Blood & Guts in High School

This past weekend I performed in the 2nd Annual Southern Exposure Burlesque Festival in Charlotte, NC. There are tons of burlesque festivals out there and my rule of thumb when it comes to choosing which one to apply to is location, location, location. If it’s in a city I’ve never been to, I will most definitely apply. Burlesque festivals are not paid unlike our usual other gigs. To apply you have to pay as well. Although the application fee is usually around $15-25 depending on how established the festival is, the application fees quickly add up especially if you apply for multiple festivals in one year. You are also responsible for your own airfare, hotel accommodations, food, transportation. The bigger festivals pay a performer honorarium and that can range from $25 to $150. Again, that depends on whether you are a headlining act. The headliners usually will have their airfare taken care of and accommodations are usually at the producer’s home. So as you can see, it adds up.

Luckily the airfare to Charlotte from NYC was under $150 on JetBlue (who was amazing!), and my friend Maggie, who is the photographer and creator of Play Me Burlesque Cards is now working on a documentary about burlesque, came along since I am one of the featured performers in her film. She kept me company through the whole trip, and we split all the cost so that was extremely helpful for me. But that wasn’t the best part. We booked two nights at The Econo Lodge Suite & Hotel which was closest to the Visulite Theater where the event took place on Saturday night. But it was also right next to the main highway and at least three stripclubs. When we checked into our room (which came with a refrigerator, microwave and coffeemaker), Maggie noticed the “shared” door between our room and next room right away. Then we started to hear an argument coming from the couple next door. Someone had put $10 in the car that they weren’t supposed to and it any of this! So we changed rooms right away to one that had no neighbors around us and no shared door. The second room was much better but nevertheless we still slept with the chair jammed under the doorknob!

We arrived on a Friday night and went to the little get together Deana Pendragon (producer of the festival) held at her house. We took a taxi there and along the way I saw even MORE strip clubs! I asked Deana about that and she said that Charlotte is a big banking town and there are tons of stripclubs. I wasn’t really sure what the connection was between banks and strippers other than they both take your money? At the casual gathering I saw Blaze the Red Rose of Texas again who I had just met at the New Orleans Burlesque Festival during the summer. It’s really cool to run into the same performers in different festivals and in different cities. It makes you feel a bit like a jetsetter! I do love traveling so much. Before burlesque, I went to Kenya, the Canary Islands, The Galapagos, Ibiza, and many other exotic places. That was back when my hard-earned money went to “life experiences” rather than grams of Swarovski crystals.

Within ten minutes of arriving at the party, someone broke a wine glass and as it shattered a piece of glass scratched my right leg. It bled a TINY bit but the Chinese superstitious side of me went, “Uh oh… I wonder if this is a harbinger of unfortunate news.” Oddly enough later that weekend, when I was changing right before I went on I stepped on a big splitter on the wooden floor and my heel bled too! The lighting technician (I didn’t get his name) knelt down and sweetly tweezed out the splinter for me. But that’s two times of accidentally bleeding! What did it signify? I had no idea I could be so superstitious! Guess it’s in my blood. Haha. The show was quite long but went really fast. The two guys who MC-ed the event were great at keeping everyone’s energy up and moving things along smoothly. Everyone I worked with from sound tech to equipment check were extremely friendly and efficient. I got to mingle quite a bit after my act and met a few great people from Atlanta. And of course, my favorite part of burlesque festivals, SHOPPING at the vendors’ tables! I got a new corset and two new fascinators that I can’t wait to wear this week at my shows. We were lucky enough to make friends with Dave Wallsh who is a big fan and supporter of Deana’s productions in Charlotte. He schlepped us around and made sure we got home safe to our motel every night. We all went for a nightcap at the closest bar near the hotel one night at a place called “Upscale Bar & Grill”. It was all hip hop, all black folks, and they made one mean curry chicken and rice dish! That was a delicious meal! Two local girls at the bar did a doubletake when I told them we were staying at the Econo. She told me that the motel has a rep for having lots of dealers and hookers. Good times! Maggie didn’t hear this because she was too busy burning her mouth on the plate of amazing looking fried chicken. The next morning (we were still alive) Dave took us to brunch at a fantastic New Orleans restaurant called Boudreauxs in a neighborhood was was much hipper and younger. Unfortunately we didn’t have time to walk around that neighborhood but I did pass by a couple of thrift shops that seemed to have major potential.

Despite my superstitions, by the time we left Charlotte, nothing bad or unlucky had happened. Unless you count us going to bed starving because no one would deliver past 2am, not even the ubiquituous Domino’s, and me not winning any titles at the pageant which just reminded me of how I didn’t win Prom Queen in high school even though I was nominated! What bitterness? I’m not harboring any repressed issues from more than a decade ago! Good night everyone! 😉

There are tons more pictures from my Charlotte & Dallas trip on my blog. See them here >

PS: I also found out that I was accepted in the 4th Annual Dallas Burlesque Festival in February 2012! I will be performing in my hometown again in Saturday night’s show at The House of Blues in Dallas, TX.