DRAG UPDATE!

DESPITE THE RECESSION, THERE IS A WEALTH OF DRAG HAPPENINGS APPROACHING. SO HERE ARE THE TALES. I'LL START WITH MYSELF, OF COURSE!

After a month in Atlanta in a play, I'm thrilled to be back at Splash for Free Tea this Sunday the 15th. If you haven't yet been, Sunday the 15th will be a perfect month to pop by--it's an early party from 6:00-10:00 with fantastic dj Billy Carroll taking over afterwards, so it's a perfect place to stop by and enjoy a reasonably priced, strong cocktail and a little boogie. The following week is Oscar night, so we'll take that night off, but I'll be back every Sunday in March except for March 8th.



This Sunday, Free Tea has the added bonus of hosting a farewell party for vocal impressionist extraordinaire and dear friend Jimmy James. After sticking it out in NYC for years, he's headed for the warmer climate of LA. And when Jimmy informed his landlord that he'd not be renewing his lease, they actually offered to REDUCE the rent $300! Never heard of that happening in NYC before. So maybe for the bums who can only afford to rent (like me) the economic downturn will offer a few perks as properties decrease in value? Of course, our jobs may be slowing down too, but typically clowns do well in a depression. I wonder where I stored that red nose?

JIMMY JAMES--LOVE THE IDEA OF POSING UPSIDE DOWN TO CHOP A CHIN OR TWO! GOTTA TRY THAT!



Anyhoo, Jimmy has been a well-loved figure on the NYC club scene and he'll surely be missed, particularly by the many restaurants he kept in business. So please pop by Splash this Sunday and wish him well. His insane friend (and one of my de-mentors) Bubba D. Licious of Houston will also be in town for fashion week festivities. And it's President's Day on Monday. How long has it been since we've had a president in office worth celebrating? Woo hoo!

Jimmy is not the only queen to go west recently. Former New Yorker Cashetta has left Fort Lauderdale and relocated to Vegas, where she's working with producers to mount her drag magic show. Let's hope she has better luck than the gals at La Cage. After a few too many nights with small audiences, the boss marched in and fired the cast with no warning, severance pay, nothing! Many of the impersonators have been with the show for over a decade and have bought (now depreciated in value) homes in the Vegas area. Needless to say, Frank Marino and the gals are completely goofed. This is the end of an era--La Cage has run for 20 years!



For updates on Cash, check out her website: CASHETTA.COM. She's steadily brushing up on her bag of tricks. Hopefully,, she can find one to make that gut disappear!

OTHER UPCOMING BUNNY GIGS:

SPLASH FREE TEA (back to our regular hours of 7:00-11:00) on Sundays.

MARCH 1st
MARCH 8th OFF
MARCH 14th
MARCH 21st
MARCH 28th

FEBRUARY 20th I make my debit in Naples, Florida at Spanners. Never been there but I hear the place is lovely. If you're in that area pop by. I actually have some new material! STOP THE PRESS!



On March 12th, I am thrilled to announce that I'll be dj'ing at Paris's trendy boutique Colette for the 50th anniversary of Barbie--the doll! After style.com reported that due to Marc Jacobs' runway show was much smaller and that I might not get in, I decided to show them and skip NY fashion week altogether and focus on Paris, the true home of couture!

And on March 27th, I'll make my New Haven, Connecti-cunt debut at Partners with the delicious Mizz Monica.

BENEFIT FOR GODS LOVE WE DELIVER AND TWEED THEATER WORKS:



I'll be joining forces with oodles of downtown denizens and a few mainstream celebs for this two night benefit directed by Tweed's Kevin Maloney.

THE HILARIOUS JACKIE HOFFMAN



TWEED Theaterworks is proud to bring you FOLLY: The Grand Street Follies, 2009, a fundraiser for God's Love We Deliver and TWEED Theaterworks. Inspired by the follies of the 20's, FOLLY will be an 'old school' vaudeville show featuring live acts: comedy, intriguing skits, unusual musical numbers, spectacle extravaganzas and more than a few surprises.



