CATEGORY IS.....

 Late Great Tina Turner Realness......

Roxxxy Andrews

CATEGORY IS.....

....Garden Party Realness

 Ms. Thick and juicy herself....

Roxxxy Andrews

Luv ya girl

xoxo

SHOWTIME

This weekend brought about many treats since coming home. It was a drag feast for the eyes. Seems all the queens were coming all at once to the city of brotherly love. Friday night was the brilliant Sasha Velour. Every gay man and gay friendly person should have to see Sasha perform. Simply put, the queen is a genius ,and is doing things I have never seen being done before. Sasha is not only brilliant, but her wardrobe is jaw dropping, lip synchs are tightly done, and he is welcoming and sweet as hell. The things is his show Nightgowns is great, but Smoke and Mirrors is even more theatrical and magical then the prior mention. Not only does Sasha lip synch to some great standards, but his graphic artist background for effects is pheromonal. 

This was part of a number where Sasha's dress that looked like a tree continues to metaphases into a full tree by special effects.

But my favorite routine was where we thought we saw Sasha get into a box and get sawed in half...only to be revealed it was all hologram!!!!! Then the "magician" turns out to be Sasha!!! Sasha is way beyond many queens out there, and to me is really being drag to a whole new level. Poetic, artistic and brilliant. I highly recommend this show if it comes to your neck of the woods.

After the show with Olive d'Nightlife.

Last night was ugly. Another show, and if you saw, brought about Lady Bunny in the train station on Sunday morning. YIKES! Sunday night it was off to the Filmore for a full on debauchery fest!

This outrageous, traveling stage show has become a staple of the season,with it's magical and hilarious evening filled with holiday performances, many adult themed, of course. I wanted to go to catch up with Bunny, Nina and Roxxxy. But all these queens are something, and I great bunch! I just fell in love with Shuga Cain even more!!! It was much needed debauchery after a long business trip away.

A fun number with Roxxxy and Latrice. Latrice looked amazing...I suspect because her hubby Christopher was traveling with them. Bunny will have him corrupt by the end of this trip.

Roxxxy, who I will forgive, did THAT FUCKING Mariah Carey song. 'llI give it to her...she knew the lyrics better then Mariah!!!!

When does Manilla NOT bring down a house?

Thorgy was up to her usual colorful antics, Her volin number later was amazing.

Of course the piece de la resistance at most of these things is my favorite queen, the foul mouthed, debach filled, booze hound, sex crazed queen Lady Bunny!!!! Is it any wonder I love her? Bunny nor only did her usual Laugh In style routine, but also a version of Vogue that insulted almost every queen..ever...on Drag Race including Ru herself, but later did a story time, with the audience. Twas the Night Before Christmas, of course this was the Bunny version!!!!

Some candid's backstage. Thorgy is really a sweet heart

Roxxxy is waiting and ready to be the next Philadelphia Sports mascot. I hear the Borghese Houseboys Mud Wrestling is looking for a mascot gurl!

And Bunny arranged all this bitches for a group shot.

And my old and new love, Nina and Shuga Cain! Nina is the lovely hostess for every stop of this tour. Quite amazing she is!!!! Considering she will be doing this every night till January and still keep it fresh, funny and smiling. Nina is a lovely soul.And Shuga's energy is contagious.

After the show most of the queens and the crowd hit the gayborhood for drinks...which is where it all went down hill. Today was ugly. Someone threw me under a Mac truck I believe, or under Latrice!!!! Bunny and her damn shots. Thank goodness my friend John drove me home and got me in bed. And the way I see it, Bunny now owes me a half days pay for leaving early!!!!! Bitch.  A Drag Queens Christmas is coming to a city near you hopefully. I know I have readers in Atlanta, San Fran, Chicago, St.Louis and LA. The girls were telling me, they are all on every stop, with exception to Roxxxy. When she is not present, the fill in queen is either Willam, Scarlett Envy or Shea Coulee. The tour dates are here.

If you need holiday cheer, then this is your ticket.

