ATLRetro

Burlesque royalty is coming to Atlanta as 2011 Miss Exotic World Indigo Blue performs at this Friday’s Southern Fried Fundraiser Spectacular at 9 p.m. at Bart Webb Studios, a bargain $10 for the all-star line-up. All proceeds support the second annual Southern Fried Burlesque Fest (SFBF), scheduled for March 8-11, 2012, and the show also features the first Miss Southern Fried Burlesque Fest Queen Miss Siren Santina from Knoxville, TN, Fonda Lingue, Ruby Redmayne, Blast-Off Burlesque‘s Sadie Hawkins, Talloolah Love, Lola LeSoleil, Katherine Lashe and Ursula Undress (Syrens of the South Productions) Founded by Lashe and Undress, the first SFBF not only showcased some of the best local and regional performers but treated Atlanta to such national stars as Dirty Martini, Jo “Boobs” Weldonand Jonny Porkpie, as well as classic greats Tiffany Carter and Gyna Rose Jewel. The 2012 festival will be headlined by burlesque legends Satan’s Angel and Shannon Doah; The Queen of the Quake, Kitten De Ville; Perle Noire, the Black Pearl; The Lady Ms. Vagina Jenkins and Siren Santina!For the lowdown on SFBF’s fabulous first year, read our preview here and a post-event review by Talloolah Love here.

Back to the lovely Miss Indigo Blue. She’s been heating up the Seattle “nouveau burlesque” scene since the early ‘90s with a style that’s not just sexy but exudes an edgy sense of humor. Known for clever, racy routines; authentic 1930s-60s costumes and ribald reformulations of pop culture icons like Holly Golightly and Wonder Woman, she has performed across the nation and in Europe. While she has just taken the top crown, she is a three time award-winner at the annual Miss Exotic World competition at the Burlesque Hall of Fame in Las Vegas – the top honor in neo-burlesque, and also holds the First Runner Up title from the Jennie Lee Tassel Twirling Contest. Her BurlyQ Cabaret, founded in 2002 in Seattle, now has satellites in New York and London. She performs solo and with the Emerald City All-Stars and the Atomic Bombshells; is president and chief twirling officer (CTO!) of TwirlyGirl.net, a maker of creative pasties; and is the founder and headmistress of the Academy of Burlesque in Seattle.

Indigo Blue looks vivaciously vintage. Photo credit: Paule Saviano.

ATLRetro caught up with Indigo Blue recently, and she teased us with a few juicy details about her journey south, which also includes teaching gigs on Sat. Nov. 12 at the Artifice Club’s Mechanical Masquerade: A Paranormal Fantasy and at SpinArela, as well as her career, thoughts on her secret to success and what it’s like to be reigning queen of burlesque!

Without giving away any big secrets, what can you share about your plans for the Southern Fried Burlesque Fest fundraiser this Friday night?

I’m really excited to perform at the fundraiser! I’ll be bringing the sash & tiara for all to see!

I understand you’re also teaching a workshop on “Steampunk Burlesque: Being in Character” at the Mechanical Masquerade? Are you a big follower of steampunk, and what distinguishes steampunk burlesque from traditional burlesque?

I love the anachronism, whimsy, and creativity of Steampunk. It’s a style, a philosophy, and a culture; burlesque is a performance art form and a culture. The workshop is intended to integrate the two and enable those who like to play with an alter-ego to develop ways of creating  more dramatic and effective characters using burlesque techniques.

Finally you’ll be teaching “The Art of the Tease” at SpinArela. Can you tease us with a sneak preview of what students will learn in that class?

I love the Art of the Tease! My favorite parts are hearing from the students what they most crave to learn, and watching them understand how to implement the tools of the tease. We will play with gloves & boas!

Jeepers, Creepers, Where'd she get those Indigo Blue peepers?! Photo credit: Karl Giant.

