Sex and Violence

Lucha libre, or masked Mexican wrestling, started in the 1930s, and it's a given that every American generation will discover the sport and add its own artistic spin. But Los Angeles' long-running Lucha VaVoom doesn’t spin anything, because Lucha VaVoom is Mexican wrestling, the real deal, with authentic Mexican wrestlers, or luchadores, sometimes very little ones, with names like Chilango, Toro Rojo, Cassandro, Dirty Sanchez, and the Crazy Chickens. All well and good -- everybody loves lucha libre, especially when it takes place in a club (tonight that's the Fillmore). But when the question of ring girls came up, organizers did not just shout "strippers!" and be done with it. They looked to L.A.'s burlesque performers, primarily those who ended routines wearing little more than nipple tassels and maybe a hat, and gave them the stage between matches, creating a sensation that has packed that city's historic Mayan Theatre for the past six years. They also threw in a comedian or two. Tonight’s show, part of VaVoom’s first-ever West Coast “Summer-Nacionales” tour, is the 18th event the group has staged. Highlights include a main event with three teams -- Team USA, Team Mexico, and Team Gay Pride -- along with the burlesque of Michelle L'Amour, Lucy Fur, and Lola La Cereza, as well as trapeze vixens The Wau Wau Sisters. Funnymen Dana Gould and Tom Kenny, the voice of SpongeBob, provide the color commentary ringside.
Sun., June 29, 8 p.m., 2008