RUPAUL'S ALL STAR CATFIGHT

There is only one thing worst than two phenomenal queens at a show together. Try ten! Big hair, big nails, big personalities!!! I just hope they are using their Jungle Red nail lacquer. Ru outdid herself for the selection this time.So who’s going to lip-sync for their life this time around? The season is heavy with season 5 queens, a good season in my opinion, — including the reunion of the tart-tongued clique RoLaskaTox (Roxxxy Andrews, Alaska Thunderfuck, and Detox) — as well as longtime rivals Alyssa Edwards and Coco Montrese. Viewers will also get a healthy dose of laughs from season 7 comedy queens Ginger Minj and Katya, and season 6 runner-up Adore Delano will return as well. Finally, standouts from earlier seasons Phi Phi O’Hara,  and Tatianna, will also take to the Drag Race stage. Most of these queens have always been top notch, but have fine tuned their style since their seasons, and sharpened those claws. I myself will be happy who ever wins, but I have to root for my girls Alaska, Roxxxy and Ginger Minj. It's about time a big girl wins damn it. I'm starting to think Ru has something against big boned gals! But Alysaa has grown on me a ton!

 

Phi Phi O'Hara

 

Alyssa Edwards

 

Ginger Minj

 

Roxxxy Andrews

 

Katya

 

Detox Icunt

 

Alaska Thunderfuck

 

Tatianna

 

Adora Delano

 

Coco Montrese

 

Who are you feeling or rooting for on the All Stars??? The only thing better would be if RuPaul ever took all the winners sometime and did a season. Could you even imagine that show?????

EARLY BEAUTY OF DRAG

Since were looking at drag history this month, I came across this wonderful article by Linda Simpson, who was huge in the NYC scene in the late 80's and 90's. Before RuPaul’s Drag Race become a national phenomenon, before the days of step-by-step contour tutorials and YouTube, before the days of colored contacts, cheek implants, and pageant vs. camp queens, there was drag magic happening in a little town called New York City.Drag had been making waves in the underground scenes for decades, but it made it’s first big splash in the ’90s with the popularity of the city’s drag festival Wigstock, along with the iconic documentary Paris Is Burning, and, of course, the initial rise of RuPaul with his 1993 hit single “Supermodel.” So, the world of drag was making quite an impact while many of us were still in grade school.  What was this drag renaissance like?

 

 

 Armed with a camera, Linda Simpson was snapping away through the late ’80s and early ’90s, documenting the queens as well as club kids in and out of nightclubs in looks that have undoubtedly inspired many drag artists today. Now Linda has curated some of her most indelible images into an online collection, thedragexplosion.com, as well as published her first photo book with,Pages, a homage to her friend, the late NYC drag phenomenon Page. She also reminded me of some good days at Patricia Fields!!!!! Pull out a pen and take a note or two and a cock-a-tail—you’re in for an unforgettable lesson in drag beauty evolution! She really gives a great feeling of the movement then, and a interesting read. Take it away Linda.....

I’ve been carrying a camera since I was a teen, but my drag photography came together randomly. There were other photographers out documenting the scene at the time, but often they were journalists who really didn’t know the characters of the East Village nightlife as personally as I did. It was also popular then for photographers to shoot in black and white, which I rejected, because in reality, it was such a colorful time. Of course, these photos are not meant to serve as a definitive history of that era. They’re my history.

 

In the early days, drag was still widely misunderstood. You really had to watch your back, even in a place as accepting as New York. People today are more understanding of what drag means. Back then, those who weren’t involved didn’t know the difference between a drag queen and a transvestite. They thought drag was a sexual thing, or that the point was to pass as, or even become, a woman.The language is different now, too. In those days, if a person was trans, we might refer to them as “pre-op” or “post-op” which sounds crude by today’s standards. Because no one ever really used the word “transgender,” people that weren’t necessarily drag queens got kind of lumped into the drag category because the right language wasn’t part of the vernacular.

 

Ru was very experimental with her looks, but she hit it big when she went glam and recorded “Supermodel” Around that time, Arsenio Hall had Ru on his show as a guest, which was groundbreaking. The ’90s was the era of the TV talk show, and after Ru made her TV debut, the media came running. Suddenly, many of us were appearing as guests on talk shows. They would bring us on and ask stupid questions like “When are you gonna get a real job?” or “Why do you hate women?”RuPaul did change the world of drag, and when you think about it. The correlation of drag really followed along with Ru’s career—when she was up, drag was, too. When she was down, it wasn’t as popular. Now that she’s back up with her show, it’s a phenomenon again. Ru has also done a lot to give drag a warm and fuzzy element. Not to say she’s exactly G-rated, but she’s definitely a very accessible character.

