A sign hangs on the door of Gotham City Video, one of the places McClear used to work.
Photo by Bjorn Roche

I wouldn't have been able to identify author Sheila McClear as she walked in for our interview if I hadn't already seen her photo on the back of her new book, The Last of the Live Nude Girls. Tall and slender, with straight brown hair that breaks against pale, almost translucent skin and green eyes framed by glasses, 30 year old Michigan native Sheila McClear looks more like a bookish intellectual than a former peep show dancer. 

McClear, who is the daughter of two lawyers and holds a college degree in theater and costume design from the University of Michigan, was unable to find steady work after moving to New York City. "Like many college graduates, I actually had very few marketable skills," McClear reflects in her book. Going by the name of Chelsea, the first neighborhood where she had ever danced, McClear began performing at several different live peep shows at age 25 before retiring about a year and a half later to work as a full-time writer for Gawker. (McClear is now a features reporter for the New York Post.)

Eva and Her Virgins

    A performance by Eva and Her Virgins is as evocative for the theatrical antics and energy of its band members as it is for the luster of its dark electronic pop sound. Playful, gritty, histrionic, and sexy, Eva and Her Virgins is a band that you want to keep your eye on.

    I was excited to chat with front woman Emily Powers about the band, where we also discuss time travel, superpowers, and using Beethoven’s body as a flotation device.

I'm not saying there's anything fundamentally wrong with a fanny pack. It seems very practical. It's a backpack for your butt (provided you are not using the British meaning of the word fanny). However, practicality aside, I just don't see a fanny pack as a major bonus to anything, especially if you happen to be a fan, of say, Kesha. Excuse me, I mean Ke$ha. Apparently the marketing geniuses behind Ke$ha's new VIP tour disagree, and they think it's exciting enough to help entice you into paying extra to be a Ke$ha "VIP" on her new tour, as evidenced by the actual promotional email ticketmaster sent out.

Interestingly, they note that this is a "new design!" as if people weren't sufficiently excited about the old design, but of course, the concept itself wasn't the problem....

SCENE: Ke$ha Marketing Headquarters. Team Meeting.

Ke$ha Marketing Analyst: "People aren't really excited about this whole fanny pack, thing. We're getting only a 7.8 percent response rate and that's all negative."

Ke$ha Marketing Intern: "I have to agree. People are making fun of it on the blogs and talking about how disappointing it is."

Ke$ha Marketing Director: "I guess we should redesign the fanny packs, then."

Ke$ha Marketing Analyst: "That's not really what I meant--"

Ke$ha Marketing Director: "Okay folks, that's a wrap. Any other business?"

On Friday, I received a mysterious email invite to the "Lost Horizon Night Market". I would have to sign up to find out, on the day of, where it would take place, and, while I could invite friends, I was not to publish the event on social networking sites, news outlets or blogs. As I soon found out, Lost Horizon was more of a carnival for hipsters than a market. Unmarked trucks, each with a unique theme, lined the streets of what turned out to be an industrial section of Greenpoint Brooklyn.

Click image to print flyer (for discount admission)
or click here for full size and print that.

 We're excited about Femme Totale not just because one of our writers is involved *wink* but also because it's the first time we've heard of an event combining juggling, burlesque, pole dancing, and live music in what's sure to be a single night of insanity. These are some top-notch performers by any measure and we can't wait to see the show!

 Add to all that a drag queen host (something missing from far too many burlesque shows) an awesome DJ, and a great bar, and the ingredients are there. We just hope we can handle it when the clothes come off!

It's tough knowing you made someone break his own rules, but some rules are just too stupid to be kept.

What every cougar wants to be: young-looking

  It's easy to criticize and make fun of the cougar mania that's grabbing the national attention right now, what with all the TV shows and the first national cougar's convention coming up and all (actually that's a bit surprising... there must have been others...). But let's face it, it is a bit fascinating. I mean, older women who men actually find physically attractive? Is that even biologically possible? Gosh, there's so much to talk about I'm not even sure where to start.

  Of course, to modern entertainment, a cougar couldn't be more exiting: it's a twist, but it's still sexy. Yes, men and women still play their traditional gender rolls (phew!) and nothing is really challenged so it's still safe for TV, and even, say, discussing at the water-cooler, but it seems like things are challenged, doesn't it? Perfect combo!

  So instead of criticizing, lets celebrate that we finally have something we can all agree on: cougars are awesome! They are just what every woman should want more than anything: to still be sexy at 50... er, maybe 40, we can't all be Demi Kutcher (yes, that's her name, now).

