Vegas Night at FatCat

We had a great night of dancing and live music at FatCat Ballroom this past Tuesday night, 4/10/12.  The band “Jump, Jive and Wail” played great music from the heyday of swingin’ Las Vegas, from when the Rat Pack (Frank, Dean, Sammy, etc.) ruled the strip and the airwaves, and we danced the night away to their smokin’ tunes.  There was a lot of beautiful Vegas themed dressing up – think Mad Men, Rat Pack, Jackie Kennedy, and some of our lovely BurlEscapades models strutted in a Vintage Vegas Fashion Show arranged by Jenny Kuller of Red Sadie Vintage.  On top of all that it was our dear friend Steve Conrad’s birthday!  So it was a great time with a fabulous guy who has been promoting/teaching Swing Dancing in Arizona for 17 years.  All that and cake too!

- Kara

 

Talking on The Radio

It has certainly been too long since the last posting, especially considering everything that has been going on! C’est la vie, right? In the last post, Mercy and I were preparing for our invasion of the Hubba Hubba Revue in California, since then we’ve been in non-stop preparations for Romantasy Cabaret’s Spring show on Saturday 3/24. That’s this Saturday!

If that wasn’t enough, we got to hang out with some very cool cats on Vic Tim’s No Label Az Radio Show.  We brought some fabulous Lucky Player Vodka (the Kingcake flavor is my favorite thing ever!) and we chatted with The Relics to while away the evening. The gentlemen were perfect, we felt so comfortable talking with them, and the ladies of the show are always a blast. We talked about Burlesque, local bands (No Gimmick called in while we were there), Roller Derby, and lord only knows what else! If anyone has the nerve to say there’s nothing to do in Phoenix, they’re dead wrong! Kick that person in the ass and sit them down for a session of Vic Tim’s show one Monday night, these guys know where the action is! Mercy and I did a little striptease while Dr. Voodoo played some hot tunes live on his guitar, and a good time was had by all.

So now it’s less than a week before the big show! Come to Club Red in Tempe on Saturday,3/24/12, and tell them Kara sent you…

- Kara

 

Preparing for the show with The Greats

Sometimes one has to look at the past for inspiration.  In preparation for tonight’s show, Mercy Beaucoup and I are watching Dean Martin’s Rat Pack Live 1965 Perormance, along with some Robert Goulet for good measure.

We have decided what we really need is to always go onstage with a drink and a cigarette.

Those crooners from back in the day sure could belt them out.  As Dean Martin’s silver notes escape his soft lips, we’re melting like the ice in his scotch. Get ready for us to bring some of that sauce onstage tonight at the Hubba Hubba Revue in The Uptown, Oakland, Ca.

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=dean%20martin%20rat%20pack%201965&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CDIQtwIwAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DM69o5T4aqQ0&ei=lRVMT5nuLMqQiAKbjuGeDw&usg=AFQjCNG5oiwWiORhb0nG-UtzK5-i_gIY1g&sig2=dEEImuYnOt_Fr1BWNO9prw

Hubba Hubba, here we come!

Mercy Beaucoup and I are now in California, eagerly anticipating tomorrow night’s performance with The Hubba Hubba Revue at The Uptown Club in Oakland.

This is quite the honor to be included in this show.  In 2010, The Hubba Hubba Revue was named on Travel Channel‘s list of Top 10 Best Burlesque Shows around the world.  Besides that honor, they’re won numerous regional awards and featured some of the country’s most talented burlesquers.

So if you’re in the area come out and see us!  Today we’ll be relaxing in wine country, as must be done on any proper trip to California, but tomorrow we’re going to show The Uptown what we’re made of!  Tell them you met Mercy on the plane .

- Kara

One more night before Lent

Not that it means much to us here at BurlEscapades.  This past weekend was so eventful, it’s hard to believe we’re just getting started.  We had a very fun time assisting Tom Tuerff with his performing needs at the Erotic Music and Poetry Festivus, and the Mardi Gras Gala benefitting the Epilepsy Foundation was a truly spectacular affair.  If you have a chance to be a part of it next year, don’t miss it!

