All weekend, it was pasties as far as the eye could see. (Photo by Hew Burney | SpyOnVegas.com)

It was hard to see the stage through all the peacock feathers.

The girls, you see, spared no detail, and that included elaborate headwear. Ghostbar at The Palms, though not open to the public Friday night, was the place to be if you’re the kind of guy who likes to be surrounded by droves of girls dressed to the nines and dying to disrobe. Hundreds of girls in evening gowns, corsets, fishnets and long gloves packed into the lounge to hear stories from the legends of burlesque as part of the Burlesque Hall of Fame/Miss Exotic World 2008 weekend.

This was a crowd fascinated by its own history. As one former great after another climbed on stage, the shrieks and cheers could have been for Jagger in ’72 as much as they were for 60-some-odd-year-old dancers.

Make no mistake: The veterans weren’t shy about dropping pearls of wisdom (“She said, ‘There’s only two things important in life. Sex and work.’ And I thought, OK. I can live by that.”) or about dropping their clothes. As elder stateswoman after elder stateswoman showed there was a little bump left in their grind, the crowd worked into a bigger and bigger frenzy, culminating in a show by Satan’s Angel aided by younger assistant Pyra Sutra that climaxed in a four-by-four frenzy of spinning, flaming tassels.

Pseudo-vaudeville revival act Doc (Who did his doctoral dissertation on burlesque at NYU) and Stumpy (a former Universal Studios employee) kept the variety show aspects of burlesque true to form with a well-received bawdy golf routine (Yes, it traded on balls-and-shaft puns).

“One of the things we’re trying to do is show comedy has a place in this burlesque scene,” Doc said.

Still, the girls in the crowd were focused on the girls on stage. Saturday night saw Miss Exotic World 2008 battle the wind — and state regulations preventing the girls from showing any underboob, much to everyone’s dismay — at The Palms pool.

After more than four hours of routines ranging from the funny (Clams Casino’s tennis tournament victory dance act) to the sultry (Amber Ray’s “Whatever Lola Wants” show) the showcase of the quaintly naughty ended in victory for New York’s Angie Pontani around 1 a.m., cutting into Tiger Army’s stage time. Which was all as well, because the trio came out flat despite a dedicated group of fans crowding the stage.

For the enthusiasts, like Holly Rebelle (real name Cari Cain), a classically trained dancer who runs a troupe of 10 girls in Albuquerque, N.M., the draw is a combination of sex, art a dash of dissatisfaction with modern life.

“I think burlesque is a combination of humor and dance and beautiful women, and I think that’s attractive to everybody,” she said. “I think it’s a very smart and witty performance and that’s attractive to a lot of people. A lot of the performances go much further than stripping. A lot of the girls use their creativity to appeal to something that’s a lot more than just taking their clothes off.”

By Jason Scavone

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