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Bottoms UP! The Ultimate Van Halen Burlesque Experience
An “Udderly” Rocking Tribute
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Dance, it has been said, is the vertical depiction of a horizontal desire. And though the Latin rhythms of the tango, rumba and samba can easily get one’s blood pumping all over, none are as titillating as the classic all-American strip-tease, embodied in the 1940s and ‘50s by such legendary lusty ladies as Gypsy Rose Lee, Blaze Starr and Lili St. Cyr. So, what happens fifty years later when a new generation of burlesque cuties combine classic bump and grind moves with the hard rocking grooves of classic David Lee Roth-era Van Halen? Clearly, it’s not your typical “Losers Lounge tribute to Barry Manilow” night at Joe’s Pub.
Casino O’Fortune Cookie Productions’ strip tease and live music tribute to Van Halen featuring Clams Casino, Runaround Sue, and Rosie 151 entertained the Saturday night crowd at Joe’s with a scantily clad, strip down mammary lane that was all peeking and no boo-ing. It was a riveting reminder in these flaccid days of interchangeable bands like Coldhead, Radioplay and Moron 5, emphasizing just how damn good Van Halen’s arena rocking, parking lot anthems of the late-70s and early ‘80s really were. The Van Hagar era, not so much.
As for the girls, it being a “burlesque” show as usual means bottom-heavy babes in little outfits rocking and disrobing just like real strippers. Still, the bodacious Bottoms Up! ladies mean well and their ta-ta twirling skills are the gravity-defying stuff chubby chasers’ dreams are made of. Not to forget Shelly the Singing Siren, whose high kicks, vocal tricks and ribald recollections of David Lee Roth provided a kinky context to the evening’s divinely decadent proceedings.
At the end of the night, Bottoms Up! is a raunchy, rocking blast from the past, even if the dancers could use a little more “Jump” rope time. Though the omission of a “Hot For Teacher” sketch was incomprehensible, after a couple Jack Daniels, a few of Eddie Van Halen’s trademark licks and a little VH trivia (you mean they had a third singer?) all sins of omission were forgiven and a tassel twirling, plus-sized rocking time was had by all.