Dita at the Avalon 7/22

[€uroMeinke]

I know it's a school night, I know it's in Hollywood, but having never seen a performance of hers, it's mighty tempting to catch a debut

http://www.ditasdomain.com/pressreleases/nimages/la20090722.jpg

[Kevy Baby]

It took a little digging, but I found a little info about the show (http://www.ditasdomain.com/pressreleases/la20090722.php). It does sound tempting.

[€uroMeinke]

Hmm - that didn't seem to work either - how about this:

http://www.wantickets.com/images/event/dita_1.jpg

[Kevy Baby]

It's weird: when I first went to that link that I pasted, nothing showed up. But when I clicked the "refresh" button, it showed up. Got the same problem this time.

[€uroMeinke]

So Dita's Tweeted some pics from her upcoming performance:

Your daily rhinestone dose! My "Be Cointreauversial" show, one of 3 acts I will do at The Avalon July 22!

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_TkzYib9T4ZU/SlwFpTJ5yZI/AAAAAAAAGi4/8KrIl1ZbNCU/s576/17203211.jpg

The Elie Saab costume for "Le Bain Noir", a number I made for The Crazy Horse & I will do for the first time ever in the US July 22nd at The Avalon!

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_TkzYib9T4ZU/SlwFpMTPf3I/AAAAAAAAGi0/V7HmZiJiGE8/s576/17091954-0f1636deaa82f64b39de2d263c696d3d.4a5a82db-full.jpg

Uh, images in spoilers may not be safe for work

[Kevy Baby]

Uh, images in spoilers may not be safe for workOr just not show up at all :)

[wendybeth]

Dita's great. Could never figure out her and Marilyn Manson, but looks like things have worked out well for her.

[€uroMeinke]

Hmmm - Not having much luck with her am I?

[€uroMeinke]

Try it now

[Kevy Baby]

Try it nowYeah. Thank you for your persistence!

[€uroMeinke]

My trip report - Dita Von Teese at the Avalon July 22, 2009

The Icon

I have a fascination with Dita Von Teese and the “new” burlesque movement that goes beyond my prurient interest in seeing naked ladies. I’m fascinated with the cultural phenomenon that has somehow made burlesque a somewhat wholesome event. I think of Lucent Dossier, or Cirque Berserk, and their eroticizing of dance, circus, and vaudeville – when in reality these things always had dalliances with the risqué – peep shows, revealing costumes, and show girls. It seems odd that in the post-feminist world that this sort of thing would experience such a resurgence. Odder still, is that women would make up a majority of its patrons.

Dita on her own is an interesting story, a stripper from Orange County moving from porn and fetish modeling, from the cover of Playboy to the covers of Vogue and Vanity Faire. To be sure her embrace of burlesque propelled some of this, as she borrowed from pin-up girls of the 30’s and 40’s creating her own blend of vintage erotica.

Anyway, when an opportunity came up to see her actually perform the Burlesque routines that started this ball rolling, I jumped at the chance. She performs so rarely these days her time now devoted to modeling, pitching books, being seen as part of the scene. I figured this might probably be the only time I would see her live. I also wanted to have those bragging rights, to say I had actually seen her do her perform – a first hand witness to the actual burlesque and not just the idea of burlesque.

The Scene

The scene was amazing, it felt like a fantasy version of a Hollywood party, the velvet rope, a VIP entrance with logo backdrop where celebrities could stop, pose, and chat with the paparazzi. While the outfits ran the gambit from casual to fetish, I felt a bit under dressed compared to some of the folks here. Faux vintage was the predominant style as many Dita look-a-likes wandered the venue, cocktails in hand, hair coiffed, waved, and adorned with some sort of floral ornament. There were some extremes; it takes a certain someone to wear rubber in the summer, yet it was done.

The other interesting thing about the scene is the majority of the crowd here were women. And fitting with the Hollywood stereotype an abundance of boob jobs and cleavage were proudly being displayed. There were women with boobs like anime characters, looking like they just stepped into the third dimension geometry trumping gravity.

Granted many of the female patrons were with their girlfriends, but most of them were of the femme and lipstick variety. How different the demographics must have been for Dita’s early days at Captain Creams. Again more evidence that this new Burlesque brings with it a sense of post-feminist erotic female power – not just an object of male desire but female admiration.

