Drag Capital

The aim of, - well one aim of,- Going Round The World In Drag in 2001 was to get to Sydney in time for the Mardi Gras. I managed it, as I told Jo in a mail here,- Jo, Jo, Hi, girl! Where are we? – we’re in Sydney, the Drag Capital of the World. And I’ve got lots of action to tell you about. We’ve hardly been here a few days and already we’ve been in the thick of it all. There was Sherry Vine’s birthday party, and all the drag shows and, yes, “Frocks at Fox”, so you’ll just have to get bits and pieces about all of them. First stop here is Kitty’s Drag Bag, - it’s a shop just across from the hotel and it’s the main place where you go for supplies, you know, wigs, shoes, make-up, outfits, advice, and all the lowdown you need to find your way around here, drag-wise. Kitty is lovely and has been really helpful. It was Kitty told me about Sherry and Joey’s show. You know I met them in Manchester last year and I’ve been E-mailing Sherry since so I wanted to catch their show again here but it was all over because nobody realized how big a draw it would be – it sold out many times over, but I’d missed it! But it turned out it was Sherry’s birthday the day after we arrived and they were off back to New York the next day so I just had to get along. It was at the Stonewall Hotel, just opposite the hotel we’re in (again) and I got all glammed up in the long black slit dress which was such a hit in Bali, but with lacy black hold-ups (if you’re going to hang out with superstars dress to impress!), and my star wig. The hotel staff were very impressed. So off I trot across Oxford Street, and, of course, even trying to be late, I’m early. You can never allow too much for ‘drag queen time’, can you? So I ended up having a long chat in the downstairs Bar with Michelle, a totally sorted lesbian from Cardiff, and we agreed that Sydney was even better than we had expected. Loads of queens arrived but the Stonewall gay-boys were not that interested. Even when I went up to the Cocktail Lounge at ten it was quite empty but I got back together with Joey and Sherry and gave her a birthday card. And they got me introduced to lots of others, Rica, Gary, all their friends and got me one of those big fuck-off cocktails and I was soon settled in, you can imagine. But the main thing was all the local queens were got together to put on a bit of a show in honour of Joey and Sherry, so we got lots of songs, the odd torch-song, and ballad, and lots of jokes. There were half-a dozen of us queens around but it wasn’t too stand-offy, though the local girls of course took the spotlight. But in the end Sherry and Joey did a couple of numbers and they do live, you know, which is fabulous because they have such wonderful voices (Joey does everybody) and they ended with a little insult-competition which was quite sweet, because Sherry’s moving from New York to Berlin and she and Joey won’t be doing shows together any more after six years so it was all a bit poignant. And it was funny because they had a competition in which they gave Sherry a member of the crowd, Uva, a Scandinavian, as a prize. After that it was all dance with a few Sydney exhibitionists and a really cute boy who I think was Hawaiian but a bit shy, and two boys from the South African Mardi Gras show “The After-Nines”, Paul and his friend, and I had a great time. And Sherry and I had a little chat before I got off, at God knows what time in the morning, tottering on my stillies in the middle of Oxford Street with cars in every direction. Welcome to Sydney, girl! And we’ve seen a show at the Albury which is one of those bars which does regular drag (just down from the hotel, etc. etc). They perform in the middle of the bar, loads of sequins, chokers, big hair, really the usual sort of thing but very good – three songs and a bit of a chat to the audience, three times a night. A lot of these girls are full-time, and earn their money, I’ll tell you. We met a couple of Geordie lads who were off round Australia in a beat-up VW, not going home of course. The second show had this group. Pink Bits, who end up in this Thai ensemble, gold with head-dresses, two boys, three, well, “girls”, and a Seventies style finale, all blue fur and flares. All the fellers in the audience are attending to below the neckline as it turns out. It’s all very clever and the crowd love them. We stopped off at Palms on the way back for more drag, which ended up with a conga round the club, But you see, Jo, all the queens, including Pink Bits, ended up at “Frocks at Fox” two days later, a Sunday when they turn the whole Fox Film Studios (which is really a sort of theme park of film with lots of attractions and restaurants and cafes and things – we saw a mad show full of dancing kangaroos, possums and koalas….!) into a Drag Day raising money for charity and all the Sydney Mums and Dads and kids crowd in and get their pictures taken with drag-queens and get a load of drag cabaret and shows and competitions, and it’s all really big. Anyway I had to be in there somewhere. I decided to preview my Mardi Gras costume because I’m not going to be able to be in the Parade (I came too late to register, Jo, what a tragedy!). And that, you’ll remember, is the whole silver number with lots of pink feathers, a bit minimal by MG standards but light and showy enough for the day and not too painful (though I’m crossing my fingers about the silver boots), So with all that, a fan to keep cool and a heavy dose of sunblock I got a cab to the Fox Studios (not far from the hotel, etc, etc, etc). Actually it wasn’t too hot, nicely cloudy. Lots of families, and not as many queens as I’d expected, but a few familiar faces from Sherry’s party, and that meant I got my picture taken a lot (I had the platinum really draggy hair you gave me on – very photogenic). I got invited up on stage to say Hi, interviewed by a TV crew about “what makes a perfect woman” (a perfect man, of course!). I should get my routine together, Jo – a girl’s nothing without a routine here – one girl was using the moment to promote a single she hadn’t even released yet! And a big woman from Woolongong (I mean it!) told me how trannie-friendly she was, God, she seemed to have half an extended-family of them! Anyway, the big show ended up on the big stage with Tina C who’d been doing Mardi Gras shows singing “Waltzing Matilda” and all the crowd singing along, even the shy gay-boys (yes, there are some, even in Sydney). Dear, I cried, it was so moving. So, I had a fine day out, lots of attention, lots of queens, and all on one milk-shake (by the way at “Frocks at Fox” they generally think you should use the men’s loos, which tells you something about how Sydneysiders see us queens). And all that in three days. Mardi Gras still to come. Jo, so more from the drag-front soonest, Love Mandy