Author Archives: davidleesimmons

Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser responds to New Orleans cultural advocates (op-ed)

Posted on by under arts and culture

1-Billy Nungesser Photo

In January, on the eve of the inauguration of Billy Nungesser as lieutenant governor, I asked some of New Orleans’ leading cultural advocates what they’d like to see in terms of his priorities for supporting the cultural life of New Orleans in particular and the state of Louisiana in general.

(You can read the responses here, which often spoke to the overall need to support the arts both with vocal and financial support.)

After gathering and publishing the responses, I reached out to the lieutenant governor’s for his own response, based in part on what he’d seen. He was gracious enough to agree, and we appreciate him taking the time. That said, here is his response:

I appreciate the opportunity to respond to the recent piece on what New Orleans cultural advocates are seeking from me as I take office. I want to start by saying that it is an absolute privilege and honor to serve as the 54th Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana. I am thrilled to have the opportunity to promote our great state and open our doors to the rest of the world.

I want to echo the sentiments of First Lady Donna Edwards as she supports music and arts education as a top priority in what she would like to see grow and flourish in our educational systems. I want to make her a champion of this effort, and I hope that she will help us to further explore opportunities to educate and enrich young minds through music and arts education.

Unequivocally, we will have to be creative and innovative to support funding for the Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism in the coming months. We will be thinking outside the box and examine options such as public-private partnerships to secure the monies for critical programs.

Louisiana is a thriving place, especially New Orleans, and I am delighted to have the privilege to represent and serve its people. We will continue to encourage ideas that attract artists and grow our numbers to continue to make our state not only a global tourist destination, but a quality destination that keeps people coming back and wanting more.

The music industry is also critical to the success of our state. NOMC is a unique program with a positive mission to impact our local musicians. I support this initiative. We will also highlight local artists and use their work to promote the state.

I want to continue to see arts and culture tourism as a top priority. Funding will be extremely challenging as I mentioned previously with the budget turmoil we are facing, but I will be open to helping all events that promote our state succeed in innovative and resourceful ways.

Our food, music, arts, culture, history and people are what make Louisiana special. And since the past is always present in Louisiana, let us be true to our heritage while still promoting a bold future. The passion and love that each of you have for the industry is what excites me to do this job! I look forward to working with you as Lieutenant Governor.

All my best,

Billy Nungesser
Lieutenant Governor, State of Louisiana”

Solange loses her wedding ring and other highlights from Babylon, Chaos and Muses parades (photos)

Posted on by under mardi gras

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Thursday (Feb. 4) presented a formidable night of Mardi Gras parade-going for New Orleanians just trying to get through the week and into the final weekend of Carnival, with not only three parades rolling but the third one, the all-female super-krewe Muses, rolling long and slow on the Uptown route.

That’s a fancy way of saying that, propping up a tired 4-year-old, we had to bail in the early stages of an interesting Muses parade, which included a rather cryptic satire of the Confederate statue controversy among its subjects. Satire also filtered into the Chaos parade (theme: “Chaos Theory”), with the usual pokes at political correctness and leaders global, national and local. (That President Obama float, well, let’s just say it’ll be nice to not see him set in questionable poses on Carnival floats after next year.)

And yes, we learned later in the evening that Muses celebrity monarch and part-time New Orleans resident Solange lost her wedding ring on the route, sparking a public call to action to help the soul singer find it ASAP.

(On an ever more serious note, check out Solange’s critique of racism in the music industry with a series of tweets.)

That said, I’m curious to know what readers thought of those parade floats, especially those referring to the Confederate statues. Spot-on? Off the mark? Let me know in the comments. Until then, enjoy the photos.

“Freakeasy” and “Vaude D’Gras” turn Mardi Gras into a weekend of circus and sideshow Carnival

Posted on by under circus

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“We were all going to be here, anyway. These are people I just know and love. We figured we’d throw it all together,” says Noah Mickens, who as William Blatty helps run Wanderlust Circus out of Portland, Oregon. He’s speaking on his cell phone from an Uptown café, arriving in New Orleans on a trip that originally was supposed to simply be a Mardi Gras vacation.

But once he realized who else might be taking advantage of the Carnival season, and what New Orleans circus and sideshow performers were around and available, Mickens thought, why not just turn the weekend into another kind of Carnival?

And so we have a handful of circus and sideshow performances this weekend, highlighted by the four-day “Vaude D’Gras” from New Orleans circus artist-producer LadyBEAST and many of the gang from last year’s “Cirque du Gras” (Feb. 5-8) at Happyland Theater in Bywater.

