We have been Censored but we will be doing an even racier show next week at Svelte!!
Come on out and see what we’ve put together for you

By Adrian Chamberlain, Times Colonist

Miss Rosie Bitts is seeing red.

The Victoria burlesque dancer, whose real name is Trinda Reed, says archaic provincial liquor laws have forced her to cancel her upcoming show Shimmy Town.

It was to be performed June 29 at Svelte Cocktail Lounge. The Langford bar’s advertisement for the show promised “jaw-dropping burlesque and swinging live music.”

However, Reed says an inspector from the B.C. Liquor Control and Licensing Branch who saw her posters indicated the performance would contravene provincial regulations.

Reed, 37, says her show is a “very tame” musical revue inspired by 1930s radio programs. There is no full nudity. She wears pasties and a G-string with “so much fringe, you can’t really see my bottom at all.”

Reed says the liquor branch took exception to the opening number, in which she dances and interacts with the audience, even though she would be fully clothed. She would be forbidden to touch other performers on stage, even in a non-sexual way, which is also part of Shimmy Town.

“Looking at the rules, I thought, I can’t actually do my show,” she said. “Literally, the most sexual thing that happens between me and the other guys in the show is a chaste kiss, no tongue – it’s very PG.”

Reed says liquor-branch rules are aimed at exotic dancers, not burlesque performers whose shows are playful and not overtly sexual.

“Hopefully, I can at least raise awareness and let people know that, even as adults, in adult locations, our entertainment is constantly under threat of being restricted or censored.”

A spokesman for the liquor branch said Reed’s performance would contravene rules that stipulate performers offering adult entertainment cannot touch audience members.

Reed previously ran afoul of liquor-control regulations last year when she attempted to stage an event called Naked Girls Reading at Fernwood’s George and Dragon restaurant. It was cancelled because of the possibility of minors entering the restaurant, she said.

Reed will put on a different performance June 29 at the Svelte Cocktail Lounge. Ironically, because liquor-board rules do not forbid full nudity, it will “be racier” than what was originally planned, she said.

“It will have a scene on censorship. So expect some Lenny Bruceesque [material]. We decided to make something sweet and sexy out of this situation,” she said.

This week, a Langford pub, Ma Miller’s, cancelled plans to introduce strippers after neighbours complained about the proposal.
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