Let The Battle of The Seasons Begin...

We bought tickets for the RuPaul BOTS (Battle of the Seasons) show, at the State Theatre, as soon as the tickets were available.  It was almost a no brainer, that we would go, and get the VIP tickets.  And, literally, since the day that we bought them, I'd been looking forward to the show.  We had printed out our tickets, and they had a place of honor on the fridge, so that I wouldn't forget that the show was going to happen.  Finally, the wait was over and we were going to get to make use of the tickets.

The night before, Facebook started blowing up with announcements that the girls were in town (and on Grindr.)  Which only heightened my excitement.  It meant that it was almost time.  

Finally, the afternoon of the show, Shaunna started getting ready.  The outfit was made, and matched the shoes perfectly.  The hair, which had been a question, looked perfect with the outfit.  And, so it was finally time to walk out the door, and head to the theater.  Foolishly, because I didn't think that we could afford it, we didn't take a taxi, so I had to drive.  With my love hate of parallel parking, let's just say it wasn't fun.  Or, it was about as fun as standing outside in 10 degree weather, with a wind chill for half an hour, waiting for the door to open.

Me, Michelle Visage and Shaunna Rai

The wait was actually pretty interesting.  We'd seen Wendy (at the front of the line) and the boys (from New Hampshire) we'd invited.  And, we took our place in line, letting them know that we'd meet up with them, after we got inside.  At this point, the Famous Drag Queens of Maine Facebook page was only about a week or so old, and was still being talked about a lot.  And, I got to meet someone from it.  Cheeta, a queen from before my time, and his partner and a friend were in line right behind us.  So, the page was discussed extensively on the trek to the inside of the theater.  

Cheeta hyping up the audience

Once we got inside, it was time for the meet and greet with the queens, and Michelle Visage.

First in line was Mimi Imfurst, who had texted Dan earlier in the evening asking if he had anything that she could use to look like Maya Angelou  (which I had misheard as more like May-a Ann Jello and thought must be a new drag queen).  The search was on, and nothing but a couple hats could be found in Shaunna's extensive closet.  We talked to her for a couple minutes, and I thanked her for retweeting my blog about her Christmas show at Styxx.  

Then, came the pictures.  Ivy Winters, Darienne Lake, Jiggly Caliente, Alaska Thunderfuck, Michelle Visage, and Jinkx Monsoon.  Jinkx would only do selfies, and I didn't quite know what to do...but I got my selfie with her.

Michelle Visage starts the show.

If I'd died right after I got my last picture with the girls, I would have died happy.

Walking into the theater, I remembered, that the last time I was at the State Theater, I was there with my ex, and we saw Ellen Degeneres.  It was a fleeting thought, and I came back to the present.  Getting to our seats, it dawned on me, that I was surrounded by pretty much everyone that I know.  The majority of the Pride committee was in the row in front of us, Wendy and the boys were in the row behind us.

While waiting for the show to start, I was reminded that "local" queens have a little spark that not all queens have.  Cheeta, who was there as his male self, stood up, and tried to get the audience involved in a bit of a warm up for the show.


And then, the show started.  Michelle Visage came out, and introduced the show.

Dress has always been Ivy Winters's
Strongest Suit

Alaska was the first act, with Whitney Huston's "I Have Nothing," which morphed into a discussion about what was allowed during the show...tipping, photos, drinking, and a reminder that if you don't want to be there, LEAVE.  Oh, and I can't forget the ever famous:   HIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

BenDeLaCreme performs a
burlesque number.

Ivy Winters was up next, with one of my favorite songs/acts of all time.  "My Strongest Suit," from Disney's Aida, with her bajillion costume changes. After having seen the act from the livestream in Chicago, I spent most of the time trying to figure out for myself how she managed to accomplish 3/4 of the costume changes that she did.  Because, it totally didn't seem possible that she could have done it all in the amount of time that she had...

Next up was BenDeLaCreme.   Ben was one of my favorites during season 6 of the show, and I was really upset with the fact that she didn't make it further.  Her burlesque number showed me that I was right.  She's hilarious.  From the acting, to the lack of a lip sync, to the tassles, to the hidden stash of glitter (I won't say where), it was amazing.  The first time she sprinkled her glitter on the front row, I lost it.  (And, I'm pretty sure, I didn't recover until well after the show was over.)

