Throwback Thursday: There Was A Whole Lot of Hot Lesbian BurLEZK Fun Going On For Fatale Media And You Can Watch It at PinkLabel.TV

October 21, 2021
NAOMI LEROY

Ladies strutting it for the ladies is so much fun-- add some great 80s hair and music and you’ve got the total package!

I’m a big fan of burlesque. In the Before Times, of course, I was up for going and seeing most any artsy or wacky themed burlesque show that was going on. My wife and I even eschewed the traditional strip club outing for a burlesque show for our combined bachelorette party. The last show I remember attending was in a weird old building with a resident cat and had a 70’s “key party” theme and one of the acts was Mrs. Roper from Three’s Company. I love the creativity and the love that goes into the acts, the body diversity and acceptance, the queerness, and, well I love titties. I have even thought about taking some classes and learning how to do it, which again, was put on hold by the plague. Burlesque folks have had to get creative to present their work, and there’s lots of things that have happened online in the past couple years. As part of the Fatale Media goodies they’ve got in their archive, PinkLabel.TV has two filmed lesbian burlesque shows from the 80s and 90s, BurLEZK Live! (1987) and BurLEZK Live 2 (1993). BurLEZK was the first lesbian striptease show that played to women-only audiences in San Francisco from 1984 to 1987 and they expanded to 12 other cities in 1989, so these archive films represent just a tiny portion of the impact of this show and we are blessed to have them preserved for queer posterity. Plus. MULLETS. ALL. THE. MULLETS, most of which are found on audience members, but big hair as a general thing is ubiquitous here. Also, ALL. THE. PRINCE. Not that this is a bad thing at all!

The first BurLEZK film starts off with the lithe, muscular, and tanned Peppar, stripping down to “Under The Influence” by Vanity, “Girls And Boys” by Prince, and “Saturday Love” by Cherelle. A more traditional burlesque act in terms of costume and music (the classic “The Stripper” by Si Zentner) by a woman called Tiger follows. Tiger really knows her way around a feather boa and has legs for miles as she shimmies and struts her way out of a red gown, down to a red fringed bikini, and well, you know where this is going. The suited, be-mulleted audience member is much appreciative when they go up to give her a tip. Kokomotion is a Black hottie in black who blends an athletic hip-hop style into her routine to “Automatic” and “Sexy Dancer” by Prince.. She can move really well, and she has almost a merkin of bills in her garter belt to show for it by the end of the dance. Sandra, a leggy blonde honey strips to Run-D.M.C.’s “You Be Illin’” with a segue into Prince’s “Do Me Baby”. Ramona cavorts around the stage in skimpy leather gear to three different songs by Falco (of “Rock Me Amadeus” fame). Curvaceous Toni goes a little older music-wise to start with the anti-war anthem “War” by Edwin Starr and then segues to “Too Late For Love” by Def Leppard--- I’m totally fucking here for hair metal burlesque, lemme tell ya, but what comes next kinda exploded by head cos I worship Stevie Nicks and call her “Music Mom” and this lady is stripping to “Has Anyone Ever Written Anything For You?” and it actually works. It just does. Wild. Lupe bats the cleanup spot with a drag king strip act set to The Rolling Stones’ “Sympathy For The Devil” , continuing that theme “Lord’s Prayer” by the Lords of the New Church, and bringing down the house dripping some hot wax on herself to the tune of “This Time Of Night” by New Order.

If that wasn’t enough fun, BurLEZK Live 2 which includes footage from many different shows, brings back Peppar with some more Prince with “U Got The Look” and the songs “Mr. Wrong” and “Never as Good As The First Time” by Sade continue the sexy smooth sex grooves as Peppar gets pretty familiar and chummy with several patrons on stage. Reeva is a blonde in a shiny mermaid-style dress who shimmies to the rhythms of Belinda Carlisle’s “Circle In The Sand” and then brings back Peppar for a double act with “Oh Yeah” by Yello, the song made famous by Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. Stella lip syncs to a medley of “Baby It’s You” by The Shirelles, “Remember” by the Shangri-Las, and gradually sheds her good-girl 50s clothes to bring down the house with “I Never Loved A Man (The Way I Love You)” by Aretha Franklin. Fanny Fatale gives us an awesome safer sex PSA with “So Emotional” by Whitney Houston and she Rick rolls us before it was cool with “Never Gonna Give You Up” and uses condoms, dental dams, and a vibrator as her props, tossing out some freebies on her way off stage. Shelly Mars is on fire in her act to “Leader of the Pack” by the Shangri-Las, “Take Me To The River” by Al Green, and “Kiss” by Prince, stripping off many layers to finally show her authentic self. The film closes with Shelly’s drag king act that includes “Jealous Man” by Hoyt Axton and “When Boys Talk” by Indeep ending with some delightful phallic lewdness to the tune of “What Have You Done For Me” by Janet Jackson.