La Lola Salon - Woodford FolkFestival

Tue 8th Jan, 2008 in Gig Reviews

La Lola Salon had two shows at the Woodford Folk Festival this year – Once Upon a Teese and Easy Like Sunday Morning featuring a mixture
live music, burlesque and comedy with some of the best Burly Q performers in Australia including Lola the Vamp, Belly Dance Sensation Nadine Elyssa, Parisian Back Alley Burlesque Star Miss Kitty Conquest, La Viola Vixen & Mina Von Teese as the Zombie Twins, which really was a scream at 9.30 in the morning!

This is a great burlesque troupe. All graduates, students & teachers from La Lola Salon Burlesque classes. Starting the show with Beula Blue the opera parody queen armed only with a keyboard and a piano accordion- the instrument they give you in Hell. She is amazingly talented and very funny. She played for half an hour before giving way to the sensual and provocative Bridgette the Balloon Girl, whose bra accidentally floated out of the venue into an unsuspecting Woodford crowd.

Lola the Vamp performed an astounding burlesque routine. So elegant and stylish, she has such amazing stage presence! Combining ballet with the best of European Burlesque. Arriving in an Amsterdam chair and looking like she had emerged from Carnevale did Venezia, complete with the vintage hat… she was breath taking!

Miss Kitty Conquest provided a comical tribute to Gyspsy Rose Lee with La Lola Salon, supported by Beula Blue. Then comedy at the Duck & Shovel Extravaganza with Mandy Nolan, Peter Grose, Greg Sullivan, Alan Glover & S.Sorrenson. These guys have been performing comedy for twenty years and teach comedy workshops daily at Woodford. Comedian Akmel Saleh from “Thank God You’re Here” also made a much later guest appearence, after claiming to have spent eight hours in Caboolture, then getting a speeding fine on the way to the gig!

They delivered a quick-witted, incisive, topical & above all funny show, with just a bit of spicy burlesque. To a very appreciative crowd, when Miss Kitty had trouble with music the audience started making their own, one guy lept out of the crowd and started playing “The Entertainer” on a keyboard. I have never seen such an enthusiastic response to a live comedy gig! The best part about the Woodford Folk Festival is that almost everyone there is a musician and quite happy to share thier knowledge and craft !