Casa Diablo, blowing up the internet

In the Times, and of course, in WW. It's hardly surprising, considering the "huh?" appeal of its tagline.

Sorry the stripper blog has been short on actual stripping lately. I promise I've worked this month, just not much. Oh! Apparently enforcement in Seattle is stepping up, as there's been an influx of WA strippers in town, fleeing the possibility of an arrest for the crime of giving a lapdance. After spotting some new hiresdoing coke in VIP last week, the manager at the big club called the cops and had them arrested. The thinking being that it's better to have the cops come to the club because you called them.

I have been too flaky to remember to put in a little club schedule for the past two weeks (they have to be in by club closing on Wednesday), but finally remembered last night a 2:30 a.m. to call and put in a request. Though now I have friends going to Vegas to work during the Final Four, so I left those days open in case I decide to hop a flight out there.

Also, I'm considering a hair color change, which should indicate how restless I am right now.

Hey, remember that vegan strip club?

I worked a few shifts there last month. Well, it's for sale. Here's the craigslist posting, and here's the MLS listing.

Yeah, so that was last week

Times New Viking at La Zona Rosa, 03/12/08. Standing outside I had a nice conversation with a young woman thanks to me thoroughly mistaking her for someone else. She was thinking about going to see the Black Keys at Emo's and wondering if she could get in just paying cash.




The wristband line to get in to Emo's to see the Black Keys. The badge line is to the right and about half as long, though it will reach nearly to Red River about twenty minutes after this photo was taken.



They are covering Captain Beefheart's "Here I Am I Always Am," previously done to great effect by Mick Collins in Blacktop.



Cowbell via Does It Offend You, Yeah? who have been one of my stripper playlist favorites for the past six months or so.


Thursday was the TXBF showcase at Esther's Follies. People sure were friendly when I went out afterwards all dressed up.





I went to a party Friday (I think; it blurs) where there were almost no people watching the wonderful Indelicates



And to the Pitchfork party at Emo's to see Fleet Foxes. The lead singer seemed surprised to be receiving so much love and made me spit a mouthful of my free promotional FUZE back into the bottle with this: "That website [Pitchfork] scares me! It's the scariest thing on the Internet. It's scarier than Two Girls One Cup."


In the ladies' room at Beerland.


The band with the most amazing reverse mullet and most amazing Amish headwear, Ox.Eagle.Lion.Man.



Girl napping on stage as Blitzen Trapper plays.


No Age in a tent.



Sparse older crowd too tired to dance to No Age. Kids had seen them at one of their other 13 appearances, including a 3 a.m. one on the Lamar St. pedestrian bridge.

I saw some other things, too, and maybe I'll list them later. Maybe I don't want to think about rock bands for another 72 hours, though.

Tonight at Esther's Follies: The Texas Burlesque Fest Revue

And yes, it is a SXSW showcase, meaning badges and wristbands get in. There will be a cash cover at the door.

Texas Burlesque Festival on MySpace
Official SXSW showcase info

Showtimes
Doors for show at 7:00pm
Show at 8:00-11:00

Featuring
Miss Maulie
Susan Wayward
The Jigglewatts
Shangri-la
The Amazing Buffy West
The Lollie Bombs
Carousel Cabaret
Kitty Kitty Bang Bang and the No Salvation Army Band

with special guests
Luna Tart
and Rudy Ramirez

Following the revue will be musical performances by the Asylum Street Spankers and Har Mar Superstar.

These New Puritans played for about 20 minutes, probably their whole catalog save the runway track. Now trying to see Times New Viking and maybe part of Yeasayer. Lines are nutty for badges everywhere, more so for wristbands. Saw the editor-in-chief of Spin get kicked from VIP line at Antone's.

This is what I did at SXSW ten years ago

Here's a post about it from three years ago (read it and return).

