Los Angeles native Michelle Juliette Carr tapped into the showbiz genes of her vaudeville grandparents. One of her first performances was as a topless go-go dancer for art star Vaginal Davis’ band Pedro Muriel & Esther at LACE Gallery in 1989. Working two jobs, she saved money to open Jabberjaw with a partner. The coffeehouse-cum-all-ages-club, located in Arlington Heights from 1989 to 1997, was where Kurt Cobain, performing with Nirvana, met his idol, Iggy Pop. “It was a wonderland of fake glamour and kitsch that we whipped up from thrift store scores with almost no money,” says Carr.

In 1995, Carr launched the burlesque revival with the Velvet Hammer Burlesque, a troupe of artists of various shapes and sizes. After staging shows in L.A. for a decade, she took the group to Berlin—and stayed for three years touring and performing in Europe. While in Berlin she authored a book of photography featuring The Velvet Hammer Burlesque published by Die Gestalten Verlag and worked on her second book, an anthology of her club Jabberjaw Published by Rizzoli.

Returning state-side in 2008, Carr continued producing multimedia events and by day worked as an event chef and creating a popular pop-up called “Secret Supper Club”.

California kid, Brian Wotring, is a 20 year veteran of the special events catering industry, instrumental in launching both the Coolhaus Ice Cream truck & CPG brand and most recently acts as an ambassador for Heirloom LA, Los Angeles’ preeminent farm to table caterer.