Read this beautifully naked and eloquent account of Andi Stardust’s personal catharsis through burlesque performance following a life-threatening illness.

Happy crafting!

We will have killer rabbits, dancing Spam, exploding shrubberies, singing lumberjacks, dead parrot juggling, Departments of Arguments and Abuse, the Spanish Inquisition, a Ministry of Silly Walks striptease and much, much more! You will not want to miss all the fun!

Burlesque acts by:

Bombshell Betty!
Red Velvet!
Pearl E. Gates!
Pickles Kintaro!
If-N-Whendy!
Lezzie McFaggerson!
Andi Stardust!
Mistress Marla Spanks!
Carlita Cupcake!
Velvet Vixen!
Cinnamon Stick!
Baby Blue Boom Boom!
Pyro Pantera!
Laura Borealis!
Plus Burlesqueteers so new, they don’t have stagenames yet!
MC’s Patina DeCopper and A. Randy Johnson

With live musical accompaniment by San Francisco’s cheesiest band:
FROMAGIQUE (Bombshell Betty, Patina DeCopper, A. Randy Johnson, B.J. Johnson (no relation), Ezra Lipp)

* * *

Tues. Mar. 1st, 2011
@ The Elbo Room
647 Valencia St (2 blocks from 16th St. BART)
Doors @ 9PM Show 9:30PM

21+ W/ ID

General Admission $10
Table for two: $35 ($30 at the door if they last)

For presale tickets, go here!

This year, rather than making a list of specific actions or New Year’s Resolutions for 2011, which are most often forgotten by February or March, I encourage you to spend the time leading up to and following New Year’s Eve asking yourself a few leading questions:

What do you really want?
What would make you feel happier, live more fully and freely?

Because everything we want, we want for one of two reasons. We either think it will make us feel better, or we want it because we think we are “supposed” to want it.

What actions in your life are motivated by true desire, inspired by a movement toward joy and freedom?

What actions in your life are motivated by a feeling of obligation or “I must want this, because everyone else is saying this is worthwhile”?

Several years ago, I was performing all the time, touring across the US and Europe every few months. It was a fast-paced and fun lifestyle, but I wanted more, although I didn’t know what. I just knew I wanted my work to be more fulfilling. No one I was working with at the time understood my dissatisfaction. I was performing full time. What a dream come true! How could I not be happy with that?

One day, as I was asking myself that very question, I wrote this down on a piece of paper and stashed it in a small bottle on a bookshelf: “I want to help women who have been beaten down by society.” I looked into volunteering at various shelters or call-centers, but my hectic performance schedule wouldn’t allow for me to commit to a regular volunteering schedule. So life kept on moving, and I eventually just kept on working and forgot all about that little note.

A couple years later, I moved to the Bay Area. Shortly after that, I started teaching Burlesquercise™ classes. Little did I know when I first started teaching burlesque classes that they would be a transformational experience for the women taking the classes, helping them develop confidence and release issues they had held about their bodies their whole lives! Here is an example of women whose self-esteem had been beaten down by society all their lives, and I was helping them shake off the doubt and pain and FLY!

If that’s not a subconcious self-fulfillment of my own little “prophecy” I don’t know what is! Now, with the Everyday Bombshell™ Scholarship Program, I am starting to reach out to victims of domestic violence and sexual assault, and women overcoming eating disorders, physical disabilities, economic disadvantages and other intense challenges to their self-esteem… which takes my goal written on that little slip of paper even further!

After having completely forgotten about it for years, I found that little slip of paper recently, and it was like a window opened in my mind. When I wrote that note to my subconcious, I had no idea of the HOW or WHERE or WHEN of fulfillment of that desire. So I let it go, and a few years later, here I am! It feels like magic to me, how the perfect circumstances came along for me to use the skills and interests I already had in order to fulfill that deeper goal.

