travsd

Happy Tenth Birthday to Travalanche As You Know It!

Huzzah and Many Happy Returns of the Day!

Today marks the 10th anniversary of my Stars of Vaudeville series, which is effectively the 10th anniversary of Travalanche.

I had actually launched this blog on February 29, 2008, but for the first year it consisted merely of a half dozen or so off-off-Broadway theatre reviews. On April 3, 2009 I posted this piece on George Jessel and we were off to the races. Not only is that content stream still flourishing but it led to numerous other similar content streams on Travalanche, some of them (such as sideshow freaks) even more successful, pound for pound. As of this writing, I have profiled over 1,300 vaudeville stars, accounting for nearly a third of the content on Travalanche. We’ve had over 3 million hits on the site thus far, and last month was our best single month ever, with readership for the month hitting six figures. Naturally, thanks to all our readers, but thanks even more — by a factor of like a thousand — to our Patreon supporters. If you’re not yet one, and you read my site all the time, why the hell aren’t you? I sure could use your help (even a dollar a month) to help this machine going. Find out here.

If you prefer to support us in a more entertaining way, there’s this:

April 16: The Stars of Vaudeville 10th Anniversary Celebration 

Join us at the Slipper Room (doors 7, show 8) for an all star vaudeville show to celebrate the “Stars of Vaudeville/ Travalanche” 10th anniversary! Come see the newest incarnation of my American Vaudeville Theatre (est. 1995) featuring Wilfredo (Matt Roper), Glen Heroy, Dana Friedman, Betsy Propane, Bob Greenberg, Jonathan Smith and Lady Von Tramp! Surreal comedy, song, dance, and a visit from the Ghost of Georgie Jessel! Plus door prizes! Free books, CD, and more for our lucky winners! And more! Hosted by Little Old Me, Trav S.D.! Tickets here: http://tinyurl.com/yyuc2zb7

Published by travsd

Writer and performer Trav S.D. (www.travsd.com) is best known for his books "No Applause, Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous" (2005) and "Chain of Fools: Silent Comedy and Its Legacies from Nickelodeons to Youtube" (2013). He has written for the NY Times, the Village Voice, American Theatre, Time Out NY, Reason, the Villager and numerous other publications. Trav has been in the vanguard of New York’s vaudeville and burlesque scenes since 1995 when he launched his company Mountebanks, presenting hundreds of acts ranging from Todd Robbins to Dirty Martini to Tammy Faye Starlite to the Flying Karamazov Brothers. He has directed his own plays, revues and solo pieces at such venues as Joe’s Pub, La Mama, HERE, Dixon Place, Theater for the New City, the Ohio Theatre, the Brick, and 6 separate shows in the NY International Fringe Festival. In 2014 he produced and directed the smash-hit "I’ll Say She Is", the first ever revival of the Marx Brothers hit 1924 Broadway show in the NY International Fringe Festival.