Voyeurism.

A couple of weeks back, after my 25th birthday, one of my gal pals, professional stylist Xza Louise Higgins came over by my house for a little intimate photoshoot. She's working on a new project for her portfolio, intriguingly entitled "does this bra make my boobs look fat?", paying homage to the concept of women and their busts throughout the decades ranging from the 1920s through the 1980s. Xza, who I've had the pleasure of both modeling for and working together with as vintage clothing dealers in Chicago, chose me to be her 1970s muse.

As she is familiar with me both behind the lens, as a commissioned artist as well as a burlesque dancer, she chose me to be her wild 70s personality. With that and the fact that bi-weekly, I shimmy out of my clothes and shake my boobs and pasties in front of large audiences in mind, we decided my theme would be more inclined toward the concepts of 70s voyeurism and bra burning.

I have to say, it was great to be shot in my home, while painting and running around in my various vintage garments, as the 50s and 70s are what my closet's wardrobe specialize in. We worked for about an hour or so, both in my studio/boudoir as well as in my living room manipulating my randomly placed eclectic mid century and modern furniture, utilizing as much of my "intimate" setting as possible.

As the photos are still be editing, and the project is still ongoing, I was given a teaser image from the tear sheet, and I'm quite pleased. So I though I'd share it with you fine folks.

Enjoy.



xoxo,
erin

Step right up, folks!

...and see loooooong awaited footage of Honey B. Combe's "Little Egypt". You can even see the amazing vintage cleopatra collar I recently gained ownership off!

BROADZILLA! (2.25.11) - "Little Egypt" by Honey B Combe from Vaudezilla Productions on Vimeo.

Way Down in Mexico. Oh how I love the Coasters..

So, as I'm trying to get my vintage business Psychosurplus in order, my wedding planned (oh, p.s., I'm getting married in June!), a new art show under way for March, reboot everything I lost when my my computer crashed two weeks ago, as well as get my ducks in a row for the Windy City Burlesque Fest (which I just found out I would be performing in as a solo performer as well as in a duo with my darling Lindsey, for Honey B. Combe!), I managed to squeeze some time in to perform with my pals over at Vaudezilla for theire Lincoln Fair monthly burlesque exhibition.

And as I LOVEEEEEE the Coasters and have already performed to their musical stylings as Honey B. Combe once before, I decided to step my Sugar Cane Jane game up with one of my favorite songs by them, "Down in Mexico", as rendered in the Deathproof soundtrack.

Once I scored the footage and saw my set, I was extremely proud of myself, considering how disappointed I was with my last solo act, despite the fact that that particular act is what got me into the Windy City Burlesque Fest in the first place. So of course, I thought I'd share it and perhaps get a little feedback.

xoxo

New Vintage Goodies on Etsy!

Hello, hello! Since my soon to be hubby bought me a fun new camera for Christmas, I've spent the last couple of weeks revamping my etsy shop, Psychosurplus Vintage. Our previous camera was stolen at the end of the summer, so I've struggled quite a bit with adding new merch here and there for months now. I'm extremely excited to start this year off right, with new vintage goodies being added to my shop frequently. This is the year of taking charge, and what better way to start than with getting my shop back in the groove of things.

Here are some new items available for purchase for all you vintage loving cats:

Vintage late 40s, early 50s Peach Pin Up Tap Pants:


here's the listing:
Peachy Keen Pin Up Tap Pants

Super Stretch Betsey Johnson Mini Skirt


Here's the listing:
Betsey Johnson Totally Clueless Mini

Late 50s, early 60s Atomic Metal Burst Clip On Earrings:


Listed:
Late 50s, early 60s Atomic Clip Ons

Golden Delicious Flinstone Mad Men Clip On Disc Earrings:


Listed:
60s Gold Flinstone Clip Ons

Super Sweet Grey Seersucker late 40s, early 50s Golfing Blouse:


Listed here:
Adorable Rockabilly Grey Seersucker Golfing Blouse

Take a gander, and enjoy as new merchandise wiggles on into Psychosurplus!

xoxo,
erin

A Milio's Hair Affair

In October, some of my burlesque girlfriends and I were asked to walk the runway for a very special pin up hair show for Milio's Hair Salon. Milio's Hair Salon has been around for ages, and is located in the heart of Chicago's forever notorious Belmont & Clark area, which was once home to all sorts of vagrants, punk rockers, ravers, drag queens, leather boys, and the likes. When I got the call asking to be one of the featured models for their hair and pin up runway show at Chicago's Sound Bar, I jumped on the opportunity immeidately. I was elated to find out that two of my close girlfriends, Loraine Rose and Siren Jinx were involved as well. Of course, we [and some other folks] snapped some photos of the hairs and wares we rocked for the event.













the lovely Loraine Rose on the left, and the equally as lovely Siren Jinx on the right.


stretch it out!