So I encourage you to  take some time for yourself; maybe sit in a park, take a long bath or shower, walk in the city or along a trail, whatever helps you still the chatter and really hear yourself. Take some time and think about what you really want from life. Go deep and find that desire that fills you with joy when you think about it, maybe even a secret joy that you’re too embarrassed to share with others. Whatever comes to you, write it down and either stick it on a mirror (or board or refrigerator door) where you will see it every day, or hide it from yourself for a while. Forget about it for a few years, and let your subconcious do the work to get you where you want to go. Let the universe create the perfect circumstances for you. And let’s see where your life takes you in the New Year and beyond!

Because I feel very strongly that everyone deserves to feel sexy and develop confidence, I have decided to launch the Bombshell Betty® Everyday Bombshell™ Scholarship Program to provide self-esteem enhancing classes, services and products at no charge to victims of domestic violence and sexual assault, and women overcoming eating disorders, physical disabilities, economic disadvantages and other intense challenges to their self-esteem.

Since 2004, I have watched my programs create positive changes in the lives of thousands of women across the country and around the world. I am looking forward to teaming up with local shelters, treatment programs and support groups to expand the scope of these services through this Scholarship Program.

To find out about the program and to learn how you can help by donating or becoming an Everyday Bombshell™ Ambassador, go here!

http://www.bombshellbetty.net/shows.html
http://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=128675187181761

Well bless my Star Wars! All that tassel twirling and shimmy-shimmy of burlesque, at times it seems you can’t turn around with a eyeful of curves hitting you at full speed in this town. Not that I’m complaining. But I must admit, I’ve always been concerned – when do the sci-fi aficionados get  their very own night of burlesque beauties? …Leave it to Bombshell Betty to heed my heart-felt cry for our darling and economically life-affirming nerds (you know we’re a cradle for Tech 2.0 or whatever, right?). Strutting the stage on a very special night at the Elbo Room (Tues/14) will be any number of ladies loving the heroes, the bad guys, the technology, the far-fetched cleavage of the sci-fi genre that you would think just begs for a little more spec-ta-ta-tacular exploitation…

Caitlin Donohue
SF Bay Guardian’s “SexSF” blog

Here are a few photo highlights! You can see many more fabulous photos by SF Station of the show at the Elbo Room here.

The last few years have been fun and challenging, and it has been very exciting to take my business in new directions, work on so many fun projects, and meet so many lovely new people. At the same time, I have faced some attacks against my business and my person that have seemed very close at times to derailing my whole career. Lies have been spread about me by people that I loved, lies that made me out to be a very different person than who I am – someone I wouldn’t want to know. These lies affected me, and continue to affect me, both personally and professionally.

Some of you may know what I am referring to, but I have no wish to go into detail here. What I really want to talk about is what I have learned from this situation. As a result of this, I have asked myself repeatedly, “Do I really want to do this any more? Why am I doing this? Isn’t this supposed to be fun?” And each time I have considered this, the universe has answered my questions in the form of emails and conversations with my students (or sometimes even people I have never met) telling me how my classes, workshops, events and products have changed their lives for the better. They say that my programs have changed the way they see their bodies and their selves, changed the way they relate to others and live in the world, and brought joy and self-acceptance into their lives where they had previously questioned their own worth. Now that is work that is worth doing!

This is why I do what I do. I do this because I love people, and I truly want to be of service to those who can benefit from my programs. I want to see every one of you shining with confidence, secure in your own sexiness, going after your dreams. I want to see you all living your lives at your full potential, working on expanding that potential until you have come so far that you are amazed when you look back at where you started out. I want you to amaze yourself with your own fabulousness. I want you to feel sexy and sassy and stylish and present your best self to the world every single day. Why? Because it feels so good! When you are feeling confident, the world opens up to you, and you can accomplish anything! This is what I want for you.

This is the motivation behind everything that I do. There is absolutely nothing more satisfying to me than watching you step beyond your previous comfort zone and accomplish things that you didn’t dream were possible. I want you to feel like a goddess, a celebrity, a star. I want to see you express yourself as the beautiful, brilliant genius that you are. This is how I see you, and nothing is more thrilling for me than to watch you begin to see this in yourself, even just letting the awareness seep in through a small crack in your shell at first before really letting it in.

