Audra is a writer, editor, actor, & filmmaker with an MFA from Mills College. She is the co-writer/director of the short film Souls of Splendor, which is about gay comic book fans in San Francisco. Audra is also known as Odessa Lil: Mistress of Ceremonies. Ever since she ran SpeakEasily, the first-ever weekly neo-burlesque show in Oakland back in 2004, Odessa Lil has been whipping audiences into shape all around the Bay. Catch her burlesque talk show SPEAKEASILY on YouTube!
I am so honored to announce that I'm Ms. Noir City 2013!
Don't believe me? Don't make me take out my wrench!
As a long-time fan of the genre and lover of the Noir City film festival, it's a dream come true really. Plus, working with monster talents Eddie Muller, Bill Selby, and David Allen to create this poster was an amazing experience. Not only did I get to go "behind the curtain" of the Alameda Naval Air Station's old theater (now Michaan's Auctions screening room) and hang around one of the oldest functioning projectors in the Bay Area, but I learned quite a bit about lighting, posing, and staging from these three masters.
Consistently, year after year, the Noir City posters are viscerally compelling; they grab you by the guts and sell you on the seamy shadow world we long to escape to. These posters manage to sum up what we love to characterize about the genre, all at once in one astonishing moment. Danger, sex, sweat, escapism, oblivion, Death. We got it. You want suspense? Look at what's about to happen to Eddie's glasses in that poster!
But the honor doesn't stop there. This year's festival line-up, released at last night's Noir City Xmas event, is full of iconic classics, rarities, and surprises (HELLO! 3-D NOIR!) that makes me think this year's festival is the best yet. Listen to me...I'm holding a huge wrench.
Happy holidays and all that junk!
Odessa Lil has a lot going on in December. If you are looking for something to do this month, you came to the right place!
12/11: Bombshell Betty's Everyday Bombshell Scholarship Fund Benefit Show
TUESDAY, December 11th
Doors @ 9:00PM, Show @ 9:30PM
Elbo Room
647 Valencia St in SF
21+ w/ valid ID
Celebrate the Holidays with the Burlesqueteers! It’s nice to be naughty and our performers will warm you up for the Winter with their acts of talent, beauty, and sensuality. Santa would approve! You will also be supporting the Everyday Bombshell™ Scholarship Fund.
HOSTED BY: Odessa Lil, your *thwack!* Mistress of Ceremonies!
Featuring burlesque performances by:
Bombshell Betty! Bella D! Belle Phenomene! Cleo Torres! Dolly Dior! Jayne Minx! Red Delicious! Ruby Cosmic! Savage Rose! Sindee Rose! Trixie Fou Laurant! Valhalla Voom! Violet Streak! Yve Jobs!
$10 - General admission
$35 - Table for two (includes general admission)
12/21: Diva or Die Burlesque
Friday, December 21st
9pm
The Exit Theatre
156 Eddy Street
December is just around the corner! Already tired of the holiday season, Christmas decorations, and shopping? Well, plan ahead and get your tickets to the next DIVA or Die Burlesque! Also, the show is at the end of the Mayan calendar, so, please come join us for our special end of the show ritual to hold off the end of the world until the next millenium!
Get your tickets now for this amazing show at the wonderful Exit Theatre, before you miss out!!
Our show features the one and only Odessa Lil as MC!
Our talented and beautiful performers include:
Tasty Temptress! Elyse Elaine! Dangerous Delilah! Sgt. Die Weiss! Rosey Booticelli! Laura Borealis! IfNWhendy! Red Velvet! Red Delicious! CoCo Jewelle! and more!!
Come strip away your inhibitions in this intimate little theater!
Watch our special Halloween episode of Speakeasily in which we delve into psychics, serial killers, channeling the dead, and the backwoods of Pacifica! Scary sexy! With The Indra, Raya Light, Dorian Faust, and SAssyhot Buns!
Guests Masquerotica's Scott Levkoff, Red Velvet, IfNWhendy, and Trixie Fou Laurant talk about the burning issues of our time: shoe fetishists, pubic hair, prop comedy, and puppets:
Check out the first episode of SPEAKEASILY, the Bay Area's Burlesque Talk Show, with Odessa Lil, your Mistress of Ceremonies (that's me!).
My guests were Casey Castille, Comrade Tang, and Lady Satan and they were fabulous! We talked about bad burlesque names, the '90s, Shelley Duvall's teeth and so much more.
Odessa Lil, your Mistress of Ceremonies, brings you behind the curtain so you can get up close and personal with the Bay Area’s most provocative burlesque, variety, and drag performers. She uncovers everything you want to know about the glitz and glam but are afraid to ask…and you never know what will be revealed!
STARTS OCTOBER 4th on TradioV!