You’re headmistress of the Academy of Burlesque in Seattle. Why is it important to you to teach burlesque versus just being a performer, and what do you enjoy most about teaching?

I feel called to be a teacher. I love sharing what I know, and I love the process of watching students evolve and grow through the study and practice of burlesque. My personal mission is to exemplify embodied femininity, and to support people’s personal transformation through burlesque.

Many burlesque performers can only dream of winning the title of Queen/Miss Exotic World at the Burlesque Hall of Fame. What did you do to earn the title; what’s the secret to your success, in your opinion; and what did it mean to you personally to win?

The secret? Hard work! I have been dancing since I was 5, stripping since I was 21, and competing in the Miss Exotic World pageant for 10 years. It doesn’t take that long for everyone… But it did for me!

Winning was a wonderful acknowledgement of my professional career this far in burlesque. It has given me the opportunity to represent the Burlesque Hall of Fame, an organization I deeply believe in and am committed to.

Can you share a little bit about what’s so special about the Burlesque Hall of Fame (BHOF) as an event with folks (performers and mere spectators) who may never have attended? 

The BHOF Weekend is an incredible opportunity to develop meaningful connections with performers of all generations, as well as The Place to see the pinnacle of international burlesque performance. The Friday Night show featuring vintage vixens is an inspiring and powerful glimpse into our shared artistic history.

Indigo Blue performs at the 2011 Burlesque Hall of Fame. Photo credit: Diane Nagel.

When did you first start performing burlesque and what inspired you to this vintage art form?

I began creating comic erotic skits “burlettas” in 1994 for Tamara the Trapeze Lady‘s Fallen Women Follies. After attending Tease-o-Rama in 2001 in New Orleans, and then Exotic World in Helendale shortly afterwards, I knew I had found my people.

How did you come to choose the name Indigo Blue, and how does your “blue” persona inspire your acts and costuming?

When I was a peep-show stripper in the ‘90s, my name was Indigo!  Blue has always been my favorite color, since I was a child.

Seattle's glamorous Indigo Blue. Photo credit: Don Spiro.

What’s the burlesque scene like in Seattle, and do you have any recommendations for travelers on how to tap into what’s going on there?

Seattle’s burlesque scene is second only to New York in size, and has produced some of the most stellar, high-production value shows in the world. The active Seattle Burlesque Google calendar lists most shows, and the Seattle Burlesque Press blog has regular previews and reviews.

What other burlesque performers (legendary or contemporary) have inspired you the most personally and why?

As far as the vintage ladies, I am inspired by the coy elegance of Toni Elling, the bawdy curtain-humping of Marinka and the fierce intensity of Wild Cherry. My contemporary inspirations continue to be Dirty Martini, Julie Atlas Muz, Miss Astrid and Tigger. I am also constantly impressed by the stellar Seattle scene, including in particular Inga Ingenue, Waxie Moon, The Shanghai Pearl, Lily Verlaine and Ernie Von Schmaltz.

Will you be returning to Atlanta for Southern Fried Burlesque Fest 2012?

I’ll be there in 2013!!!!

As tickets go on sale for next year’s Southern Fried Burlesque Festival, Atlanta burlesque maven Talloolah Love looks back on an absolutely fabulous first year…

I have to give my eyes a rest, as I may develop rhinestone cataracts after seeing such an array of magnificent, world class acts as graced the stage March 10-13 for the first-ever Atlanta burlesque convention: The Southern Fried Burlesque Festival. Plenty of articles have been put out there about the two gals behind the event. Masterminds and inner puppeteers, Ursula Undress and Katherine Lashe, were certainly exercised to the extreme as they worked their little tail feathers off to put this show on, and boy, didn’t it show! The vendors room alone could have struck you blind for all the fabulous glitter, rhinestones and color. As someone who has been to many festivals all over the country, ATLRetro asked me to share my experience as a spectator with a sweet nod and smooch to everyone behind the event who volunteered and assisted in their own ways to make it all happen.