I have been calling myself a Body Image Activist for a few years now, and I really do feel that this is my calling, my true life’s purpose at this time. As a result of all of my questioning, I now feel refocused and re-energized toward this work, and I am working on more than one project to step up my work as a Body Image Activist!

What does that mean? That means I will be launching new resources and programs, based on the confidence and body image exercises from the classes I have been teaching since 2004 as well as practices and techniques that I have learned through my own quest for self esteem and confidence throughout my life. As Mohandas Gandhi recommended, I am going to be the change that I want to see in the world, because that is the only way to create lasting positive change.

Today, I have unveiled a new blog project: “All Kinds of Sexy: A Bombshell Betty® Everyday Bombshells™ project celebrating sexiness in all shapes, sizes, ages, abilities, and backgrounds – because there are All Kinds of Sexy in this wide, beautiful world we live in!” I will be posting articles and links to other articles on the web that are relevant to self esteem, positive body image, and representations of ALL kinds of sexy! I will also be posting photos, profiles and interviews of Everyday Bombshells and media icons that fit the bill. I hope you enjoy the project!

With love and laughter,
Betty

Also, here are some photos of my act with Patina de Copper at the “Awards Show” Hubba Hubba Revue at the DNA Lounge on March 19. I am very excited about my new costume for that act! You can’t tell from these photos, but this act was Patina’s striptease debut.

Patina helps me remove my gown...

I love these underpieces! Unfortunately, all the rhinestones don't show up in the photo!

Myself as me, Venomous Veronica Voom as a paparazzi, and Red Velvet as Joan Rivers for the Burlesqueteers 'Red Carpet Schtick.' Photo by Hanna Quevedo for SF Weekly.

Photo by Hanna Quevedo for SF Weekly.

Photo by Hanna Quevedo for SF Weekly.

I never knew about clown burlesque, but watching your numbers interested me in it. I guess my question is how do you combine the two, clownery and burlesque- but still be funny yet sexy and still teasing at the same time. Cause Im thinking that if you did too much of one, the idea wouldn’t really come across.

Thanks for taking the time to answer some of my questions I appreciate it so much.

Angel B.
Wethersfield, CT

Great question! If you’re gonna be a clown, you have to really go for it!  I read an article about Tina Fey in a magazine recently where she talked about some advice she got from Steve Martin. He said that if you are at all funny, you have to kill every time. So don’t hold back! Take risks! There is nothing entertaining about a clown without a punchline!

Clown humor is often self-effacing, so you need to be able to be silly without feeling embarrassed. The clown clothes and makeup are a great way to seperate your clown character from your normal self, freeing you from your inhibitions. As a clown, you can really do anything and get away with it. People will just look at you and go, “Of course. She’s a clown.” You can use this as a way to explore subjects and expression that may be too awkward or embarrassing when not in clown face and costume.

When encorporating comedy into your act, the original definition of burlesque comes into play.

bur·lesque (bər-lěsk’) n. A literary or dramatic work that ridicules a subject either by presenting a solemn subject in an undignified style or an inconsequential subject in a dignified style. See Synonyms at caricature. A ludicrous or mocking imitation; a travesty: The antics of the defense attorneys turned the trial into a burlesque of justice. A variety show characterized by broad ribald comedy, dancing, and striptease. v.   bur·lesqued, bur·lesqu·ing, bur·lesques v.   tr. To imitate mockingly or humorously: “always bringing junk . . . home, as if he were burlesquing his role as provider” (John Updike). v.   intr. To use the methods or techniques of burlesque. [From French, comical, from Italian burlesco, from burla, joke, probably from Spanish, from Vulgar Latin *burrula, diminutive of Late Latin burrae, nonsense, from burra, wool.] bur·lesque’ adj., bur·lesque’ly adv., bur·lesqu’er n. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

It’s important to be concious of that fact that in Clown Burlesque you are presenting the clown archetype at the same time as the showgirl archetype. For a really effective performance, I always consider my clown showgirl character to be a clown first, showgirl second. A clown uses exaggeration and humor to present and comment on ideas and experiences that are universal. As a clown showgirl, you would use exaggeration and irony to explore ideas or experiences relative to the showgirl character. I think of it as “burlesquing the striptease.”