Darienne Lake

Darienne Lake was up next.  I wasn't quite sure what to expect from her.  She wasn't part of the show in Chicago, and I hadn't really seen much of her, aside from on Drag Race.  She blew me away.  While a majority of the acts were live singing, Darienne did a killer lip sync of "Total Eclipse of the Heart."  (I was glad to hear many of the people around me singing along with it, so that I didn't feel like a total fool, like I usually do, when I'm singing or lip syncing, myself.)

Jinkx Monsoon 

After Darienne, was Meryl Streep's witch from Into The Woods...er....Jinkx Monsoon.  The mash-up of the garden rap and The Last Midnight, was amazing.  While I was disappointed in the transition on the video from the Chicago show, due to the fact that it was in HD, and there was no blending of the two wigs, in real life, it was much better.  There were places where you could tell that the tear away was there, but it wasn't like it was a glaring, LOOK WHAT'S COMING, like I had half expected it to be.  And, she sang it live.  Her performances in Chicago put me #teamjinkx.  If there was any question, the performance here in Portland made me wonder what it was about her on Season 5 of Drag Race that I didn't like.  She is amazing!

James in the Fashion Design
Challenge

The weakest part of the show, although, one of the funniest, as long as you knew who James was, was the design challenge.  I get that Battle of the Seasons was supposed to be a "beginner's guide to Drag Race," sort of.  And, during every show, there's the design/makeover challenge.  Taking three random people from the audience, and bringing them up on stage and making a look out of trash...well, it was interesting.  BenDeLaCreme, Ivy Winters and Jiggly Caliente were the "contestants" and they had 3 minutes to make some kind of outfit, and the audience would choose a winner.  James, who is a bartender at Styxx, got to be one of the makeovers.  From what I hear, people were upset that he was really drunk when he got up on stage...but, it made for good viewing.  He kind of stole the show, and displayed major amounts of attitude...and photobombed most of my pictures of the other two contestants.  In the end, though, his personality lost to Jiggly's design asthetic...causing the first LOSS for Ivy (who designs clothing in real life).  By the end of the act though, my face hurt from laughing so hard.  In spite of what other people thought, I thought it was hilarious.

Pandora Boxx, was up next.  With the Hunger Games Captiol/Showgirl look, I had really high hopes for her.  She's one of those queens that I just liked watching on the show.  She lip synced to one of her own songs (which one, though, I can't remember.)  Nothing really stood out about this performance.  I was disappointed by this, because it felt a bit like what sometimes happens here in the Northeast with RuGirls...like, "I'm in Maine, I don't have to be at the top of my game."  Whatever it was, this act just didn't quite do it for me.

Gotta Have A Gimmick

Next up was "Gotta Have A Gimmick".  Jinkx, Bendela, and Michelle.  Can I just say, that these three made my night that night?  Michelle with her horn, Bendela with her light up costume, and Jinkx with her wings.  And, they all sang it live.  I loved it.

Jiggly Caliente as
The Queen of Hearts

Next up was Jiggly.  I really didn't know anything about Jiggly.  What I did know, was that she was famous for jump splits.  She came out, dressed as the Queen of Hearts, and did a mash-up of Gaga's "Poker Face" and "Heads Will Roll".  While she didn't do any of her famous splits (for medical reasons, which I later found out), she turned it out.  High kicks, and dancing.  I loved it.

Snatch Game was up next.  I was supremely fearful of this, because in Chicago, I hated it.  I didn't really feel like it was all that funny.  Alaska as LaGanja, Darienne as Adore Delano, Jinkx as Bette Davis and Pandora as Alaska, thankfully saved this version.  I don't even know how to describe how funny this act was. The best I can do, is let you watch for yourself.  Thanks to Chris Merrill, for posting the video from the show, so that I could share it.  Just watch.  You'll want to thank Mr. Merrill too.

Michelle Visage does
Amy Winehouse

At the end of Snatch Game, Michelle took a seat, and sang us an Amy Winehouse song.  Someone from the audience brought her a shot, which she thanked them for, but, didn't drink.  She then explained that she doesn't drink alcohol, and never has.  I'm not sure why this surprised me, but it did.  And, it leaves me a little in awe of her.

