The Cats Pyjamas Burlesque

Burlesque.

 

In a previous post I’ve gone into the history of both the term and the show because of an evening spent at the Yardbirds Rock Club in Grimsby.  I told of how my wife and I had a great night, though the first half was better than the last.

 

Well, Saturday brought our second foray into the world of wonder that is Burlesque.  I can safely say both halves of the show, performed by The Cats Pyjamas Burlesque Cooperative, where equally excellent.

 

We almost didn’t it make on the night.  Our babysitter told us, at the last moment, she had pleurisy.  Even without the fact our youngest is prone to chest infections and at risk from pneumonia, we couldn’t let her still come.  For a while, we were pretty much stranded, then my mother-in-law stepped into the breach and agreed to babysit.  Yay!

 

It wouldn’t have been so bad but we were meeting friends – burlesque regulars – there and they’d sorted the tickets.

 

I’m currently experiencing severe back pain, so getting dressed in my tuxedo was an unpleasant experience for me and probably quite funny for anyone else!  Yes, a tux isn’t my regular attire when visiting the Yardbirds, a brilliant (as I’ve attested before) place for a great night out, but the theme was James Bond – and I look good in a suit!

 

I wasn’t looking forward to standing all night as the pain in my back gets more intense when I stand still, but hey ho.  I wasn’t going to let it spoil the night.

 

We arrived about 15 minutes before the show was due to start.  Enough time to pick a spot and get a drink.  There were plenty of people in suits and dresses, looking very smart and glamorous.  One guy was dressed only in tight swimming shorts and another had an amazing costume based on whichever Bond film featured New Orleans voodoo (who do you do what remind me of the babe).  His outfit and makeup was brilliant.

 

One of the things that made the previous show we’d been to so enjoyable was the host, Snappy O’Shea.  She has a great repertoire and rapport and is fast and sharp.  She consistently had everyone laughing and this night was no exception.  Snappy’s quickfire routine was spot on the mark and had all of us joining in.

 

Last time, there was a large humour portion to the show.  They had the 50 Shades of Beige and the lollipop lady and more.  SOOO funny.  This time, the humour part of the dances was put aside to encompass the ‘Double Oh Heaven’ theme.  There were still laughs aplenty thanks to Snappy and her wonderful relationship with the dancers and stage people, such as Stormy, but the acts themselves were more classy and demure, in the main.  To a certain extent, I did miss this, but the dancers definitely made up for it.  They were beautiful and made sure we had something great to watch.  Each deserved their applause and cheers.

 

Special mention must go to Kiki DeVille, the Australian singer who opened and closed the show, and popped up (ooer missus) a couple of times between.  She was a fab singer, and her songs were brilliant.  We really felt for her poor wet, hot, bald pussy – the poor cat!

 

I didn’t win on the raffle this time, but, thanks to Snappy and the delightful Busty Goodrack (Kerching!) I didn’t seem to mind!

 

All in all, a brilliant show.  I’m looking forward to February 8^th, when the Valentine special is on.  I’ve seen a good few acts at the Yardbirds, and it’s a great venue.  The Cats Pyjamas most certainly is the dog’s bananas!

Finding a Fox...

On Saturday, my wife and I were planning an adventure.  We were going to find a fox!

 

Well, we were going to Manchester (a two-and-a-bit hour drive away) to watch Foxes perform.  Same thing.  Almost.

 

Either way, it was certainly an adventure, though not entirely how we imagined or intended.

 

We'd booked the tickets some time ago, as I've mentioned in a previous blog post.  We'd seen the new Debenhams advert, Shazamed the song, downloaded all she had and then I went online to see if she was touring.  We are completely convinced that the website for the venue - the Roadhouse in Manchester - said the date was Saturday the 5th of October.  My wife even booked the day off work.  I did the same - though I don't normally work weekends.  I've been working ten hour days, seven days a week for the past month and Saturday 5th would be my first day off.  I was looking forward to it!  I'd be back at work on the Sunday, but Saturday was my day off and this was a great way to spend it.

 

I said as much on Twitter, including Foxes (@iamfoxes) in the tweet.  And I felt a right TWITter when she responded, telling me she didn't actually have a gig that night...

 

No gig?  Surely not.  It was the 5th.  The Saturday.  That was what the website said when we booked.  We know it did......?

 

We wouldn't have both got it wrong, would we?

 

I checked the tickets.  When they came, we simply shoved them in a drawer.  We knew the date.  Why look?

 

Well.  The tickets said the concert was the next night.  The Sunday.

 

Ah.  Not only was I meant to be working until 5:30pm and the gig was due to start at 6:00pm - and it was a good couple of hours drive - but we'd arranged a babysitter (my wife's wonderful grandmother) to come and stay the night.

 

So.  Change of plan.

 

I tried to ring to cancel Nanna.  There was no answer.  I returned to my house from town to find them already there.  OK, it was fine, Nanna would still come the next day.  In the meantime let's all go out for tea.  Yum!

