I’m fascinated by all branches of performing arts.  Stand up comedy and burlesque share a lot of the same roots in show business, both starting back in the vaudeville circuit nearly a century ago.  A few years ago I did a Halloween show with my friends the Detroit Rockabilly band Graveside Manner.  Also on the bill was the burlesque troupe Detroit Dizzy Dames led by the wonderful Lushes LaMoan.  We became Facebook friends and I couldn’t help to notice how incredibly busy she constantly is.

For me, the hardest part about being a performer is figuring out how to juggle so many different schedules.  We’re all essentially small business owners trying to sell a product, and that product is ourselves.  Somehow Lushes manages to not only juggle the business of Lushes LaMoan, but is additionally teaching burlesque and serving as the Branch Director of the Detroit chapter of Dr. Sketchy which is an “anti-art school” featuring local models and burlesque performers, and she manages to juggle it all very well!  She’s one of the hardest working performers in the city and has already made a name with herself with noteworthy accomplishments like being featured on the cover of the 2010 Metro Times Lust issue. 

I think I may have figured out how she does it all when I had a chance to catch up with her at a recent Dr. Sketchy event at the Scarab Club downtown.  She multi-tasks incredibly well!  We talked while she arranged snacks for all the attendees, delegated chairs being set up for the artists, and fielded questions from a long line of people.  

The first I remember meeting you was that Halloween show a few years back.

Yes.  I started managing the Detroit Dizzy Dames when SPAG went on hiatus.  It started with myself and a few of the girls not wanting to stop doing burlesque.   We carried on what we do and did it a little differently.  So we started the Detroit Dizzy Dames and that show was the Halloween Hootenanny and that was actually our very first gig.

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