May 1998
Lambda
Page 7
Night of the Divas
by Joy Liau
The lovely Meiodie Hooker
strutted her stuff for the audience at
Union auditorium March 24 during
Carolina’s celebration week. After
flaunting her fierce feminine prowess,
Hooker, UNC’s premier drag queen,
became the poised and confident
hostess of the Night of the Divas, the
first drag show to be held on campus.
Four of North Carolina’s
most prestigious professional queens
graced the stage that night: Brittany,
Kirby Kolby, Sonya Simone, and
Taylor Scott. In the packed
auditorium, the audience roared its
approval as the queens astoimded and
entertained. Skimpy thongs, elegant
dresses, and awe-inspiring headgear
were among the many sights to
behold. One queen performed skiltfiil
acrobatics that impressed us all,
crowning her act with several splits.
After the performance, chairs
were brought out to the stage, and a
cozy C^)rah-like atmosphere
descended. Audience members were
given the opportunity to satiate their
curiosity by querying the queens
through two microphones set up in the
aisles. Many of the questions asked
were about the lifestyles of the
performers.
Why do they, as gay men,
choose to dress so convincingly as
women and dance, dance, dance? For
the most part, the queens agreed that
drag shows were a way to express the
artistic and spotlight-loving aspect of
themselves. Also, it pays well. Yes,
however much they adore the
glittering dresses and the loving fans,
money becomes an important issue.
Another question burning in
the heart of one audience member was
how the heck did the queens get those
outfits? A man doesn’t just walk into
the women’s clothing department and
pick out a lovely dress or two, usually.
It turns out that many of the queens
are prett>' skilled seamstresses and
create their costumes by hand. Other
queens brave the occasional odd
glance, assume an air of
appropriateness, and shop with the
women in stores. I would think that
the easiest way would be to shop in
drag, but one does need the first outfit,
doesn’t he?
The queens were amenable
and enlightening to all during the
question and answer session. How
long does it take to get into drag? As
long as it takes! About an hour if
ne^ be. Are there drag schools?
Every show is a practice. Are there
drag role models? Each other.
Afterwards, the drag queens
stuck around and chatted. They were a
nice bunch. These divas. This night.
This Night of the Divas. UNC’s first
drag show was a great success, k
Queer Women Whine
and Sing: UNC and
Duke celebrate queer
women’s poetry
and song
by Kristen Williams
Within the small, daric room of a
coffee shop on Duke’s campus one
Wednesday, members of UNC’s
B-GLAD and Duke’s Gothic Queers,
3s well as random students and
admirers, gathered for a night of
“whine, wimmin, and song.” As
queer groups at both campuses
rejoiced in their homosexuality all
during Celebration Week, that
Wednesday’s event seemed a quite
appropriate celebration of le^an and
bisexual women’s music and poetry.
Sponsored jointly by B-GLAD and
Gothic Queers, the night’s events
included three guitar performances,
one a cappella singer, one featured
poet, and an assortment of other brave
souls who took advantage of the open
mike.
Allison Bates took the stage first to
warm up the audience of nearly thirty
excited music fans. She sang a throaty
mixture of personal songs as well as
several of Am DiFranco's well-known
tunes. The music reverberated off the
vrildly-painted walls as the shop’s
patrons sat down with their coffee and
respectfully turned all eyes towards
the stage.
After a brief intermission (in
which this writer happily won an Ani
poster as a door prize) Sarah Strauss
stepped up to the mike. With a rawer
style than the previous artist, she kept
the audience hooked. Across the
darkened room, toes and fingers kept
the beat on tables and floor. From the
enthusiastic response after every song,
one can imagine they had heard her
set before. As a first-time listener,
Sarah impressed me with her playing,
and 1 heartily joined in the applause
when she finished..
After a brief, but excellently done,
a cappella interlude and a word from
the night’s sponsors, Amanda Maris
took the stage, to the delight of the
UNC contingent. As usual, she offered
a magnificent hour-long set, playing
through the favorite cuts from her
recent CD, which I encourage ail
readers to run out and buy, and even
including a new song she is working
on for her next album. For all the
B-GLAD members in the audience
who had seen the performance before,
I know they enjoyed it even more this
time, it seems as if every time
Amanda plays, the listener may hear
something different in her words. And
for all those present who had never
heard her sing before, their response
at the show’s conclusion seemed a
fitting testament to their admiration.
The night finished with an
interesting poetry reading from the
featured poet including acrostic poetry
aimed at educating the audience about
sexually-transmitted diseases and a
selection of the memories of a field
biologist’s girlfriend. Several amateur
poets then stood before the mike to
offer up their poetic endeavors to a
very receptive crowd. And as the
crowd slowly drifted back to their
dorms and their cars, all were talking
enthusiastically about the night’s
success. The first-ever “Whine,
continued on page 8