Ivy Winters

Ivy came back out for her next number, and I was super excited.  She was doing her stilts/butterfly number again.  I'd seen it before on the livestream.  And, it was amazing.  It was even better in person.  The couple of times that she came close to the edge of the stage, it was a little scary, because, in order to keep her balance, her feet were always moving...and there was always the question of, is she going to step too far forward?  She didn't.  Thank God.

Mimi from Titanic

Mimi was up next.  Again, I'm at a loss for words about how to describe her act.  Mimi pretty much acted out the entire movie of Titanic.  From the Old Rose, on the video screen behind her, to the giant hat, boarding outfit, to the outfit that she wore on the bow of the boat when Leo was King of the World, to the nude "Draw me like one of your French girls, Jack" body suit.  This was one of my favorite parts of the evening, because it was Mimi's birthday, and she was "home" for it.  They brought out a cake on the stage, and Mimi made a speech about how it was good to be home.  (And, it was kind of good to hear, again, that she's admitting to being a girl from Maine...even if it's only when she's home.)  Either way, she has cemented a place in my mind as one of the best queens I've seen.

Pandora Boxx as Elsa

Pandora came back out for her final number, a mix of Let it Go and Try Some Blow.  This one had me cracking up.  I felt a little bad, because, literally, as a part of her Titanic act, Mimi had done Let it Go, and so I was kind of like, why didn't they check against each other's music before hand?  She came out with a bag of blow glitter snow, that she would sprinkle around the stage, and then later in the act, would "snort".  And, I think my favorite part, was when she accidentally dropped the bag into the audience. My only issue with this, was that she still didn't seem to have the level of energy as the rest of the cast.  So, her Alaska Thunderfuck, was the best of her acts during the show.  And, I wish that they would have showcased a little more of her comedic timing than her lip sync.

Jinkx Monsoon performs Creep

Jinkx was back for her "Creep" number.  With the amount of live singing that she did during the night, I was surprised that she could sing.  And, I was reminded of how much I loved this song, when I was a kid.  At the end of the song, she showed us what she had to go through to get the dress to look the way it does...with an under-bustle (if that's a thing...)  And, then, she sat down on the stage, and took some time to talk to us.  She proceeded to tell us how 10% of us would talk about how drunk she was, and how bad the show was.  She pretty much wrote off that 10%.  She then reminded the rest of us that these girls are the ones who care.  They're the ones who made the trek cross country to be here.  And, that it does them good to see that we care, and want to see them, to be there to support them.  It was the most heartfelt thing that I've heard, and I'm not sure whether that was actually part of the show "storyline" or if that was something special that we in Portland, Maine got that nobody else did.  Either way, it was awesome.

Alaska battles the Hair Monster

The show ended with Alaska and "This is my Hair", and her epic battle with the Hair Monster. (I kinda want a hair monster of my own...)  I was trying to conserve my camera battery at this point, because just before Jinkx's last number, my battery started screaming that it was dying.  And, then, I realized that I still had battery power in my phone, and took pictures that way.  I still missed out on a lot of pictures, because the phone camera doesn't make up for shaky hands...

The show got over, and Wendy went home, since she had to be in Boston the following day.  The boys went back to their hotel, and we (Shaunna Rai and I) went to Styxx for the After Party.  The hope was that the girls from the show would come down and raise some hell.  And, we weren't denied that.  Mimi, Alaska and Bendela came down, out of drag, and spent the rest of the night at the bar.  I, as usual, felt a little odd, because I didn't know Alaska or Ben and I only know Mimi a little.  But, I was happy that I got to be a part of the after party, and the after after party.  Now, what I need to do is learn to stop being the listener, and start being a talker.  Because, otherwise, (in the words of Radiohead), "I'm a creep, I'm a weirdo, What the Hell am I doing here? I don't belong here."

Your Makeup Is Terrible...

So, shameless plug, for Pride! Portland...March 2nd RuPaul's Drag Race: Battle of the Seasons is coming to Portland, Maine.  If you haven't already bought your tickets, what are you waiting for?  Do it now, by clicking here!

