This past weekend was Father's Day and as my daddy lives in Chattanooga and we had to go mow the lawn at my grandfather's house in Oak Ridge. B and I figured that we should drive up to Oak Ridge after he got off work on Saturday and then stop by Chattanooga on Sunday to see my daddy. Since we were going up to Oak Ridge anyway on Saturday we figured we would swing by
The Prince Deli and Sports Bar and go see the awesomeness that is
Salome Cabaret and their Boob Tube Show.
Now true, television themed burlesque shows aren't something new. I know of at least two that have happened hear in Atlanta,
Mon Cherie Presents did one a while back, about a year before that
Blast-Off Burlesque did one and I am sure there have been many others. What makes this theme awesome is the familiarity of the shows we all know and love and as there are so many shows out there each show will still be different. Everyone has different favorite shows they want to tribute, so no matter how many people do the theme the shows will NEVER be the same. This show had references to TV shows that I haven't thought of in years and it made me unreasonably happy! There were a few that took us a minute to identify that were in the opening show music but we eventually got them all and began singing along.
There is nothing quite like sitting around drinking and singing along with your friends to television themes songs you didn't even know you still knew.
As there was a vacant VIP table myself, B,
Lola LeSoleil and
Sunny Midnight decided that we needed it and promptly took it over. Their VIP table was pretty happening. We had a giant remote control, a large bucket of popcorn as well as Mike'n'Ikes and Dots to snack on. They had also taken the time to make TV screen fans so you could hold them up and watch the show through your own personal TV which was pretty awesome and I attempted to take pictures through one a few times. Also on our table were photos of old TV Guide covers which included The Cosby Show, Dexter, Golden Girls, and a bunch of others. There were also TV Guide and As Seen on TV logos strewn about which were just a nice touch for the occasion. Also, when the waitress came she informed us that VIP tables got one half price appetizer. We chose the fried okra with a side of ranch which was pretty tasty. We all had a few drinks, my suggestion for drinking there is to get a mixed drink, they are a lot more generous with those then they are with their shots. Also, Jager is ridiculously expensive there so avoid it unless you have deep pockets.
The show was MCed by
Big Gay James and Weird Alice in her triumphant return to the stage. Between each act Big Gay James and Weird Alice would do bits or sing old theme songs to keep the audience entertained during act set-ups and break downs. One of my favorties was Big Gay James sitting on stage with his laptop pretending to type while the
Doogie Howser, M.D. music played and Weird Alice did the voice over off stage for the skit and the intro. Weird Alice was also apparently supposed to do the
Blossom dance, complete with hat, but the sound guy messed up their music (a bunch of times actually) so she wasn't able to do it. They were hilarious and kept the show moving even with all of the sound issues that kept happening. They even had a few small bits that interacted with the performers routines including the first one of the evening, Miss Lydia Thorne came out and arrested Big Gay James in her tribute to Cops! The next act was a fairly spicy
ST:TNG routine between Data and, well, she was wearing a Dianna Troy outfit but the character that had sex with Data in the show they sampled from was Tasha Yar.
One of my favorite routines of the night was done by Salome Cabaret founding member
Siren Santina as Pee Wee Herman. She started the routine in the famous grey suit with the theme song from Pee Wee's Playhouse. At the end of the theme song she pulled out the secret word for the day which was Tequila and we all screamed. The music then went into the Tequila song and she did the Pee Wee Herman Dance, complete with big white shoes while she stripped. However, her routine had one of the best uses of music editing I have ever seen, every time the song said Tequila she had added a 2-3 second pause and would stop her routine and scream as Tequila was the word of the day and then immediately pick back up where she was in the song and the strip tease. It was brilliantly well done and definitely one of the high spots of the show. Next came
Nipsy Tussle in a tribute to
True Blood as a Merlotte's waitress to the True Blood theme. I loved that she took the extra effort to add sequins and such to the Merlotte's logo on her shirt and her apron to give it that extra touch.
Tiger Tangerine's routine had me giddy before she ever got on stage. I saw her from the side of the stage with her orange legs, white fluffy butt and purple cloak, hat and mask and began to squeal as it could only mean
Dark Wing Duck! Her costume was spot on and her music was a weird mixture of the theme song and a rap that was done about the beloved cult cartoon. There was a debut that night as well, Dustin The Wind ventured from burlesque handler and manager to boylesquer extraordinare! He came out as Dan in a pretty hilarious tribute to the show
Rosanne, complete with flannel and diner references. Closing out the first act was
Delinda D'Rabbit. Inbetween
The Walking Dead and
Bath Salts zombies are all over the news right now so she brought out her undead routine. I've seen this act before and she had revamped it since last I saw it and let me tell you, it was amazing! She also drooled blood all over the audience which was a nice touch and B got covered so it made me giggle. Her messy routine required the intermission to clean it up and so they could do extensive set up for the opening of the second half while we all got our bathroom breaks and drink refills.
Sadly, during the second half of the show my fancy camera died so I tried to take a few shots with my cell phone, but they aren't nearly as fancy. The second half opened with
Peppy Schlongstocking as
Dexter taking a victim and then taking it off. Then came Nipsy Tussle as Mrs. Roper in a
Three's Company Tribute with many different caftans,
The International Order of Mrs. Ropers would have been so proud.
Rosey Lady came out with a
Game of Thrones routine, it's the only show they tributed that I've never seen, however, her three dragons at the end made were amazing and the whole routine was still really enjoyable even for someone who's never seen the show.
Cougar Cantrell did a pretty energetic and funny routine to televised football. Siren Santina can back out with an amazing
Spiderman routine including some spectacular webbed fans. She was spidey, she was slinky and just a little slutty! Beelzalbetty had a super cute
Dragnet routine that involved her pulling her handcuffs from a special place before handcuffing a lucky audience member to her and then taking them to the back! Closing out the show was
Kisa von Teasa as
Rainbow Brite. It was as shiny and bright as I remember it being with the special touch of awkward that only Kisa von Teasa can add. She is the queen of awkward and in addition to a crotch exploding with rainbows and her sprites were in a special place for all the audience to see! I tried to get a cast photo through the television that was on the VIP table but it cut out half the cast, but it's still cute!
