When I Go, I'm Going Like Topaz

Lady Valerie

Miss Samantha

Saturday night, marked the 5th March Dragness, and it was a memorial of sorts, for a fallen queen, Topaz.  It was a hell of a show, and a night I'll never forget.  And, it's how I want to go out.  When I die, I'm going to beg for a drag show send off.  And, if I don't get one, I can always come back and haunt people until I get one...

Going into this show, I believed that every drag show was pretty much the same thing.  Queen A performs, Queen B performs, Queen C performs, and then the show is pretty much over.  I know that some queens put feeling into their lip syncs, and some perform their own songs.  And, in my head, this is just how shows go.  This show, showed me that you can't always just jump to conclusions that every show is going to be the same.  Because, they are decidedly not all the same.

Asia

Emma

The crowd in Bangor is different than that of Portland.  For one, the crowd in Portland, tends to be a gay crowd, and we're all packed into Blackstones or Styxx.  In Bangor, I would say, that the homos were the minority.  The crowd at Hollywood Casino was a decidedly mixed crowd.  To the left was an older (50-60 year old) straight couple, behind me was a group of girls (barely 21's) who could have used a mute button.  And, spattered throughout the crowd, were faces I recognized.  Some from "home" (read as Portland area), others, who I know from Facebook.

Miss Joanne

Paris Lynne

The show was on a tight schedule, and had to be over in exactly two hours.  None of the usual "We'll start when there's a good enough crowd to start," that plagues a lot of drag shows.  Once the show started, it was banged out act after act.  As usual, I got caught up in taking pictures, which is my MO, at shows.  I know that there's music, but rarely, can I tell you at the end of the night, which performer performed to what song.  But, there were a few acts that I don't know if I'll ever be able to forget.

Shaunna Rai

Candy Cayne

Shaunna Rai gets her usual shout outs, because I live with her, and I wouldn't hear the end of it if I didn't.  But, she's always amazing, so it's to be expected.  Her first performance was a mix of songs by Pink, that I've seen a few times.  She looked like Pink.  And, she surprised the audience.  The whispers at the beginning, of "What the..." quickly turned to whispers of "Oh my God, she actually looks like Pink," as the rip away came off.  When she did her second number, Tina Turner's Proud Mary, there were ripples again, through the audience of "She's not seriously going to..." By the end of the song, any doubt that she could pull it off was gone, and a good majority of the audience was actually singing along to the song.  (Something that I always do anyway, without thinking about it, but haven't seen happen before.)

Justin Case

Mikayla Loveheart

Asia Thavone, who I had met once before at Mama's Cabaret, last summer, was another standout performer.  If I remember correctly, she did a Whitney number for her first number.  But, the standout performance, was her second number.  She dedicated Bette Midler's Wind Beneath My Wings to Topaz.  And, I got a bit choked up.  The song itself, in combination with a memorial of any sort, is just enough to get the tears flowing.  Combine that with an amazing performance, which looked like it got to Asia herself (I couldn't tell for sure, as I was all the way in the back row, fighting to see over a woman whose head I swear was bigger than a watermelon).

Miss Samantha

Valerie

Paris Lynne, another queen who I met through Mama's Cabaret, last fall, performed Stacy Q's Two of Hearts, for her first number, and alternated co-hosting with Lady Valerie Honeywell.  But, her standout number, was Christina Perry's Human.  It was a song that I hadn't actually heard prior to the show, and one that I have added to my iPod, after seeing her perform to it.  She was one of the last numbers of the night, and you could tell at the beginning of the song, that the night was getting to her. By the end of the song, I really just wanted to go hug her, and tell her that it was going to be okay, and that Topaz would've been proud of her.  The amount of emotion that went into the performance again, choked me up.

Emma

Asia

And, then came the finale.  Valerie gathered all the queens on the stage.  Shaunna Rai, Candy Cayne, Asia, Justin, Emma, Paris, Samantha, Joanne, Mikayla, Paris and Valerie.  The dedication of the final number to both Topaz and Amanda Kelley, and their families, who were in the audience was touching.  When Valerie picked up one of Topaz's costumes, from the corner of the stage, and lay it on the stage, and sang to it, and then invited the family to pay their respects to the costume, it made it hard to not get emotional, whether you knew them or not.

Miss Joanne

As the show itself was a fund raiser, I'm curious to find out how much was actually made.  The show sold out of early tickets, and at the end of the night, it was standing room only.

Paris Lynne

Anyway, as I was driving (most of the way home) I told Dan, that's what I want, if I happen to die before he does.  I want to have a show in my honor.  Selfish? Maybe. But, in a way, it's for them.  A sentiment, that I generally hear more from my own family, that I heard last night was, "We really need to stop meeting this way." Because, in general, sickness and death are the two things that bring people together.  But, life goes on.  And, if it gives a group of performers a reason to perform, why not let it be known?  Because, as I'm coming to realize, life is too short to be unhappy.  I know I was smiling at the end of the night, and I'm sure that Topaz was as well, knowing that she brought together a group of her friends, who put on one hell of a show.

Shaunna Rai

Justin Case

Mikayla Loveheart

Candy Cayne

The Final Number, all the queens and half the audience