Earlier in the week, it was posted that Yahoo was going to be doing a livestream of the Battle of the Seasons, from Chicago's House of Blues, on February 19th.  As soon as I saw the information, I knew that I had to watch.  Because, well, I wanted to know what I was going to be getting into in two weeks.

I went into it with minimal expectations, because, well, you know how it is. You go to a bunch of shows that have famous people in them, and because you're practically in Canada, they dumb the show down to the barebones basics, and don't really bring what you saw on the show.  So you go into things with low expectations, so as to not be let down.

Michelle Visage Hosts

Yahoo, at one time, was my source for everything, and now, is solely my source for email, kinda let me down tonight.  Then again, so did my laptop and the work WiFi...  I probably missed about a quarter of the show, due to "technical difficulties".  However, I can't complain too much, because what I did see hyped me up for whats going to be coming to me, in two weeks.

Alaska 5000, I Have Nothing

Since I had to watch this at work, I made sure that I got everything set up early.  And, became very frustrated with a co-worker who wouldn't leave, and decided to start talking about stuff I didn't care about before he left.  Fortunately, Michelle Visage started her monologue as he walked out the door.

Alaska 5000 started off the night with a Whitney Houston song,  I Have Nothing.  And, showed off her vocal talents...both with her actual singing voice, and her comedic Louis Armstrong voice.  She was great as an introduction for the night.

Ivy Winters, in one of many
tear away outfits

Ivy Winters came out, and performed My Strongest Suit, from Aida.  I loved it, because it's totally a Shaunna Rai, kind of song, and Ivy pulled out all the tear aways possible.  (It also made me homesick for Seacoast Rep, because when we were there with Joslyn Fox, she did the same song.)

Gotta Have a Gimmick

Michelle Visage, BenDeLaCreme and Jinkx Monsoon were up next, with Gotta Have a Gimmick, from Gypsy.  Although, I knew that Michelle actually was part of an 80's girl group, I had forgotten.  And, so when the number started, and she started singing, I kinda fangirled out.  Partly, because I knew the song, and partly because it was Michelle Visage singing!

Manila Luzon

Manila Luzon was up next.  And, I again was reminded how much I missed the Seacoast Rep shows, that we did last summer.  She was so nice, and I loved her.  She did a couple of songs, one of which, was Buy My T-Shirt.  And, she brought someone out on the stage, with a rack of t-shirts, and literally sold them from the stage.  I loved it.  (The whole time, Dan and I were talking through my facebook page, about the show, and it was determined that we will be bringing money to the show.)

Sharon Needles 

Sharon Needles I knew of, mostly because she won Season 4, and because she and Alaska were a couple, once upon a time...and, well, she does the Salem, Massachusetts thing at Halloween.  But, I hadn't really seen her perform before.  When she started off her number, inside a coffin, and worked her way through the alphabet, with the audience shouting OUIJA Board, I decided that I need to really start watching her on Youtube.  My only complaint about Sharon was that the cameras were going in way too close on close ups, and apparently, when you're in HD, with close-ups, you can see wiglines, very well.  And, it distracted me from the actual talent...but that was my own issue.

Here, was where my frustration with the night started.  Michelle brought out three audience members, and three of the queens to make outfits from trash.  I just about died, because this morning we went to see Benni and he was making Shaunna Rai an outfit of Ivy's, which Ivy wore out for this.  And, then, my laptop overheated and shut down.  And, wouldn't start back up.  And, the work laptop wouldn't load it.  So, I missed the end of it.  (I'm currently re-watching it...)  The trash couture wasn't what I expected...but then again, it's hard to get something amazing in 3 minutes.  And, I was very much reminded of Vanila Honey-Bush, when Adriana came out...

BenDeLaCreme

BenDeLa was up next.  Her intro showed her song, Devil Made Me Do It, and I had no idea that she had a song...She did a burlesque number.  Not like, Christina Aguillera and Cher Burlesque, but actual burlesque.  The nude body suit, glitter in the crotch, and the stacked bras with tassles, and I was dying.  I was reminded again, of why I enjoyed her so much last season.