FRIDAY FEB 27TH:

Lypsinka, Jackie Hoffman, Lady Bunny, Julie Halston, Robert La Fosse as Isadora Duncan, Kristine Zbornik, Flotilla DeBarge, Brenda Bergman & The Bodacious TaTas, Sweetie, David Ilku, The Dueling Bankheads, Jodi Lennon, Carol Lipnik, The Butoh Rockettes, Wallace Shawn & Deborah Eisenberg, Dirty Martini, The Flute Friends, Wallie Wolfgruber Dance, Joseph Keckler, Todd Almond, Ken Bullock as Ragu Mountain Woman, Poor Baby Brie, Jim David, Stine Moen, Hooba Bjornevold, with Tony Conniff & The Grand St Follies Band – and surprise guests.

RICHARD MOVE LOOKING SENSATIONAL AS MARTHA GRAHAM!



SATURDAY FEB 28TH:

Rufus Wainwright, Richard Move as Martha Graham, Kristine Zbornik, Robert La Fosse as Isadora Duncan, Flotilla DeBarge, Brenda Bergman & The Bodacious TaTas, Jackie Hoffman, Sweetie, David Ilku, Poor Baby Brie, Jim David, The Dueling Bankheads, Jodi Lennon, Dirty Martini, Carol Lipnik, Todd Almond, The Flute Friends, Wallace Shawn & Deborah Eisenberg, Wallie Wolfgruber Dance, Joseph Keckler, Ken Bullock as Ragu Mountain Woman, Hooba Havem, Stine Coen, The Butoh Rockettes, plus Tony Conniff & The Grand St Follies Band – and more surprise guests!

The cheapest tickets are $45.00, but we all know that God's Love We Deliver has been delivering food to AIDS victims for decades and Theater Tweed is struggling like every other arts generation and is trying to raise $ for it's upcoming production of REBECCA. The Zipper and The Cutting Room have closed their doors permanently and somehow Kevin Maloney, Tweed's director, found this beautiful old theater for the benefit and is trying to keep the downtown scene alive. That's why I'm appearing and I hope you can make it.

MORE INFO/TIX: TWEEDTHEATER.ORG

WHAT BECOMES LEGENDS MOST? (Besides masks!)



LYPSINKA has scored a dream gig, recreating the creaky old Carol Channing/Mary Martin vehicle LEGENDS with Charles Busch and Whoopi Goldberg at Town Hall on March 23rd! The play, which will be updated with a few fresh jokes, is about two aging showbiz legends who rendez-vous to exchange catty barbs, and though it never made it NYC, the comedy became quite notorious since Carol and Mary weren't exactly hitting it off onstage or off during their 1986 run. Not to start a cat fight of my own, but can someone please tell me why both of the drag queens in this picture are sporting smaller coiffures than the notoriously dyke-y Whoopi??? I know I favor bigger hair than most, but girls! You let a real woman's wig upstage your?

MORE INFO: PLAYBILL

THE ONE NIGHT BENEFIT PERFORMANCE/ BENEFIT FOR FRIENDS IN NEED WILL SELL OUT! CLICK HERE FOR TICKETS: FRIENDSINNEED



The Lyp has also published her play MY DEAH, Southern-fried take-off the the greek tragedy MEDEA, with a little HUSH, HUSH SWEET CHARLOTTE thrown in for measure.



AND SPEAKING OF HUSH, HUSH SWEET CHARLOTTE, Varla Jean Merman is currently touring in very funny parody comedy of the Bette Davis campfest, both starring as herself and directing as her alter ego Jeff Roberson. I caught her act at Atlanta's 14th Street Playhouse and it was headed to an already sold-out run in Palm Springs, where the older set will no doubt remember the original upon which SHUT UP, SWEET VARLA! is based. I know I do--it's one of my fav films of all times! Highly recommended!

