Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice

Sugar Shack Burlesque delivered another delicious dose of naughty and nice on Saturday night at their favorite Carroll Gardens sweet spot.

is a hidden Brooklyn gem situated literally on the edge of Brooklyn atop the Battery Tunnel Toll Booths, where classic stringed instruments of all sorts stud the paneled walls. Saturday's event was a celebration of the three-year music and adult entertainment collaboration between the band Peculiar Gentlemen and New York City's Ne0-Burlesque scene queen Runaround Sue.

Founded in 2005 by Runaround Sue and friend Lady Satan, who now runs Sugar Shack San Francisco, the Sugar Shack Burlesque troupe performs regularly around the eastern seaboard and has performed as far south as Miami and even across the pond in London.

The idea behind the troupe, according to Sue, was simple.

"Every time we went to see shows we loved to dance," she says, "so we started a burlesque dance party."

On Saturday, Sue is joined by Legs Malone and Fem Appeal. As the ladies scramble to get all done up for the show before the doors open, Jalopy owner Geoff Wiley is playing some tunes on an old banjo while his wife and co-owner Lynette Wiley, along with manager Dorina Favela, are doing some final preparation nearby at the café counter.

Old ragtime jazz is coming out of the speakers in the main room, and stirs the imagination; there are no fuzzy black electronic speakers at work like inside a modern day music venue, there is only a phonograph in the corner of a bedroom. There are golden etched ceilings in an old Victorian home sometime during the turn of the century. The music fills the space before and between the performances.

It's freezing, and attendees are pouring in, shivering, muttering about the cold, beckoned by the red lights and rustic interior of The Jalopy, but fueled with anticipation of a fun-filled night ahead.

Around 9 pm, a crowd made up mostly of young women, but ranging in age from mid-twenties to fifties, begins to fill the benches. A few large groups are present, and about as many couples. The tardier folks, remaining standing, fill the space in the back as the church-pew like benches facing the stage are filled up. They'll have to watch the show standing up -- but no one's complaining. They're just glad to be out of the cold, and looking forward to a night of steamy, sexy fun.

Runaround Sue takes the mic and delivers an opening dialogue peppered with witty bits of humor. With her high pitched voice and Bettie Page-like sugary-meets-spicy allure, she immediately wins the crowd over with a charming combination of sultry sex appeal and rosy cheeked sweetness.

Sue introduces the first performer, the appropriately named "Legs" Malone, also known as "the girl with the 34 and a half inseam." Legs kicks things off, literally, after which the feisty Fem Appeal takes the stage adorned in animal print and wielding a plastic knife. She performs a humorous combination of mock animal sacrifice and striptease, drawing laughter and hoots from the crowd.

She's followed by Runaround Sue, who appears holding two giant blue plumes, and delivers a visually stunning, flowing and colorful performance, closing the first half of the burlesque section of the show.

Legs Malone reappears, holding a bag of Hershey's Kisses, to introduce Peculiar Gentlemen. She seductively asks if there are any "talented linguists" among the audience members. With a promise of "kisses," she brings up a volunteer for a tongue-twisting challenge; repeat the phrase "seventy-seven benevolent elephants" five times fast.

Peculiar Gentlemen then take the stage and play the first of two sets. Dedicating it to the late Captain Beefheart, the Gentlemen deliver a fresh, eclectic blend of soul, gospel, lounge and alternative rock in their roughly twenty-five minute set.

The Gentlemen wrap it up, and the girls once again take the stage for what will be their final performance of the night.

Backed by an original piece by Peculiar Gentlemen keyboardist E-Beats on the piano, Runaround Sue performs a sensual, dramatic dance in a strappy brown dress. Legs Malone reappears in a black and white checkered dress and cleverly works a scenario with a genie into her final striptease, and as she undresses, a genie grants her three wishes, one of them being a pile of money, which she pulls out of her dress in mock surprise. Fem Appeal again spices things up in costume, this time appearing as Jules from Pulp Fiction, eating a cheeseburger and simultaneously stripping down out of a suit, tie and shoes with extraordinary finesse.

Peculiar Gentlemen then proceed to rock the venue well into the night, and in collaboration with the sultry Sugar Shack Burlesque, bring everything together into a fabulously entertaining homage to the days of Vaudeville; a winning variety of raunchy, grown-up good-time fun.

Pretty sweet deal for ten bucks.

Just ask Runaround Sue. "Life is more fun when you're screaming," she says to the audience. "I promise, I promise."