va-va voom

Welcome to my week-long burlesque indulgence. (Don't say I didn't tell you so!) I am casing the Slipper Room in LES this week, allegedly home to NYC's longest-continuously-running burlesque show. But that's not until Saturday night. In the meantime, the Slipper Room is host to an amalgam of shows (Paco Doubledown Variety Hour, The Choke’s! Exploding Punk Inevitable Review) that include a "burlesque element." I'll be there, too.

Burlesque is making a comeback, and I suspect higher-profile burlesque clubs and dancers (i.e. the Pussycat Dolls; Dita von Teese), modern pin-up culture (i.e. the Suicide Girls), and the hip factor of all things vintage within a certain coveted demographic are among the reasons why. I'm locking myself in the library and to my computer until I find the facts from reputable sources tomorrow.

All in the name of great journalism, and further justification that cultureisnotdead.

***

culture is dead.

That's a bit of hyperbole on my part. But I did recently hear someone whom I think knows a thing or two about the subject issue a not-unlike indictment of the state of cultural affairs. Culture has been in a headlong tailspin since the mid-twentieth century, she lamented, and she's sorry that this is what we've been left to work with.

I beg to differ. If only because of the sheer volume of information that’s available to us—literally at our fingertips—we are living in the most diverse, dynamic cultural period yet.

Granted, it's nearly impossible to compartmentalize the cultural sphere in a postmodern world, particularly after the explosion of digital technologies in the last decade. That wasn’t a death knell, but a signal of evolution.

Culture today is a kaleidoscopic vision, fragmented into a thousand pieces, constantly shifting, expanding outwards, various forms spontaneously intersecting and collaborating before evolving again, all within a decentralized power structure.

In short, it's a minor revolution.

***

The purpose of this blog is to document in that evolution/revolution as manifested in New York City, my home turf. This blog is my breadcrumb trail tracing my discoveries, my encounters, my revelations. It is also an entirely subjective catalogue of the best references I can find for information on goings-ons within NYC's fringe culture—the locus of my interest.

***

I realize that this all sounds very high-flautin’ and I hope you’ll bear with me. A majority of my future entries are going to be very grounded in actual events and experiences, informative and hopefully entertaining. But that doesn’t mean the occasional waxing poetic won’t slip in… every once and a while.