This article is great. It talks about the “Elegance on the Block” burlesque show that happened in Baltimore on May 01, 2009 at The Hustler Club.
I was there.
The night before that, I had my heart breaking experience at a show…oh, I was so very emotionally crushed after that night. I actually cried for 3 days and was barely able to make it to the “Elegance” show. I couldn’t find anyone to go with, I asked 7 people, and I had to go alone. Going over crappy stuff in my head, I did not want to be in front of people at all, but realized that there was no way I could let this show go by with out seeing it.
I am glad I went though, because the thought of a burlesque show at a classy strip club fascinated me…and the fact that Catherine D’Lish was going to be there, well I had never seen her perform before and I knew I really had to be there.
Miss Astrid, the host, called Catherine’s act “The greatest show to never hit Baltimore” (or something like that) and she was right. Catherine was o-o-z-i-n-g sexiness that I could not believe my eyes. I took photos of the show, and I couldn’t take a bad picture of her at all, it was amazing.
So, here are my photos of the show.
Anyways, the article also mentions a little bit of the history of Trixie Little and the Evil Hate Monkey, whom are on the very short list of the greatest things to come out of Baltimore, MD. And the article also goes a little into the preparation about the show, which was something I was personally wondering about too as I was there. I wondered how annoyed the Hustler dancers were that the place was pack with people not interested in seeing them, and probably not in the mood for a lap dance.
And I love that the article brought up this:
A man tipsily approaches the stage with a bill in his hand; Paco Fish, taking the man for a club regular, pulls him back and tells him to drop the tip onstage, so he doesn’t disrupt the routine. But D’lish, who got her start as a teenager in seedy strip clubs in San Diego, knows exactly what to do. She has the man slip the bill under her garter belt, then remove one of her elbow-length white gloves with his teeth. Then she sends him back to his seat.
When that happened, I thought it was kind of awkward, but Catherine D’Lish played the whole thing off so smoothly, I couldnt believe how classy the whole thing ended up being.
Read the article here: http://www.urbanitebaltimore.com/sub.cfm?ArticleID=1260&IssueID=74
Just wanted to point out a response printed in “The Learning Issue” of Urbanite:
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A Stripper’s Lament
I was very pleased to see an interesting and thought-provoking article about burlesque and its relevance in the modern adult entertainment industry in the July issue of Urbanite (“Bump and Grind”). However, the article seemed to give no satisfactory answer to the question, “Where does burlesque already exist in the adult entertainment culture of Baltimore (prior to neo-burlesque revivalists guest-performing at the Hustler Club)?”
This mythical burlesque-stripping hybrid does exist just beyond the city line. It is a burlesque-themed gentlemen’s club called the Crazy Russian, and I dance there.
Unlike a traditional strip club, the Crazy Russian has costumes and entertaining skits. There are two poles on the stage, but the dancers are more likely to use them as dance partners than to perform any wild gymnastic tricks. The dancers strip down simply to panties and pasties, and the Crazy Russian also does not offer lap dances. Patrons are encouraged to applaud after each set, further enhancing the theatrical atmosphere. The City Paper called it “a throwback to burlesque” and named it Best Strip Joint in 2008.
I totally disagree with writer Greg Hanscom that burlesque and modern stripping are “like estranged siblings who wouldn’t be caught dead in the same room.” Burlesque in the Baltimore strip scene is alive and well—and it has a sexy Russian accent!
—Name withheld by request
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last few days our class held a similar discussion about this subject and you show something we haven’t covered yet, thanks.
- Laura