I finally made my first semi-official appearances as a drag queen the past two Sundays. For me, drag has a different appeal than crossdressing. A part of this column summed it up well:
OK, so the gay man part doesn’t fit, but being a glamazon does, as does embracing my inner performer. Admittedly, some drag queens can be quite misogynistic, but I haven’t seen that with the queens I hang out with. (Maybe it’s because they’re “glamour queens” rather than “camp queens” for the most part.)the drag queen’s message is this: Yes, I’m a gay man, and if you’re going to think I’m a girl, I’ll show you the fiercest, strongest, most beautiful girl you can imagine
The 15th was a fundraiser for Sister Uma Gawd, of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, who's doing the AIDS/Life Cycle ride in June. So there were a lot of queens there to help put the penguin on her bike and Marlena's was packed.
I lucked out the day before and found a brown satin dress with beading at Ross, and I'd hit the MAC Pro store for a new drag look. Unfortunately, even with the write-up from the artist and some photos, I couldn't quite replicate the eye shadow. Sigh. Rushed to get out of the house and up to San Francisco, only to discover that things were running on drag time -- we didn't actually get started until an hour after the official start time. My first number was Rickie Lee Jones' "Danny's All Star Joint," a wonderful jazzy piece. For my second number, I supposed to do "The Adultress" by The Pretenders, but the DJ cued up the wrong track. Thankfully, it was "Message of Love," which I knew equally well so the show was able to go on. All-in-all I had a blast, and even had some adoring fans who wanted their pictures taken with me afterwards.
This past Sunday was the birthday for someone who's active in the Imperial Court, a local charitable group. The crowd was pretty light compared to the previous Sunday, mostly a lot of the Marlena's regulars. I was wearing the dress in the photo and was hoping to have the actual drag hair as well. (My friend Patsy was going to style one of my wigs -- hairspraying it within an inch of life -- but unfortunately she wasn't able to finish it in time.) I even had a new drag name: "Joy de Vivre." There was only one problem: Miss Galilea (last year's Empress of San Francisco), who was MCing the entertainment, couldn't pronounce the last name. Not sure if I'll need to go back the drawing board. Probably will simplify it to either "Joy de Vive" (pronounced "Veev") or "Joy de Vie." (Still somewhat accurate translations, even if the French are sputtering about the mangling of their language).
I finally got to do "The Adultress" and had a good reception from the crowd. I even picked up $14 in tips. But by the time it was time do my second number, things had thinned out and it was real challenge to try to play to a distracted room. In part, I realized that the song -- Joan Osborne's "Right Hand Man" -- wasn't quite right. On paper it seemed good: a rollicking number about just having had some really good sex. But the lyrics get bit repetitive toward the end and I was starting to feel like I was on stage for a loooong time. Not sure whether it would've work better had there been a full house, or whether I'll need to edit it down a bit. (There's a real challenge in finding good songs -- the tempo has to be right, the vocals need to start fairly quickly, the instrumental breaks can't be too long. Fortunately, I've got the software to edit tracks as needed.)
But with every performance I get a bit more experience. So now I'm keeping an eye out for more benefits -- which often will take whoever wants to take the stage. And I'm hopeful that I may occasionally get to do an unpaid number for the Hayes Valley Follies (Saturday nights at Marlena's). While I wouldn't want to perform every weekend, I've definitely gotten addicted to the stage lights.
Here's a second photo, just 'cuz I'm feeling fierce this morning.
On Wednesday Patsy dropped off the wig she styled for me, so now I officially have poofy drag hair, sprayed within an inch of its life. Where's my stage?
[SIZE="1"]Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl[/SIZE]
[SIZE="1"]Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest[/SIZE]
Originally Posted by Nyana