Stereogum posted Fred Armisen's video from SXSW 1998 today; that videotape is floating around somewhere in a box I packed in 2004 when I moved from Austin to Cincinnati. Anyhow, our night at the Yellow Rose wasn't documented on tape for reasons detailed in the old post, but the rest of the video is still amusing.

They probably couldn't get away with it now, but I'd like to see Andy Earles and Jeff Jensen (who will be performing live during SXSW) do something similar this year.

I drove (my first mistake) down to the Austin Convention Center yesterday, thinking I'd get a head start on registration, only to already see hundreds, if not thousands, of hoodied and tight-jeaned SXSW attendees swarming the area. So I turned around for th relative calm of Whole Foods instead. Now I get to stand in a line in a couple of hours, whenever Mr. W gets out of bed. He took the same redeye flight I did last week, but I don't think he slept through as much of it.

What I'm going to try to see tonight:

Van Morrison
Simian Mobile Disco
These New Puritans
Descartes a Kant
Be Your Own Pet
Yeasayer
Does It Offend You, Yeah?
The Black Angels
The Blow
The Black Keys
Naked Raygun
Antietam

DIOYY, the Black Angels, and the Black Keys are all in heavy rotation in my current work collection. DIOYY are obnoxious, loud, riff-driven electronica, the Black Angels are heavy psych in the Texas tradition, and the Black Keys are one of the redeeming things to come from Ohio and nastily bluesy. Naked Raygun and Antietam I will likely miss in their favor, and the fact that they play at the same time probably splits the SXSW 40+ demographic quite nicely.

I have to admit that being a giant dork and reading a shitload of music blogs this year has given me a lot more to be interested in at SXSW. I've come to this conference since I was 15, mostly as a fan, occasionally in a (clothed) working capacity. This is the first time in six or seven years there's been more than a handful of acts I wanted to catch (well, also, there's something like 1800 bands in town). I'm so glad to know that I'm not so old yet that I find all new bands uninteresting.

So tomorrow I'll compare the above list with what I actually saw and see how close I was.

Twirling in Texas

Saturday's show was a total blast. I was thrilled to share a bill with burlesque luminaries Kitten DeVille and Vivienne VaVoom, both of whom I was lucky enough to perform with in 2004 during the first South by Burlesque. Rosie Rawhyde has a ridiculously sexy and fierce stage presence, and Perle Noir was absolutely amazing with her cartwheels, midair splits, and unstoppable energy. I'll sum up more tomorrow when I'm not on dialup.

If you go to the Austin American-Statesman's website right now you might catch me on the rotating banner at the top of the page. There's a slideshow of photos there as well.

Rock insanity starts Wednesday. A stripper's SXSW picks coming tomorrow too.

in a bar with strippers

But the fancy kind; the other performers in thw show tomorrow. Fuck me, there sure are a lot of bars in Austin.

$pread Magazine

Some of my photos are in a $pread Magazine feature this month, as is an opinion piece I wrote about stripper licensing. If you're reading this blog, you'll probably also enjoy a subscription to $pread. As far as I know, the only way you can see my contributions (and many interesting features, interviews, and criticism) is to buy a hard copy of the magazine, which is easily done through their website.

also, a few new signs on Flickr

DONE!

And now sitting in the Minneapolis airport on my way home.

I completely jinxed myself. On Thursday and Friday, guess what? Two dancers, half hour sets. Painful. My shoulder is fucked up and I am going to sleeeeeeeeeep so much tomorrow. And soak in the tub. Then I'll be perky and ready for the rock show Monday night. And a shift at Mary's, and packing for Austin, and preparing for those two burlesque shows.

Sucks I'll be missing Super Tuesday fun in Texas, really. Finally one matters and I'm long gone. That CNN reporter in the cowboy hat, boots, and suede jacket in Austin on the UT campus? Did he think he was in College Station?

Also, I'll be watching the Wire season finale tonight when it hits OnDemand after midnight. Last week's was devastating. Are you people watching? Well, no, of course, because no one does. Bubbles is amazing. One of my favorite characters ever.