Now it’s time to take a breath before we lunge into the next week’s festivities.  We’ll be at the Rhythm Room Thursday, February 23, and then at the Uptown Club in Oakland for the Hubba Hubba Revue on Monday, February 27. The ladies are all preening and practicing for the big shows this weekend and looking forward to some big announcements in the month of March.  Stay tuned!

- Kara

Mardi Gras! Wow, what a night.

Mercy and I just retired for the evening after a fabulous night of Mardi Gras Revelry with the Epilepsy Foundation of AZ.  It was quite a night and I can tell you those folks can Party!

The highlight of the night for me was parading in the entourage of Mardi Gras King Larry Volkmar, CEO of Banner Good Samaritan Medical Center.  The man has some serious moves, and was such a pleasure to just be around!  Everyone was truly gracious and full of benevolence.  Heather King was the perfect hostess and everything went off so smoothly, it was an honor to be part of such a fantastic event.

We got to start off the festivities for the evening with BurlEscapades’ performance, so the rest of the night was a pleasure of mingling, gamboling and dancing.  Free Ride and a Mason Jar played the most awesome rendition of “Johnny B Goode”-”Keep Your Hands To Yourself”, and otherwise seriously rocked the house.  So all in all, I’d call that an awesome party, enough to satisfy a girl for 40 days!  Thank you to everyone that came and saw us and especially to those that donated to this beautiful cause!

- Kara

 

Alwun House Erotic Poetry & Music Festivus

It’s that time of year again.  Is everyone ready to see some boobies and listen to love sonnets from some of Phoenix’s finest and naughtiest?  Well you’re in luck, because the Alwun House’s Erotic Poetry & Music Festivus is this friday!  Tom Tuerff is performing some naughty little numbers and has requested some assistance for a Very Important Work of Art.  If you’ve never heard him sing before, it’s not something you want to miss.  Come out and see us!

-Kara

7pm door, $10 advance, $15 day of show

BurlEscapades Live!

We’ll be performing at The Rhythm Room on Thursday, February 23, and it feels like going home.  I will always have a happy spot in my heart for this venue because it was the first place Mercy and I performed together, and where I performed my first solo.  It was at a benefit for the troops in Afganistan organized by the lovely Brenda Lee Pin-up.  Lol, we’ve come a long way since then!  It’s good to be going back.

As usual there will be some fantastic bands playing.  I always get a kick out of climbing behind them and fanning the nice musicians with my feathers, and they don’t seem to mind when I tickle them with the feathers and rub my booty on them.  And the energy that comes with live music!  It just makes me giddy.  This time though, we’re going to have the whole troupe there for more supreme fabulousness than ever before.  Plus a surprise or two.  Oh goodness, I’m excited!  Just thinking about all the fun we’re going to have gives me the giggles.  There’s not much of a stage because that’s where The Band goes, so we always perform on the dance floor.  I love it because it feels like I have all this luxurious room and I get to interact with the audience.

It’s going to be quite a month!  We’ll be doing 4 events in two weeks from Oakland, to Phoenix, to Las Vegas.  All that and Romantasy Cabaret auditions.  However will we pull it off?

-Kara

LAISSEZ LES BONS TEMPS ROULER!