Watch it streaming live at 5pm on TradioV with our special guests Lady Satan, Comrade Tang, and Casey Castille! http://tradiov.com/sf
Tuesday, September 11th: All Kinds of Sexy™ Burlesque Benefit Show at the Elbo Room!
Enjoy and evening of naughty bedtime stories and nighty-night burlesue, pillow fights and sleepover shenanigans BURLESQUETEER STYLE! This show will knock your socks off, AND it is a benefit for BOMBSHELL BETTY'S Everyday Bombshell™ Scholarship Fund.
HOSTED BY ODESSA LIL, Mistress of Ceremonies
With performances by:
- Bombshell Betty!
- Belle Phenomene!
- Candy Pie!
- Chardonnay Sweet!
- Cleo Torres!
- Coco Jewelle!
- If-N-Whendy!
- Lily Shagswell!
- Lolita LaBella!
- Red Velvet!
- Savage Rose!
- Sindee Rose!
- Scarlett Black!
- Tawdri Mynx!
- Trixie Fou Laurant!
- and MORE!
SPECIAL APPEARANCE by:
Lynn Ruth Miller, The Stripping Granny!
Including graduates from Burlesquercise!® classes, including:
INTRO TO BURLESQUERCISE®, INTENSIVE I, BURLESQUE INTENSIVE II, CARDIO CAN-CAN WITH RED VELVET, SHOWGIRL CHORUS
Sunday, September 16th: Odessa Lil and MicroDisco host the 2012 FRINGE FESTIVAL CLOSING PARTY!
Only for Fringe Fest participants!
Friday, September 28th:
DIVA OR DIE BURLESQUE
Come out and see DIVA or Die Burlesque's new show!
Featuring the MC Odessa Lil
With performances by:
IfnWhendy Darling, Red-Velvet Dancer, Bunny Von Tail, Erzulie Rose, Pretty Pretty Please, and special appearance from the Bohemian Brethren!
Come strip away your inhibitions in this intimate theater!
Right now, there's only 15 seats left! OCTOBER YOU SAY?
Why yes...there's a shit-ton of fun that month too!
Monday, October 22nd: FISHNET FOLLIES at the UPTOWN in Oakland!
October 19th - 31st:
HALLOWEEN -- THE BALLAD OF MICHELLE MYERS
Yep, Odessa Lil's alter ego Audra Wolfmann will once again take the stage as Mrs. Skerritt!
This fall we answer the age-old question: What happens when you mashup your favorite slasher movies with the scariest television show of all time...The Facts of Life!
San Francisco's original horror musical, HALLOWEEN: The Ballad of Michele Myers!, returns for a second murder spree:
“Mrs. Skerritt chaperons 4 school ‘girls’ up to the lake for a fun-filled Halloween dance over at the boys’ camp. But someone also invited crazed tranny killer Michele Myers to crash the party! Watch her slash through her victims to a disco beat! Dos-i-do and try to evade her bloody gaze! Rock out with your cock out and it just might get snipped! Shriek in horror at her unmasking! Freddy, Jason, and Michael scared your breathless…now it’s HER TURN!”
CounterPulse
1310 Mission Street
San Francisco, CA 94103 (at 9th Street in SoMa)
Calling all Al Heads! It's time to bust out the checkered Vans and don the aloha shirts for what could possibly be the first ever all Weird Al-themed burlesque show. Seems overdue, right? Well, finally Mr. Yankovic is getting his due on Monday, August 13th at Oakland's Uptown as The Hubba Hubba Revue and Pickles Kintaro present The Al-Stravaganza!
It doesn't matter if you are a "My Bologna" purist or just "White and Nerdy;" the hits will be dropping as fast as the clothes at this burlesque bonanza. And make sure you dress for success to enter the Weird Al look-a-like contest! Can you believe that you get all this quality entertainment for just $5! Cheap!
Hosted By Weird Kingfish & Weird "Kevin" Hancock With: Honey Lawless,Pickles Kintaro, Lady Satan, Odessa Lil, Lola Martinet, Pearl E. Gates, Mistress Marla Spanks, and JD Limelight.
Doors 9PM -- Show 10:15PM 21 & Up w/ID
THE UPTOWN CLUB 1928 Telegraph Ave, Oakland (just 1 block from 19th Street BART!)
Here are some of Al's finest moments in no particular order, so says the Amoeblog!
7.31.2012
Odessa Lil & Cerebreau.
Hubba Hubba Revue, 7.19.12.
Mike Lloyd (www.shutterstopphotography.com)
Odessa Lil to MC
DIVA OR DIE BURLESQUE
August 10th!
Come out and see DIVA or Die Burlesque’s new show!
Featuring:
Mistress of Ceremonies Odessa Lil
IfnWhendy Darling
Red-Velvet Dancer
Laika Fox
Cherry Chapstick
Cheeky Sweets
Ada Lavender
Vadge of Honor
and Pretty Pretty Please!
