Travel and Super Heroes (or Villains)

I’m hanging out in my hotel room in Boston right now. I am here for a Pinup Workshop tomorrow in Boston and another one on Sunday in New Haven, CT. One of the Boston Babydolls will be attending the workshop tomorrow and portions will be filmed for the Babydolls’ upcoming reality TV show! How exciting!

My hotel is in the South Side area of Boston. My cabbie from the airport explained to me that this is the gay neighborhood. Lots of yuppies now, he said, but it’s still very gay. I told him that I’m from San Francisco and that I’d be very comfortable here. From what he was saying, I expected that I’d landed in Boston’s version of the Castro, but not so. I went wandering the neighborhood today, and it’s a very nice neighborhood. Lots of brownstones, cute restaurants, parks… very residential really. Other than the gay bar next door to the hotel, I didn’t see anything that put me in mind of the Castro. Oh well. He also told me it was a dangerous neighborhood, but I think he’s wrong on that score as well.

Next week I’ll be in San Diego for yet another workshop and to perform in the second Fishnet Follies produced by my friends Mynx d’Meanor and the Reverend Dick! I will be performing a number that I have been wanting to do for oh… about 3 years! Finally! I have some special shoe shopping to do when I get back to San Francisco!

Hollywood Pinups, Fishnet Follies and Exotic World Weekend!

I am still recovering from sleep deprivation after a three-week whirlwind trip to LA, San Diego and Las Vegas! Whew! What a trip!

Randy and I started out in Hollywood for our first Southern California Pinup Modeling Workshop and Photoshoot, and later ran another workshop in San Diego. Both of them went very well! We have scheduled another trip to Southern California at the end of July. For our LA workshop, we found a gorgeous studio with leopard print and bamboo walls, so we will be shooting with both of these backdrops at the workshop. It will be so lovely, I am very excited!

Mynx d’Meanor and Reverend Dick very graciously invited us to stay with them in San Diego. I am in love with these two! They produced a landmark burlesque show in San Diego while we were there, The Fishnet Follies, bringing together all of the San Diego burlesque troupes in one show as well as showcasing out-of-town soloists (Flame Cynders from LA, Randy Johnson and me from San Francisco). The show was amazing! Here are a few photos from my acts.

Then it was off to Las Vegas for the Exotic World Weekend! My favorite thing about this event is getting to meet and talk with so many of the Living Legends of Burlesque. It is a special treat and an honor to learn their stories and their secrets. I had a very touching talk with Sheila Rae, who grew up in Oxnard, near my original hometown Santa Barbara. I bought a great piece of vintage jewelry from Holiday O’Hara (aka Cybelle Holiday) who is an SF local and one of my heroes.

You can find more photos from the Fishnet Follies show in San Diego from Mynx d’Meanor here.

Here are Exotic World Weekender photos by various photographers:

Mike Goat
Dizzy Swank
Ms. Burleyque
Tanya Cheex