Burl-Escapades is joining Annie Cooper Photography and Cooper & Dubya Productions in this fantastic event to benefit the Epilepsy Foundation of AZ.In addition to performing at this fabulous event, we are particularly excited about the honor of escorting the King of Mardi Gras in the parade!  Spectacular evenings are rare! Be ready for this one! There will be: • Concert from Free Ride and a Mason Jar, a Baton Rouge born Rockabilly band • Street performers Strange Family Circus, The Creative JuJu Tribe, and Purrgatori of Mourning Fyre will regale revelers with fire eating, stilt walking, dancing and spinning with fire, juggling, daring escapes and sword swallowing … and whatever else their hearts desire • Amazing burlesque performances from Burl-Escapades and Provocatease • The magic of Jacob Spinney, Magician Extraordinaire • Live painting by fantastic artist Shayne Bohner throughout the evening • Demystify your future with readings from fortune tellers, tarot card readers and psychics, maybe even have your toes read • Gamble the night away in our Big Easy Casino • Get swept up in the excitement of our Charity Silent Auction featuring once in a lifetime trips and experiences • Photos taken throughout the evening by Annie Cooper Photography (be sure to get in her camera’s eye for some fantastic photos of yourselves at this fabulous event)Join the Epilepsy Foundation of Arizona’s board of directors in crowning Larry Volkmar, CEO of Banner Good Samaritan Medical Center as our King of Mardi Gras, at the Foundation’s annual Mardi Gras fundraiser, Saturday, February 18, 2012. Doors at The Venue Scottsdale open at 6:00 p.m. for the coronation of Volkmar and his court. The annual Mardi Gras Gala mirrors the festivities of a traditional Fat Tuesday celebration in the Big Easy, including street performers, fortune tellers, burlesque shows, casino gaming, silent auction, Cajun cuisine, and concerts. Visit the Mardi Gras Costume Shop and tell them you are attending the Mardi Gras Gala and they will donate 10% of your costume rental to the Epilepsy Foundation of Arizona. (Thanks Oscar!) Mardi Gras Costume Shop 5895 North Granite Reef Road, Scottsdale, AZ 85250 www.mardigrascostumeshop.com | 480-948-4030 Event attire is black-tie or Mardi Gras costume and many revelers come dressed to impress in masques and gowns fit for a Carnival Ball. Ticket and tables are on sale beginning at $200 per person. Mardi Gras Gala is a 21 and over event. Contact Director of Marketing and Development, Heather King at heather.king@chw.edu or 602-406-3581 for more information.  — with Sahar Afi Mitchell, Shayne Bohner, Crystal Cruz, Mardi Gras Costume Shop, Kara La Fleur, Pixie Styx, Gypsy Rouge, Ivy Arianrhod Boas, Justin Strickland, Mia PiaCherrie, DrRev Stephen Strange, Mercy Beaucoup, Jacob Spinney, Ava Luna and Corinne Vivers. … and you?

Cross-training Kara

What a wonderful day!

My day began with a deliciously fabulous hour and a half of ballet and continued right into an extra hour of yoga immediately following.  It surprises me how rarely I see the two disciplines paired, considering how much they both have to offer dancers and in such different ways.  Ballet elongates the muscles and cultivates poise and body control.  Yoga strengthens and nurtures the muscles that I just shredded to ribbons in ballet.  Together, they’ve made me feel like I could fly and wrestle sharks if I had to!

Another benefit to this kind of 3 hour workout (I stretched and warmed up before ballet) is the benefit of seeing all these wonderful body-types!  Being curvy, I have always been the “fat girl” in ballet, lol, but any self-consciousness I may have felt was instantly negated when I went into yoga.  Every figure is embraced and celebrated here, and maintaining postures and focus pushes stray thoughts out of the mind, creating stillness.

It’s important to keep in mind with any workout to stay hydrated and be sure to nurish your body so it’ll keep going, no matter how much abuse you give it. I’m looking forward to scarfing down a tomato with balsamic reduction, chiffonade basil, and sea salt, with a side salad of romaine from my garden with pecans and melon.  Yummy! and I’ll still feel light enough to tackle that shark if it comes to it.

Is that pigeon pose, my dear?

New Year’s Eve Delight

Ok.

Let me start off by saying that 2012 is going to be one hell of a year, if New Year’s Eve is any indication!

Mercy Beaucoup, Mia PiaCherrie and I got to perform with Romantasy Cabaret this year!  It was such a great show and we got to spend the holiday with some of our favorite people!  Lucy Morals was there and in charge with the LOVELY VaVaVoom ladies.  JoSanta was there, and Patrick Young, and Tom Pettijohn!  Gypsy Rouge came to see us, and the Mistress Polly Amour with her devotees.  Mia and I ate Chi Chi’s Tacos. Mercy was seriously jealous.

Happy Girls!

 

Partying with Anita Cocktail

We are so looking forward to all the fun and adventure that 2012 has in store.  Want us in your city?  Drop us a line! We’re looking forward to meeting you!

Ya’ll don’t even know

Fo’ real bitches. NYE.

Wanna Peek?

I’m just saying…