The BurlesQuepade is coming!

What are you doing tomorrow (Friday) night? That's right, you're heading down to the Majestic Theatre for the big show! Get ready for a shameless plug:

Last year, I got it into my head to throw a burlesque and drag extravaganza all by my lonesome, and, through some great and terrible miracle, actually managed to pull it off. "Hot Mess," as it was called, ended up being wildly successful beyond all my expectations, and a blast to boot. It went over so well, in fact, that I was approached earlier this year by the local group organizing the ASANA National Women's Softball World Series to throw another such event as the final shindig to cap off their series. I pretty much couldn't say no.

So here we are, ready to rock again. Only instead of calling the show "Hot Mess 2: Electric Boogaloo," we decided to go with "BurlesQuepade" - but it'll be just as fabulous, if not more so, than last year!

I am pleased as punch to announce that we've brought back last year's emcee, Miss Tamale, who brought the house (and probably several pairs of panties) down with her between acts humor and her grand finale act. I haven't looked at a bottle of chocolate syrup the same way since.

Also performing will be troupes from as close as right here in Madison, and as far away as Atlanta! Check it out:

• The MadKings - Madison's own drag king troupe
• Cherry Pop Burlesque - silly, sexy local gals
• The Miltown Kings - Brew City's finest
• Owen McCord - all the way from Hotlanta!
• Foxy Veronica's Peach Pies - cooking up a tasty treat right here in town
• Ashar Dance Company - hypnotizing Madison audiences with swiveling hips
• Madtown Hellcats Burlesque - titillating and teasing in Madtown
• DeeDee & Irma - sassy broads with gin and 'tussin habits to match your own

I'll be behind the scenes working my magic and would love to see your smiling faces out there in the audience! You can snag tickets online, at the Majestic box office, or at one of their outlets (Willy St. Co-op, Context, Pipefitter). Tickets will likely also be available at the door the night of the show.

BURLESQUEPADE!
FRIDAY, SEPT. 4 @ THE MAJESTIC THEATRE
$10 cover, all ages, 8:30 doors and 9:00pm show
Dance party to follow with DJ Tee Scientess

Win tickets to see Alice Russell this Sunday

What is it with incredibly talented neo-soul singers and the UK these days? Something in the water? Whatever the case, fact is that several really impressive female voices have come out of the British Isles over the last decade, helping to spawn a revival of sorts for the kind of catchy doo-wop usually associated with the late 50s-60s.

Alice Russell is one such voice (one of the better, I'd say), and she's coming to the Majestic this Sunday. She's sung with groups like personal fav Massive Attack, as well as the Nextmen and Quantic Soul Orchestra, to name but a few. Now she's gone solo. If you're not already familiar with her work, head on over to her Myspace page and give a listen. It's good stuff, and if you dig it at all you should seriously consider coming out to the show.

I'll even sweeten the pot a little and offer a free pair of tickets to the first person to leave a comment with their full name and...well, let's see...a band name for some mythical super group they might form in another life. That should be fun. First person to do so will find their name +1 on the guest list for the gig on Sunday.

Details: Alice Russell at the Majestic Theatre, Sunday, March 15 @ 9:00p.m. All ages show, regular tickets are just $10 (and you can get them online here).

More:

• NPR profile and interview about Russell's new album, "Pot O' Gold."
• Review from Above the Fold.

The Yard Dogs Road Show

Well this is fun. Apparently I'm involved enough in the burlesque/drag/performance scene now that I get to give away tickets to an awesome upcoming show at the Majestic Theatre! I'll be going to see the Yard Dogs Road Show this Thursday night, and as a special treat to Lost Albatross readers, I've got two tickets to give away to one lucky soul.

This is how it will go down:

First - Check out the Yard Dogs Road Show's website, watch some videos, and be amazed!

