Never let it be said that I'm not one to drag out birthday celebrations, this weekend saw my third (and final) set of birthday celebrations. Silhouette Burlesque 'Scottish Invasion'.
Silhouette Burlesque is a night I've been running now for over two years. It's a small intimate affair at 'The Appleby' an amazing venue run by amazing people. The night has become well attended by other burlesque performers and promoters and is seen as a great place to premier acts and meet people. As well as it being a darned good excuse for us all to have a knees up! This particular event was made even more special than usual by the bill, my fav performers from Scotland (both on and off stage!) With a couple of notable exceptions due to lack of car room and lack of them being in the UK at the moment.
So the night started with a little drama regarding a decapitated cake, my friend Diane of There's always time for cake! had lovingly crafted me a pink fox birthday cake only for Delilah Dufoe to corner a little too sharply and send the poor little cake to sponge heaven! However I did see the photograph of the before picture and it was beautiful, plus it tasted pretty darned good! Fey Tish also made cake however disappeared at the end of the show with it! The evil genius also made cake (well even evil geniuses have gotta have down time!) but kept it well hidden until the after-party! I was also given some gorgeous presents and cards, Ma and Pa gave me handmade bath bombs from shell's shells and a lovely necklace from Auntie Hex and Uncle J ( I do so love my adopted family)
But down to the burlesque... Vendetta Vain opened the show with her gothic parasol routine, I have never seen someone find so many ways to not quite take off a coat, although of course when she does it's definitely worth the wait! Cherry Loco followed with his Bird of paradise routine, we've never had a boylesque performer at SB before so I wasn't sure how it was going to go down, but the routine (and feathery cod piece) was awesome and the crowd definitely enjoyed it. Completing the dance bill for the first half was Daiquiri Dusk with her 'Bonny Scots Lass' act, a combination of self penned comedic poetry, classic highland dancing and burlesque, I have been looking forward to seeing this act for a long time and I was not disappointed. However it did make me out of breath to just watch her. I closed the first half with a few Brit-pop classics, Animal Nitrate - Suede, You don't care about us - Placebo and Queer - Garbage (I am an indie kid at heart) dressed for no reason (other than I felt like it) as a 1920's gangster pixie.
I opened the second half with a few more indie songs, Don't look back in anger - Oasis, This Charming Man - The Smiths, and Common People - Pulp. It was nice to sing some indie tracks for a change as I generally get booked to sing jazz classics like 'Cry me a river' and 'Fever'. Opening the bill for the dancers was the Double D-lightful Delilah Dufoe, my fellow resident at Silhouette Burlesque with her 'Bad Medicine' absolutely my favourite of hers, classic rock cheesecake. Next was Daiquiri with her 'Twisted Gypsy' act, it's a dark sexy piece including contortion, I love the mixed reactions she illicits from the crowd with the act. Continuing the dark theme Vendetta followed with her 'Creature from the Black Leather Lagoon' act, I absolutely love the costume for this, and Vendettas bump and grind skills are awesome! Closing the night in a shower of glitter was Cherry Loco with his 'Snow Queen' act. I was so impressed with Cherry's showgirl moves, he's so graceful and has amazing hand and foot placement reminding me at times of Matthew Bourne's swans.
Many thanks must (as always) go to Shell and Kev at the Appleby for having us, DJ Sherz our fantastic sound bod and provider of comedy sound effects, and also to our guest usherette Fey Tish, she did a fantastic job. Hopefully our mute pet goth will be able to return at the next SB now she and her family are settled after the arrival of their new addition. Thanks also to J of Graven Images for the lovely pics. (I covet his camera muchly!)
Over the years we have had some amazing Silhouette Burlesque shows and have been privileged to host some of the best performers in the UK, however I must say this has to have been the best complete bill we've ever had. Made all the more special by our fantastic crowd of aficionados, performers, promoters and most of all my friends/adopted family. Without getting too gushy, I love you guys!
The next Silhouette Burlesque is 22 August and will feature my photographic muse Emerald Ace with a special act premier for us and some other guest performers who I have yet to decide on, I'm so spoilt for choice for great performers atm. Keep an eye out here for more details...
TTFN
CF
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