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ARCHIVED PRESS
The Kansas City Society of Burlesque presents a holiday edition of its monthly show at KorruptionThe Kansas City Star, 12-09-09 There's no lack of burlesque this season, including the Kansas City Society of Burlesque's holiday show. Dec. 19 at Korruption. The Kansas City Society of Burlesque presents a holiday edition of its monthly show at Korruption, 1717 W. Ninth St., at 10 p.m. Dec. 19. On the bill are Annie Cherry, Lucky DeLuxe, Kitty Von Minx, Hella Fitzgerald, Honey Valentine, Veronica Voodoo, Peter Fondle, Tony Vinh, Nightlife Jones, Bindlestiff Willy and other special guests. Story by Robert Trussell. Read more online! Halloween burlesque, times two The Kansas City Star, 10-21-2009 As Halloween approaches, you know what to expect in the West Bottoms: vampires, werewolves, mutants, snake-handlers and lines of teenagers waiting to be scared witless.  But did you know about the strippers and comedians? Read on.Kansas City’s two leading burlesque troupes are each planning Halloween shows. First up will be the Kansas City Society of Burlesque, which presents “The Return of KSOB Raises the Dead,” a seasonal version of the more-or-less monthly show the society puts on at Korruption, 1717 W. Ninth St. The adults-only show starts at 10 p.m. Saturday. “Burlesque! Comedy! Horror!” the official poster promises. Annie Cherry, one of the society’s founders and a regular performer, said last year’s show featured a host of dead celebrity impersonations, and there will be more this year. She could tell us this much: The deceased celebs will include David Carradine, Farrah Fawcett, Eartha Kitt and Judy Garland. For her part, Cherry plans to perform her salute to Bettie Page, 1950s pinup goddess, as well as a mummy striptease. But won’t it take a pretty long time to be wrapped up like a mummy? “Not too long,” she said. “I have some tricks up my sleeve.” Also on the bill are Lucky DeLuxe, Honey Valentine, Kitty Von Minx, Peter Fondle, Bindlestiff Willy, Hella Fitzgerald and Veronica Voodoo with special guests Wicked Mirage, a belly-dancing troupe. Story by Robert Trussell. Read more online! Lucky DeLuxe and Kitty von Minx on Kansas City's 96.5FM Afentra's Big Fat Morning Buzz, 08-13-2009 Listen in as Lucky & Kitty talk with Afentra, Scoops, and Jeriney about the KCSOB's upcoming workshop, future shows, burlesque, making pasties, and many other topics! Burlesque extravaganza Friday The Kansas City Star, 08-13-2009 
The Kansas City Society of Burlesque, which ranked third in total attendance at the recent Kansas City Fringe Festival, is back with an extravaganza featuring local and out-of-town burlesque performers.The society presents “The Wet, Hot KCSOB Summer!” at 10 p.m. Friday at Korruption, 1717 W. Ninth St. Among the performers will be society members Lucky DeLuxe, Annie Cherry, Hella Fitzgerald, Kitty Von Minx and Veronica Voodoo, as well as members of the Tulsa-based Eye Candy Burlesque and Carnival of Cleavage. On the bill are dancing, comedy, singing, games, prizes and sideshow performances. The adults-only show is restricted to theatergoers 21 and older. Tickets cost $10 at the door or $8 in advance. The society is also sponsoring a four-hour workshop on beginning burlesque on Sunday. The class starts at 1 p.m. at Korruption and costs $50 per person. The society will supply “pasties and tassels,” according to Susanna Lee, aka Lucky DeLuxe. For more information on the show and workshop or for advance tickets, go to www.kcsob.com. Story by Robert Trussell. Fringe benefits: Non-mainstream art will be on display at the KC Fringe Festival St Joseph News-Press, 07-16-2009 In 1947, eight groups of artists were not invited to participate in the Edinburgh Festival of the Arts in Edinburgh, Scotland. Feeling dejected, the groups built makeshift theaters on the outskirts (or “fringe”) of Edinburgh and soon after gained a loyal following that dwarfed that of the established festival’s. 