(Read more: Circus arts in New Orleans)

Then there’s “Freakeasy,” featuring members of Wanderlust Circus, Philadelphia’s the Squidling Brothers, Gale Force from Seattle’s Super Geek League, and New Orleans performers including Tsarina Hellfire — all coming together Sunday (Feb. 7) at Café Istanbul.

The weekend actually kicks off with the Squidling Brothers’ “Clowns and Queens” on Thursday (Feb. 4) at Mag’s 940 on Elysian Fields Avenue. The lineup: Jelly Boy The Clown, Matterz Squidling, Eric Odditorium, William Batty, Hermie the Clown, Velvet Crayon, Fibi Eyewalker, Helios, Shaina, and Princess Stephanie.

So yes, it’s safe to say the circus has come to town, which makes sense given the way the varying circus and sideshow scenes intermingle from around the U.S.

“There’s a real national community of underground, independent circus,” said the 42-year-old Mickens.

He’s watched circus and sideshow grow from the kind of ground-level street-performer scene of the late 1980s where he got his start as a 13-year-old into a more performance-art style in the 1990s, and then a growing, vibrant scene that found a home in nightclubs for indie performers.

This was pretty edgy, punk-rock stuff, evidenced nationally by troupes such as the Bindlestiff Family Circus and locally by such troupes as the Know Nothing Family Zirkus Zideshow.

(Read more: Alison Fensterstock’s 2001 profile of the scene in Gambit Weekly)

Now, Mickens says, it’s everywhere.

“All these aerial and circus schools started to pop up that made it accessible to learn how to do all this stuff,” he said. “I learned how to juggle from an old homeless man. To learn how to be an aerialist back then was your mother and father and your brother and your sister — you were in a circus. It was a secret knowledge you had to find from somebody.

“Then schools started popping up 2000 or 2003, then by 2010 it seemed like every city has an aerial school and has created an infusion of all this new talent of people who know how to do tricks and have skills of all kinds.”

Mickens is excited about performing again in New Orleans, and reconnecting with burlesque performer Charlotte Treuse, with whom he performed back in Portland with Cabaret Babylon.

“I’m not going to waste my time,” he said with a laugh. “Now I have three shows. I’m incapable if chilling out and just enjoying myself.”

For Tsarina Hellfire, the New Orleans performer, this represents a few different types of reunions both with the scene she left and returned to a few  years ago as well as reuniting with Mickens.

“I just got back home to years ago; I took break from performing for about 10 years,” she said. “It would’ve been silly trying to get back into my visceral gore whore burlesque sideshow stuff, and have known Noah Mickens on and off since Convergence 2006. I’ve always been a big fan of and have known a lot of sideshow circus people around, and want to just have a big family get together. I’m getting my paws wet, getting back into doing events backstage managing and performing and trying my hand at producing.”

Chewbacchus goes big for 2016 Mardi Gras parade (photos)

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As I reported in my preview of the Intergalactic Krewe of Chewbacchus parade for 2016 in the New Orleans Advocate, the science fiction-inspired krewe had grown by leaps and bounds — to 1,500 members from 1,000 last year. Their parade Saturday (Jan. 30) gave evidence of this, with several more marching in the downtown parade that packed the streets of Faubourg Marigny and Bywater.

We watched the parade squeeze through Dauphine Street (at Marigny), and it was amazing how difficult it became getting in position; the crowds were sometimes three-deep, and often had to be moved back a bit like crowds are when marching bands walk in the larger krewe parades.

It was an even much larger parade than the large crowds that have now come to define the more modest Krewe of ‘tit Rex parade of shoebox floats that precedes Chewbacchus on Saturday. This has become, for me, the second most magical day of Carnival, outside of Mardi Gras itself — even it feels like it’s becoming a little too big.

Chewbacchus clearly thrives on a chaotic but creative energy, thanks in part to co-founder Ryan Ballard, who’s staged offseason events for the krewe that help keep it in the public eye and generate increased interest (and membership). But on Saturday, what also was clear was that there soon will be no sci-fi fantasy stone unturned given the myriad floats and signs and puns and characters all done up and made up. It was also fun to see “NCIS: New Orleans” cast members Rob Kercovich and Daryl “Chill” Mitchell parading with several crew members from the show.

NOTE: Apologies for the tepid quality of the photos, due to, cough cough, “technical issues.”