For example, you could play up the showgirl’s natural interest in appearing sexy in at least a couple of different ways:

These are just two examples of different ways to play on one aspect of the showgirl archetype, which I pulled from your question. There are so many other facets and ideas that you can play on, so have fun and get creative.

I think playing on the showgirl archetype is a natural starting point for clown burlesque, but of course you can explore any themes that appeal to you. You can always play on experiences that are universal to your audience, women, or humanity in general, not just to the showgirl archetype. You could also choose to be a character clown, layering another archetype or stereotype on top of the clown/showgirl combination, which creates whole new ideas to explore. For example, you could be a clown/police officer/showgirl or a clown/housewife/showgirl. The options are limitless!

The main thing to remember when putting together your number is to have fun! Pick an idea that makes you giggle. Entertain yourself! The more fun you have while creating and performing the act, the more fun the audience will have watching you. Your enthusiasm is what will enthrall your audience, so have fun, explore, and play!

From my Clown on Rollerskates act at the Uptown in Oakland, 2008

Im really interested in burlesque dancing someday so I try to talk to as many people and get as much info as possible. I was interested in routines that use physical comedy. I came across the term “clown burlesque” but couldn’t find much about it- but when I entered the term in youtube some of your vids came up. I really liked them! I wanted to know if you could give me more information about clown burlesque- anything you know really- and if you can, lead me to more resources. I’d really appreaciate it. Thanks

Hi Angel,

I don’t know of any specific resources for clown burlesque, but I found some great links with background info on both peformance styles. Put them together, and there you are! Burlesque has always used elements of comedy and bawdyness, as you will see from reading, so many modern burlesque acts also combine sexuality with humor, whether in clown face or dressed as a traditional showgirl.

For me, burlesque is a great platform to juxtapose the traditionally beautiful/sexy with the ridiculous, bizarre, grotesque, and absurd. Dressing as a clown is one way to do this, but I also incorporate the same humor and physical comedy when portraying a more glamorous “showgirl” character.

My clown burlesque troupe, Twist My Balloons, at the DNA Lounge, 2006

There is a regional trend toward clown burlesque in New York and in San Francsico. From what I have seen and read, places like Seattle, Denver, LA, Florida, and many other cities, tend more toward the “classic glamour” style of burlesque. Of course, there are always exceptions to this trend in every region, and I am only making a rough generality here.

Burlesque history:
http://www.musicals101.com/burlesque.htm
http://www.musicals101.com/burlesque2.htm

Clowning:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clown
http://sunniebunniezz.com/clowning/clowns.htm
http://www.clownschool.net/

I am sure you can find many more resources by searching online. Good luck with your search, and I hope this helps!

Betty

http://www.bombshellbetty.net

PS: Here are a few more of my clown burlesque photos:

From the Chair Race act at the DNA Lounge, 2006

More Chair Race with Sweet Cheeks...

And more Chair Race...

Fruit Cocktail, featuring Miss Banana Peel and the AMAZING Coconuts! 2006

More from the Clown on Rollerskates act at the Uptown in Oakland, 2008

My "showgirl clownface" after my Pastie Tricks act at the Pin It Up, Babycakes show at 111 Minna, 2009

Clown Chickens act with Sweet Cheeks at the Hubba Hubba Revue, 2006

Final reveal for Clown Chickens act... Sexy!

My clowny Big Bad Wolf character at the Too Many F&*$#! Bunnies show at the Uptown in Oakland, 2008

Another shot of the Clown on Rollerskates act...

And another...

And here's the clown looking serious...