local punk-influenced bands and books some hardcore acts at The Basement, took notice. "If you look at the punk rock girls nowadays, they really just want to look like Bettie Page," he says, adding that the indie music scene and burlesque are connected. He feels that Monday's Pretty Things Peepshow will be in that vein. "Some of the original Suicide Girls are in this troupe, and they are the ones that made everyone aware of the current trend."

Martin asserts that the neo burlesque movement was helped along by performers at gentlemen's clubs wanting to branch out and do something more creative, and cites Jo (Boobs) Weldon, who went on to start the New York School of Burlesque, and Torchy Taboo, a pivotal figure in Martin's life. "I am deeply grateful to Torchy for all she has taught me about burlesque," he says. "These were two of the main progenitors of the movement, but there were others - people in San Francisco, Seattle, Los Angeles and Chicago. It was steam engine time - a lot of people had the same ideas at the same time and it all came together."

Neo burlesque can contain components of music hall, freak show, sideshow and vaudeville, according to Martin. "A lot of these things have been subsumed by burlesque, and it can be adapted to any musical style - rockabilly, jazz, punk, R&B. They probably have rap too and Zombie shows at Halloween and cool jazz at Christmas - like "Santa Baby."

Burlesque put the tease in striptease, and the form is vastly different than standard adult entertainment fare. "At strip clubs, they take it off as fast as they can and then they grind it. But with burlesque, the tease is emphasized over the strip. Sometimes the reveal - getting down to the pasties on the top is not like until the last few seconds of the act. This is more about titillation and teasing - it's a celebration of the feminine form."

Wood agrees. "That's what I like about this. Most of the girls are realistic with natural curves. This particular scene is one that appreciates the women and not just double Ds. I think this appreciation also meshes with music like punk and rock 'n' roll - these things have always been raw and honest types of expressions."

"Go-Go Amy" Christie of Pretty Things Productions says that burlesque is all about the art of the tease, while strip clubs are about the strip. "What we do can be similar, but it is not with the same intention," she says. "It's more of an entertainment like cabaret or theater than, say, the sex trade."

So burlesque performers never go nude or at least topless?

"I would never say never," offers Martin. "In general, there are usually pasties covering up the nipple area - and in some areas there is more coverage required by zoning laws such as under-boob coverage. Even though it's all adult entertainment, there are certain things that are allowed in a strip club that are not allowed in the average bar. You can run the gamut from very innocent retro pinup to total fetishistic bondage and S&M shows in places like New York that would never fly down here."

Can the Grand Strand get past the inherent misconceptions about burlesque? "It depends on the audience," suggests Wood. "The crowd might be really conservative. If not, the troupe can do some more risqué things - but either way it's never going to go any farther than PG-13."

Martin is still in the planning stages for as-yet-to-be-staged show called "Grits and Wiggles," which he touts as "Hee Haw on Viagra," and features Martin's redneck character, Bubba Lee Cooter. "Bubba makes Larry the Cable Guy look like an urban sophisticate," he laughs. Other concepts involve a marriage of Martin's stage hypnosis, sketch comedy, ventriloquism and more with burlesque.

And as a sort of reprise of the first Bettie Page event in August, which included look-alike contests, The Bettie Page Night Before Christmas will take place on Dec. 24 at Crazy J's/The Basement in downtown Myrtle Beach.

But you only have to wait until Monday to find out what this neo burlesque movement is all about.

The Pretty Things Peepshow set for Monday at The Basement is a vintage-style traveling road show that is midstream on a two-month tour of the East Coast. Brainchild of Go-Go Amy, the outfit incorporates burlesque ranging from traditional to edgy with sideshow acts such as sword swallowing, fire eating and contortionism. Go-Go Amy describes her brand of burlesque as a strip show you can take your mom to. "I have taken my mother to see burlesque, and she has seen my show - so it's a true statement," she asserts.

"I run the show, book the show and do press and PR," she says, adding that she is a burlesque dancer and contortionist. "My partner in crime is Bettina May, who is the other burlesque dancer in the show." May does all of the web design and graphic design for Pretty Things Productions as well. "The two of us are on the show full time, and other performers rotate depending on the time of year," says Go-Go Amy.

But how did she come to embrace the burlesque scene? "I think burlesque embraced me first," she says. "I didn't just wake up one day and decide to resurrect an 80-year-old art form. For everyone doing this for a living, it just sort of happens."

She arrived at burlesque through a string of various jobs in the realm of theater and once did go-go dancing for a band. "Burlesque was the perfect mix between a nightclub and theater - right down the middle. As the scene grew, I started getting more and more jobs and realized that this was something I really enjoyed - and everyone seemed to enjoy watching me, so I ran with it."

At times, the Pretty Things Peepshow also gives classes on pinup modeling, but the stop-over in Myrtle Beach will not be long enough. "We can only do that in select cities because it is an all-day event," she says.

The stop in Myrtle Beach was a matter of happy coincidence. "We had some fans in Myrtle Beach who really wanted us to come here. So my answer is always, 'tell me the name of the venue and we'll book it.' If you ask us, you will get us."

Wood has realistic expectations about the Pretty Things Peepshow. "It's a Monday night, so I'm not expecting to sell out the place - but I think it's going to be interesting. "The Schmaltz Brewing Company is involved. All of the beers in their Coney Island Craft Lagers display different freak show characters - and the sword swallower on one bottle is going to be here - she'll be signing beers."

Ballyhoo's Martin feels the area is ripe for a bustling burlesque scene - especially in the summer. "It's just a question of people coming out to see the shows - and recognizing that it's not the same as a strip club. This is a viable thing for different kinds of venues to put on. We get people from areas where burlesque is thriving, and this is good for the season if promoted properly." And Martin is working to get the word out and build on what he calls a growing group of dedicated, creative and passionate people. "We are working our nards and niblets off to make it happen."