PRESS INFO
The Sex Workers' Art Show Tour is coming to your town!
The show is an eye-popping evening of visual and performance art created
by people who work in the sex industry to dispel the myth that they are
anything short of artists, innovators, and geniuses!
The wildly successful cabaret-style show is hitting the road again, bringing
audiences a blend of spoken word, music, drag, burlesque, and multimedia
performance art. Intelligent and hot, disturbing and hilarious, the performances
offer a wide range of perspectives on sex work, from celebration of prostitutes'
rights and sex-positivity to views from the darker sides of the industry.
This year's incredible lineup of performers includes international burlesque
sensation and winner of the “Best Body in Burlesque” award,
Miss Dirty Martini; infamous feminist author of I
Love Dick Chris Kraus; award-winning author of the
coming-out memoir How I Learned to Snap, Kirk Read;
porn star and writer Lorelei Lee; performance artist
and comic queen of cleavage The World Famous *BOB*; performer
and musical theatre mutineer Erin Markey; fierce activist
and rapper Tre Vasquez; internationally infamous drag-subverter
Krylon Superstar; dominatrix and destroyer of Asian feminine
mythology Keva I. Lee; and tour founder and director
Annie Oakley.
Special guest at select locations: platinum-selling hip-hop queen Trina!
The show includes people from all areas of the sex industry: strippers,
prostitutes, dommes, film stars, phone sex operators, internet models,
etc. It smashes traditional stereotypes and moves beyond "positive"
and "negative" into a fuller articulation of the complicated
ways sex workers experience their jobs and their lives. The Sex Workers'
Art Show entertains, arouses, and amazes while simultaneously offering
scathing and insightful commentary on notions of class, race, gender,
labor and sexuality!
"The Sex Workers' Art Show is not simply a display of those
in the sex industry... but an active force in articulating, shaping, and
contesting the meaning of the identity "sex worker" in the public
sphere" --Theatre Journal
"Annie Oakley doesn't need a gun. She's armed with fierce creativity,
political passion, big brains and exquisite sexiness. As the Sex Workers'
Art Show's director, Oakley leads a brilliant crew which serves up whore
culture at its most delicious and satisfying." --Annie
Sprinkle, Phd
PERFORMER BIOS
DIRTY MARTINI
Miss Exotic World 2004, Miss Dirty Martini was named the 'Sexpot Sophisticate'
by New York Magazine. She has been described as 'one of the best in burlesque'
by the New York Times, 'the queen of them all' by the London Telegraph,
and 'the decadent expression of femalesensuality in action' by the NY
Daily News. Since the mid 1990's she has had audiences on their feet applauding
in venues as diverse as Carnegie Hall, the Museum of Sex and Broadway
Bares to infamous New York nightclubs and drag bars where she was awarded
a Glammy for her performances.
A leading figure in the American burlesque revival, Miss Martini has
become an underground celebrity and a favorite of the legends of burlesque
who performed in the 1940's and 1950's. She has headlined burlesque shows
across the USA and internationally, and has been featured in the books
New Burlesque; Burlesque, the New Bump and Grind; and Burlesque
from Gaslight to Spotlight.
With the Cabaret New Burlesque she recently spent the summer performing
in sold out shows in Nantes, France, returning to the US in the fall to
perform alongside critically acclaimed comedian Margaret Cho in her off-Broadway
show The Sensuous Woman.
Look for her in the Scissor Sisters 'Filthy Gorgeous' music video and
her very glamourous little cameo in John Cameron Mitchells' movie Shortbus.
This will be Dirty's second year touring with the Sex Workers’
Art Show and she is very excited to travel once again with this amazing
group of performers. Visit her at www.missdirtymartini.com
LORELEI LEE
Lorelei Lee is a writer, undergraduate student, and porn performer. She
has studied creative writing at California College of the Arts and San
Francisco State University. Her writing has been published in Transfer
Magazine and Graphite. She has been awarded both a National Foundation
for Advancement in the Arts youngARTS Scholarship and the Bishop Award
for Best Tit-Tortured Model 2005. Her essay for a 2006 calendar by San
Francisco artists Sara Thustra and Brande Blah received accolade in the
San Francisco Bay Guardian. She volunteers with San Francisco Sex Information
and is a graduate of their Sex Educator Training program. She has self-published
two chapbooks, Shades of Sky (1996), and Doublefisted (2002), and has
been nominated for three AVN awards.