MORE INFO: VARLAONLINE.COM

I've also noticed while googling that there's a Varla appreciation page on Facebook. For some reason, Facebook will not accept Lady Bunny as a real name so I don't have a page. But WE WANT LADY BUNNY ON FACEBOOK and LADY BUNNY IS FABULOUS are accepted as real names? They both have pages and I can't get one? A friend has even contacted the site's administrators about this--here's their commentary, which I think is quite amusing. To be honest, I waste enough time in front of a computer screen, especially Myspace, so I wasn't eager to develop another time wasting site which has me glued to a screen every day. And how absurd is it that newscasters like Larry King are blabbing on about Twitter-ing with them after their show? PITIFUL! But then again, I despise texts so I'm admittedly behind the times.

To: info@facebook.com (info@facebook.com)
Subject: You're blocking someone from joining because of her name

Her name is "Lady Bunny" but Facebook rejects her name for some reason. It is her real name. She's a celebrity and would like to join for reasons like Facebook users creating groups like "WE WANT LADY BUNNY ON FACEBOOK"

Anyway... I thought I'd let you know that this error, while arbitrary, could be preventing legitimate users from signing up.

-Austen
-----End Original Message to Facebook-----


Facebook Support wrote:

Hi,

Fake names are a violation of our Terms of Use. Facebook requires users to provide their full first and last names (i.e. no initials). Nicknames can be used in the form of FirstName 'NickName' LastName, but only if they are a variation on your real first or last name, such as 'Bob' instead of 'Robert'. Additionally, please note that impersonating anyone or anything is prohibited. If you would like us to look into this issue, please tell this user to contact us directly. We will then be able to assist them further.

Thanks for contacting Facebook,

Marissa
User Operations
Facebook


To info@facebook.com

You are making an enormous assumption that "Lady Bunny" is a fake name. As a matter of fact, "Lady Bunny" is this person's legal name! Are you seriously going to require Facebook users to use the names that were written to their birth certificates, rather than the names they choose to go by, legally, as conscientious adults? How exactly do you expect to regulate this?

What purpose does this serve? Why should Facebook care what names people use, fake or otherwise? I think Facebook needs to seriously consider why they are treating their user policy as strictly as passport identification and such. Facebook is just a social networking website, not a government regulating body. Why be Nazi's about it? It makes no sense... Obviously, having a policy against fake names doesn't prevent impersonations. It has absolutely zero impact on the matter and is irrelevant.

Also, you have a website based on generating traffic and converting that traffic into advertising impressions. You would think that Facebook would be interested in having as many "users" as possible, alter-egos or not. You have other demographic profiling tools available you can employ for the purpose of showing people numbers to advertisers. At the end of the day, the numbers of "real" users versus "fake" users doesn't make a bit of difference to an advertiser. They don't give a damn about anything except how their ads perform. And being someone who has advertised on Facebook, I can tell you that I don't care one bit about how many "legit" users are on Facebook. I only care about how many impressions my ad has and how many clicks my ad gets. If one "fake" user creates a page or account that generates traffic by 10, 100 or 1000 "real" people interested in the "fake" profile, those are 10, 100, or 1000 potential ad impressions you have arbitrarily suffocated.

And in the case of Lady Bunny, who is a celebrity, who has 20,000 followers on MySpace, you really are creating a traffic vacuum by preventing her from using Facebook.

In this case, Facebook is being overly and unnecessarily conservative, the benefit of which I am trying mightily with all my mind to figure out, alas to no avail.

I'll pass along this absurd regulation to Lady Bunny so she can deal with it, if she chooses.

(BUNNY NOTE: I find this all to be quite hilarious. Seems like I get more attention off of Facebook than on it!)

MY SLUT PICS FOR TAGGED.COM:







Personally, I have been enjoying tagged.com, an odd hook-up site which must not have been banned yet in muslim countries, since I have several international gentleman callers who seem to enjoy my slut pics enough to beg me to go on cam with them. I find it fascinating, from their broken english (their english is infinitely superior to my arabic) to the pics these guys post. Some seem so romantic! Well, until you marry them and the beatings begin. An egyptian guy has festooned his page with classical cyber pics like these:









I think it's really gorgeous that a young guy would decorate his internet page with historical, erotic images like these. Most of today's youth don't feel much affinity with the past--they're quite happy with the disposable culture on offer these days. And hey, if handsome arab men like ancient women, just wait until you see how this old whore looks in a burqa! It sure will hide a jowl, chin, cold sore, chancre, runny nose and a multitude of other pesky flaws.

