Bummer

I was looking forward to sharing with everyone the process I go through to put together an act. But unfortunately due to bad timing and missed connections I was unable to perform last night. I heard it was great. Boo for me:(

Next time will be better.

xoxo

Dangerous Delilah

Coming up with an Act

This year Bombshell Betty decided to do theme shows, examples would be.....Summertime, South of the Border, Around the World, Halloween, Christmas, you get the idea. When she first told all of us this, I was pretty excited, since that would save me from having to come up with my own ideas and just focus on the act. This year I have done two of the theme shows so far. Now, I'm working on this months act. And yes, I'm procrastinating! I have to show Betty my act in two days!

So, I'll start from the beginning. The shows theme for August 23rd is summertime. The idea that comes to mind is the beautiful beaches I grew up going to in southern California, warm, sandy, salty. As you all know that right now Katy Perry's hit song 'California Gurls' is blasting all over the radio, I thought perfect song. Well, that's about as far as I got, nothing came to mind. I decided then that I wouldn't perform in this show. That is until just a few days ago when Betty put out an e-mail listing the dancers, and I was on it. I had forgotten to tell her! Oops! Not wanting to disappoint I put on my thinking cap and tried to think of what I could do.

Wipeout by the Surfaris came to mind, a great surfer, fun song http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UofdWQG346k&translated=1 . But it's not so simple, I also really like the song Pipeline by the Ventures http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5G8W7dvKOX4&feature=related . Whats a girl to do? Deal with it later ;) Next, costume. As I listen to the songs I try to see what repeats, where does some thing fun happen, things like that. What is lucky for me is that both songs are very similar. That's where I figure out how many pieces I have to take off and how long I might have to do it in. I started to think... maybe a dress, gloves and bra. I knew I wanted to have a teal colored costume too, since I wanted to give a watery, ocean vibe. I headed out to see what I could find on Haight street . I first went in to New York Apparel. This place never disappoints. There I found a fun wrap skirt, the kind belly dancers wear, blue boot shorts and some black lace gloves (not for this act, but were oh so pretty I couldn't resist.)

Next, I headed down the street to a craft store that I never knew about and found some pretty, shiny cloth in the same color along with some sequins. Then I was off to Ross for a cheap bra, at least that part was really easy. Here is all my booty!





Now my problem is, what is the third thing going to be that I can take off? Maybe a dress? Gloves? I also need to keep in mind the beach theme, I'm going for. Then my boyfriend suggested a surfer T-shirt. Not a bad idea, I could put something on the front like 'surfs up' or 'surfer girl.' Now I have to decided how the top will come off. Should I take it off over my head, or make it tear away? SO many things to think about!! Why did I wait so long?


This blog is getting rather long. So more tomorrow, I have to come up with a dance now!

Oh, as you can see I'm going to try to show you some pictures of things, to make this blog even more fun!



xoxo

Dangerous Delilah

Variety Show!

Last night was a lot of fun. About a week ago my friend and fellow burlesquer, Tasty Temptress (find her on Facebook; https://www.facebook.com/pages/Tasty-Temptress/143848675637309 ) invited me to a friends party. I wasn't too sure about since it was sooo far away in Santa Cruz, until she told me this was not an ordinary house party, it was a variety show! She went on to tell me about her friend putting the show on and how the previous years had been. It sounded like fun. Fina Fatale ( check her out here too; http://www.facebook.com/pages/Fina-Lina-Wear/127948383903899?ref=mf&v=wall#!/pages/Fina-Lina-Wear/127948383903899 ) was there too! So this varity show had three pretty burlesque dancers to watch. Lucky them :)

I was putting my make-up on when I noticed little kiddys running around. I didn't think too much of it until Ms. Temptress said "Don't worry, the kids will be told to leave when we go on. I don't want little kids seeing me." I was thinking OMG! I don't either! In my life I only really know three kids. Two are in-laws and I don't see them too often and the other is my sweet nephew, who is one. So, I don't tend to think about what kids can and can not watch. But wowza! That's when it hit me. We were the 'adult entertainment' ! And that cracks me up. Never have I ever thought of myself in those terms. I still chuckle to myself as I write this. I don't see burlesque as 'adult entertainment.' I just see it as fun PG/ PG13 rated. Am I wrong? I must be. Maybe my views are skewed since I don't have to worry about who's watching, that's what the doormen are for.

I did my very fun 'German Beer Girl' dance, Fina Fatale dance to a great Abba song and Tasty Temptress finished off the night to Sister Kate. The group of friends watching loved it and several lady's came up to me after telling me how fun it was to watch. I was relieved. As you know from my previous post, that I get stage fright. This time was no different. Actually it may have been worse since it wasn't at a club, it was just someones deck in a back yard and the people were there to be with friends and watch a variety show not a burlesque show. If Fina hadn't been 'back stage' talking to me and making me crack up, I think I really would have vomited over the railing! Thanks Fina!!!

So, add to my burlesque resume 1 variety show. Check.

Very special thanks to Liza for putting on the show! It was great fun.

xoxo

Dangerous Delilah

It's Actually Good

I decided to pick up the last book I received from Amazon.com again. In my blog from yesterday ( http://dangerousdelilahburlesque.blogspot.com/2010/08/new-books.html ) I was saying it didn't have a very promising start. By the way the book is Pretty Things by Liz Goldwyn. Those of you who know me well, know that I'm a reader, I read everything. So I can't really put a book away until I finish it.



The author started as a collector of costumes and wanted to learn about the women who wore them. It talks about the costumes, the women, the shows, and a little of the history. The writing is very well done. I'm only on page 115 and I don't want to put it down.



A happy surprise! I recommend this one out of any of the others.



xoxo

Dangerous Delilah

New Books

I have to start off by saying, I'm tired of being cold in the summer, it pits me in a bad mood. With that now said I'm going to tell you about the books I got in from Amazon.com. Where I was first so excited I had to tear the packages open as soon as it was in my hands, I'm in a worst mood now. Because of the books. :(



I ordered four books total. The first one to come in was the most promising since it had great reviews and it was written by a Burlesque star, Ann Corio, the book, This Was Burlesque. It is about the history of burlesque. I started reading right away and was bored to death. The book started with the old time comics. I love funny men, if a man can't make me laugh....I don't spend much time with him. But, OMG. How boring to read about men from waaay back when! It only went into tiny detail about each man, maybe if it included more about them it would be more interesting to me. So the next book came in the mail and I haven't picked this one up since. I'm sure I'll finish it eventually and may change my mind in the end, who knows.


The second book that came in is called Burlesque {and the New Bump-n-Grind} by Michelle Baldwin. This book saved me from tears of boredom the other book was about to give me. Its about how the new burlesque revival got started. A book much more about the present scene and an easy read with nice pictures. Over all I was happy to read it and it left me wanting to find out more about the current movers and shakers.


The next book to come in the mail excited me. Burlesque: A Living History, It is about tons of burlesque girls from the heyday of burlesque. But I was very disappointed in it. It seems to be written by an old woman that skips from one fact and tib bit to another. It doesn't go into detail in the areas that it should and rambles on and on spinning way off track in others. It will talk in one sentence about a show the girl did when she was twenty then in the next will tell you her husband died 30 years ago and the she had her hip replaced last year! Oh my. This book had potential, but it needed a better editor.



With the last book I've been avoiding it. Its call Pretty Things by Liz Goldwyn. I've slowly been reading it, so far....its ok, but I've only read 8 or 9 pages. I keep putting it down and not coming back to it....not that's not a great start.



Anyone have any suggestions on great books about burlesque? Please!?



xoxo

Dangerous Delilah