Bash Compactor: The Bump And The Grind

Walking into the dimly lit Slipper Room for a party celebrating the publication of The Burlesque Handbook by Jo Weldon, (AKA Jo Boobs) a shapely redhead with a quick smile who’s as smart as she is pretty, I expected to see a bevy of glamorous women parading around in dramatic headdresses, fans, pasties, tassels and g-strings. But as it was only 7 o’clock on a Tuesday, the sirens of shimmy on hand were looking gorgeous in plain old street clothes. The lipstick red booth near the entrance held a pile of the scarlet manuals on a table and the author was there in the flesh, chatting and signing books for her fans and friends. Beginning as a stripper and sex worker in Atlanta in 1980, Weldon moved to New York City in the 1990s and became a burlesque sensation. She’s great on a stage, but the girl can also write. The Burlesque Handbook is the definitive manual, thanks surely to Weldon’s honing of her talent at her New York School of Burlesque, which has inspired many women—and some men—to go off into the bright lights and shake it.

“So, you work on the burlesque circuit?” I asked ginger-haired actor Dale Harris, who’d appeared in a play with me a few months ago. He was standing by the table with two books ready to be signed. “I’m off to Miss Exotic World Pageant in Las Vegas,” he told me. It seemed like everyone except me was going to Sin City, including boylesque performer Tigger!, dancer Julie Atlas Muz and drag king Bevin Branlandingham. I grabbed a glass of champagne at the bar and made my way to the booth again.

I was talking to Bambi Jones, a 79year-old former stripper and burlesque artist when another comely blond joined our tete-a-tete. “I’m Bambi, too,” she said. “Bambi Themermaid.” I was getting confused. How many Bambis can fit into one room? “Come out to Coney Island and see me sometime,” she said, referring to her Burlesque on the Beach shows happening all summer.

Between the Bambis and Weldon’s tome, I was feeling inspired. After all, the book is full of fascinating nuggets: Weldon describes 10 nipple tassel-moves and even demos twirling a tassel on your derriere— naturally, it’s called an “assel.” Besides teaching you how to shake your ass, she even gives instructions on making your own pasties—they don’t call her Jo Boobs for nothing!