Vinsantos: Cabaret and drag shows turn into fundraisers after French Quarter fire

Posted on by under cabaret

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For weeks, New Orleans cabaret performer Vinsantos was looking forward to welcoming performer Kitten on the Keys to New Orleans for their “BACK2BACK” show Wednesday (Feb. 3) at the AllWays Lounge in a thrilling double-bill show.

And then came a very blue Monday, as a fire swept through Priestess Miriam’s Voodoo Spiritual Temple, next door to his apartment on the 800 block of north Rampart Street. The fire headed straight up and into an upstairs closet that held all the costumes and other belongings of friend and drag performer Hannibelle Spector.

“We live in a very special compound on north Rampart Street that consists of the Temple, Deity Arts, our home as well as the homes of five residents,” Vinsantos said. “Now that the dust has settled, it’s time to put the pieces of these people’s live back together, The Voodoo Temple suffered a huge amount of fire, smoke and water damage and will not be reopening in its long-standing location.

“Both Hannibelle and the tenant adjacent to her have lost their homes. This is painful to us as we had the best neighbors that we could ask for. This isn’t something that can be fixed with a little drywall and some paint. This mixed-use building will be out of commission for a long while.”

To help out, Vinsantos is turning the “BACK2BACK” show at the AllWays Lounge into a fundraiser to help support the Hannibelle, who will emcee Tuesday’s “RATSH*T” show at the AllWays Lounge as well.

A GoFundMe campaign titled “Starting Over from Scratch” also has been started.

All proceeds from the shows will go toward Hannibelle Spector and housemates, said Vinsantos, who added a that a third fundraiser, “Rampart Is Burning,” has been scheduled for Feb. 13 at the Voodoo Lounge, organized by Akrum Salem and Daniel Ford.

“It’s really hard to put a price on loosing everything and having to find a new home and start all over from scratch,” Vinsantos said. “Thank all of you for getting involved, spreading the word, making donations, and coming out to these shows and helping us raise the money the old fashioned way.”

Here’s some bio info on Kitten on the Keys:

Suzanne Ramsey aka Kitten on the Keys is a world class burlesque legend and piano chanteuse. She’s toured the U.S. and Canada with Devotchka and Catherine D’Lish, opened for legendary punk band The Damned on the Twisted Cabaret Tour UK 2007, toured with the Teaseorama Roadshow, performed sold out shows in France, Netherlands, Finland, Italy, Edinburgh Scotland, Switzerland, played piano for Jazz Legend Little Jimmy Scott in Las Vegas, MC’d for Exotic World and the Burlesque Hall of Fame, played the Spigeltent at Outside Lands Fest in San Francisco, sang her original songs with a jazz band. Currently she is working with her latest band with none other than Dead Kennedy’s drummer Bruce Slesinger. Kitten on the Keys staked her claim in Europe co starring with Cabaret New Burlesque in the French film “Tournee” with award winning actor and director Mattieu Almaric (2010). The film was an official entry at the 63rd Annual Cannes Film Festival where it won a best director Palme D’or for Mattieu Amalric’s Directing and the Foreign Press Award. Kitten was pleased as punch to walk the red carpet with Mi Mi le Meaux, Evie Lovelle, Dirty Martini, Julie Atlas Muz, Roky Roulette and Mattieu Amalric and the rest of the cast.”

Krewe of ’tit Rex parade (photos)

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Each year, it seems, the ’tit Rex parade grows in every sense except the number and size of the floats themselves. This year seemed particularly jammed, especially at the staging area Saturday (Jan. 30) down the middle of the St. Roch Avenue neutral ground, with photographers jockeying with onlookers for ground-level position and a peek at the shoebox-size floats.

As I noted in my New Orleans Advocate preview, the krewe, in its eighth year, has become host to some of the city’s most creative people — a grouping of writers, artists, musicians and other performers. With membership capped and float number limited to 20, the krewe hopes to maintain the modest scope and tone of its parade, but it’s going to be a challenge, at least when viewed from the crowd. Also complicating the whole attendance thing is the explosion in size of the krewe that follows in the same neighborhood: the Intergalactic Krewe of Chewbacchus, whose massive parade now features 1,500 members (up from 1,000 in 2015) and several more marchers. It was a crazy scene in Faubourg Marigny, and some theorize that more people show up early for Chewbacchus and also get a peek at ‘tit Rex.

It will be interesting to see how the two parades will move forward for next year’s Carnival. But as these photos show, from the staging area, there’s still beauty in the little things.