CHRIS KRAUS
Chris Kraus is the acclaimed author of the trilogy: I love Dick, Aliens
& Anorexia and Torpor. "When I Love Dick
came into existence a new kind of female life did too," notes Eileen
Myles in her preface to the 2007 edition. Index magazine has called her
voice "one of the most subversive in American fiction" and Thurston
Moore chose her novel Torpor as a Vanity Fair 'Best
Summer Read' in 2006. In addition to fiction Chris is the author of Video
Green, a collection of essays centered on the Los Angeles art world.
She has contributed to such titles as LA Artland, Posted Love, Cream,
French Theory in America and writes for Artforum, Bookforum,
Art in America and Pataphysics Magazine. She is the founding
editor of the Semiotext(e) Native Agents imprint, teaches in the Literature
Department at University of California, San Diego and is writing a book
about flawed reciprocity and the American justice system, excerpts of
which are available at www.realitysandwich.com. Prior to writing, she
worked as a journalist, bicycle messenger and topless dancer.
KIRK READ
Kirk Read is the author of the memoir How I Learned to Snap about
being openly gay in a small Virginia high school. He has been published
in over 30 anthologies and is working on a novel about the Book of Revelation,
as well as a collection of humorous essays called This is the Thing. He
cohosts the open mics Smack Dab and K'vetsh. He worked for a number of
years at St. James Infirmary, San Francisco's legendary free clinic for
sex workers, where he was an HIV counselor, phlebotomist and volunteer
coordinator. He recently received a grant from the San Francisco Arts
Commission to develop a solo show that will premiere in June of 2008 at
the San Francisco Queer Arts Festival. He is the director of Army of Lovers,
which produces new queer male
performance. He is seeking submissions for two anthologies: one about
male sex workers and one about how queer men and transmen are reshaping
masculinity. He toured with the Sex Workers’ Art Show in 2007 and
is thrilled to be back on the road.
He can be reached at www.kirkread.com.
THE WORLD FAMOUS *BOB*
“I'm just a girl from the farm that believes in making the most
out of what you've got!" For The World Famous *BOB*, that's a lot!
At 5 11" and a staggering 42 1/2 F - 32 – 42 she's quickly
become one of New York City's most well- rounded performers. Known for
her over-the-top blonde bombshell image and incredible ability to mix
martinis with her cleavage, *BOB* has captivated audiences all over the
world with her unique
burlesque stylings, humorous performance art, and MC skills.
She has been photographed by hundreds of photographers including Patrick
McMullan, Mario Testino and David LaChapelle. * BOB* appears in several
books such as Hotel LaChapelle, New Burlesque, Striptease: From Gaslight
to Spotlight; Burlesque: The New Bump-N-Grind; The Brooklynites;
and forthcoming in January 2008, The Velvet Hammer Burlesque. Believing
that television is "theatre for the poor " *BOB* is always happy
to make an appearance on the boob tube and is featured in A&E 's ‘History
of Cleavage’, German television, and in a winning appearance on
FUSE TV's ‘Pants Off Dance Off!’. An experienced break dancer,
*BOB* has appeared in the remake music video of ‘HEY we want some
P*ssy!’ by Jason Nevins & The Crew, as well as MTV commercials
for the Music Video Awards. High fashion & World Famous *BOB* are
no strangers- she has graced the pages of BUST magazine multiple
times, worked the runway for Lane Bryant, had a luxurious six-page layout
in Mode, and has worked with fashion
god Thierry Mugler. Her ample bosom has also filled pages in The New
York Times, New York Post, New York Magazine, HUSTLER, Esquire, Style
Monte Carlo, The Village Voice, Interview Magazine, PAPER, Italian Marie
Claire, Bizzare, and as Miss July in the 2008 Mistresses of George
W. Bush Bid Farewell Calendar. The big screen suits *BOB * as well, her
latest cameo being in John Cameron Mitchell's film Shortbus.
Recipient of four New York Burlesque Festival Golden Pastie Awards (peer
nominated) including Most Influential/Inspiring Performer, Performer With
The Best Boobs, Performer Most Likely to Still Be Doing Burlesque At Age
60, and Most Class Act Both On and Off Stage.
Believing in the future of burlesque, World Famous *BOB* has produced
a monthly show for new performers entitled ‘The World Famous *BOB*
Presents!’ for the past four years in NYC, putting over 80 performers
on stage for their first time ever! As a professor at the School of Burlesque
in NYC she teaches classes such as ‘Self Confidence- The Ultimate
Accessory’ as well as ‘F to F – The Art of Wigs and
Lashes’.
She lives in Brooklyn in a candy hued apartment known as The Pink Cupcake
with her sister Kit Cat & her beautiful pink toy poodle Movie Star!
