Lady Is a Tramp

On Friday, The Bovine Sex Club had a Rock and Roll Burlesque show organized by Vamps Like Us. This tiny bar on Queen is painted almost entirely in black, plastered with band stickers on walls, and have various unidentifiable objects secreted into the chainlink wire mesh hung from its ceiling.

Laura Desiree, a tall Betty Page in a leather corset was the MC. But before she introduced the other girls to shake their money-makers on the tiny red stage, she also did a number herself. Afterward, a procession of burlesque dancers with names like Faye Tality, Dolly Berlin, Fionna Flauntit and Rouge La Rouge shimmied on stage to songs like Helter Skelter and Foxy Lady. Though some stuck with typical glamourous 40s style costumes, most went more bad girls with black tees and sneers. But a tight corset and garters were de rigueur. There was even one male burlesque, dancing to Hot for Teacher, to the delight of the female members. But the suburban bros from a bachelor party who had wandered in earlier were comically flustered at his performance.

All the elements were there for a great time, but the end result fizzled for me. The stage was simply too small for the dancers and their burlesque moves didn't fit well with this type of music. Speaking of which, this was the biggest downer. The anemic speakers only punctuated the fact that these songs, no matter how great they may be, have long passed into golden oldies status. And there's nothing more deflating than reminders of senescence.