Adding to the scene were the celebrities and paparazzi – not that I noticed any myself, or remember the ones listed other than Carmen Electra. But it was amusing to pass through a phalanx of photographers when the show was over – yup just another fantasy evening in Hollywood.

The Supporting Acts

Dita only performed three routines, so there where other acts interspersed through out the evening. The show itself was MCed by the ambiguously gendered Murray Hill (http://mistershowbiz.com/). The audience seemed to enjoy his schtick, but it fell flat on me – then again, as a straight male, I probably wasn’t in his target demographic.

The first part of the evening Dita shared the stage, with a belly dancer (http://mayte.com/), male stripper (http://catijean.com/), and fellow burlesque girl Ava Garter (http://avagarter.com/), whose Matador routine made me think those guys who did Spinal Tap really need to take on the burlesque world next as I awaited the descent of a miniature Stonehenge and dwarves to scale.

Little did I know the second act would fulfill at least part of that promise, as Seleene Luna (http://seleneluna.com/), the dwarf stripper, did a miniature tribute to Russ Meyers entitled, “Smaller Pussy Cat Kill Kill – Sounds of a Harley roaring as she entered, corseted on a mini-bike. It’s hard to say what caused the macho staff of the Avalon to cringe the most, this act – or the one before it featuring a transvestite (http://www.myspace.com/rajaonmyspace)in a reverse strip tease, slowing putting on the garments to transform himself into a woman.

The second act also contained a clever routine “Approche Intime (http://catijean.com/)” which featured a woman tap dancing in the dark, moaning, breathing, and signing to the rising rhythm of her dance, mostly on a darkened stage with strobe lights flashing as the end neared – an aural burlesque?

In all, I have to say I was impressed by the variety of acts even if they failed to titillate me

The Sponsor

This was a well branded event, Cointreau signage was ever-present merged with a likeness of Dita, their new “Brand Ambassador.” A video loop played before Showtime – an ongoing commercial with Dita as the backdrop – “Be Cointreaversail” the motto. The Bars well stocked with the French liquor, and extra bars set up to specialize on the Cointreau Teese – the new signature cocktail.

Before Dita took the stage for her Cointreau number, a sequined Cointreau logo dropped below the stage’s proscenium arch. Indeed one had to wonder if this was Dita’s show or Cointreau’s. Clearly though, it was the latter.

To be sure, with this much product placement and blatant commercialism GC would have hated this event even if it didn’t involve naked women.

The Main Event

So the star of the show was Dita (or maybe Cointreau) and she did perform 3 acts:

Le Bain Noir – A rather straight forward tease as Dita slowly slips out of her many bejeweled garments until she takes in her black bath complete with running water and hand held shower to demonstrate her Swarovski crystal pasties and merkin do not come off in water.
Be Cointreauversial – the signature piece of the evening, accessories in orange, the color of Cointreau, are slowly shed as she climbs into her own giant Cointreau Teese cocktail, splashing in the violet liquor, playfully squeezing the soaked garnish over her body, as the glass slowly spins to show off all her angles.
The Opium Den – the new piece for the show, Dita emerges lavishly costumed in Swarovski robes that somehow manage to show off how narrow her corseted waist can be before she strips down to her tassels, and dangles from the silk ropes of the opium den before a confetti cannon fills the venue with paper flowers


To be sure she is beautiful, she’s got style, and she’s got presence. It was a pleasure to see her routines, her costumes, and props. I loved how she worked in Serge Gainsbourge’s Comic Strip into her Be Cointreauversial routine, and was also amused by the inclusion of an orientalized Peter Bjorn and John’s Young Folks in the Opium Den. In fact the music all around was wonderful including the pre-show DJ set.

But, for some reason, the performances failed to move me. I wanted to be surprised and seduced, but I never felt as engaged as I thought I might. Perhaps this is an instance where the fantasy is greater than the reality, that the persona of Dita is much greater than the actual person. Maybe I waited too long to see her. Maybe there was too much Cointreau. Maybe I was too far back in the crowd and missed that all important eye contact. Maybe it would have been different to see her in a testosterone soaked crowd that didn’t want so much to be her, but to **** her. I really don’t know but continue to speculate.

A video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYl2RfSuicM)was posted the following day, and I believe she (or Cointreau) is taking this one on the road. Next stop Seattle.