 

The next morning - Sunday the 6th - I was up at 6:00pm for work.  At 3:30pm, my wife came to my place of work and we jumped in my car, leaving hers there, and made our way to Manchester. Google Maps is our friend, and we found the place and a car park easily, and we were there with a half hour or so to spare.  There was a small queue outside the venue, a small door, so off we went for a wander.

 

We walked up aways, just to kill time (though I'm not sure what Time did to deserve such a severe punishment).  On the way back, there was a loud BANG.  A taxi had mounted the curb at a pedestrian crossing on a bend and hit the railing.  He'd been texting on his phone (naughty boy!).  It served him right, really, that his wheels no longer wanted to point in the same direction and he had to struggle to move the car away as it couldn’t make its mind up which way it wanted to go.

 

Back to the queue for the last few minutes before doors opening.  The queue was fairly short, but Foxes is fairly new, so it was to be expected.  This relative newcomer status was reflected in the £7 ticket price.  A couple of lovely ladies came out to hand out flyers and take email addresses for a mailing list.  OK, so they were there to promote, but they were very pleasant in doing so, and it helped pass the time.

 

We hadn’t been to the Roadhouse before.  Our previous concert outings in Manchester were limited to the MEN Arena and the Ethiad stadium for the likes of Snow Patrol (twice – amazing!) and Bon Jovi (not bad), amongst others.  I’ve said before about the Yardbirds rock club in Grimsby.  It’s a great place with some excellent music.  The Roadhouse was, I suppose, a similar place – in a way.  It was small and dark.  And it was, effectively, a basement.

 

The Yardbirds isn’t very big, and it is fairly dark (it’s run by the Warlocks, so I wouldn’t expect it to be bright and colourful), but it has a fantastic atmosphere.  The Roadhouse was ok.  Apparently, the toilet light was a faint glimmer surrounded by flies and there were cobwebs on the toilet roll.

Still, we were there for the music.

 

Fyfe were the support.  They weren’t bad, though not entirely my ‘thing’.  That was fine, though.  We were there for Foxes.  We loved her voice and her look and her songs.  Warrior, Youth and Echo in particular.

 

She came on just after 8, and I have to say, she performed her heart out.  She danced and jumped and sang and it was a pleasure to hear that her voice didn’t need tweaking or auto-tuning.  Foxes can sing, definitely.

My only criticism is that it was so short.  I suppose, Foxes doesn’t have too extensive a repertoire currently.  She has some great songs, but not a huge back catalogue to choose from.  After around 45 minutes, she was gone.  One encore and she disappeared with barely a goodbye (though she did come out and do a great meet-n-greet).  It was a long way to go for such a short gig, I have to admit.

But, it was good.  We, my wife and I, really enjoyed it.  As time goes by, Foxes will increase her song list and the time she’s on stage.  Next time I see her – and I’m sure I will go see her again, so that’s a good sign – hopefully she’ll be up there for longer.

 

After the gig, we went for another wander and grabbed a bite to eat.  We ate our kebabs (mine being donner and my wife’s chicken) sitting on a wall, watching people come and go.  A quick pop to Tesco for a drink, and a pub for the toilet, and we returned to the car park – to find I was 7 minutes over 4 hours p to a cost of an extra £5!  Ouch!  £13 in total to park!  Oh well, we enjoyed ourselves so fair enough.

 

We arrived home at just after midnight.  A long day.  A long weekend in fact.  But a good one.

 

So.  Foxes.  Hopefully the exposure from being the music to the Debenhams advert will bring in a lot of attention.  She’s already been played on Radio 1, which is fab and well deserved.  I predict good thing for her.  I hope I’m right.  She has a great voice is a real talent.

 

If you get chance, check her out.

 

Here’s a couple of videos I uploaded to Youtube of her performance.  Forgive the quality – they’re from my phone and I was enjoying the show so my hand may not have kept up with Foxes movements!

 

Enjoy.

 

http://youtu.be/qOhL58R09Co

 

http://youtu.be/hS_AyaWByW8

 

http://youtu.be/R4fvIAdqCmk

Burlesque, a show unlike any other...

'Burlesque' is often thought of as an excuse for men to ogle women who take their clothes of behind a fan of feathers.  In fact, this image of the art form has brought cries of censorship where town councils have banned shows as being demeaning to women.

I read an article based on the book 'Burlesque and the Art of the Tease' by Dita Von Teese, (possibly the world's most prominent current 'Burlesquer'), published in The Independant newspaper - not often I find something interesting in there... - telling the history of Burlesque.  She follows its growth from music-hall's Lydia Thompson through Gypsy Rose Lee to today's celebrated yet controversial shows.

She says Aristophanes, the ancient Grecian playwright who penned Lysistrata was the original father of the 'idea'.  In this play, the women of the town hold back their 'sexual services' from their husbands until they agree to bring an end to the war that's raging.  I saw a performance of the Germaine Greer adaptation of the story recently.  Far from the bawdy comedy my wife and I expected,  we were, unfortunately, 'treated' to something far more serious and talky, with a couple of bits of crude humour.  The funniest part of the night was when the woman in front of us caught her glass of wine in her bracelet and spilled it over her.  Yes, I may have laughed at her misfortune, but her and her group did not know the meaning of the word ‘whisper’, so I couldn’t be too apologetic for that.

