Best Burlesque Troupe

For 30 years, Backstreet Atlanta was the city’s best-known all-hours nightclub. More than a gay disco, it was a landmark of Atlanta’s sanctified underbelly and a queer haven where the performing drag queens of Charlie Brown’s Cabaret reveled in giving straight patrons a reason to blush. Even before the city began its nightlife crackdown near the turn of the millennium, Backstreet served as an after-hours respite for late-night lurkers and off-the-clock bar workers after regular clubs stopped the music. But in 2004, the danceteria that never shut its doors did just that when sibling owners Vicki and Henry Vara ended their hard-fought legal battle against encroaching city legislators, stiffer liquor licensing laws, and a gentrifying Midtown constituency. Though the club at 845 Peachtree St. has been closed for eight years, Backstreet lives on as a symbolic reminder of the once-vibrant nightlife scene and celebrated subculture Atlanta lost in its rush to normalcy. less...

One of the most striking of this fair city’s cornucopia of comely burlesque queens is the delightful CALU. Whether she’s commanding attention as a member of local burlesque troupe the Doll Squad, shrieking in the horrible B-movie horror send-up Cheerleader Autopsy, slinging drinks and DJing at Smith’s Olde Bar, or just being herself, Calu’s mysterious beauty is awe-inspiring. Her deliciously tattooed body is truly a curvaceous canvas of colorful ink. But don’t stare too long because just like the sun, she’s brightly illuminating and dangerously combustible. Yeah, she knows you want her, but just look and don’t touch — because she’ll surely kick your punk ass.
www.dollsquad.com.

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