Cheers!


xoxo

Gimme Some Skin.

The day after Thanksgiving, I was flying solo so to speak, as Lindsey was back home visiting family and enjoying turkey and sides galore for the holiday. It was time for our monthly romp with our buddies over at Vaudezilla for "Broadzilla! The Burlesque Beast", and I decided to do the show this time around solo. There are many times when I do acts and events on my own, as solely Sugar Cane Jane, but it is very rare to have any of those occasions captured in pictures or video. I feel like a lucky gal to finally have some videography of a brand new act I unveiled at the post-Thanksgiving show. Though, I can tell from watching this video that there's some crude areas that I need to tweak and work on in this act(including syncing my clapping with the sounds of the Andrews Sisters), I think considering that at this particular venue I ALWAYS dance with my partner, I did quite alright shakin' it all by my lonesome.

In the end, practice makes perfect, right?

BROADZILLA! (11.26.10) - "Gimme Some Skin, My Friend" by Sugar Cane Jane from Vaudezilla Productions on Vimeo.

xoxo.

Not once, but twice.

Well, yeeehaaaaaw! Our buddies over at Vaudezilla Productions were kind enough to send some sweet, sweet footage over our way of two recent Honey B. Combe performances, both being different renditions of our act, "All aboard the Chattanooga Choo Choo". I'm elated to share them both, as I feel Dolly Dagger(Lindsey) and I have come quite a longggg way since first voyaging into the complex world of burlesque and all that it encompasses.

The first video reel is from our Halloween show at Exit on October 29th. For this show, we decided to channel our inner zombied-out, awakened-from-the-dead Andrews Sisters. Mission accomplished.



And here's the reel for you to enjoy:

BROADZILLA! (10.29.10) - "All Aboard the Chattanooga Choo Choo" by Honey B Combe from Vaudezilla Productions on Vimeo.

And just a short time later, we were invited to perform at the Lincoln Fair, monthly Burlesque Expostion, hosted by Vaudezilla at the Lincoln Tap Room for Lincoln Tap Room's 20th Anniversary par-tayyyyyyyyy.



Here's the reel from that expostion:

Lincoln Fair (11.20.10) - "All Aboard the Chattanooga Choo-Choo" by Honey B Combe from Vaudezilla Productions on Vimeo.

this fall/winter will have far many more things to come, but for now, I leave you with these goodies.

xoxo,
erin
and my slightly altered ego, Sugar Cane Jane

Get down on the B.T. Express

Here's some footage I just scored from the producers over at Vaudezilla Productions, of Honey B. Combe performing "Peace Pipe" by B.T. Express at the Exit this past August in Chicago. yay!

BROADZILLA! (8.27.10) - "Peace Pipe" by Honey B. Combe from Vaudezilla Productions on Vimeo.

and as always, thanks to the awesome Vaudezilla team for providing footage! (so at least we can see how goofy we are on stage)

Indian Delights, Indonesian garage rock, Incense & a little piece of mind.

Yesterday, I had a lovely afternoon with my long time friend, Kara, traveling to the far north side of Chicago, visiting a street in a neighborhood I lived in for a time as a child. The street we spent the day romping aorund on was Devon Ave, in West Roger's Park, home to one of the largest Indo-Pakistani communities in the U.S. We went to countless fabric stores, jewelry shops and home goods businesses, absorbing all of the amazingly vibrant jewels, fabrics and garments, while Kara searched diligently for a new nose ring. We ventured into a few of the markets, inhaling scents of spices, incense and fresh pastries. It was such an incredible day. We also managed to take ina few snacks while we were up there, first diving into oven fired dough pastries filled with cheeses and potato from a Georgian (provincial region of Russia) bakery, in the more Russian inhabited portion of the street at the western end of the stretch, as well as naan breads and lamb patties, accompanied by highly refreshing rose water yogurt drinks at the Indian Garden, a restaurant dedicated solely to delicious Indian cuisine. Needless to say, we spent the bus ride back to Logan Square in totally delightful food comas.

Though I don't have any photos from yesterday's adventure quite yet, here's a photo of Kara and me from her first day after moving back to Chicago. Together, we make quite the brightly colored adevnturous duo.


When we got back to my apartment, we vegged out on the couch for a bit, burning our new incense finds and listened to the sounds of Dara Puspita, this super amazing surf/garage girl band from the 60s & 70s that originated in Indonesia, but was later exiled to China. They rule.


