AFTERNOON INTERLUDE

 After all those Manchester queens in the last post...how's about some Betty Bitschlap!

In case you haven’t caught the sound of Copenhagen-based drag queen and recording artist Betty Bitschlap. Of course.

MANCHESTER UNITED

Drag queens have a long history in gay culture. For many performers, drag is more than just dressing up. It’s an art form where the boundaries of gender identity are shattered.  Drag of course has been a hotbed lately thanks to various drag shows going mainstream. One place for me I'd loved to go would be to see and enjoy the Manchester drag scene...one of the hottest bed right now, with some of the most colorful queens and originality I've seen in years. For many who enjoy a boozy night in Manchester’s gay village, a good night can be vastly improved if you’re insulted by a drag queen. But Manchester wasn't always like that. Thanks to the likes of the legendary Foo Foo Lamarr, it started to be a place of creative drag,  for the Manchester’s drag performers who still felt underground, confined to Canal Street and early hours of the morning. Today the very best of Manchester’s drag queens frequent more public platforms – whether walking catwalks for Manchester International Festival to being shortlisted by Ru Paul, as UK ambassadors, like Divina De Campo for the internationally revered show Ru Paul’s Drag Race, or creating a totally wacky drag persona like Juno Birch. While New York pioneered drag culture, Manchester is now becoming the undisputed UK’s epicentre for all the spectacular costumes, gender-warping makeup transformations, outlandish cabaret, lewd lip-sync performance and of course, fabulous shade, lots of shade, and breaking barriers to traditional drag...and I'm here for it. If anyone gets a chance to get to Manchester, these are the queens I recommend you should be looking  to seek out for a show.

A few things you should know about the illustrious Cheddar Gorgeous: Cheddar has a masters degree in anthropology, is a writer, idealist, superhero, alien and occasional unicorn. At the helm of salacious underground club night Cha Cha Boudoir, Cheddar Gorgeous is thoroughly committed to the drag arts – after all, this is a queen who wore platform heels, a corset and a cape to ski in the French Alps. A key member of drag collective Family Gorgeous, Cheddar is a polished and accomplished performance artist helping to redefine traditional ideas of drag.

Anna Phylactic, like the shock, only less tragic   Anna is a worldly drag performer whose piercing eyes and toothy grin have been immortalized in an incredible mural on The Molly House pub alongside other Manchester icons in the LBTQ community (including the late and infamous drag queen Foo Foo Lammar). Another sister from ‘Family Gorgeous’, Anna Phylactic's ‘shock in a frock’ style draws from a multitude of inspirations, from 80s club kids, Leigh Bowery, Elizabethan costume and Alice in Wonderland.

Liquorice Black: lithe as Nightmare Before Christmas’ Jake Skellington, while as pale and sensual as Morticia Addams. The ‘black and white sheep’ of drag Family Gorgeous and good drag sister to Juno Birch, Liquorice Black is permanently set to monochrome, which I adore!!!!!. A seven foot tall gazelle, Liquorice Black wears the hell out of a gown and a fascinator.

Make America Gay Again!’ - a Donna Trump manifesto. While the actual American president continues to cause friction in the West, Manchester’s Donna Trumpuk mixes political undertones with glamorous overtones and specializes in marvelous camp cabaret, hilarious skits and often dresses up like another Donald, the Duck.

Lill! While only a lil' in the drag scene, Lill is a known rebel in Manchester. She loves Courtney Love , Divine and Queen Elizabeth the 1st, so she just loves any bad girls really and with bad taste. Whether cinched in at the waist and stuffed in the bra as Barberella or dressed as a sexy bottle of Fairy Liquid, Lill excels as a chameleon makeup artist.

Te-Te Bang

I'm am sooooo here for this bitch!!! TeTe Bang is a UK female drag queen who never fitted into the box of what a lesbian was 'supposed to be'. The people she had the most common interests with were gay men. So, she didn't fit into the box of what a lesbian was supposed to be, but she wasn't the right gender to be in the club. She felt very lost for a long time, until finally she felt comfortable with herself when she was given a home in the London queer community. She decided to become her own role model and give a voice to those people who are floating around the in-between, to the courageous and inspiring queer women we too quickly chose to forget. Her drag acts are very entertaining.

