PA Burlesque Festival and 24 hours in NYC

Road tripping, my first crossing over the Canadian/ US border, my first sighting of Niagra Falls, two nights of performing in a beautiful theatre for a rowdy crowd including five Aussies, an excellent workshop, a burlesque legend, an endless search for food and lovely, funny, genuine new friends.
Not a bad weekend then.

PA Burlesque Festival!

I often say that it's the community spirit that I enjoy most about Festivals, the performers I meet who blow me away with their creativity, demanding my unwavering attention, providing beauty, comedy and a unique interpretation to the paths we travel.

Two weeks into my move to Canada, I was stressing about transport to Pennsylvania. Bus or train would take hours, flying was impossibly expensive, when Madame Corsetiere informed me that Toronto local, Lucky Minx was driving to the Festival.
This turned out to be serendipitous for both of us as although shorter than the bus, it's still a long drive so Lucky knew that if she needed a rest I could take the wheel. I kept my concerns to myself, I'm not sure that I'd remember to stick to the right side of the road.
Happily Lucky didn't flag and we remained alert by sharing our life stories, to the amusement of Zeno, an Austrian, who was coming along for the ride.

James and the Giant Pasty was with us to cross the border, it sounds like the start of a bad joke or a border scam, an American, a Canadian, an Australian and an Austrian try to cross the border... Nevertheless we made it across with nary more than a short wait and a passport stamp.

The Mauch Chunk Opera House

Jim Thorpe has the facade of a charming tourist town, the buildings are beautiful, the locals are friendly but the prices are steep and the service in some of the shops lacked finesse but the town came out in force to support the Festival.
Medianoche's face was in every shopfront and the locals gave you a friendly nod when they saw the head scarves and pin curls.

Lucky and I arrived too late for our tech but had a quick walk of the stage which was large and grippy. We unloaded into Mary's guesthouse which was right across the street from the venue and met our third room mate, the very funny, very blonde, Ula Uberbusen from NYC.

Posing with Ula and Lucky on Saturday night

Lucky took a nap and I took to the streets, I say streets but Jim Thorpe is really just a main street which loops into High st both ending at the main road out of Jim Thorpe.
I first headed out across the bridge to the new part of Jim Thorpe where a supermarket had every bread and pastry conceivable except for a fresh bread stick or crossiant. 

I ended up purchasing a box of very small crossiants with ham and a couple of gluten free artisan bread sticks from the freezer.
I also needed a basket but was loathe to purchase something new, I tried a few shops and finished at Dreisbach House, a gorgeous house, the bottom floor devoted to vintage clothing, hats and knick knacks.
The owner Lisa who was sitting behind the counter surrounded by her beautiful hats ferreted out the basket for me and loaned it for the evening.

If I could fit that box in my luggage...

The front counter at Dreisbach House

So many hats!

Friday's show featured neo and comic acts and a smattering of classic.
Backstage after I finished getting ready I watched as Sizzle Dizzle transformed from fresh faced and youthful to a 70 something hilbilly grandma with a skunk fur.

Sizzle Dizzle and her skunk

Madame Corsetiere leads the way to Stella's on Friday night

Lucky and I called it an early night and left the after party dinner at Tony Stella's for bed, I was so exhausted that I dropped off quickly and woke up early the next morning ready for a coffee and to see the town's sites.
Lucky and I left Ula dozing in bed and went for a morning walk around the town. A local recommended we walk up to the High street street where we found pickles and gorgeous views of the town.

All about pickles

American flags dominate on High street

Attention to detail and bright colours

The church now houses an art gallery

Further up the main street we hit the fire house

Contrary to Australian Festivals, many US Festivals feature a Queens style competition. PA Burlesque Festival was no different and Saturday night was devoted to the Crystal Corset award.

Magdalena Fox backstage in her Dr Seuss costume

gratuitous selfie

The audience was packed and included some Aussie's who just happened to be in town. The top three acts were all classic numbers, the winner Poison Ivory was gorgeous in purple backstage, I didn't see her perform as we were both in the first set but heard great things, Nina La Valois who drove up that day threw a lot of backside into her classic and Rosie Cheex was clean and polished in red.

