Entries in Ariel Lea (2)
Preview for My Brand New Podcast: Confessions of a Drag Queen
Tuesday, March 9, 2010 at 11:22AM So I have had the idea in my head for a while to start a podcast. The life of a drag queen is often ridiculous and comical in nature and there are many things that are tied to gender & gender expression that we do not discuss. With that in mind, our team came up with Confessions of a Drag Queen. The podcast is going to be different everytime. Sometimes I would like the format to be like that of Chelsea Lately where myself and a panel of commentators sit around and discuss different topics and share our opinions. Some will be one on one interviews with different individuals here in Reno but also in other cities and states as well who have a unique perspective on a particular topic or situation. Others will perhaps will be solo addresses with me talking about a particular topic from my experiences - everything from pop culture classes about Miley Cyrus' multiple identities to a discussion about homophobia and the whole gay marriage batte.
Let me know what you think of the preview episode. We had a lot of fun with this one and decided to just talk about something completely random. After a Utility Players Improv show, where the host Jes talked about the time that her, myself, and two of our friends took a roadtrip to Florida and spent the end of every night in the hot tub, and Jes discovered that the three of us had been occassionally peeing in the hot tub. Thus began a discussion of IF and WHEN it is ok to pee in a hot tub. So for the first podcast I had the idea of talking about different social taboos. We ended discussing peeing in hot tubs, masturbation, and farting in public and blaming it on somebody else. I am so excited to do the next one, I have so many ideas in my head. So let me know what you think and also if there is anything that you would like me to discuss or talk about, comment down below!
Recap of the A.Love.Nouveau's Valentine's Day Show
Monday, February 15, 2010 at 1:46PM “A Night of Love and Bad Romance”
Saturday night was absolutely amazing. I had such an incredible time and the best part was that I looked stunningly fabulous. I was wearing my brand new, for real real, corset that, while giving the appearance that I was six sizes smaller than I am, also had the effect of diminishing my lung capacity. Saturday was important for a variety of reasons. One was the premiere of my girl Ariel Lea, a girl who drove all the way from Ohio with her dog Duke, to chase her dreams of singing and performing. She lit up the night with her rendition of “All That Jazz” from Chicago. Ariel and I are in production right now working on a brand new show. Our working title for the show is the Drag Cabaret, which is going to look a little bit like Donny and Marie, meets crack cocaine, meets a drag queen ;)
The other reason why Saturday was important was that I was performing a number in the show. Between the musical, the Utility Players, and other business October was the last time that I performed a “drag” number. So I was excited to go out there with ridiculously hot choreography, beautiful burlesque dancers to serve as my demonic ho minions, and a 7 foot tall mens to play the part of my bad romance – what more could an aspiring young drag queen desire. OH alo my girl Ariel did my makeup and see did this fierce glitter lightening bolt down the side of my face for my Lady Gaga "Bad Romance" number - making the night perfect.
The first show was absolutely incredible. The number went off without a hitch – and thank god I put some boobie pasties on because I learned afterward that my boobs popped out about every three seconds to the audience, so thank god for the small miracle that is pasties. Although the show did not feature a lot of single mens in the audience, I had two hunky single Australian men sitting in the front row named Tristan and Pete. OMG I about dropped to my knees and proposed right there. I would gladly lively out my life as Mrs. Hot Australian. OMG could you imagine being married to a devastatingly beautiful Australian man named Tristan for the rest of your life? Although I am a strong independent woman of the 21st century, but I would have become Suzie Homemaker and bore him 10 children if he would have asked me too.
The second show got a little more complicated than the first one. First of all, during my opening number my tutu accidentally got caught on my heel and started ripping the fabric. Trying to act like nothing is wrong, I had to unhook the tutu and not fuck up the choreography at the same time. Similarly, because it was the later show, there were a few more drunken hecklers in this show. Dealing with drunken hecklers is always an interesting juggling act. You want to try to silence them and acknowledge that they are being asses but you do not want to indulge them and give attention to their behavior. There was this one guy named “Eyes Wide One” - his Burning Man name – who gave me the most trouble.
***** MINOR DIGRESSION **** First of all, when a host asks for your name, do not give them your mystical Burning Man name. Shit like this makes me detest the whole Burning Man escapade and those that feel that they are enlightened beings because they attended this week long experience. I'm sure that it is very powerful and some individuals attend with the truest intentions and do not leave the camp complete and utter tools. For me, stranded out in the middle of a desert with no indoor plumbing sounds like hell for this Ginger. ****************
Anyways, this guy was giving me a lot of trouble. He volunteered to participate in our little game show - such a horrible decision. He was barely making sense, slurring his words, and then before I knew he was stripping on stage. I had that moment of “what the hell is happening” followed by the “what the hell am I going to do” thought. I look over and he is down to his boxers and I see that he is starting to take those off, so I did the only thing that I could think about, and jumped in front of him and used my plus-sizedness to block his wee wee from being exposed to my audience. He would not stop at all, so I did the only thing that I could think of, I slapped him – with his permission of course – and that was a huge hit with the audience.
Something that usually strikes me after the show is how many people did not realize that I am a drag queen. Though I mention it several times in the show and make fun of myself for it, many audience members are solidly convinced that I am woman – so Miss Ginger had quite a few gentlemen callers courting her affections after the show. It's always hard to read these situation: do they know I'm gay, are they aware that I am man, do they realize that this look took 6 hours and will not be happening everyday, will they become violent if they find out? These are all questions I must ask myself whenever a guy meets Ginger. Transphobia and violence against gender non-conforming people still occurs, and mama didn't raise no fool, so I make sure to take care of myself and make sure that I do not get involved in any potentially unsafe situations. It still always get me that not only are sometimes unaware that I am man, but even when I tell them to their face, they still remain unconvinced, and then they awkwardly want me to show them my naughty bits to confirm it. HHHHEEELLLLLL NO!!! You have to at least buy this girl dinner first or something.
Make sure to check out photos from the show in my Picture Gallery and stayed tuned for more upcoming shows!!! Thank you to everyone who came out to support the event, threw a dollar bill down my bra, or laughed at one of my jokes. There is nothing more in life that I want to do than perform as Ginger, and Saturday stands as another night where I get to do what I enjoy most in life.
Miss Ginger Devine
P.S. This is a photo from the second show, during the game show where one of the studio audiences decided to start taking off all of his clothes and strike a somewhat heroic pose.
I don't know if you can see the look of utter confusion and somewhat disgust on my face, but it is there. And yes, Ladies and Gentlemen, he flashed me in his boxers and I saw his wee wee