New Orleans burlesque performers (past and present) dominate 21st Century Burlesque top 10

Posted on by under burlesque

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Three burlesque performers with New Orleans connections made the top 10 of the 21st Century Burlesque readers’ poll — the final results of which was were published Sunday (Jan. 31).

Kitten La Rue, who got her start with the Shim Shamettes in the late 1990s before moving away, shared the No. 1 spot with her partner Lou Henry Hoover for their Kitten N’ Lou act. Perle Noire, who got her start with Rick Delaup’s Bustout Burlesque before moving to New York City, repeated her No. 2 finish from 2015. And Bella Blue was voted No. 8 in the poll of the top 50 burlesque performers. (Blue was voted No. 16 in the 2015 poll.)

Fellow New Orleans performer Charlotte Treuse was voted No. 46 in the poll.

La Rue hails from Ruston, in north Louisiana with several relatives in New Orleans. (Her father is musician Papa Mali.) She literally woke up to the news Sunday; the duo is in Australia. She was thrilled to learn of the honor:

My New Orleans roots, starting as an original member of The Shim Sham Revue, was instrumental in creating the foundation for my career. It taught me from the get-go what a fully produced and polished spectacle could look like; that details like fabulous costuming and thoughtful choreography can go a long way; and, most importantly, it gave me an understanding right away of the importance of our burlesque history and the incredible knowledge and wisdom our legends hold and can impart. My New Orleans roots also guide me in imparting a sense of joy and comedy in my performance.”

There were multiple connections among the various New Orleans-related performers. Kitten N’ Lou performed at Bella Blue’s “CREAM!” show at One Eyed Jacks in 2015 during Southern Decadence over Labor Day Weekend. Along with her ties to Bustout Burlesque, Perle Noire, one of the most honored burlesque performers in the world and who’s toured with Dita Von Tease, performed at Bella Blue’s “Risq” show in 2015 at Harrah’s New Orleans Casino. (I should add that the magazine noted that Noire commented on my story about burlesque and race in 2015.) Several of the top 50 performers, including Charlotte Treuse in 2015, have at one time performed at Delaup’s New Orleans Burlesque Festival. Noire won in its inaugural year.

It was particularly interesting to see Kitten La Rue win as part of a duo with Hoover, given that the Shim Shamettes were at the forefront of the New Orleans burlesque revival. 21st Century Burlesque was impressed with their success in 2015, and their versatility, saying, among other things:

Kitten ‘n’ Lou headlined at the Humboldt Burlesque Expo, the Calgary International Burlesque Festival, the Las Vegas Burlesque Festival, the Toronto Burlesque Festival, Viva Las Vegas Burlesque Showcase and the Dallas Burlesque Festival. They also won two Golden Pastie awards at the New York Burlesque Festival. They were featured in the Huffington Post and premiered their first evening-length show OVEREXPOSED! at Fringe World Festival Perth and Joe’s Pub in New York.”

The poll noted several highlights from 2015 for Blue, among them:

“Bella headlined The Great Burlesque Exposition in Boston, The Vienna Boylesque Festival, The Oklahoma City Burlesque Festival and The Snake Oil Festival. The New Orleans School of Burlesque opened its own studio after a successful Go Fund Me campaign, and she started producing new show “Risq: A Burlesque Revue” at Harrah’s Casino in New Orleans (alongside regular shows “The Dirty Dime Peepshow,” The NOSB Student Showcase, “Strip Roulette” and “The Blue Book Cabaret”).”

Chicago’s Jeez Loueez, a frequent visitor to New Orleans, finished No. 4.

Blue recently announced the formation of her new troupe, Foxglove Revue. She also rode as the Queen of the Krewe of PUEWC in the Chewbacchus parade Saturday. She recently was voted one of New Orleans’ top 10 performers as well.

Bella Blue reaches top 10 in 21st Century Burlesque poll

Posted on by under burlesque
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Bella Blue

New Orleans burlesque producer and performer Bella Blue was voted No. 8 in the 21st Century Burlesque magazine readers’ poll of the top 50 burlesque performers, as the results of Nos. 4-10 were released Sunday (Jan. 31). Blue was voted No. 16 in the 2015 poll.

Blue, reached late Sunday night, said she was both appreciative of the honor but focused on moving forward with her seemingly myriad projects:

Seeing my accomplishments listed out over the last year really put things in perspective. Like ‘Oh, whoa. I feel really good about what I did that past year. That’s a lot of great stuff to be proud of!’ Because how I operate is just in constant state of setting goals for myself and then not stopping until they are done. There’s not a whole lot of ‘reveling,’ It’s more about ‘Oh man! That was so awesome! Whew! Ok, now what’s next?!’ I just strive to top myself over and over.”

