When Doves Cry...

I must be getting old. Prior to the deaths of Michael Jackson and Whitney Houston, I don't really remember hearing about the deaths of celebrities, except at award shows and the year end recap on New Year's Eve.

Facebook, Twitter and the internet, in many ways changed that. Now information is doled out to the world in a matter of seconds. It's no small wonder that newspapers are facing extinction. Why would I buy a newspaper, when I can get all the same information online?

Driving home from dropping lunch off for Dan, Little Red Corvette was on the radio. It was odd, because it was like flashing back to childhood, when the songs were new. And, before they had a chance to come back on after the song was over, it hit me. This wasn't a request hour. This was them confirming what I already knew from the Internet. Prince is gone. This was more like a flashback to the day after Michael Jackson died, when every radio station brought him back on their playlist, after years of ignoring him...

2016 is going to go down in history as a brutal year for celebrities. Just a couple of months ago, we lost David Bowie. Today, the world lost Prince. (A ton more have passed, but, drag related blog, so music related post...)

Prince didn't speak to me, in the same way Bowie did. Bowie was different in every way. Whereas, Prince just was who he was. Bowie sang about life, while Prince was more sexual.

Prince always made me just a little uncomfortable. But, there was never any question that he was another music genius. Who didn't want a Little Red Corvette, to Party Like It's 1999 or for their partner to wear a Raspberry Beret (cause she didn't wear much more...) I don't remember Purple Rain. But, When Doves Cry, is the one song that regularly gets into my head, and I don't try to chase it out.

I find it so sad that at 57 years old, we have lost Prince. The music world will never be the same.

My only hope, is that with the loss of all the talent that we have lost in 2016, less than 6 months in, that the universe has something planned. That the reason for all this loss is the emergence of an amazing talent the likes of which we haven't seen in a long time.

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

Pull Yourself Together...

 2014 is not off to a good start for people I know.  My uncle, went in for a triple bypass surgery this morning. My former babysitter, Crystal, passed away from Cancer, at the end of January.  And, last week, the Maine Drag Community, lost one of their own, also to Cancer.

I did not personally know Topaz del Pollo, but I did see her perform once.  Dan is the one who knew her. 

I've come to the conclusion that the drag community tends to use Social Media sources more often than your average person does.  And, it shows.  I read the news of her passing on Facebook, and it wasn't long, before there was a huge outpouring of sympathy for both her biological, and drag survivors.  

I'd witnessed this a couple of other times. Once with the passing of Erica Andrews, Roxxxy Andrews's drag mother, and once with Coco Montrese's death hoax.  The news gets out, and then, the internet blows up with it.  It's mind-boggling, to me, how much love queens get from their fans.  And, how much they give the fans back in return.

Within a day, there was a benefit being discussed.  And, so March Dragness, an event in Bangor, is going to be dedicated to Topaz.  The theme for the show is Legends in Concert.  The event information made me laugh, because it says that performers will become a Legend; living or non-living...which, instantly makes me think zombie...although, I know that's not what they actually mean by that. 

I'm saddened by the loss of Topaz, because the drag community in Maine is small enough, and divided enough as it is, without losing members.  My heart goes out to those who knew her well.

A Part of My Childhood Has Died...Literally

I know I owe you guys a blog article about the show at Blackstones, from last weekend.  And, it's in the process of being written.  Or, at least it was, until I heard about the passing of a friend's mother.  The news kind of took all the wind out of my sails, and has kept me kind of quiet.

How do you write about a woman who was practically a second mother to you?  How do you impress upon the world how big an impact someone has had on you, just by being a part of your life?

I first met Mrs. Eaton, roughly around the time that we moved to Warren. I was 5 back then.  She lived in the house up on the hill, from my parents' house.  She was the mother to Ari and Alyssa...although, Alyssa at that point, hadn't been born yet.

I spent so much time at Crystal's house...although, growing up, it was always Ari's house, never Crystal and Ed's. Because, you never think that way when you're a kid.  You always go to your friends' houses, never their parents.  You only go to the parents' houses, when you're older, and start dating, and it gets serious. We even spent time at their house, when we weren't supposed to be...like the one time that we went to see Ari, and Crystal had gone shopping, and Ed was at work...and the doors were just unlocked, so we went in to hang out.  We got in trouble.  But, we were allowed back.

I loved spending time there, because it was so much different than at home.  The atmosphere was so much different.  Crystal was like the anti-mom to my mom. She smoked, she would have a drink every night, while my mom partook in neither.  The house always smelled like a combination of woodstove and cigarette smoke, and though it has never been confirmed for me, a scent that I swear is a fully female scent.

I remember Crystal being pregnant with Alyssa.
I remember the night that we spent at Ari's house, with my parents, because Crystal's father had passed away.

And then, I grew up.  And, I went away to school, and then made a life for myself.  Or at least, I thought at the time that I had...I'm still working on that, in general.  I played some of the same Facebook games as Crystal, and we were friends on Facebook.  But, aside from the occasional, "Hey, can you send me this, or that?" or a comment on a picture, or the yearly, "Happy Birthday!" I lost contact with her.

When I first heard that she had Cancer, I was terrified for her, and for the entire family. Most of the families that I grew up around had a strong maternal head.  Crystal was that.  And she beat it.  And then, it came back.  And, it got worse.  And, I never knew what to say, because I knew that nothing I could say, could make it go away.  So, I said nothing.  In my heart, I prayed that there would be a miracle for her, and that it would just magically be gone.  And, she never knew that.

Crystal sadly, lost her fight on Monday, January 27th.  She was 49.  I never told her how much I loved and respected her for everything that she did for us when I was a kid.

So, how do you tell the world about someone that they'll never know, and get across the point of why they should've known her?  I'm hoping it's like this.  You lay yourself bare, and write through the tears.  You remember everything good that you ever knew about her.  You focus on the fact that she was a parent...though not my own...who has that parental intuition.  And, hope that some of that kicked in, and that she somehow knew how much she meant to me.