Nudity Isn't Cool- But Could It Be For Kids?

Burlesque is my dirty hobby. I want to keep it that way.

It pleases me to watch the bridge and tunnel audience at the Slipper Room, (whose most naughty experience with nudity until this point was seeing the sex scene in Brokeback Mountain), watch agape, blush even, when I pull rosary beads out of my ... use your imagination.

That's why I hated the first time I performed in Brooklyn. The cool people there try so hard, but it isn't cute.

They try to be chill and relaxed about nudity- psh, as if they've seen the rosary thing before. Shock and shrill screams would expose them for the naive midwesterners they are.

When every one's cool with it, there's just nothing in it for me. And scaring people with my private parts is why I started this hobby in the first place.


Now kids get it right.

I performed for an audience of yuppies in Woodstock last weekend. The birthday woman was turning 40 and she had a lot of friends that were okay with letting their 5 year olds watch me get naked in their backyard. Maybe it was because the jazz band backing me added some culture, or is this the horrible thing that happens when hipsters grow into parents?

After my initial shock at twirling my pasties for a row of enthralled children, I can admit that they were one of the most responsive, and shocked, audiences I have ever performed for.

The hi-light: A little boy yelling, "That's gross but kind of cool!"

There's the spirit.