She also emphasized the contributions of her partner in Bella Blue Entertainment, AJay Strong, who started collaborating with her in late 2014.

The poll noted several highlights from 2015 for Blue:

In 2015: Bella headlined The Great Burlesque Exposition in Boston, The Vienna Boylesque Festival, The Oklahoma City Burlesque Festival and The Snake Oil Festival. The New Orleans School of Burlesque opened its own studio after a successful Go Fund Me campaign, and she started producing new show ‘Risq: A Burlesque Revue’ at Harrah’s Casino in New Orleans (alongside regular shows ‘The Dirty Dime Peepshow,’ The NOSB Student Showcase, ‘Strip Roulette’ and ‘The Blue Book Cabaret’). Bella spoke to 21st Century Burlesque Magazine about the now infamous Lucky Pierre’s incident early in 2015, but emerged from the episode with her usual class, integrity and professionalism.”

Blue recently announced the formation of her new troupe, Foxglove Revue. She also rode as the Queen of the Krewe of PUEWC in the Chewbacchus parade Saturday. She recently was voted one of New Orleans’ top 10 performers as well.

Fellow New Orleans performer Charlotte Treuse was voted No. 46 in the poll. Chicago’s Jeez Loueez, a frequent visitor to New Orleans, finished No. 4. The final three are expected to be announced soon.

 

 

Cirque Copine’s “In Wonderland” at One Eyed Jacks (photos)

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Cirque Copine, the all-female New Orleans circus troupe, debuted its “In Wonderland” show with two performances Friday (Jan. 29) at One Eyed Jacks. Both shows were packed, and earned standing ovations.

I’ll have a more expanded look at the show, but the first impression is that this is the kind of anchor show that can help further establish the budding circus-arts scene in New Orleans. Co-producer LadyBEAST will begin her monthly “LadyBEAST Cabaret” in the same space, but this was a chance for her and co-producer Liza to showcase the Cirque Copine performers on a grander scale than they did back in 2015.

The troupe features Liza Rose and Sarah Stardust performing all manner of aerials; LadyBEAST alternating between aerial and escape acts; Penelope Little alternating between aerials and clowning; and the comic and sideshow antics of mistress of ceremonies GoGo McGregor. Opus Zeo provided a stunning musical soundtrack to each performance.

Stay tuned for that expanded look; in the meantime, enjoy these photos.

(Read more about the circus arts in New Orleans here.)

Bella Blue to launch Foxglove Revue, a new burlesque troupe in New Orleans

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UPDATE: Guest performer Ray Gunn of New York City was just voted No. 13 in the 21st Century Burlesque magazine readers’ poll.

New Orleans burlesque performer Bella Blue will launch a new troupe, Foxglove Revue, she announced at her “Touché” show Thursday (Jan. 28) at the Joy Theater.

The inspiration behind the troupe might sound counterintuitive when you consider her stating the obvious of the current status of the scene:

“Burlesque is really saturated right now.”

So why add another troupe? To make it better, she said.

“The challenge is making it stand out. Making it unique. Making it really set apart from the others,” Blue said. “What we feel we have done is chosen all very strong performers who are committed to not just bringing their A-game, but are also committed to learning.”

It’s a strong and varied lineup, indeed: Darling Darla James (sideshow/neo/classic), Charlotte Treuse (classic), Queenie O’Hart (musical theater), Stevie Poundcake (boylesque/musical theater), Madonnathan (drag), Angie Z (classic/vocals), Cherry Bombshell (classic), Miss Monarch M (bellydance/classic), Cherry Brown (classic) and The Lady Lucerne.

“It’s our take on the burlesque troupe formula but including a wide array of performers that don’t fit into one type of genre or style,” she said.

But, importantly, she’ll hold her performers to the same high standard she’s held for herself, with a healthy dose of collaboration.

“They have to take classes,” said Blue, who for years has led the New Orleans School of Burlesque, which found a permanent home in 2015 at the Healing Center. “They have to attend peer reviews. They have to bring new acts to the table. And in turn, we do all we can to help them out. Pitching in for costumes, props, whatever they need.

“Any of my ‘perks’ extend to them,” she continued. “Discounts, products, etc.”

The troupe premiered an act at “Touché,” and will spend the upcoming weeks finalizing details on its opening production, including date and venue.