Jinkx Monsoon

Jinkx Monsoon, I really didn't like during Season 5.  So, when I saw that she was going to be in the cast, for both the Chicago and Portland shows, I was frustrated by it.  My friend Wendy has been talking for as long as I've known her, about how amazing Jinkx is.  And, I hadn't ever seen it.  And, then, she took the stage...with a dead mic.  Decked out in a Fairy Godmother looking outfit, and singing Radiohead's Creep, she, changed my mind.

Raja

Raja was up next.  I don't really know Raja.  So, I really didn't know what to expect from the performance.  I was a little disappointed by it.  The look reminded me of Jessica Wild (from when she did the Seacoast Rep show) only there was a lot less dancing.  The lip sync was on point though.

Sharon Needles as Dead Joan Rivers

Snatch Game was up next.  Well, sort of.  Snatch Game was kind of the turning point of my love/hate relationship with Jinkx, on Season 5.  And, I used to love Match Game, which its based on.  So, Sharon as Joan Rivers, Alaska as LaGanja Estranga, Jinkx as Alaska, BenDeLa as a Drag Race Superfan, and Manila as Madonna.  I was actually a little disappointed by this Snatch Game.  It wasn't really as funny as I'd hoped for...with the exception of Manila/Madonna's "Ugly Edna is so ugly that when she goes to the Makeup counter, they beat her face with......Photoshop."

Michelle stayed on stage as the queens all shuffled off, and did a tribute to Amy Winehouse, by singing You Know I'm No Good.  (I could totally listen to it all day long.)

Ivy came back out, in a jacket, with fringe made from old VHS tape, to a song by Little Mix, called Wings.  She didn't disappoint, with her butterfly wings (reminiscent of her appearance on Drag Race) and stilts.  And, I was reminded of how much respect that I have for some of these perormances.

Sharon Needles's Dragula

Sharon was back up next with Dragula.  The look screamed Marilyn Manson, to me.  Possibly just because that's the only thing that I had to compare the sound to... I loved it.  Actually, I was impressed with how often, during the show, the queens actually were singing live.  Given that on the show, they pretty much only lip sync, I didn't realize how many of them actually do have singing voices.

If I hadn't already been reminded of why BenDeLa was one of my favorites, her Ariel would've reminded me.  (My only complaint was that Ariel's a red-head...and she wore her trademark black hair...)  I can honestly say, that I probably won't be able to look at The Little Mermaid the same again, now that I've seen what's really in Ariel's treasure trove...And, the mixing in of ZZ Top's Legs was amazing.  (Although, with the "Finale" of the song, I'm not sure that I want to have my parents see it, if this is, in fact part of the Portland show...)

Alaska 5000

Alaska took the stage again, with This Is My Hair.  A number that I thoroughly enjoyed, especially, when the Hair Monster came out for battle.  (I know the battle well, because there are mini hair monsters all over the apartment.  I actually kind of want one of my own...)  She then moved into Your Makeup is Terrible.  And, the only thing that could've made it any better, would've been if Mathu Anderson had come out of the wings, and made an appearance for the end of the song, like he does in the video.

Jinkx's Meryl Streep witch from
Into the Woods

 Jinkx came out in full on hag drag.  And, a badly hidden under-wig.  And, started the witch's rap from Into the Woods.  And, then with a shout out to Roxxxy Andrews and her infamous wig change during a number, transformed into Meryl Streep...well, Meryl Streep's version of the beautified witch...for The Last Midnight.  And, this was the number, that solidified me as a new fan of Jinkx.

Manila and Raja did an anime themed song.  I won't even try to figure out what it is, because it's not really important.  I enjoyed Raja in this number, much more than I did in her first one.  And I love Manila.  Watching them "battle it out" on stage was fun.  Especially, with the projection screen in the back showing the "battle moves".  It was like watching a candy colored version of a Pokemon game...only without the Pokemon...so I guess more like Mortal Combat in drag.

 One last number, The Battle of the Seasons, and then Michelle came out to Dude Looks Like a Lady, for the finale.  The show itself was amazing, and I'm so looking forward to it coming to Portland in a couple of weeks.  It will be a different show, though, as there will be some different cast members.