Check out this swoon-worthy dreamboat from Tunisia! I am fascinated with the studs of northern Africa and even making a never-to-be consummated contacts with guys from Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria drives me wild with desire. They all wanna do the cam thing but I can't get into that. And if I ask them for a cock pic to be emailed they accuse me of being a pic trader. And I respond "I can't suck a pic", but I guess it's a generational thing. Like texting.



I guess not all muslims are still sore over The Crusades--this one has actually visited a theme park and donned a crusader's suit of armor!



Many of these middle eastern guys are as chivalrous as knights and love to woo me with wildly romantic statements--some of their proposals n broken english have left me howling. For example:

hi , how are u doing ? i saw u here and i got chocked tha u are the most beauty wouman my eyes saw and i think u are not a human like us u seems that u are an angel live with us , i wounder if u accept me a a friend to know u better , u are so cute so drop me line if u have yahoo or msn and lets chat there if u are interested to know each other thanks waiting ur answer

wish if u come some day to egypt , to make u know what is the egyption hard long cock meaning ....

i want my duck in place of banene (Translation: I want my dick in place of the banana, which is in my mouth above in the beached whale pic.)

22 years of Egypt's possible to be introduced Your beautiful Ms

And this nutty one from a cutie in Israel:



Let us eat I'm hungry and I want to preyed on lonely of your body

(I didn't know that cannibalism was big in Israel.)

BUT HOW ON EARTH DID THIS COME OUT OF A DRAG UPDATE? I guess you know what I've been up to. Whoring online. But when surfing the net is not driven by dick fever, it's known as networking.

PARIS IS BURNING STAR CARMEN EXTRAVAGANZA, STILL SERVING FACE AT 47!



I've reconnected with two of my favorite divas from PARIS BURNING. Carmen Extravaganza (below) has returned to NYC after living for a decade in Madrid. You can find her on her myspace page. She still looks as amazing as she did when she graced the cover of the Village Voice 15 years ago. Or was it 20? TIme flies when you're senile.



Octavia St. Laurent is on myspace too, MYSPACE.COM/EUNUCH as well. She calls herself Heavenly Angel Octavia St. Laurent, which doesn't exactly roll off of the tongue, but the beauty has had several serious bouts with cancer after moving to Syracuse so you can't exactly blame her for going all spiritual. She told me "Girl, when I went in for chemo, it COOKED my (breast) implants." Octavia really went for the buffalo booty with silicone injections and all of that had to be scraped out. The look was literally traffic-stopping since her waist was so thin and then this massive booty appeared. But it's gone now and Octavia, in addition to pursuing her singing career, is on a mission to warn the "girls" about the dangers of silicone injections. I realize that there are dangers involved but I've experienced no complications since having my back and feet pumped.

OCTAVIA, STILL GORGEOUS WITHOUT HAIR! NOW THAT AIN'T EASY!



SPEAKING OF BAD PLASTIC SURGERY, am I the only one who thinks the octuplets mother looks like a sex change? She's had a dreadful nose whittle and awful lip implants, too! It also seems like she's had cheek implants which have fallen.



FREE MUSIC!

Come see the premier all-girl New York Dolls cover band
Prima Ballerina at the Lakeside Lounge (162 ave. b between 10th and 11th sts.)
friday, 2/20, 11pm

A glam-glitter night of pink boas, black fishnets, cherry-red vinyl platforms, leopard-print scarves and mercer street bacchanalia.



The members of Prima Ballerina are:

heidi thunders
jerry nolinda
jylvain jylvain
mony killer fal-kane
tammy jo starlite

zzzzzzlet the saturnalian spirit of the '70's kiss your sweet babylonian lips pills and wine with everything--such a feral and febrile night is free.


