Ring in new year with burlesque in city’s newest gay bar

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 31/12/2010 (5382 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Best OF BURLESQUE: Staffers at the new gay nightclub Fame are running with ladders, as we speak. They’re transforming the large club into a burlesque palace for their Best of Burlesque New Year’s Eve soiree tonight. Senior GM Bev Claeys says the club will be “bathed in red light, with lots of black satin and ostrich feathers.” The dazzling feature act is Miss Angela La Muse, known for her giant powder puff act, flying tassels and snake dances. Drag queen acts Jynx and Breyanna Burlesque are on board, plus choreographed dancers between the acts. Bar staff are dressing in costume styles from old burlesque halls — bowler hats and 1920s getups for men, sparkling corsets and stockings for women. For $20 at the door, there’s hors d’oeuvres by chef Rob Thomas, champagne, party hats and favours, 9 p.m.-3 a.m. Claeys says: “People from San Francisco, Ottawa, Miami and Beijing have been into the club in the last few weeks and we’ve been told this club is nicer than any gay bar they’ve seen in places like Toronto or Miami.”

— — —

THREE WOMEN WALKED INTO A BAR: As part of a casual girls’ night out, country singer Stacey Terry, award-winning fiddler Patti Lamoureux and Prairie folksinger Emma Cloney, waltzed in the door of the Bella Vista acoustic jam Wednesday after Big Dave McLean had just finished a surprise guest spot. The three women blew the house down, one after the other. Country singer Terry, of the Old No. 3 band, took the stage alone — barely bigger than her guitar — her melodic booming voice hitting the back wall. Lamoureux, the three-time grandmaster Canadian fiddling champion who just moved back to Manitoba and has 50 fiddling students already, joined her onstage. The duo played a thundering Orange Blossom Special with lifelike train whistle sounds from the fiddler’s instrument. Not to be outdone, Cloney strutted up to the stage, guitar in hand, and let fly with her soaring country/Celtic voice. Oh, the amazing music scene in Winnipeg, for the price of a drink!

Cloney’s first CD is being released nationally in the new year. Meanwhile she’s waiting to hear back from all the great folk festivals. “It’s always been my dream to play the Winnipeg Folk Festival — ever since I was four. I found that was the happiest place to be on Earth. Once I play that festival, I can die.” Cloney is a U of M nursing student with two children who lives on a farm and commutes to the big smoke for school and gigs. No stopping her!

— — —

NO ONE LEFT BEHIND: Silver Heights Restaurant and Bar, the big neighbourhood hangout owned by the Siwicki family, escorts every single patron home for free, tonight only. “We hire drivers to go north, south, east and west and get everybody home safely,” says J.C. Siwicki. No waiting for taxis! “Most people start leaving around 1 a.m. but we’re still open until 3 a.m. that night.” What’s up for them? “We’ve got special dinners on the menu in the dining room and the Roadhouse Band is playing the bar. They always pack the house!” says Siwicki.

— — —

KENNY SHIELDS AND STREETHEART AT SILVERADOS: Not a teenager? Looking for a place with an award-winning band playing live classic rock tonight? Kenny Shields and Streetheart are playing Silverados tonight at the Canad Inns Garden City, 2100 McPhillips St. It’s 6 p.m. and $75, for a steak and lobster dinner, late-night lunch and priority seating, but just $40 for the concert (doors open at 8 p.m.) with party favours and late lunch. Streetheart has six gold albums to its credit with hits like their ultra-sexy dance cover of the Stones’ Under My Thumb. The crowd will be a mix of old rockers and young — no rap music in this room.

Got tips, events, sightings, unusual things going on? Email maureen.scurfield@winnipegfreepress.com or send mail to the Insider

c/o The Winnipeg Free Press at 1355 Mountain Ave. Winnipeg R2X 3B6