It's Her World

FRI-SUN 9/30-10/2

Four years ago, New Orleans-based burlesque queen Alison Fensterstock joined forces with retro-hip San Francisco promoter Baby Doe and created Tease-O-Rama, a three-day festival of workshops and performances celebrating the coy art of burlesque. This year, the tradition continues with two evenings of tassel-twirling from the über-glamorous pinups who've ushered their art into a new age of coquettish political-speak and hippodrome feats. Tease-O-Rama 2005 presents more than 200 tantalizing performers, from vintage strippers to shimmying chanteuses, and MC Kitten on the Keys plays the ukulele and accordion between naughty quips. While performance troupe Kitty Kitty Bang Bang blends circus antics with cancan panache, neo-burlesque legend Dirty Martini enchants with her socially conscious "Balloon Striptease" -- beloved local Roky Roulette even makes an appearance.

The event includes evening performances and daytime convention activities, as well as a "Sunday Movie Gala Party" at the Victoria Theatre (once a burlesque house, don't you know?) where you can enjoy vintage reels and a live appearance by the SuicideGirls. The performances are Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. at Bimbo's 365 Club, 1025 Columbus (at Chestnut), S.F. Admission is $35-100; call 474-0365 or visit www.teaseorama.com for more info.
-- Nirmala Nataraj

M. Veronica
Klaus makes her case

SUN-TUES 10/2-4

The story goes a little something like this: Young boy grows up in stale small town smack-dab in the Midwest, realizes he prefers to suck cock rather than neck with slutty cheerleaders, and finally escapes to fabled San Francisco. You've heard it before, I'm sure, but not by gender-bent vocalist Veronica Klaus. An award-winning jazz and R&B singer, she finally brings her autobiographical cabaret Family Jewels: The Making of Veronica Klaus back to the stage. Using story and song (both original tunes and well-loved classics) she details her trajectory from a wee lad struggling in a strange land that's neither California nor New York to crashing onto our city streets like a cool flash of lightning. Pedestrian storytelling this is not, and to say Klaus' tale is unique would be a tragic understatement. The curtain goes up at 7 and 10 p.m. on Sunday, and at 8 p.m. Monday and Tuesday, at Theatre Rhinoceros, 2926 16th St. (at South Van Ness), S.F. Admission is $25; call 861-5079 or visit www.therhino.org.
-- Brock Keeliing

Getting Looped
The voice squad

SAT 10/1

When I introduced a musician friend to the work of Ella Fitzgerald, he was agog: "She's using her voice like an instrument! She's taking solos!" He was young. But it makes me think of the way Robin Coomer, aka Ruby Iron, uses her pipes; far from taking a pretty voice for granted, she's learned how to play it. In her band Loop! Station, she and cellist Sam Bass sample, record, and play back their riffs while onstage, a neat trick that shows off a serious love of craft. Loop! Station opens for the Eric McFadden Trio at 10 p.m. at the Elbo Room, 647 Valencia (at 18th Street), S.F. Admission is $8-10; call 552-7788 or visit www.elbo.com.
-- Hiya Swanhuyser

Drum Machine

FRI 9/30

After hammering the skins with Herbie Hancock in the early '70s, Mike Clark became a jazz-funk drumming legend, as well as the premier go-to guy for artists looking to rip drum samples. Although he frequently shares the stage with modern talents, tonight his band, the Mike Clark & Reuben Wilson "Funk Project," brings back '70s stars, starting at 9:30 at the Boom Boom Room, 1601 Fillmore (at Geary), S.F. Admission is $20; call 673-8000 or visit www.boomboomblues.com.
-- Michael Leaverton