Come strip away your inhibitions in this intimate theater!
Get your tickets in advance at: http://www.theexit.org/divafest/tickets/
This little theater sells out fast! Buy your tickets early so you don’t miss out!
7.12.2012
Odessa Lil to MC:
DIVA OR DIE BURLESQUE
Friday, July 20th The Exit Theatre (156 Eddy Street, San Francisco, CA)
Come out and see DIVA or Die Burlesque's new show!
Featuring:
Mistress of Ceremonies Odessa Lil
IfnWhendy Darling
Red-Velvet Dancer
Laura Borealis
Lezzie Mcfagerson
Tasty Temptress!
Come strip away your inhibitions in this intimate theater!
This little theater sells out fast! Buy your tickets early so you don't miss out!
7.03.2012
ODESSA LIL TO MC MONDAY, July 9th : Hubba Hubba welcomes Mynx d'Meanor & her FISHNET FOLLIES CLASSIC BURLESQUE REVUE! Come see this stellar showcase of sultry, sassy students from Fishnet Follies' own Academy of Tease!
Comrad Tang! Jet Noir! Velvet Nyx! Sweet Belize! The Fishnet Follies Chorus Girls! and the creator of Fishnet Follies, MYNX d'MEANOR! with special guest MISTRESS (*thwak!*) of Ceremonies, ODESSA LIL!
All for just *FIVE BUCKS!* Doors 9PM -- Show 10:15PM 21+
THE UPTOWN CLUB 1928 Telegraph Ave, Oakland (just 1 block from 19th Street BART!)
6.19.2012
Odessa Lil to MC BAXTALO DROM: Friday, June 22nd!
Baxtalo Drom Friday June 22, 2012 Amnesia Music Hall 853 Valencia st, SF 9pm - 2am $10
Join us at the campfire this month and bring your jug of moonshine... We're celebrating summer in the city with a jug band, hand made instruments, and lovely ladies. Come on down to the Amnesia Music Hall for Baxtalo Drom, San Francisco's cozy night of vaudevillian entertainment inspired by all things Balkan and bein' on the road...
Shaking the floor boards loose....
THE CRUX A carnival plague brining you old new songs wandering in from a tradition of highways, aching over tongues and strings with enlightenment letters and convict soup! http://www.thecruxmusic.com/ facebook.com/The.Crux.Music
SHOVELMAN A junk-yard beatnik, a shovel guitar wielding surrealist folk superhero! shovelman.com
Come early, and stay late! Dress tight and get loose. And try your luck at the Lucky Road Show... where fortunes and told and made!
6.05.2012
Photos of Odessa Lil from DivaFest 2012, by RJ Johnson!
5.13.2012
Odessa Lil to MC...
DIVA or Die Burlesque
Friday, May 18th!
Exit Cafe
156 Eddy Street San Francisco, CA 94102
Modern burlesque featuring Mistress of Ceremonies Odessa Lil with If-N-Whendy, Red Velvet, Lolly Gagger, Pearl E. Gates, Laura Borealis, Lezzie McFaggerson, Cherry Chapstick, Cheeky Sweets, and Tornado Supertrouble. Part of DIVAfest 2012, a festival dedicated to work by women artists.
Photo: Paul Pratt
Makeup Artist: Melanie Paulina
Help/Advice/Direction/Equipment: Rob
4.28.2012
MOHOLY GROUND MAGAZINE ANNOUNCES THE RELEASE OF ISSUE 4 & RELEASE PARTY
Photography journal Moholy
Ground Magazine celebrates their 4th issue with a release party at Photobooth in San Francisco on Saturday, May 19th!
The Moholy Ground Project,
Inc. is proud to announce that on May 19,
2012, they will release the forth issue of Moholy Ground Magazine, a journal of photography that creates
unique opportunities for artists from the San Francisco Bay Area to gain exposure,
experience, and present significant new work in a stunning print format. Issue
4 features the photography of Nicholas Albrecht along with Todd Sanchioni, Jaime
Beechum, Ryan Chard Smith, Mike Narciso, Jeff McElroy, and Scott
Finsthwait.
The
Moholy Ground Project will celebrate the release the fourth issue with a FREE reception
on May 19th from 6pm – 11pm
at San Francisco’s most happening photo studio and supply shop, Photobooth, located in the heart of the
Mission! Issues of Moholy Ground Magazine will be available for purchase while you sip wine and
peruse the work of the magazine’s featured photographers. Musical guests for
the night include Matt Pankuch and Meridians, as well as DJs Boom Bostic and Gabuchan.