 

Still, I can see where she's coming from (Dita Von Teese, not the woman with the Cleopatra inclinations – OK, Cleopatra supposedly bathed in milk but you get my drift).  Burlesque is more about titillation, humour and entertainment than it is about sex and degradation.

 

I've not seen the Cher/Christina Aguilera film and have only seen parts of Moulin Rouge.  I haven't watched a Burlesque show on TV or YouTube and have only seen snippets from programs that have featured Miss Von Teese.  I have no idea, therefore, if the show I was going to see would be 'real' Burlesque or a version of, or something far remote.  I was excited to see, though.

 

The word 'Burlesque' actually derives from the Italian 'burla', meaning 'joke' or 'mockery'.  As I discovered on Saturday night, this is a very fitting name.

The Yardbirds, in Grimsby, is a rock club.  It's run by the Warlocks, a 'bikers gang'.  It's also one of my favourite pubs and venues for music.  My wife and I both love it there.  Yes, it's dark and yes it's not overly big, but it is most definitely a great place for a night out.

 

One thing you can pretty much guarantee is a complete lack of trouble on a night out there.  The site of the 'burly bikers' behind the bar or collecting glasses - some of the friendliest staff you're likely to meet on a night out - ensures no-one will cause any problems.  As such, every person in there feels comfortable.  As there's a very diverse range of music played, a host of differing generations can be seen on a single night - all mingling together for one reason; to enjoy themselves.

 

I've been to The Yardbirds many times and seen a variety of tribute acts, from U2to the Stereophonics to Bon Jovi.  There's AC-DC, Metallica and Slipnot bands playing and a couple of years ago I had a great New Year's Eve watching a group called Six of the Best blast out anthems from the likes of Foreigner, Whitesnake and Toto while bar staff served free vodka jellies and brought in free pizza.

 

One of my favourite performances - if not my actual favourite - was by Mike Trampfrom the group White Lion.  He sang an acoustic set of hits whilst telling of his memories and inspirations between the songs.  My wife was a White Lion fan, though I have to admit to barely hearing of them.  The show was, however, brilliant.  The acoustic arrangements made the 80s hits sound extremely contemporary and I told Mike this when he was done.  Great stuff.

My wife and I are always looking for an excuse to visit the Yardbirds, and we'd long been wondering about the Burlesque shows that go on there regularly.  Friends had told us what a great night was to be had, so we finally managed to arrange a babysitter (thanks mum) and off we went.

 

I have to say, Saturday night was an experience.  It seemed clear many people in the audience  knew what to expect.  The ladies were dressed in a mix of colourful vintage dresses and basques and stockings.  There was a man with a grass skirt and flippers.  A group of girls on a hen night all in fifties style frocks.  We, ourselves, were Burlesque virgins.

 

Well, that cherry is well and truly popped!

 

Neither of us knew exactly what to expect from the show.  There was, apparently, to be some audience participation.  Sweets (sex candy) and ice creams were on sale and (a good idea on what had been such a hot day).  In anticipation, we waited for the show to start.

 

The hostess, Snappy O'Shea, was fab.  She had a great rapport with the audience, with a quick wit and patter.  What I didn't expect, was to have such a big smile on my face, and laugh as much, for almost all of the night!

 

There was, initially, a comment about the council not allowing the show on their own premises due to it being degrading to women.  If that's your opinion, then you are entirely entitled to that.  There were certainly more women in the audience than men, however, and they were having a great time.

 

Yes, there were boobies, it has to be said.  The boobies had their nipples discreetly covered.  But it was all done in fun, and a lot of fun at that.  The highlights, for me, were Brenda the lollipop lady and Fifty Shades of Beige, in which a 'lucky' man from the audience was brought on stage to act out a hilarious version of the popular 'mommie-porn' phenomenon.  There was also the woman who had 'scored' that night and had a man in her room - if only she could quickly get out of the umpteen layers of body-smoothing underwear she'd squeezed into.

 

Add to this a Birdy Dance unlike any other I've seen, some traditional strips from behind feathers, much laughter and the cheap drinks I'm delighted the Yardbirds continue to sell, and this was certainly a night that was DIFFERENT.

 On reflection, I think the Cats Pyjamas Burlesque Company could possibly have swapped the two halves of the show about.  I felt the first half was stronger than the second.  This, though, didn't spoil the night for me.  It was very enjoyable and (for the first half very and for the second half a fair amount) a lot of fun.  We were teased, we were entertained and we were very pleased we had finally given in to the lure of the feather fan.

 

Their next show is going to be a Halloween Spooktakular and is on the 26th of October.  I'd thoroughly recommend going, especially if you haven't already.  We spoke to a young man stood next to us.  He'd not been to the Yardbirds before and having such a display as his initiation has simultaneously caught him in the headlights and thrilled him.  You may feel the same, but you won't be able to help enjoy yourself.