Thanks to KRO-media for the picture of the adorable little baby cougar. So little and cute and cuddly. Yes you are. Yes you are!

  My wife doesn't always like to stay up late and party like I sometimes do, so when she went out of town this week I took advantage of the situation and hung out with some friends at the TriBeCa Grand. I never dreamed the night would end up this way though.

Helle Mardahl looking relaxed just a few days before her first NYC show opens up

 It's not often that you meet someone who says she gave up her successful career to become an artist because she was sick of working so hard for so little money. But that's how Helle Mardahl came to be an artist. In fact, she told me, "I believe in destiny and destiny told me to calm down a bit."

 I met Mardahl recently at LaViolaBank Gallery, where she was preparing for her upcoming show, The Largest Possible Audience. She was white-washing a canvas in preparation for a projection, which seemed more like a Zen exercise than work. We discussed her art and her previous career in fashion and I noticed that she certainly had the energy, passion and vigor of someone in fashion, but at the same time I also noticed an air of relaxation and even contentment about her. The satisfaction she seems to have found in developing the complex and intricate works she was putting up might have surprised her a few years ago, but her drive and determination didn't mean she had the manic furvor I've seen in so many fashion designers.

 Despite the complexity of her works, she explained her ideas and inspiration in very simple terms. People's obsession with the royal family, which inspired her last show, and people's desire for attention which inspired this show, are so simple that you don't have to be a 'tellectual to understand what she's talking about.

Dames Aflame costume designer Stephanie Ludwig (Left) and director Shannon Newton (Right)
photo by Jimiflix

Interview with Dames Director Shannon Newton Plus Photos and Video

My friend, who agreed to speak with me about burlesque on terms of anonymity, recently came back from Atlanta with stars in his eyes and a newfound passion for the South.  None of us really got it until he told us about the Dames Aflame burlesque show that he had caught during his travels:

"You know I think New York women are hot.  And New York burlesque dancers are really hot, just not, well... beauty queen hot.  The Dames Aflame dancers are beauty queen hot.  All of them.  They appeal to men in the way that strippers do.  Which is why, in New York, you go to see naked women at a strip club if you're a man.  In Atlanta, you can go to a strip club — or you can go see a Dames Aflame show."

I  was curious and so I contacted Shannon Newton, who runs the Dames Aflame Dancers in Atlanta.  In a phone interview that felt more like a backstage pass, I got her to give me the inside scoop on why even mega-corporations think that her show is a stand-out.

Interview With One of England's Coolest Burlesque Dancers

Anna Fur Laxis
Everyday Wear
Photo by Candee Photography

On my list of American things -- way above apple pie, which isn't American, and motherhood, which we all know is universal -- is Bettie Page. Page, who passed away in December, is both the most unique and most iconic symbol of the entire so-called "Cheesecake" photography movement of the 1950's.

Recently, Cheesecake, along with burlesque, has seen a big comeback, and I had a chance to chat with one of Page's biggest admirers, England's Anna Fur Laxis, about her Bettie Page inspired modeling and burlesque show. Her sense of humor, fetish, and sexuality channel something that many people don't even know existed back then. So true to Bettie's spirit (not to mention appearance!) is Anna, that it was hard for me to remember that I was speaking with a Brit -- except when she said things like "uni" for university and used the occasional British spelling. Of course, there are a few other super British things she does in this interview, but I can't give away all the surprises!

Interview with Burlesque Superstar Angie Pontani

Before the show I had the chance to meet with glamour vixen Angie Pontani, the show’s star and reigning queen of burlesque, Miss Exotic World 2008.  We had tea and chatted about jungle girl stripteases, mishaps with bathtubs and why women love burlesque so much.

Chicktellectual dot com: How did you get started?

Surprisingly, the effects of alcohol on chicktellectuals may be the same as the effects of alcohol on the general population. Sadly for this note, no independent proof is available to confirm that the subject is, in fact a chicktellectual; however circumstantial evidence exists, as chicktellectuals tend to travel in packs. Clearly, more research is needed.

My Life With the Chicktellectuals

January 9th, 2009. Webster Hall, New York City.

It was roughly 1am (technically the morning of January 10th). I was sitting around the table shared by my favorite party girls, Six Six Sick. Tiffany and I were chatting when we watched a total stranger walk up to our table, grab our carafe of cranberry juice, turn around so as not to be seen and take a swig right from the carafe.

I am in a band called Nattahnam. We get on stage and improvise every note. We were recently mentioned in a music blog which stated that I was friends with JR Gallegher of the band the the Divorced. Let me assure you that to the best of my recollection, I have never met JR.