Lydia DeCarllo

I arrived Friday night, just before doors. The moment I came in, the fabulous Lydia DeCarllo, the international sensation from Vancouver, swept me up. Now that’s my kind of welcome wagon! We chatted about her trip in and about how she’s been since we last saw each other at the Texas Burlesque Festival. Derek Jackson, Atlanta photographer and avid burlesque advocate, arrived soon after along with world-famous Rick DeLaup, founder of the New Orleans Burlesque Festival. I took a quick jog over to the bar, as I am quite familiar with the Decatur Holiday Inn and Convention Center, which has been newly renovated and also is the home of TribalCon, a national bellydance convention I try to attend every year. The bar was literally dripping with burlesque stars, but the most fabulous in attendance at that moment as Ms. Torchy Taboo, Atlanta’s own burlesque Godfather. She held court there as only she can, a moment I so sorely missed out on because there was so little time to commiserate before the first big show began.

Talloolah Love and Derek Jackson

I took my seat in the VIP section with Rick and Derek and used my commemorative Jo Boobs pen to take notes on the festival’s first all-star show. My only disappointment was that when Derek invited me to sit VIP, my vision of it would be some kind of small gift bag or at the very least drink tickets for the conveniently located hotel bars in the ballroom. But not this year. Happily the bar’s prices were so reasonable it wasn’t as big of a deal as it could have been had the event been held in Atlanta. Still, if I were to critique the VIP experience for its price, a small gift of appreciation would have been nice and usually expected at most festivals.  All of this, though, was again mitigated by the national celebrities who came to chew the fat with us, like Atlanta’s own Mike Geier, the evening’s emcee, and Margaret Cho, along with the cast of DROP DEAD DIVA.

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Wow, there’s a lot flying and frying this week Retro-wise in Atlanta from Phoenix Flies to Southern Fried Burlesque Fest to a host of pop and rock performers who got their start in the ’80s. Here’s your weekly guide to where and why to get out…

Monday March 7

Atlanta Preservation Center continues its annual The Phoenix Flies: A Celebration of Living Landmarks, so-named after the iconic symbol of Atlanta—the mythical bird that burns and is reborn similar to the city post-Civil War. The event which runs through March 20 offers a chance to take its neighborhood historical walking tours for free, as well as experience additional behind-the-scenes peeks inside Atlanta’s most famous buildings of eras gone by. Today’s tours include The Temple synagogue (1930), designed by legendary Atlanta architect Philip Trammel Shutze at 10:30 AM; the Gothic revival Peachtree Christian Church (1925) at noon; and Grant Park at 5 PM. Reservations are recommended. After dark, Joe Gransden & his smokin’ 16-piece orchestra present another Big Band Night of jazz at Café 290, featuring Sinatra, Bennett, Basie and Joe’s originals. Blues chanteuse Francine Reed is back at Cafe Circa. Northside Tavern hosts a Blues Jam.

Tuesday March 8

Phoenix Flies features the Swan House at the Atlanta History Center (AHC), site of lavish parties in the 1920s and ’30s; other AHC facilities such as the 1840 Tullie Smith Farm and Cherokee Garden Library and Kenan Research Center, which both house rare photos and documents of Atlanta history; neoclassic First Church of Christ, Scientist (cornerstone laid 1903); Hinman Home (1896), now Stonehurst Place Bed & Breakfast; Midtown’s The Castle; a general Historic Midtown tour; and Wimbish House (1906), one of the last remaining homes on Peachtree Street’s once posh Mansion Row now the headquarters of Atlanta Women’s Club.

Splatter Cinema presents 1980s vampire classic NEAR DARK at 9:30 PM. Read Mark Arson’s Retro Revue to see why you shouldn’t miss this hard-edged horror Western directed by Oscar winner Kathryn Bigelow and starring Lance Henriksen and Bill Paxton. Grab your horn and head to Twain’s in Decatur for a Joe Gransden jazz jam session starting at 9 PM. Fedora Blues plays Fatt Matt’s Rib Shack. Atlanta’s notorious DJ Romeo Cologne spins the best ‘70s funk and disco at 10 High in Virginia-Highland.