WANT MORE FREE MUSIC? MIXED BY DJ GANT JOHNSON AND DJ NITA, DOWNLOAD THESE DJ SETS FROM POPULAR NYC CLUB NIGHT TUBWAY by clicking here: PALMSOUT



So if you want to hear the sounds of a NYC nightclub, check these downloads out. And if you are in NYC, make Tubway a must-stop. The night has been chugging away for years in this uncertain economic climate an has even won some awards lately so it's still going strong.

TUBWAY'S DJ NITA AVIANCE



"BEST GAY PARTY" - PAPER MAGAZINE NIGHTLIFE AWARDS (NOVEMBER 2008)

"BEST DJ" (NITA) - GLAMMY AWARDS (DECEMBER 2008)

"BEST BAR OR NIGHT CLUB NIGHT" - GLAMMY AWARDS (DECEMBER 2008)

"BEST WEEKLY PARTY" - EDGE MAGAZINE:


THE IRREPRESSIBLE MURRAY HILL GEARS UP FOR HIS ANNUAL OSCAR PARTY AT JOE'S PUN. ALSO, A VD PARTY ON 2/14.





DO DRAG KINGS OF COLOR WEAR BIGGER DILDOES? HERE'S ONE WAY TO FIND OUT!



Drag trio Da Lipstyxx have teamed up with Automagic to craft a smoking new tune called YOU'RE FIERCE. This group is known for their live performances, particularly because founding member Milan is such an amazing dancer. I'm not too sure who is in the ever-changing group at this moment, but I think it's Mimi and Lady Fag, who is to be worshipped for her name alone, not to mention her high fashion Margaret Hamilton realness. The track has been signed by Kult records with an April release. It has an early 80's synth/funk sound which sounds straight out of Paradise Garage to me.



LISTEN HERE: DA LIPSTYXX

THE "LADIES" KNOWN AS SHE-DICK HAVE A NEW SUNDAY NIGHT IN BROOKLYN.



I've never seen these gals perform but I might just have to hightail it out to Brooklyn to check 'em out! They even have their own wikipedia entry and website if you wanna hear their electropop song-stylings abut extensions and the like.



ON THE WEST COAST:



Jackie Beat and Jer Ber Jones will appear at a benefit for gay marriage in LA on Sunday Feb 15th. Also featured, Selene Luna, the diminutive stripper who has worked often with Margaret Cho. Love her!

JACKIE BEAT LOOKING INSANE AT WORLD OF WONDER'S DRAG-THEMED ART OPENING.




JOHN CAMERON MITCHELL (AKA HEDWIG) TAKES OVER SAN FRAN'S VICTORIA THEATER FOR 3 NIGHTS OVER VALENTINES DAY WEEKEND. With guest hosts Peaches Christ, Connie Champagne and Anita Cocktail.



MORE INFO: YAHOO.COM

DINA MARTINA AS BURGER QUEEN. YOU CAN'T SEE HER FACE, BUT THAT ROTTED CAMELTOE IS UNMISTAKABLE!



IN SEATTLE, DEMENTED DIVA DINA MARTINA OFFERS HER CHERISHED CHESTNUTS, A BEST OF PERFOMANCE WHICH I HOPE WILL INCLUDE THE DEVIL WENT DOWN TO GEORGIA AND PIZZAZZ!

FEBRUARY 20TH--MARCH 28TH AT REBAR (SATURDAYS AND SUNDAYS ONLY)

MORE INFO: DINAMARTINA.COM

RUPAUL'S DRAG RACE HAS QUEENS BUZZING NATIONWIDE.



One of the competitresses requested me as a friend on Myspace. Her name is Jade she hails from Chicago. I watched the first episode and another contestant mentioned that she would "dyke" with Jade, since "she" is so handsome out of geish. I would too! Her myspace page lists her sexual orientation as bi. There are some fun pics from the red carpet opening of RuPaul's Drag Race, including the other contestants and Charo! That Nina Flowerz's (below left) make-up is incredible! If I could paint my mug like that I'd never wash it off!




I COULDN'T TELL YOU WHERE THIS WHORE IS FROM BUT SHE'S A SICK PIECE!