The after party was again at Stella's and after a pointless search for real food during the day (a $10 cos lettuce salad with greasy roast vegetables had made my stomach turn after the first tentative bite) I needed sleep.

On Sunday morning our happy band of room mates disbanded. Lucky hit the road early, making her way to Baltimore to meet James. I had one last coffee, sampled some mango sorbet from Alice's Ice Cream shoppe, made it to Ula's workshop and then joined Sizzle, Rosie Cheeks and Medianoche in Ula's car, back to NYC

Making a pit stop at a WaWa which according to Sizzle is AMAZING

So much jerky.

I blame Sizzle for the purchase, I blame myself for eating more than one.

We had a long drive back to New York City. Ula's stamina amazed me, I was exhausted after the weekend, but she dropped everyone off in the vicinity of their homes or subway stops, checked her emails, prepped hair and make up and then with the prepossessing Perle Noire in tow she packed the car and drove us to a gig in Brooklyn.

The bar was startlingly quiet and being one of only two people there for the show the producers decided to cancel what promised to be a fun show featuring the likes of Ula, Perle, Peekaboo Pointe and Gogo McGregor.

I was super disappointed as I wouldn't be there for Monday's show (the show was scheduled to have a three night run) I don't know if it's scary or reassuring that even in NYC, a city that never sleeps and beckons performers with dreams of endless gigs and patrons, even they can have a quiet night.

Sunset in the East Village

Vinnies pizza on Bedford

PIZZA. Gluten free, freshly made pizza!

We moved the car closer to Bedford and ended up at Vinnies Pizza where Perle proved that you can eat pizza like a lady and respond to advances like a lady- in the car ride from PA to NYC we'd had a fairly serious conversation about cat calls and more threatening advances from men.

We moved on to a cinema, I was flagging but my spirits rose when Ula suggested we see Get On Up which was incredible, moving and enlightening.

I was also the backseat audience to Ula and Perle's impromptu Madonnas lip synch but then so were all the passers by, one guy snuck to the back passenger window to try and ...lip synch video bomb?!

On Monday I was again on the move. I bumped my suitcase off Ula's bannister and rode the subway to 8th and 20th st where I stowed my suitcase at Chelsea International hostel.

I was feeling vitamin deprived so I indulged in a $9 juice from Organic Avenue on 8th avenue rationalised by the  $10 inedible salad in Jim Thorpe.

Overpriced but much needed juice!

fresh flowers at the Union Square farmer's market

I grabbed a gluten free blueberry and lemon muffin from the Union square farmer's market, spent some time shopping at Beacon's Closet on 13th street and Tatyana's on Bowery and picked up some souvenirs from the Strand. My plan was to get a book in anticipation of a 12 hour bus ride to Toronto but reading on vehicles makes me nauseous so I ignored the contemptuous glance that I received from the cashier when I brought magnets and postcards to the counter instead of making a purchase from one of the thousands of books the Strand stocks on their shelves.

Last sights of the City.

I've caught the Megabus from NYC once before in 2008. Back then, it was a single decker that departed from 34th and 8th. Now it leaves from 34th between 11th and 12th ave. I joined a long straggling line of confused people, the sign we were instructed to queue behind stated Philly as the destination and the confusion only grew when people bound for states further South joined but it was all sorted in the end and I snagged a seat at a table on the bottom floor which made me pretty happy.

On route to Megabus

Truck Stop, they all looked the same and housed a variety of chain shops including a Starbucks

We stopped three times at Onroutes, large identical buildings that house Starbucks, Taco Bells (or in Canada, Tim Hortons) the looked exactly the same and I had no idea where we were, we could have done one big loop for all I knew.

My travel companions were friendly although life became awkward when the family sitting across the aisle from me started smacking their very little children for being children. 

If you feed 5 year olds sugar, don't expect them to sit still or sleep, especially if they have nothing to entertain them except watch their parents use their mobile phones.

The second stop a few hours after I heard the news of Robin Williams death. Fly free Peter.

Thank you to Madame Corsetiere for showing me a tiny town that I'd never otherwise have seen, to Lucky Minx, Ula and Perle for their generosity and the other performers for dancing with their hearts.