Bring It!

"So, I volunteered you for taking pictures, for three weeks of shows."  Every so often, this happens to me. This time, it's important though. I'm the official photographer for three RuPaul's Drag Race girls, for the Midsummer Night Queens shows at Seacoast Rep Theater in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

As such, I get into the shows for free, and get to meet the girls.  And to put the icing on the cake, some of my pictures are going to be published in the newspaper.

The day of the show, I'm in a rush to get out of work, on time, which given that I do social work, is nearly impossible. I manage to get out only 10 minutes late. But, I'm still behind schedule.

I have to get Shaunna Rai packed into the trunk, pick up E,on and pick up Vanila. In the meantime, there's a bank trip, and I manage to get us onto the highway...headed the wrong direction. So, the night is off to a great start.

We get everyone, and start the trek to Portsmouth. Everything is good. I'm stressed out, because I have this ginormous responsibility for A) taking good pictures, B) making sure I don't kill my camera battery before the end of the show, and C) finding a spot to take the best possible pictures from.

I'm pretty sure (at this point) I have an inflated sense of my responsibility. Let's face it, at the end of the day, I'm really just a chauffeur with a camera, who occasionally takes an amazing picture or two.

I always enjoy the pre-show process, and even more, when the queens involved aren't queens I see on a regular basis, if only for the fact that the makeup is so much different. So, I watch the makeup go on, and then it becomes a waiting game for Manila Luzon to arrive. She's been at the hotel, waiting for her luggage to get there.

Suddenly, she's there. Apparently, this is one of the first times that she has had an airline lose her bags. And, unfortunately, it's not like a queen can just go to Wal-Mart, to get her makeup. I get to meet Manila before the show. I'm intoduced as both the show photographer and Shaunna's partner. And, I'm struck by how kind Manila is.

After a quick run through of the opening of the show, I'm in the audience, waiting for it to start. (And for the rest of the audience to arrive.)

A couple to my right, one row back is trying to recall who Manila is, and having gone over all the info about the girls who will be performing for the next three weeks, I get to pretend like I know what I'm talking about. I let them know that Manila was runner up in Season 3 of RuPaul's Drag Race.

The lights go down, the theater quiets, and the introduction starts. I start snapping pictures, for low light, no flash, and pretty much, pray that they're going to come out. Unfortunately, all the intro pictures came out unusable.

As I'm snapping away, the girls all start mugging for me. Which is perfect. With the no flash thing, the less they move, the better the pictures come out.

When the audience begins to really tip, Shaunna does a number, then finds me and throws her tips in my lap.

Suddenly, it's intermission. The lady sitting on my immediate right, (who I am now Facebook friends with) starts chatting with me about the show.  She at one point, says that I must be something special, because a) everyone was posing for me, and b) Shaunna threw her money at me...So I had to either be "her boyfriend, or her pimp." We had a little laugh about that. Then I was off to grab Shaunna a drink before the intermission was over.

The show starts back up. Bunny introduced Shaunna Rai as her "fairy drag mother." I didn't know Bunny when she and Shaunna used to hang out, because I wasn't in the Portland area then.  (And, this is the best part of everything,  as far as I'm concerned. I love hearing about the old days...even if those days are only a few years ago. )

Then, the show is over. And, it's time to head to the Gas Light Co. for the After Party.  This of course, is the part that I was dreading.  After parties mean socializing.  And socializing means people.

We get shown outside to the patio, where we get put in a back corner, where Manila was supposed to be signing things. Instead, she opted for mingling with the fans and taking pictures.

I'm struck again by how nice she is. I think a lot of this comes from the disbelief that I have with reality tv that says that nobody on a t.v. show can possibly be nice on purpose. (Although, Joslyn Fox, Raven and Jujubee had all already proven otherwise.)

While waiting around for it to be over, Shaunna and I started talking to a couple, who ended up buying us drinks.  The wife is a fan of drag, and the husband came because she wanted to. The wife is also the head of a support group for people who do cross dressing and/or drag. They were super sweet, and seemed genuinely interested in what I had to say, and not just what the drag side of things is like.

I fell behind with taking pictures at the party, so didn't get much...although, I did get my picture with Manila...which was my ultimate goal for the night.

Manila left, because she had an early flight to Florida the next morning. And the remaining girls, Shaunna, Vanila and E,on had a drink, then started talking to a table full of nurses...I did my usual stay in the background thing, and then it was time to head back home.