FIX MY DICK BY CHRISTEENE:



LONDON

In honor of the recently incarcerated Boy George, a WE LOVE BOY GEORGE club night was recently dedicated to the gender-bending pop star and Tasty Tim dressed as Boy George dressed as Leigh Bowery.



Drag star Jodie Harsh will star in a London version of PETA's FUR IS A DRAG, the fashion show in which queens sashay shante down the runway in bloody furs like the one Jodie's modeling below. February 20th at Circus.



RARE TOM RUBNITZ RETOSPECTIVE!

SISTER DIMENSION, A YOUNG ME AND RUPAUL IN TOM RUBNITZ'S CULT HIT PICKLE SURPRISE



Here's the press release for an extensive screening of video genius (and dearly departed friend) Tom Rubnitz. His short PICKLE SURPRISE has developed an internet cult following but that's only the tip of the iceberg. MADE FOR TV starring the many faces of Ann Magnuson and Frieda's THE MOTHER SHOW cannot be believed! I'm not a proud person, but I am VERY proud to have been a part of this 80's scene and included in Tom's fantastic work.

Made for TV: The Collected Works of Tom Rubnitz
Introduced by Charles Atlas

SISTER DIMENSION AND BILLY BEYOND



Wednesday, February 18, 2009 at 7:30pm
220 36th Street, 5th Floor – NEW SPACE
Brooklyn, New York

JOHN SEX



No videomaker captured the spirit of the East Village 1980s demimonde better
than Tom Rubnitz, who teamed up with the looniest luminaries of downtown New
York to create his incomparable oeuvre of live-action cartoony capers. For
over a decade until his death from AIDS in 1992, Rubnitz turned his cameras
on clubland’s most bedazzled, from drag royals like RuPaul, the Lady Bunny,
Hapi Phace, Lypsinka and Taboo! to choreographer Michael Clark, musician
John Sex, and lavender wit Quentin Crisp. Tackling the tube from all angles,
Rubnitz sends up cooking programs, movie ads, music videos and kid's shows;
his PBS-broadcast Made for TV parodies the entire cable age by
channel-flipping Ann Magnuson through a series of schizophrenic spoofs.

More recently, Rubnitz’s legacy has unexpectedly invaded the post-television
landscape. Clips of his videos on the internet have created a new surge of
interest in Rubnitz among electric youth: not only has Pickle Surprise! been
viewed thousands of times online, it’s also spawned a wave of fan remixes,
remakes and tributes. Today, his work might be seen as a precursor to the
digital psychedelia of Paper Rad or Ryan Trecartin—who, not incidentally,
has literally added Rubnitz to his list of YouTube favorites.

Tonight’s screening offers viewers a chance to venture beyond these bootleg
samplings, serving up a heaping helping of Rubnitz’s most outrageous works
in all their day-glo glory.

"Inimitable and ineffable, Tom Rubnitz's glitter-dusted videos distill the
sensibility of a generation of TV babies whose venue of choice was the
Pyramid Club rather than the Whitney Museum." - Amy Taubin

"Brilliant as they are lovable as they are hilarious, these videos are
simply dynamite. It was impossible to 'take notes' while watching them for
review; their uncanny, anarchistic vinegar encourages one to throw away the
writing pad. And when this short, shining, miracle hour was over I was
dashed, inconsolable." - Warren Sonbert

The Mother Show, 1991, 4 mins
Uncover...Me!, 1988, 2 mins
Made for TV, 1984, 15 mins
Summer of Love, 1989, 30 secs
Hustle with My Muscle, 1986, 4 mins
Bump and Grind It, 1986, 3 mins
John Sex: The True Story, 1983, 4 mins
The Drag Queen Marathon, 1986, 5 mins
Pickle Surprise!, 1990, 1 min
Chicken Elaine, 1983, 1 min
Strawberry Shortcut, 1989, 1 min
The Fairies, 1989, 5 mins
Love Is the Message, 1990, 4 mins
Wigstock: The Movie!, 1987, 21 mins

Tickets - $7, available at door. MORE INFO

Wednesday, February 18, 2009 at 7:30pm
220 36th Street, 5th Floor – NEW SPACE
Brooklyn, New York