The Yard Dogs Road Show is a hobo cabaret, a living patchwork of vaudeville and rock and roll. In the enchanting land of stage show entertainment theirs is both pleasant and formidable terrain. They require a sensitivity to the subtle and the absurd. They lead the modern hobohemian on a visual and sonic journey through part of history that may or may not have existed – followed by an ambitious return to the emotional challenges of our punch-drunk contemporary world. It’s a true story on stage: sword swallowers, dancing dolls, fire eaters and sunset hobo poetry - all animated by the live sounds of the Yard Dogs cartoon heavy band. Yard Dogs Road Show is pure visual and sonic voodoo.

Born from the saloon vaudeville that toured the Wild West in the late 1800's and slammed into the underworld of modern American road culture. The Yard Dogs create a timeless space for the union of ancient theatrical alchemy and modern pop culture.

Seriously, this show looks like it will be a ton of fun, so be sure that, even if you aren't the winner of my super fabulous ticket giveaway, you buy some of your own and go check it out.

Second - Want to try your hand at winning the two tickets? Wonderful, I'd love to see you at the show! To win, just be the first to leave a comment answering this question: what was the name of the big drag/burlesque show that I put on this summer at the Majestic? Totally easy. I mean, you can look it up on this very blog. Be sure to leave either some way I can contact you via email to get your full name (or just your full name) in your comment so I can put you on the guest list +1.

Serious replies only, please! Don't win the tickets if you don't want to or can't go to the show, eh? Otherwise, have at it!

More show info:
THE YARD DOGS ROAD SHOW
w/ opening act, the Scarring Party
Thursday, October 2 @ 8:00PM
The Majestic Theatre, 115 King St., Madison, WI
www.majesticmadison.com

We have pride in Madison

The rumors about the death of Pride in Madison have been greatly exaggerated.

While most cities celebrate Gay Pride in June, Madison (perhaps unsurprisingly) likes to march to the beat of its own, unique drummer and get their festivities on in July. Specifically, this weekend. There has been much said of the major tumble taken by the Madison Pride organization, wherein their now former bookkeeper did a not-so-legit job of keeping said books. Because of that debacle, this year's events hosted by the group have been scaled back considerably.

Still, I have to give kudos to them for sticking with it and making something happen despite the trouble. Madison Pride has done a good job of providing the more family and politically oriented GLBTQ celebrations of years past, and I'm hopeful that they'll see their way through the mess and grow bigger and better in the future.

It's definitely worth noting, however, that this door closing has lead to an impressively opened window. Liz Tymus of indie Queer fame, plus a gaggle of other dedicated folks, have put together an awesome weekend of Pride festivities that may very well foreshadow the future of this high holiday of queerness in Madison. While it's important to maintain the more traditional celebrations, it's great to see that a new generation of queer and queer-friendly people are continuing to carry the banner, creating newer and more diverse celebrations that help to elevate every corner of the community. After what seemed like a long dry spell for gay friendly events and organizations around Madison, the last couple of years have seen a welcome upswing--from Patrick Farabaugh and the founding of Our Lives Magazine, to the rise of indie Queer, to the opening of Woof's, and the Majestic being so accomodating to queer events, things are looking up.

So while getting your Pride on is much less confined to just one weekend these days, it's good to know that the big celebration will never die. In fact, it seems to be growing up and branching out, which is most welcome.

Happy Pride!

P.S. Yours truly is also doing her best to contribute by throwing what promises to be one of the coolest events of the summer. Find out more by clicking on that fancy banner to the right of this text, and then come out to the Majestic next Saturday! Seriously, it'll be worth it if for nothing else than to see me freaking right the fuck out over organizing and producing something of this magnitude, pretty much all on my own.

Promising, but still not sold

The newly renovated and freshly hyped Majestic Theatre had its grand opening this weekend, with headliners Mandy Moore and Ben Lee taking the stage in front of adoring fans, ironic hipsters and friends of the theatre's owners. According to the write-up given over at dane101, there are a number of promising signs and developments in the space, but also a few minor kinks yet to work out. I still have to make it over to check it out for myself, but I am glad that it sounds like they've done a good job of making a great old theatre classy again.