 

The East Village drag look in the early ’90s was very underground: found and vintage items and cheap wigs. No one spent more than $10 on an outfit. At the same time, the Patricia Field store was really the epicenter of the trendy downtown scene and the tight, colorful spandex clothes she was selling were very popular. Queens would bring their store-bought wigs to the shop to get styled as well. As for makeup, Dermablend was popular for a full-coverage foundation option. You’ll notice in the photos that a lot of people’s foundation appears lighter than their skin tone, because we just didn’t have as many options as we do today. It was an era of experimentation. People would turn to face paint for coverage sometimes. Alcone was another popular resource because it sold both drugstore and theatrical makeup. Also, plastic surgery was not as prevalent in the drag scene as it is now, so we had to get extra creative. Overall, East Village drag was really a parody of drag, and a sort of rejection of the generations of drag that came before it. It wasn’t until our looks became more polished that drag really took off and many of us found a career in it.

 

You’ll notice in a lot of my photos that this era was very much, as I like to say, BC: “before contouring.” I don’t have anything against contouring, but I think there’s a typical contouring look that’s very common now. There’s a difference between the naturalistic contouring we did in the ’90s, and what people are doing today. Amanda LePore put it really well: “For men, it’s sports, for drag queens, it’s makeup.” I think a gold standard for many queens today is to show off that they’re really good at contouring. Yes, it shows a paint-by-numbers ability to do makeup, which can be kind of arresting, but it’s becoming homogenized. Back then, we were a bit naive, and didn’t have access to the instruction and tutorials that are available today. Our main inspirations were supermodels, makeup artists, and really, just women.

 

Advice to young queens of all orientations?

Learn your history. Understanding the drag continuum will help expand your mind as well as your outlook. Also, don’t take yourself too seriously. Drag is silly, ultimately. In fact, it can be downright childish. It’s all about keeping a fine line. Adding an air of snottiness or superiority is a real turn-off. RuPaul’s Drag Race is great, it’s fun, but just remember that it’s only part of the equation.

 

And because of all those early queens and times a changing we have all sorts of queens now....

 

The Campy,Quintessential queens....

 

Lady Bunny

 

Carmen Dioxide

 

 Lily Savage

 

The Pageant Queens....

 

Tattianna Delarouge

 

Roxxy Andrews

 

to the Uber Gender-Fuck Queens....

 

Nina Flowers

 

Acid Betty

 

Raja

 

And we love them all!

Drag Race...Will it be A Monsoon Season?

It's down to the final three queens on RuPaul's Drag Race and it's going to be a close race girls! Ru announced that she wanted the Internets help in making a decision. She has a point. Season 5 has yet to define a clear winner. I will say that this season did though show the queens in their true nature more so then in the past seasons. I have seen some of these queens perform and then get on the show, and act nothing like I saw on stage, or the style would be completely different, for example Mimi Imfurst. Off the show her style is much more high glamour and she is actually funny as hell.  You do you hope will win.........

 

Jinkx Monsoon?

 

Jinkx is incredibly endearing, has great comedic timing and knows how to bring the drama, but her makeup doesn't always hit the mark, which to is fine since she is what a drag queen SHOULD BE- campy!

 

 

Roxxxy Andrews?

 

Her double-wig stunt during the "Whip My Hair" lip sync was amazing. She consistently puts together amazing looks and hair for the runway, and can dance her ass off. However, her "strategy" of trying to psyche out Jinkx by being as mean as possible seems to be backfiring. The pageant queen's complaints last night, after performing poorly in the courtroom skit, that comedy was somehow an insult to drag were not only off-putting, but annoying as hell, but I still think she is a fabulous queen.

 

 

Alaska Thunderfuck

 

Alaska is also very likable and arguably one of the funniest queens in the show's history, has fabulous hair and it's impressive that she's succeeded in stepping out from Sharon Needles' shadow.

 

My Conclusion

 

While I said in my post before the race started, I was pretty sure Alaska would place top three at least, and was supporting her since she is sort of Philadelphia's home town girl, even though she is from Pittsburgh. She comes to Philly often for shows and is quite the sweetheart and so talented. I also like her style since it's close to my own. In pass seasons the queen with the most wins has taken the crown and title, but this season we have three queens with each two wins. But I think Jinkx Monsoon should have this locked, stocked, and barreled,  and should start planning her drag race touring! Roxxxy is fabulous, but I don't see a pagent queen  taking it, and she's not to popular in the interwebs... it's time for one of these two campy comedy queens to take the title.  And I'll bet Alaska or Ivy Winters will get the Miss Congenitally Award. But I'll be happy if either Jinkx or Alaska wins! Good luck to all of you! What's your ten cents say?