Michelle Carr never met a half-naked showgirl she didn't like. Or a masked wrestler. Or an androgynous hula-hooper. Or a barely clothed midget.

Arguably the primary instigator of the neo-burlesque movement, the Catholic-raised Carr is credited with repopularizing the kinky, centuries-old spectacle and co-creating L.A.'s beloved artistic and acrobatic mindwarp Lucha Va Voom. Taking your shirt off and buying glitter by the pound is no easy feat, mind you.

The voluptuous beauty—you may know her by the alias Valentine Violette—adds another sequin in her glittering crown with the recent publication of the photographic anthology "The Velvet Hammer Burlesque: Glorifying the American Gal Since 1995."

As a precocious 20-year-old during the early days of grunge music, Carr co-founded Jabberjaw, a sort of ’90s pop-punk version of today's beloved Smell that hosted little acts like Beck and Nirvana. But in 1995, she determined that Jabberjaw would be the perfect place to take things back to the "Gypsy" tip, though the Velvet Hammer Burlesque group she formed has less in common with the Natalie Wood film than it does with, say, a Cirque du Soleil ostrich crashing through a Times Square sex shop.

Equal parts design and kitsch, with a healthy shot of the bizarre, the Velvet Hammer has pranced around the world with a Vaudevillian slice of singers, acrobats, dancers and comedians. Chanteuse Rebecca Del Rio, best remembered as the ghostly singer in "Mulholland Drive," has graced their hot lights, along with writer, belly-dancer and early L.A. punker Pleasant Gehman. Indeed, a look around YouTube finds local drag queen Vaginal Davis—in tux with literal tails—performing a torchlight version of "Chicken Man."

Although true female empowerment is questionable in settings that involve pasties, titillation and inevitably skeezy male audience members, the photos in Carr's book glimpse a tight-knit group of performers where large is lovely, dwarves take on MC duties and labyrinthine tattoos are as much as part of the performance as the body glitter and the velvet curtains. Check it out for yourself when Ms. Carr visits La Luz De Jesus Gallery Saturday, Feb. 23, to kick off an exhibition of photographs from the book. She'll sign your copy, your hot pink garter belt or maybe even your ostrich.

George Ducker is a contributing editor for Metromix Los Angeles.