Still, I'd like to see some greater variety in their line-up. Mandy Moore's all well and good, but a slate full of equally "innocuous and pleasant" acts doesn't do much to inspire decent turn-outs at their shows. If they want to draw in good sized crowds, they'll have to look beyond American Idol finalists and former teen movie stars. But I wish them well, and I applaud their efforts so far to make the space more welcoming (even to the city's under-21 population!) and interesting.

In other news, word has "leaked" that another Zombie Lurch is in the offing:

The Coalition Of the Living Dead (COLD) will gather on Saturday October 20th at 2:00 pm at the state capitol in Madison Wisconsin and lurch for our rights as zombies. COLD encourages zombies and zombie supporters to come equipped with signs and slogans to make our point. We will raise our voices and we will not be ignored. We will lurch from the capitol down State Street to the Memorial Union.

And thank goodness, because the political and social climate for zombies in Madison has been growing more and more oppressive as of late. They're being given a bad name by a few, renegade zombies up at the capitol who, after 3 months, still can't agree on a state budget. Most Joe-Sixpack zombies on the street know when it's time to drop the demands for fresh, UW scientist brains delivered to their door and to instead reach a compromise that will make the living and the dead happy. God forbid the budget impasse will still be an issue come October 20, but regardless, the Lurch should shed much needed light on zombie rights.


(photo credit: Madolan)

Majestically Not Hip-Hop

I'm happy that someone bought the very cool Majestic Theatre, renovated it and started booking live music there again. It's a great old building (built in 1902 as a vaudeville theatre) with a storied history, some of it more notorious than others. In the final months of its last incarnation, there were several incidents of brawls and stabbings happening out front. The media usually pointed the finger at the hip-hop DJs and acts playing inside, blaming the allegedly "violent culture" that went along with the music for all the riff-raff and associated criminal activity.

I'm pretty sure that's a load of horse shit, but enough people bought into it that eventually the reputation was set and the venue's future looked extremely gloomy.

Then Scott Leslie and Matt Gerding came to town, bought the place and decided to give it a new lease on life. In the process of renovating the historic space, the new owners decided to tear out the DJ both entirely. An article on dane101 sums up the potential reasons and ramifications of the move nicely:

As Scott Leslie and Matt Gerding petitioned city leaders and community members who were nervous about once again allowing music in the historic theater they had to repeat over and over that they would not be hosting DJ parties. For better or for worse, the letters "D" and "J" used in succession with the word "party" in Madison have become synonymous with "bad scene." While the dismantling of the booth was aesthetically necessary to achieve the goal of increasing the capacity of the venue to 600 - it can also be viewed symbolically as a new era for the controversial Majestic.

Regardless of their actual motives, the equation of DJs (and, by proxy, hip-hop music) with "bad scenes" has taken root in the public conscience. It's a shame, really, because there's nothing inherently wrong with DJs, the music they play or the crowds they attract. Madison also suffers from a dearth of venues that will play host to DJs and MCs who play/perform hip-hop and rap, so the loss of one has far-reaching reverberations.

In the end, though, it's well within the rights of the new owners to book whatever kind of music they damn well please. I'm happy to note that a number of the acts in their initial line-up are local Madison bands. Support of homegrown groups is always welcome. But I noticed another, perhaps less exciting trend (at least for me): the vast majority of the acts in the initial line-up are Top 40 rock and/or singer-songwriter acts. For instance, the much hyped kick-off show on Sept. 29 boasts headliner Mandy Moore with bland alt-rocker Ben Lee as an opener.

No offense to Ms. Moore, (I admit to being strangely intrigued by the idea of seeing her perform--could be like watching a train wreck, could be cheesily entertaining), but I'm a little disappointed. The other slice of white bread in this musical sandwich comes in the form of The Verve Pipe (Dec. 14), who I didn't even know were still touring.

I can only wonder, was it really necessary to go so far to the other side of the musical pendulum to appease concerned city and local officials? Maybe it was, which means there's still a lot of work to do to show the public that one specific type of music does not equal one specific type of person associated with it, and that all forms of musical expression should have their fair place in our city.

(photo credit: Madison Trust for Historic Preservation)