Wednesday March 9

Phoenix Flies tours the Fabulous Fox Theatre and offers a rare peek inside The Herndon Home, a beautiful 1910 mansion built by Atlanta’s first African-American millionaire Alonzo Herndon which has many eclectic aspects thanks also to his drama teacher wife Adrienne who would put on theater productions occasionally on the roof.

Get ready to rumba, cha-cha and jitterbug at the weekly Swing Night at The Glenwood. Catch Joe Gransden every Wednesday night at 8:30 PM at Jerry Farber’s Side Door. The Hollidays bring on the blues at Fatt Matt’s Rib Shack. Dance to ‘70s, ‘80s and ‘90s hits during Retro in the Metro Wednesdays presented by Godiva Vodka, at Pub 71 in Brookhaven, starting at 8 PM. Cover band ’80s Band of Destiny is in the Atlanta Room at Smith’s Olde Bar.

Thursday March 10

Stonehenge Mansion, one of today's Phoenix Flies tours.

Another busy day for Phoenix Flies including tours of Fox Theatre; early Edgewood-Candler Park; Unseen Underground exploring parts of the old railway lines and viaduct system not usually open to public view; Burns Club (1910), a replica of Scottish poet Robert Burns’ birth home with Burns poetry reading; City Hall; Stonehenge Mansion & Sanctuary, a Gothic mansion in Druid Hills built as a residence but now houses St. John’s Lutheran Church; and the Georgia Capitol.

The first annual Southern Fried Burlesque Fest kicks off with the Atlanta premiere of award-winning documentary DIRTY MARTINI & THE NEW BURLESQUE, with a Q&A afterwards with director Gary Beeber and Neo-Burlesque Revival superstar Dirty Martini, at the Holiday Inn & Conference Center in Decatur. Be sure to read our fest preview here. Chickens and Pigs play Pho Truc in Clarkston from 8-10 PM. Listen to Tongo Hiti’s luxurious live lounge sounds, as well as some trippy takes on iconic pop songs, just about every Thursday night at Trader Vic’s. Party ‘70s style with DJ Romeo Cologne at Aurum Lounge.  Breeze Kings and Chicken Shack bring on the blues respectively at Northside Tavern and Fat Matt’s Rib Shack.

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Atlanta certainly has earned its place on the map of the Neo-Burlesque Revival with amazing performers and troupes. Now this steamy Southern city finally is getting its first bonafide burlesque festival, too. In case you’ve been too naughty to notice, Southern Fried Burlesque Fest dances into town next weekend, Thurs. March 10- Sun. March 13, 2011, at the Holiday Inn Hotel and Conference Center in Decatur. But co-founders Katherine Lashe and Ursula Undress (Syrens of the South Productions) kindly have agreed to pull back the curtains and strip down to some of the delicious details…

Katherine Lasche & Ursula Undress invite you to some Southern-fired fun at Atlanta's first burlesque festival.

1. Is there any story behind how you hatched the idea for Southern Fried Burlesque Fest and why Atlanta needs its own festival?

Katherine Lashe: Atlanta’s the biggest city in the Southeast and a hot bed for burlesque with guest performers coming in all the time so it seemed to make sense that we should have a festival to show off all of the amazing talent from all aspects of burlesque that the Southeast had to offer, in addition to showing the Southeast what the rest of the world has to offer as well.

Ursula Undress: I had heard some talk about how we needed to do something like it here at a few of the Atlanta Burlesque & Cabaret Meet-Ups and had been to a few other state-specific festivals. So I supported Katherine with wanting to move forward with one here and told her I would do whatever I could to help. We definitely have the talent in the city and surrounding areas—so it has become sort of a regional thing.

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