Portland's cast will include: Michelle Visage, Jinkx Monsoon, Ivy Winters, Jiggly Caliente, Darienne Lake, Alaska 5000, BenDeLaCreme and Pandora Boxx.  So, while I have developed a new love for a couple of the girls who I was on the fence about before this show, I have a few others, that I'll have to do my homework before the 2nd of March, to make sure I know who I'm going to see.  I need to Youtube Darienne, Jiggly and Pandora, so I at least have something to compare them to.

You're Kinda Famous, You Know?

Shaunna Rai: Photo by Jason Poulin

I've never been what you would call popular.  I keep mostly to myself.  And, I have a hard time letting people get close to me.  I have issues with speaking.  I don't stutter, or anything like that.  But, I just have a hard time, stringing words together on the fly, when I speak.  You might not know that, reading what I write, because, generally, I do much better writing than I do speaking.  It's a thing, you know?

Having lived with both Shaunna Rai, and Vanila Honey-Bush for a year, I learned quickly, that keeping to myself is boring.  People wonder what's wrong.  And, I often wonder what's wrong with me.  Since I started the blog, I've had a number of people come to me, while I'm out, and tell me how much they love it.  This is always an awkward situation for me, because on the one hand, I'm all like, "Go on, tell me how much you love it," and on the other hand, "I'm like, you read my blog?  Really? And, you think it's good!? What's wrong with you?"

I find it funny, sometimes, to know that Dan feels the same way about Shaunna Rai as I do about the blog.  Shaunna Rai has been around for two decades.  She's worked all over the Northeast.  She's worked with some big names...Joslyn Fox, Manila Luzon, Latrice Royale...She's performing with Mimi Imfurst this coming weekend...And I remind him, often that Shaunna Rai, is famous in her own right.

Dan went to get his hair cut, by his daughter, and while I was there, she was telling us that she had cut someone's hair, and told him that she was Shaunna Rai's daughter.  According to the story, the guy went wild! He couldn't believe that she knew Shaunna Rai, much less, that she was his daughter.  These are the kind of stories that I try to remind him of.

Why?

Drag in Maine, is on the decline.  There are shows on a semi-regular basis, but those have been trickling away.  This is a sad thing, because people love it.  Dragapalooza sells out every year, as well as the Royal Majesty Drag Show.  People want the drag...but they don't want to pay for it.  And the performers don't want to do it, if they're not getting paid for it.  It's kind of a vicious cycle.  Why would I work for free, when other queens have a booking fee of $2000 or more, plus transportation, lodging and free drinks on the house?

The truth of the matter is, though, that the only way to get that kind of recognition, aside from being on RuPaul's Drag Race, is to put yourself through all the free benefit shows, and the "you're working for tips, and the door", and the, "Hey, you wanna work with a Ru Girl?" shows.  Because the Ru Girls talk.  Joslyn remembered Shaunna from the AIDS Walk weekend in Ogunquit, and recommended her by name to do the shows at the Seacoast Rep over the summer (if memory serves correctly).  

Shaunna really is, the "IT Girl" of Maine. If there's a show, she's usually there.  If there's a show she's doing, it's promoted more than anything has ever been promoted in the history of promotion.  Dan promotes it, Shaunna promotes it, and I usually promote it both on my Facebook page, and here, either with a poster, or a shout out to it.  This is really how to make yourself famous.  Because it works.  Everyone knows what Shaunna is doing when.

This became most apparent, after the announcement of the RuPaul's Drag Race Battle of the Seasons's announcement that it was coming to the State Theater, here in Portland, in March.  As soon as it was announced, Shaunna and Dan were both promoting it like crazy.  And, it paid off.

During the Drag at Sea cruise, which Dan/Shaunna have been dying to get on for the last two years, a friend of ours went.  He was hobknobbing with Michelle Visage, one of the judges (my favorite, aside from Ru) of RuPaul's Drag Race.  He was talking to her about the upcoming Battle of the Seasons in Portland.  She told him that she didn't really "know much about Maine, other than it's cold, it's near Canada, it's pretty redneck, and there is this one queen there, Shaunna Rai, who comes across my feed all the time."

If Michelle Visage knows who you are, and talks about you to people, then you're definitely doing something right.  With a following of over 2,700 people, you're doing something right.

 Meanwhile, I'm limping along on Facebook, with a following of 137 people.  But, it's enough people to remind me that in my own little way, I'm a little famous too.