After Kara left that evening, and my boyfriend went out skating with his friend, I decided to curl up on the couch with a glass of wine and work on a new illustration. It's been a while since I've had such a relaxing day and had the opprtunity to work on some new art without the pressure of work or commissions or deadlines, so I was thrilled to have a little piece of mind. I didn't really have anything particular in mind to draw out, but I was also pondering different ways to promote my burlesque endeavors and where the fall will take me in terms of my career as an artist and a relative newbie in the Burlesque field in Chicago, so I decided to combine the two work/extra-cirrculars I love and came up with this new piece. Of course, as with most of my artwork, it's not really finished, but for now, I'm pretty happy with the direction it's going in.

Take a gander.


xoxo,
erin

Where's my whistle? Where's my luggage? And some tap shoes??

The proceeding video is footage of Dorothy Dandridge and the Nicholas Brothers performing with the Glenn Miller Orchestra to the classic, Chattanooga Choo Choo. This is one of my favorite musical selections, and though I love The Andrews Sisters version of this song, I just absolutely adore Dorothy Danridge's performance. As we gradually make our way into fall this year, Honey B. Combe has been on the prowl for new act inspiration, and boy, oh boy, have we found it in this segment! Lindsey and I are doing a wardrobe and performance overhaul for the upcoming season, and we're completely stoked to include Honey B. Combe's very special version of Chattanooga Choo Choo to our spankin' new repetoire.



We also recently had another fantastic show with our friends over at Vaudezilla this past month, winding down August with a totally revised "Peace Pipe" performance in Broadzilla! the Burlesque Beast at Exit Chicago. That show was filmed and photographed, and though I'm still awaiting footage and such, which are all soon to come, I can't wait to visually share the experience!

I have much more catching up to do, but we'll have to save other goodies for later.

xoxo,
erin

acrylics and cheetah print. yes!!

On September 3rd, 2010, I will be displaying new work in a group show entitled Nature Vs. Machine. The show will be curated by my good friend Corryn Jackson of Three Birds Gallery, who you may remember having seen in older posts, as her and I co-curated a show together earlier this year along with Lindsey, and it was most definitely bananas! Nature vs. Machine will feature the work of ten artists hailing from both Chicago, Il and Ann Arbor, MI, and challenges the artists to question the duality of "nature" and the artificial creation of the "machine." The artists have been divided into two groups to emulate one experience versus the other. I have taken on the machine.

With my favorite acrylic color palette, a giant slab of masonite & a huge roll of late 60s Cheetah print wall paper (not to mention, a month of brainstorming, trying to figure out what the hell I was going to visually contribute), I channeled my thoughts and got to work.

Here are some (crude) photos documenting the progression of my piece, as the deadline approaches...


round one.

round two.

and, tada! (it's still not 100% completed, but it's soooo close)


xoxo,
erin.

dear cuba, i love you.

So, aside from working for two fantastic vintage lifestyle businesses in Chicago for quite some time now, this summer I've also started working for this extra yummy Cuban restaurant near my apartment called 90 Miles Cuban Cafe. Though it's only been open for just a smidge over one year now, it's popularity has increased and location has expanded at such a rapid rate that it's staff, myself most certainly included, never has a chance to really sit down and absorb it all... However, on the few occasions that I get to come in early enough so that it isn't total pandamonium throughout out the multiple dining floors/patios and what not, I love to sneak around and look at all of the old cuban memorabilia and amazing and beautiful imagery from the island dating from the early 1930s through the mid 1960s, which have been tastefully lacquered and decoupaged to the interior of the entire indoor area of the restaurant, all hand applied by a local artist. Of course, I took a natural liking to all of the details being an art enthusiast myself, and most specifically a lover of all things old and historically relevant, and over my time there I have fallen in love with these beautifully covered walls. The images that have most specifically stuck in my head are those gracing the covers of the old Cuban magazine, Carteles. There is an exceedingly wonderful art deco influence in a great deal of the older painted and/or illustrated covers, as well as quite a few exotic pin-ups on some of the mid-century painted and illustrated issues, and they are EVERYWHERE throughout the restaurant! I'd like to share a few of the ones I have come across since embarking on my new obssession with Carteles:













there will be more to come in the future, as I am definitely looking forward to doing more research on the artists who originally created these gorgeous works and such.

xoxo,
erin

will this stoner smile make do?

...to hide or accentuate the fact that Lindsey and I have a brand spankin' new act for a rather large show tonight, and I'm truly nervous-anxious-jumpin'jivin'-excited? Well, let's hope it does SOMETHING for someone!