More about Moholy Ground Magazine:
Committed to stimulating
critical discourse as well as documenting and fostering connections within the
contemporary arts, Moholy Ground Magazine features the work of emerging
photographers along with informative essays, interviews, and articles. The
journal focuses on photography designed to explore the contemporary
possibilities of the medium while publishing compelling and authentic images
about the people and places in the Bay Area.
Issue 1 of Moholy Ground
Magazine hit the stands in May of 2010 and features the work of Gabriel
Wheeler, Leo Docuyanan, Amal Mongia, and John Coyne.
Issue 2 launched in January
of 2011 with a 10-day exhibit at Root Division in San Francisco where work was
displayed from the issue’s featured photographers Trevor Traynor, Unnikrishnan
Raveendranathan, Josie Ramondetta, Scott Walker, Scott MacDonald, and Richard
H. Hart.
Issue 3 showcases the
photography of Troy “Lost America” Paiva, Sonia Savio, Austin McManus, Travis
Jensen, and Michael Shindler and coincided with a spectacular week-long show of
the featured photographers at Photobooth.
San Francisco’s Westerfeld Mansion or the “Russian Embassy.”
HOUSE OF LEGENDS
A Documentary About a Legendary San Francisco Mansion, 123 Years in the Making.
Some know San Francisco’s Westerfeld Mansion as the “Russian Embassy,” the site of an infamous brothel run by Czarist Russians in the 1920s. Some know it as a ramshackle boarding house for Fillmore district jazz performers of the 1950s. Most remember it as the magical crash pad of 1960’s counterculture luminaries that inspired Tom Wolfe, Janis Joplin, Ken Kesey, Anton LaVey, Bobby Beausoleil, and Kenneth Anger alike to fly their freak flag from the turrets of this Victorian palace.
F is for Fake Pictures brings you House of Legends, a feature-length documentary directed by Mat Dara that explores the making of a legend by investigating the history and the myths behind San Francisco's Historical Landmark #135. 123 years in the making, the old Westerfeld Mansion has a brilliant story to tell through many of its famous, infamous, and colorful inhabitants and visitors over the past 12 generations.
House of Legends features interviews with former tenants, visitors, and experts such as Fayette Hauser (photographer and original member/costumer of gender-bending 1960’s troupe The Cockettes), Charles Fracchia (San Francisco Historian and co-founder of Rolling Stone Magazine), John Handy (Grammy-nominated jazz legend of the Fillmore), current owner James Siegel, and so many more!
House of Legends is currently in production and is the only film to date that focuses on this historic mansion. House of Legends is currently raising production funds and needs your help to reach completion. Please visit our Indiegogo Campaign at http://www.houseoflegendsmovie.com/ to be part of the unique project.
This is an opportunity to connect with and preserve a cultural landmark by making a financial pledge that will directly contribute to immortalizing one of San Francisco's most fabulous landmarks. Fundraising ends May 2nd, so please visit http://www.houseoflegendsmovie.com/ today!
3.24.2012
HOW TO DANCE GOTH
I am happy to have been part of this educational video...
Made & conceived by the amazing Lara Miranda, Joyce Tang, and Jim Kingfish Sweeney (starring Balla Fiya, Mynx d'Meanor, DJ Fact50, and ME) and lit by one Brett Stillo, this video debuted at Hubba Hubba Revue's Goth Show, March 22nd, 2012 at the DNA Lounge.
It was also the day that I unilaterally decided was DRACULA DAY (#DraculaDay, HA!) and terrorized everyone in internet land with these words of wisdom...
If at first you don't succeed...it means Dracula has.
An apple a day...is useless against Dracula.
A bird in the hand...is one Dracula will eat.
A Penny saved...is one Dracula will take.
Be it ever so humble...there's no place you can hide from Dracula.
Two wrongs don't make a right...they make Dracula.
You can lead a horse to water...but you can't hide from Dracula.
Early to bed early to rise...and you'll totally miss Dracula.
You can't get blood from a stone...but Dracula can get stoned from blood.
If the shoe fits...run Dracula's after you.
The pen is mightier than the sword...but it still won't stop Dracula.
Life is just a bowl of cherries. Dracula has no use for cherries.
If life gives you lemons...make lemonade because you need something to drink while you're hiding from Dracula.
A wise man once said...stay the fuck away from Dracula.
Every dog has its day. Dracula can turn into a wolf. Take that dogs.
Curiosity killed the cat...Dracula killed my whole village.
3.02.2012
Tuesday, March 13, 2012 10:00pm - 1:30am
Yoshi's San Francisco
1330 Fillmore St.
FREE!
Full Info HERE!
Reply on Facebook HERE!
Yoshi's San Francisco is hosting a multi-media extravaganza of talented Bay Area artists. These cutting-edge artists will have their fresh work on display and some for sale. It is FREE to the public with proper DJs and drink specials to boot.