In the same spirit, the KC Fringe Festival will inject Kansas City with uncensored, empowering “fringe” art from July 19-26. Fringe art encompasses a number of different styles including dance, improv, theater, spoken word, burlesque, puppetry and music performances as well as film, fashion and visual art presentations.One performance genre that people might not usually check out is burlesque. But the festival’s burlesque shows have been well-received in the past two years. The Kansas City Society of Burlesque will present an interpretation of the classic tale “Alice In Wonderland” called “Adventures in Wonderland” at the festival this year. One of the troupe’s members says the crowds and other artists are the reason they come back every year. “The atmosphere is great, with a free and creative energy,” says Lucky DeLuxe. “The other artists we meet during the KC Fringe Festival are fantastic, and the audiences are always receptive and ready to have fun.” If you don’t fancy theatre, burlesque or dance, visit www.kcfringe.org for a list of all presentations categorized by genre and a schedule of events. You can also find a full venue listing and map of the host locations on the Web site. Story by Shea Conner. Read more online! Cherry's DeLuxe: "The Game Show Edition!" at the Kansas City Fringe Festival - July 23-26, 2008 Ink, 07-16-2008  
Lucky DeLuxe presses her red lips to the cigarette she’s just rolled. A black dress hugs her voluptuous curves, set off by tassels attached to red, glittery pasties worn over her nipples for the burlesque dancer’s rehearsal at a loft in the West Bottoms. Tattoos covering her arms and chest signify rebellion against today’s societal norms, just as burlesque was once a symbol of rebellion in America.Burlesque, which features singing, dancing, comedic skits and the famous striptease, has come a long way since the ’30s when social crackdowns gradually stifled the art form. Women have reinvented it all over the country, and Kansas City is no exception. 
This year’s Fringe Festival, which runs July 21-27, features several performances by DeLuxe — aka Susanna Lee — and other members of the Kansas City Society of Burlesque, an association of burlesque performers and enthusiasts in the Kansas City area. They star in “Cherry’s Deluxe: The Game Show Edition.”Story by Cherryh Butler. Photography by Aaron Lindberg. Read more online! The Kansas City Star, 07-20-2008  ...KC-based burlesque performers Annie Cherry and Lucky DeLuxe have teamed up for a festival show this year called “Cherry’s DeLuxe Burlesque and Variety Show.” The piece will be presented as a game show, complete with “commercials” for fictitious products.“It’s going to be a send-up of all the game shows we know and love,” said Cherry, also known as Annie Montgomery. “There’s going to be a little ‘Dating Game,’ a little ‘Price Is Right’ and a few that are wholly new inventions.” Cherry said she simply calls what she does burlesque without invoking the cerebral-sounding “neo.” “Neo-burlesque is an attempt to elevate burlesque to the level of art, but I think some burlesque is art, and it takes a certain level of talent to go there,” she said. “One thing people need to remember is that burlesque was not high-brow art. I think some people take it a little too seriously, especially the attempt to completely disassociate it from, like, stripping. But there’s more to it than your typical strip-o-rama.”  DeLuxe (Susanna Lee) said burlesque was vaudeville’s “bluer cousin,” meaning it could be rawer and more sexual than typical entertainment. She said it represented a rebellion against the restrictive prevailing morality of the time.“I think what we have to rebel against now is a bit more complicated than the original morals they were rebelling against,” she said. “I think burlesque now allows us to make comments about sexuality. … It gets to a point where so many images of what a female is supposed to be and what a male is supposed to be get so overwhelming. It’s like a pressure cooker. I’m tired of looking at Paris Hilton. I think burlesque is what happens when you can’t take it anymore.”... Story by Robert Trussell. Photography by Chris Oberholtz. Read more online! Annie Cherry's Hurly Burly -- March 11, 2007 
Present Magazine, 03-21-2007Invoking the tradition of Kansas City burlesque in contemporary style, Annie Cherry and friends strut their moves in the West Bottoms at the Student Union. Photography by Phil Peterson. Poster by Jen Fridy. Present Magazine, 04-03-2007 Jen Mellard captures the graceful movements and the va-va-voom of these dancers through stylized imagery that emphasizes bold color and striking figures. These dancers represent women of various body shapes, sizes, and ages, exhibiting an intrinsic power that emanates from, but is not restricted to, the feminine form. What meets the eye is not a limitation for dull-thinking audiences, but a starting point to consider color, motion, and attitude that audiences of both genders savor for altogether different reasons. 
Burlesque is the embodiment of women as creators of art and a manifestation of art itself. Burlesque entertains and titillates, but the choreographed acts suggest more than alluring moves on the stage. The burlesque entertainer is strong in mind, body, and spirit. She controls the expression and portrayal of her physical form through artistic performance and delivers not-so-subtle personal statements as well. Mellard's images not only heighten the immediate explosion of motion and agility within the frame, but also charge the scene with vivid colors that evoke emotion, intangible and visceral as a distant wink, smile, and strut from the stage. There are still moments too, pauses filled with poise demonstrated by these proud women. Mellard contrasts color with the conscious use of darkness as negative space that enhances what the eye can see and what the imagination begins to conjure. Even now, the audience sits at a computer screen and observes much like the audience removed from the stage and shrouded in darkness. Watch the lights, the movements, and the art of burlesque as the ladies take the stage literally and figuratively. ––Pete Dulin |