LOGO'S DRAG HISTORY MONTH CONTINUES...

WITH AN INTERVIEW WITH MOI! IT INCLUDES SOME ARCHIVAL PHOTOS AND HERE'S A TEASER THAT I HOPE'LL PLEASE YA!



What is the most crucial issue facing the drag community these days?



The same crucial issue facing everyone in this country: We must focus on wrenching our country away from crooks before they totally bankrupt us. We just used our voices to demand change and actually voted in a black man named Hussein into the White House, for Chrissakes! Isn't using our power intoxicating? We must stay involved and remember that WE are THEIR bosses. And by the way, I'm running for president in 2012--I'll finally be over the 35-year-old age restriction by then!

Sorry--you mean specifically to drag, right? I perform around the country a lot so I see a lot of traditional lip-synch acts. Queens have always had to synch the hits sometimes just for the tips. A lot of these girls aren't paid a lot and they're up there in expensive gowns and custom made jewelry, so they need the dollars which do roll in whenever they perform a song of the moment (like “Single Ladies”) that everyone's just dying to hear. But that really is caving in to the lowest common denominator. Recreating a music video may require some skill, but very little imagination. And I see this more and more.

In the past, there was always a queen or two in the cast who would pull out a number no one had ever heard and really make it work using her own creativity. That's how I was turned on to phenomenal songs like Patti Labelle's “Over The Rainbow,” Grace Slick's “Seasons,” Melba Moore's “Lean On Me,” Natalie Cole's wild live recording of “Party Lights” and Betty Wright's seismic live version of “Lovin' Is Really My Game.” These songs didn't have to be hits on the radio to thrill audiences for decades. Or a queen might add some new twist on a song to make it comical.



Sadly, a lot of today's drag performers aren't very unique. I performed a New Year's gig at a club where the other local cast members complained that "If it's not on the radio, they don't wanna hear it." Something tells me that this trend might have something to do with the dumbing down of America and our appalling lack of musical sophistication which allows nursery rhyme chants like “Hollaback Girl” and “My Humps” to undeservedly become hits. But you can't blame the audience! Or can you? Maybe that's another article entirely!

WHOLE INTERVIEW: NEWNOWNEXT.COM