The Stars

THE CAST OF THE JUNE 28th SHOW:

ANGI B. LOVELY – (Dallas, TX)  hold the title of 2013 “Queen of Burlesque” from the annual New Orleans Burlesque Festival. She a founding member of the award-winning burlesque troupe, The Lollie Bombs, which won Best Troupe of the Year in 2008 at the Texas Burlesque Festival and Troupe of the Year in 20o9 at Hod Rods and Heels. Angi is a frequent guest headliner for Viva Dallas, and is a member of the burlesque company, The Ruby Revue. In addition to her titillating striptease, Angi B. Lovely is an accomplished aerial artist, having also performed in the Dallas Burlesque Festival, and Show-Me Burlesque Festival. She has been recognized many times for her art, having won Audience Choice and Best Soloist at the Texas Burlesque Festival in 2010.
VALENTINA – (San Diego, CA) This versatile, vivacious, vaudevillian vixen, Valentina dazzles audiences around the world with her unique vision of circus dance fusion. Sharing her magic in both performance and workshops is her passion and drive. Valentina is a second generation belly dancer who was raised in the Los Angeles underground art scene by her mother, Leela, a successful theatrical belly dance icon. Valentina now blends belly dance with hooping, fire, burlesque, snake charming and aerial Lyra. Her ability to seamlessly combine these dance forms gives her a provocative style unlike any other. She is the leader of The Hoop Unit, a hoop fabricator and an event producer.
ATHENA – Labeled “Goddess of the Bodice” by the New Orleans Times-Picayune, this headliner has been with Bustout Burlesque since early 2006. Athena is a New Orleans native, but gets her exotic good looks from her Greek heritage. This well-rounded entertainer sings and dances in the show, making her a favorite among audiences. She has appeared on MTV ’s My Super Sweet Sixteen, O Music Awards, MTV’s MADE, and HBO’s Treme. In 2o12 and 2013, Athena performed with Bustout Burlesque for the annual Viva Las Vegas Rockabilly Weekend at The Orleans Hotel & Casino. In 2013, she auditioned for the celebrity judges on American Idol, and received the golden ticket to Hollywood. Athena has performed three consecutive years in The New Orleans Burlesque Festival at Harrah’s New Orleans, and is currently in pre-production on her own high-energy song and dance revue.
PRALINE DUPREE is Bustout Burlesque’s creole southern beauty. Her infectious smile has audiences eating out her hand. Her 1950s poddle skirt routine starts out sweet and innocent, but wait ’til you see where it goes from there!
GOGO MCGREGOR has been traveling and performing all over the country for the past five years. She’s known nationally for her gorgeous feather fan dancing, as well as her death defying Bed of Nails act! She has toured the country with such acts as The 999 Eyes Freakshow & Sideshow (Austin), Beggars Carnivale (St. Louis), The Show Me Burlesque Tour, and her most recent project The VagaBandits (New Orleans). GoGo mixes the class of old Burlesque with the fun and excitement of the Circus & Sideshow. She’s won such awards as “Best Burlesque Performance” St. Louis 2010 River Front Times, was named champion of the national Shimmy Showdown 2010 and voted #32 in “Top 50 Burlesque Performers in the World” 2011 (21st Century Burlesque). Besides Burlesque and Sideshow, GoGo is also a stunning emcee, pin up model, Vaudevillian and seamstress.
NATHAN KEPNER & MORGAN TSU-RAUN of CRESCENT CIRCUS - The Crescent Circus fuses magic and a variety of circus arts into interactive shows to entertain audiences of all ages. With six international awards and nearly two decades of experience between Nathan and Morgan, the Crescent Circus is guaranteed to deliver you a world-class show.
DR. SICK is a man of many words, hats, talents, and names. Known far and wide as “FiddleKiller,” he is an accomplished multi-instrumentalist, playing violin (and all other strings), guitar, piano, drums, harmonica, brass, and homemade instruments, to name a few. All this, and a powerful baritone singer and comic song writer. He honed his theater skills while performing for 3 years in the Asylum Street Spankers (Austin, TX). He then took a new direction towards circus and burlesque, co-founding the Carousel Cabaret (Austin, TX) and traveling as musical director with the 999 EYES Freakshow. You can also see him performing around the U.S. with GoGo McGregor in their Circus/Vaudeville/SideShow/Burlesque duet, The VagaBandits.

THE BUSTOUT BURLESQUE JAZZ BAND
MATT BELL (bandleader/guitar) Following an ever-growing thirst for music, deep rooted and real, Matt Bell has found his place in New Orleans. A musician for 17 years, he harbors a fondness for collaborating with artists of different disciplines. Bell has participated musically in groups ranging from tribal belly dance to circus, to theater and cabaret. It is no surprise to find Matt now filling the musical chair of bandleader, guitarist, and arranger of the Bustout Burlesque jazz band.
MIKE JENNER (sax/clarinet) Saxophonist Michael Jenner was raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and has spent the last fourteen years in New Orleans. The hard bop of Pittsburgh and the street beats of New Orleans have been crucial to the development of his music. Jenner released his debut album “The Michael Jenner Group” in 2002 and holds degrees from Loyola University New Orleans and Middle Tennessee State University. Recent credits include Kermit Ruffin’s “Happy Talk,” on Basin Street Records and appearances with Frankie Valli, Eric Lindell, Renard Poche, and Leif Pedersen’s 1944 Big Band.
JIM THORNTON (trumpet) Born in Tupelo, Mississippi, Jim Thornton is a self-taught trumpet player. Having accepted the philosophical challenge that “good music should make a woman take off her clothes,” it is no wonder that his playing comprises a balance of sweet, disarming melodies and growls, grunts, flutter tongueing, and general plunger mute nastiness. Jim is owner of JGT Group, LLC which provides specialized legal support services to some of the nation’s best attorneys. As his parents often remind him, while Jim plays Burlesque, his brother sings in a church choir.
GREG SCHATZ (bass) is a multi instrumentalist who plays piano and accordion as well as electric & upright bass.  In addition to performing with a wide variety of New Orleans ensembles as a sideman he also writes and performs original music with his own band Schatzy. He has been playing with the Bustout Burleque Jazz Band since 2007.
DOC RICHARDS (drums) Doc Richards is a third generation New Orleanian, who has worked as a drummer since the 1960s. He’s played with Frankie Brent, Bobby Stevens, Freddy Palmisano, Rosario Purpura, Red Schroeder, Ronnie Cole, Bobby Cure, Bobby Lanero, and three Elvis impersonators!  Doc has been a favorite with the Jerry Christopher’s Big Easy Jazz Band for over 6 years. He has frequently been called upon to play with “Dr. Jazz” aka Russell Steele since 2006. Doc has been laying down the booms and crashes for Bustout Burlesque since the show was revived after Hurricane Katrina in early 2006. The Times-Picayune’s David Cuthbert proclaimed Doc Richards “beats those skins with a Gene Krupa-like intensity.”