The show tonight is a tribute performance honoring this year's lollapalooza. Every performance in both sets of this show will pay tribute to musicians either playing in this year's lollapalooza line up, or musicians who have headlined in the past. We had initally intended on reworking a Jimmy Cliff (who is playing this year) song for this act, but the producer from the troupe we're working with for this event requested that we make a rather wild act to Chromeo's song Tenderoni. We've spent the last two and half weeks creating a rather brightly colored number drawing part of our concept from the music video released for their song. Here's the Tenderoni video:



I'll say this much: we've managed to incorporate a giant ruffled pizza box, a bell boy cap, a rotary telephone, matching red ruffled bloomers and a boombox into the performance we have in store for viewers tonight....mama mia!

xoxo,
erin

photographic jumbalaya.

sharing is caring, no??

club delisa, chicago circa early 1940s.

Performing Eartha Kitt, circa early 1950s.

the one and only. date unkown, but I would assume very early 1930s.

Soul Sylvia Robinson, and her wonderfully impressive genie braid.

a rarity to see.


xoxo,
erin

new drool worthy goodies from the amazing niki!

I recently had the pleasure of working with my dear friend niki from BombshellShocked.blogspot.com, modeling for a couple of new photoshoots for her fabulous vintage shop on ebay BombShellShocked. Here are some of the delicious new finds we added to her available selection.

this lovely 30s/40s two piece nylon knit lounging set!



you can find that listing here

This smokin' hot red rockabilly 50s lace party dress!

You can find this listing here

This beautiful late 60s, early 70s goddess gown!


Which you can find here

This adorable 60s red and white scooter romper with metal zipper!

available here

And this stellar parisian novelty print 50s cotton rockabilly skirt!


available for you love right here

I can't wait for all of these new goodies to find loving new homes!

xoxo,
erin

pussycats galore

I finally found full length footage of Honey B. Combe! yay! This video is our performance to the Pussycat Song, by Connie Vannett, at Exit, Chicago, this past June. We're still pretty new to the burlesque world, so we have a few minor tweaks to work out with all of our acts, but i hope you enjoy!

BROADZILLA! (6.25.10) - "Pussycat Song" by Honey B Combe from Vaudezilla Productions on Vimeo.

It's been such a pleasure to work with the Red Hot Annie & the Vaudezilla team, and I can't wait to share more of our adventures with them!

xoxo,
erin

commission me this, commission me that.

so a little while back, my friend Linda approached me asked me if I would do two commissioned works for her, after seeing a new series of illustrations I had been working on over the winter/spring. She requested very specific pieces, unlike the normal illustrative work I do, and I was certainly down for the count. She's a pretty mystical gal, into all sorts of cultures and iconic imagery. Here are the pieces, I did for her office at home, the first of which being the Celtic Triquestra, in my illustrative style, the other of which being the Eyes of Horus, also in my personal style.

Here's how they turned out:






I was stoked to do pieces that were out of the norm for me, though the eyes of horus fit somewhat in with my previous fascination with ancient egyptian iconic symbolism, and it's a pleasure knowing that the pieces went to a loving and inspired home. Cheers, Linda!

xoxo,
erin

one random night in chicago...

... i, along with a few of my girlfriends and my cousin, were in an unconventional "beauty" pageant, of sorts. The pageant was entitled Miss Wicker Park, the neighborhood in Chicago where I once resided and currently work in, and was more or less a free for all consisting of boobs, beer, whiskey, a ton of glitter, sequins, big hair, big shoes, a headress and the most tambourines i've seen in one concentrated area in quite some time. Needless to say, the nine other girls and i had a freakin' blast.

A friend of mine who writes for the Chicago-Pipeline, was kind enough to snag a few photos and a short video clip of my burlesque act (Lindsey and I chose to perform our Little Egypt act, because it featured my performance a bit more in this case) for the "talent" portion, which you can view right here


applying our "game faces", while Lindsey acted as my stage mom for the night..the cute girl to my right ended up winning second runner up (woot woot!)



oh, hayyyyyyyyyyy!

and here was the 50s inspired gown I wore for the evening gown portion, with a little teaser.

this is my cousin, Penny, pastry chef extraordinaire..

and this is Jill, she's uh-mazinggg. And she took the crown with grace, style and PBR in hand! A-freakin'-men, Jill!


here's all ten of us at the end of the evening, after first runner up, Buffy in the teal gown, and second runner up, Brienna in the right hand corner, were announced, and Jill was given the official title...


oh ladies, what a fabulously bizarre evening!

xoxo