From Brooklyn to Paris, The World Famous *BOB* is "The Dream Come
True Girl!"
ERIN MARKEY
Erin Markey is a Brooklyn-based performing artist and writer who creates
original music and knows her way around a brass pole. She was bred in
Michigan and buttered in the Deep South. After the butter melted, she
went back to Michigan to study at the “University of” under
the brilliant, campy, sexy, hilarious mentorship of Holly Hughes. Markey’s
work is heavily influenced/inspired by Ms. Hughes, Peggy Shaw and Lois
Weaver, Santa Claus,
Judy Garland, Annie Sprinkle, Sarah Vaughan, Tom Jones, Liberace, Kate
Bornstein, Carol Burnett, and Miss Piggy. Her work was recently included
in the 2007 Lincoln Center Director’s Laboratory. Her work has been
produced and showcased in galleries, museums, theatres, salons, clubs,
bars, cabaret spaces, parties, and academic conferences such as the Solomon
R. Guggenheim Museum, Joe's Pub, Performance Studies International at
Brown University, Baltimore’s Walter’s Art Museum (upcoming),
HERE Arts Space, Baltimore’s Creative Alliance Gallery, The Green
Room (upcoming),
Galapagos Art Space, Unisex Salon, 3LD, London's Club Wötever, Mo
Pitkin's, and frequently at Dixon Place.
KEVA I LEE
Keva I. Lee just wasn’t getting enough.
After years of counseling and advocacy for sex workers in the complicated
criminal system, she decided to become a sex worker herself. Why? Because
of sheer frustration- she was unfulfilled by the system and by her sex
life.
Fed up with the situation, she decided to take matters into her own hands-
not by passively rolling over and masturbating her troubles away- but
by transforming herself into a ball-crushing, whip-yielding, nipple-torturing
Dominatrix! She’s learned the ropes and acquired more than a few
tricks
in her bag. She explodes and exploits stereotypes surrounding Asian women:
dragon lady/ passive lotus flower, exoticism, fetishism, perpetual foreignness,
language as a faux cultural barrier. She uses these stereotypes as an
erotic tool for her own amusement and gain.
Keva I. Lee is now getting enough- and loving every minute of it.
KRYLON SUPERSTAR
Legendary east village performance
artist…Breathaholic..Vegetarian…
Old..Young..Black and beautiful…
Timeless..Aginst time..chameleon..Jedi
knight…Lady face painter…Has been
a featured performer in Paris..Berlin..
New York..Montreal..Aix en Provence…
San Diego and San Fransico…
For the past 15 years……
ANNIE OAKLEY
Annie Oakley is the founder, director, road manager,
emcee, and den mother of the Sex Workers’ Art Show.
She has shepherded the show from a fledgling project
in Olympia, Washington to a nationally-acclaimed touring
extravaganza. Oakley has lectured, performed, exhibited
artwork, and given workshops at venues and universities
across the country. She was co-producer in 2004 and 2006
of the Homo-A-Gogo festival.
She is the editor of the new anthology Working Sex: Sex Workers
Write About a Changing Industry (Seal Press).
TRINA
A native of Miami’s Liberty City, Trina made her musical
debut in 1998 on Trick Daddy’s “Nann,” and quickly
became a household name in hip-hop. Her first two albums,
the platinum selling debut “Da Baddest Bitch” (2000) and the
gold selling “Diamond Princess” (2002) focused on the raw
and
raunchy style that made her famous, followed by another Gold
album entitled “Glamorest Life” in 2005. Now the world patiently
awaits the release of her fourth solo album “Still Da Baddest”,
dropping in February 2008. Trina’s catalog includes incredible
singles like ‘Pull Over’, ‘No Panties’, ‘B
R Right’, ‘Here We Go Again’,
and ‘Da Club’.
Says Trina,“I would say the beginning of my career was like a trial
and error trying to find myself. I was speaking from the streets and
life in general and people that I was around... talking about what’s
going on in the world that I have seen growing up in the inner city”.
As one of hip-hop’s most noticeable leading ladies, she’s
determined
to keep sisterhood amongst the women a priority. “There are only
a
handful of female artists, and there’s not really enough love and
connection between us. We need to be supportive of each other.
Guys can rap and promote gangbanging and violence and shooting
up somebody’s mama, but if a girl says anything out of content,
she
is criticized. I just think women need to stick together a little more
to
be able to become just as successful as the guys in the industry.”
Putting her money where her mouth is, Trina started the Diamond Dolls
Foundation: a non-profit organization dedicated to providing support for
young females. Diamond Dolls is based out of Miami, offering resources
and community-building programming for local girls.
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