The Occupy NOLA Party Is Over, But Not Without The Strippers
Okay, so the NOLA occupiers are out of Duncan Plaza with no extension to a temporary restraining order against the city that was issued to them last week by U.S. District Judge being granted yesterday.
They will now have to carry the party elsewhere and let’s be honest, that’s what this really was.
It was an opportunity for mostly 20-something drifters to let loose inhibitions, hang out with other hipsters and throw a big bash while patting themselves on the backs for taking a courageous stand against corporate greed and corruption.
It was a helluva scam and the strip show near the end was a master stroke.
That’s right, one of the last acts of the movement at Duncan Plaza was to gather to watch the movement of performers from burlesque troupe Reverend Spooky LeStrange and the Billion Dollar Baby Dolls.
Demonstrators didn’t seem to mind that the Billion Dollar Baby Dolls–how could they not be representatives of the hated “one-percent” with a name like that?–decided to occupy a stage constructed in the plaza that had mostly been used for Woody Guthrie wannabees to belt out poorly written folk songs.
These are open-minded, tolerant people, after all, who can appreciate the artistic value of girls in pasties, g-strings and Guy Fawkes masks swaying provocatively to Pink Floyd songs.
Even though I never supported the movement, I might have been able to find some artistic value in that, myself.
Like I have said from the start, this was all a big party and all parties have to eventually end. It’s over, but somewhere in that great Animal House in the sky a toga-draped Bluto Blutarsky is giving the NOLA occupiers a respectful tip of the garland.
Some occupiers have pledged to keep fighting for their right to party and return to Duncan Plaza, even if it means going to jail. Others, of course, have to be depressed that it’s all over.
In the spirit of John Belushi, I offer this video to lift their spirits and the hopes that they will continue the fight, at least until November 2012.
It’s not safe for work, but occupiers don’t work anyway:
Actually,honey,if you had bothered to educate yourself on the history of New Orleans or done any actual research before writing this “article”, you might not have turned out sounding like such an ignoramus.The “Billion Dollar Baby Dolls” name is derived from the “Million Dollar Baby Dolls” and is meant as a tribute to the hard road so many poor and working class women in this town had to endure to care for their families and themselves.The original “Million Dollar Baby Dolls” were the African American prostitutes of New Orleans’ Storyville District.These women did the best they could with what they were given at the time,facing untold hardships and all while keeping their heads up and their families fed.On Fat Tuesday,these women,who worked 365 days a year,would throw on whatever “finery” they could scrape together or make and would march on Fat Tuesday and try to make as much money as possible to pay their own way.The name is our way of not letting these women’s memories be erased from history, like Storyville was erased physically. As for the appropriateness of my “Billion Dollar Baby Dolls” Burlesque troupe performing for Occupy NOLA? The definition of burlesque is as follows: 1. an artistic composition, especially literary or dramatic, that, for the sake of laughter, vulgarizes lofty material or treats ordinary material with mock dignity.2. any ludicrous parody or grotesque caricature.3. Also, bur·lesk . a humorous and provocative stage show featuring slapstick humor, comic skits, bawdy songs, striptease acts, and a scantily clad female chorus. Dita Von Teese is extremely beautiful,but we are not her. Our shows stick close to the original roots. We poke fun at sexism, racism, politics, public figures. We do shows in support of women’s shelters, women’s health and opposing the banning of books. We have minds, we have opinions, we have voices and how dare you denigrate that because you have little to no understanding of our lives? We performed to boost the morale of those in the trenches, fighting the good fight against the encroaching darkness of greed and gluttony and selfishness. We performed to show our solidarity with our fellow man, with the down trodden & disenfranchised. At least Occupy is DOING something! They aren’t just bitching and whining about how they refuse to vote cuz everything sucks. They’re being proactive! And while I may not believe in “god”, I still say God Bless ‘em, because doing SOMETHING-no matter how ineffective, is ALWAYS better than doing NOTHING….. Rev. Spooky LeStrange of the Billion Dollar Baby Dolls
And by the way? The two times we performed for them? We did a “V for Vendetta” theme show and a “holiday” show using John Lennon’s “So, This Is Christmas (War is Over)”. Doesn’t really seem like a 1% kind of thing. Also, I am the founding member of the New Orleans chapter of “Billionaires For Wealthcare”. Look it up!
Poorly written article. Wonderful response, Angela.