Oozing with vintage glamour, Miss Blair is a blonde bombshell who knows how to put on a stellar cabaret show, she's been here to New Hope once...and what a show!!! With unrivalled lip-sync ability and an enviable closet full of coiffed wigs, Miss Blair fulfils any 1940's housewife fantasy.

Sometimes a feminine ‘fishy’ queen while other times a raving ‘tranimal’, professional gender bender Violent Blonde is a firm fixture on the Manchester drag scene. Part of the Family Gorgeous, Violent Blonde can be found lip syncing at Cha Cha Boudoir club nights. Creator of the Instagram hashtag #ManchesterQueens, Violet is an all-time favorite in Manchester.

So who is ready to go to Manchester with me and see some amazing queens when this virus is over???

36 DAYS

 When I got back from my time in the Pocono's I was over joyed to see my mail!!!! Yes, my Biden Harris tee's and other goodies arrived.

The fact that Trump has narrowed the lead by a big percent since June should have everybody screaming bloody murder in fear of a re-election. I know I'm still very nervous about this election, with only 36 days to go. Those undecided voters aren’t trying to choose between Trump and Biden. I think they’re debating between supporting Biden or staying home on Nov. 3. That has me worried and we all must still continue working on friends and others who are still undecided or don't plan to vote. I also think Biden needs to hit Michigan and other swing states harder and should try and be more visible in Michigan...his recent visit, wasn’t very well hyped, nor did it focus on African-American voters, who will be crucial to Biden in November. Now I don't follow polls, they mean very little after that disaster in 2016, but I did see while away a NPR/PBS NewsHour poll published,   showed Biden leading Trump by 10 points nationally head-to-head, but indicates the former vice president’s numbers dip slightly when third party candidates are figured into the mix. DO NOT VOTE THIRD PARTY for goodness sake. This election is too important to waste on such a small number those candidates would receive. It also showed voters prefer Biden to Trump when it comes to crime, race and the pandemic. Even if your not sold on Biden, he needs the vote to get this country back on track and end this dictatorship. 

Another thing that is worrying me is the marketing of Biden as a ‘compassion candidate’, a man who has experienced grief and loss, might not sell. In election contests, difficult times demand strength, even if that works best when it also expresses the strong leadership which Trump has failed to provide. The debates tonight  are the other test of strength, and  Biden’s best chance to dominate  Trump, if not land a knockout blow I hope. I'm not sure he will carry himself as well and collect as Hillary. In our screen era, all politics are basic. Populist politics, appealing to emotions ,not policies, is even more so and gains from distracting gestures in the great asses case on Twitter.  Biden needs to outpoint  Trump like a fencer, but he also must go hard. Showing  Trump as weak will work far better than portraying him as foolish, selfish, even incompetent. If Biden doesn’t win the debate wrestle, the demagogue might power on. The maverick populist already has a ‘license’ to tell any story he likes – that is to lie frequently while branding his critics as the disseminators of ‘fake news’. His performance so far has sucked, he demonstrates the power of a demagogic populist movement centered around a dictator, rather than a party or a policy.

So if you haven't made up your mind yet, please take a long, hard look around you and remember what life and the climate was like before 2016. Trump at this point, has a long laundry list of crimes and laws he's broken and things he has gotten away with, not to mention show total disregaurd to life, the planet and what this country was even created for...take your pick... and if you don't see a difference you might be blind. Just vote and vote blue. I just think we all need to make sure to vote or trump is getting back in again, and then lord helps us. I want to be wrong! I know people have problems with Biden, I have problems... it’s ok. We can deal with the problems later. But lets just get trump OUT! We the people have to do it, because NO ONE in DC has our backs nor do they care. If we don't we are  sure to see this sight before long in this country.

I will wear my tee, and buttons with pride around the community at large and on the day to help with taking people to vote who don't have transport. And make sure to get those mail in ballots filled out and taken to your elections office. At this point, if Biden wins Ill even repost these pictures with no clothes on if that will make your mind up!!!!!!!!

AUTUMN IN THE AIR

Yes, I'm one of those people who hate and upset when the days get shorter, and cooler. I'm a hot house flower, give me the hot and humidity any day. It's not that I don't like autumn, it s a beautiful season, but once the leaves are gone, it's just all dead and decay looking....then I'm wanting snow to cover it up!!!! The Mistress had a lovely time up at the Woods this summer....it was the perfect place to escape this pandemic,  and there just wasn't the crowds to worry about like my usual haunts. With the pied de terre work done, I returned last night. It is always slightly sad to have the last  glamping trip for the season, they close in three weeks. It means I won't see some friends, and new ones, for another year. It was the perfect place for me to at least keep social, as I do think I could get to be a recluse if not around people for long. But this week got even cooler then normal for even the Pocono Mountains. And in just last week, the leaves started changing that quick. But more good hikes and new friend Christopher got some good shots of the Mistress.

I think I was contemplating life

I had to included these cute camper lights on our site just for Sixpense.

This is the view I see outside my pop camper from the bed when Im there.

There is often theme weekends. This weekend was 90's and Arcade Games. Many did fun things with lights and arcade related themes on the sites. But this group had me!!!!! Pac Man never looked better. And all I wanted to do was play with Pinky's joystick. Then it was off to a 90's themed social distance party. Met some nice guys there. But it was the hosts I loved....for this alone....

Now that is a brilliant upgrade to that sign. I say they should be mass produced. So there you have it. Every week it just seems to get worst and worst and worst with this country doesn't it...but I'm still here. Yep, I'm telling you.... I won't give up and I won't give up on you either...you  need this entertainment as much as I, ladies and gentleman. So if your reading from your desk , lazy- boy or sitting on the toilet I hope you enjoyed.

A huge thank you to my host's and good friends, Wayne and Trevor and to the Woods Campground for putting up with my gin soaked ass for what seemed like all summer, and being so accommodating and not letting me fall out in the forest or on the bonfire.

SUMMER POSTCARDS #4

If there is one thing the Mistress is good with, 

 it's directions.

SUMMER POSTCARD #23

 

FOR RUTH

I think today, a week later,  it only be befitting to give this post in honor to the great ,brave and inspiring Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The late Supreme Court justice adored opera, and to feed her habit, she often turned to Philadelphians or artists closely associated with the city, and the orchestra here .Ginsburg, who died last Friday, was a lifelong devotee of classical music, and once played piano and cello. Opera, though, had a special allure. She was also quoted once as saying she couldn't imagine life without music.

So in honor of Ruth here is one of her many favorite operas and opera stars performing the entire opera. I myself am not a knowledgeable opera fan, but I can see why she liked this one, I listened to the entire opera and it did move me. So hit play and have a listen in the background. This is for Ruth.  Maria Callas in Tosca with the Orchestra and Chorus of the

Royal Opera House Covent Garden.

SUMMER POSTCARD #41

 Yesterday while taking a walk about the campground, I went pass the cabins area and came across this....

I didn't know whether to grab a hold and have fun with it or "blow" it out. 

These are the big decisions I face these days.

TODAYS CHUCKLE

GRANDE DAME

This is one queen who can turn the pages between covergirl  and the stage. Paige Three is one of those multi talented queens. Hailing from England , this queen definitely knows how to beat a mug, and can bring many different looks and style to drag, and I could solely love her for bringing the Lady Kier realness, but this queen is also known for her stage work , mostly in the West End...most recently starring in the Westend's Kinky Boots as Angel. While this queen is stunning dalink, his male counterpart  Louis Clarke-Clare is a professional theatre performer and dancer...hence that bod! But what I love most is his work with homeless black trans women. Paige has done much work and raised money for various black trans women and the charity she gives to has grown into a unique opportunity to alleviate the chronic homelessness that exists among trans people, especially among the black and brown people. And y'all know, I'm fond of a good head scarf look too! Classic! Those eyes.....the things legends are made of...

And yes....I'd date him, and he could go out like this if he wanted too!!!! 

That mug!!!!