"DZI CROQUETTES"
Director: Raphael Alvarez and Tatiana Issa
Trevor's Rating: 4.5 / 5 Stars
What a charming film! Many of you will be familiar with The Cockettes, San Francisco's infamous drag troupe that ruled in the 1960s and 70s. Less of you will be familiar with Brazil's amazing counterpart, "Dzi Croquettes" (a title they came up with while eating the French fried food). The director Tatiana Issa's father worked as part of the group's technical staff, and she grew up with the troupe around them. There is clearly a lot of love packed into this gem of a movie, with each of the 13 cast members getting due attention and care.
This is both a feature and a flaw of the film, and it's inherent in documentary making. So many stories to tell. So little time to tell it in. But I cannot fault the film for it, for the stories are so incredible that I cannot imagine having to cut any of them. The troupe had a long and fiery road to fame, with plenty of fights and trists and romances along the way. Their performance style is simply uncanny -- a kind of pastiche of numerous genres that come together to create something fabulously unfamiliar, exciting, and totally queer. It's not like the drag you see on Ru Paul's LOGO show. It's performance art.
What is particularly incredible is that they came into fruition at a tumultuous time for Brazil: an oppressive dictatorship whose grip on the nation was ever-tightening. The film specifically sites the impact of AI-5 (Ato Institucional Número Cinco), which shut down Congress and suspended many civil rights. The government had no way of understanding the Croquettes -- their performances were not explicitly against the regime, and thus they managed to slip under the radar and convince the government that they were harmless. Given the censorship that was going on at the time in Brazil, this is truly amazing.
Liza Minelli -- of all people! -- was instrumental in bring the group international acclaim. She helped them secure precious media coverage after she had seen them in Brazil. She's always a wonder to watch on screen, and it was really very generous of her to make time to be interviewed for this piece. Even Josephine Baker herself had a hand in bringing the Croquettes fame: Before she died, she told the theatre owner that they should take over her spot at the show. Just a few days later, she died on stage. The theatre owner kept her wish, and their run at Paris was hugely successful.
I'm dying to get my hands on a video of once of their performances. They're truly incredible. In this trailer below for the film, you'll get a taste. Get your hands on this wonderful film if you can! Enjoy!
Here's a clip from a drag performance at Outfest yesterday in the Philadelphia gayborhood, about two blocks from my apartment. Turn down your volume before playing: the levels on this iPhone video are a bit off.
A few of San Francisco's most infamous creatures of the night-life gathered in Union Square for a drag parade to celebrate national coming out day.
It was a guerilla attack on tourists, retail queens, bridge-and-tunnel shoppers and a few military families here for fleet week. The idea was to claim a little queer space (without a friggin' permit and budweiser sponsorship) in some areas of the city where it might shake some folks up.
We started at the cable car turn around (a sure bet if you're looking for overwhelmed SF tourists), then headed into the Westfield mall (complete with our police "escort" who reminded us to "move it along") and finished off in front of one of the Tenderloin's oldest gay/drag bars, Aunt Charlies.
If you're not familiar with San Francisco's style of drag, it has it's roots in punk rock and performance art, and almost always trys to push your buttons. Check out the pics below, filled to the brim with the best in gay tragedy!
San Francisco drag legend sang the album at the opening of a Major League Baseball game - The San Francisco Giants vs. The Arizona Diamondbacks last week. The first time a drag performer has ever done so! Bravo!
After picking Trevor up from the airport last night, we drove down to SOMA for a party called Chaser. The party is thrown by a local cunty queen, Monistat, and is billed as a party for trannies.
The biggest draw for me was an appearance by Ongina from RuPaul's Drag Race!
For those who aren't familiar, RuPaul's Drag Race was on the Logo channel and was an America's Next top Model meets Project Runway style reality show that featured drag queens competing for the title of next drag super star.
Ongina was my favorite contestant (even though she didn't win.) She's known for her gender-fuck style of drag, as well as her tearful admission of her HIV status.
She was a pleasure to talk to and I'll be damned if she didn't have the softest skin I've ever touched!
A friend of a friend was supposed to send this photo over FOREVER ago. But it has finally arrived in my inbox. And I had to share. Here me and the boys pose with the fabulous Cyon Flare from Chicago. She's pretty fierce -- and even sings live! At Backstreet last Saturday, we met Cyon after her performance of her single (see her Myspace page linked before). Lovely!
Armed robbers -- some dressed as women -- have stolen an estimated €80 million ($102m) in jewels during a brazen raid at a central Paris store, police say..
Police told The Associated Press three or four thieves swiped rings, necklaces and luxury watches from display cases at the Harry Winston store near the Champs-Elysees.
The store is also just around the corner from a police station.
Police said at least two of the thieves were men dressed as women, they spoke a foreign language and knew the employees' names.
Between 10 and 15 people and staff were in the store when the robbers entered late Thursday afternoon.
CNN's Jim Bittermann said staff first thought they were clients. However, the robbers then drew their guns.
He said the robbers directed staff to empty jewels from secret hiding places and the safe.
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They overturned display cases and emptied the shop of nearly all its stock.
The store is situated on the fashionable Avenue Montaigne and was robbed little more than a year ago.
Heklina pouring champagne toasts at the LAST Trannshack EVER!
Oy vey. My summer in San Francisco is coming to a close, but I thank my lucky stars I was in town for the LAST Trannyshack Tuesday EVER in San Francisco. And what a momentous evening it was last night! Jackson and I arrived VERY early, as we knew it was going to be slammed that night. There were so many amazing performances that I sadly could not get all on tape! They were just phenomenal. I kept filming and then deleting and then filming and deleting as my memory card kept filling up. I've got some good moments on film, though.
As you may know, Trannyshack is known for the event's hostess, Heklina, who quickly gained a reputation as a salty, punky emcee who enjoyed rimming cute boys on stage. There was some debate on whether to both rimming anyone last night, but Peaches Christ insisted. It was the last night, and it had to happen. So Heklina scoured the crowd for the right boy, and picked out James, a straight boy just here for the entertainment. James looked scared shitless. The video is priceless. You can see Peaches Christ and Putanesca to the right:
But I'm getting ahead of myself. I do have the full footage of the opening number, Heklina's last opening performance EVER at the Stud. She performed Pat Benetar's classic, "Love is a Battlefield." It's fierce. And, as always, the number is preceded by the opening song to the original "The Muppet Show." Lovely:
Following Heklina's performance was a ridiculous number that featured TVs being smashed on stage. Sadly, I couldn't fit the number on my memory card. I swapped it out for this performance from a faux-king (a man performing as a woman performing as a man) and her troupe of players (including Princess Kennedy and many others). They performed Falco's "Rock Me Amadeus" in full Victorian drag:
Great costumes! Sadly, I only caught part of the final performance on camera. It featured all the queens coming on stage drinking "poison," and falling dead on stage -- only to be revived for a "Last Dance." You can see a number of Trannyshack's most well-known queens: Glamamore, Suppositori Spelling, Metal Patricia (the one who shoots himself in the head), and of course Heklina:
Wish I had more on tape! There were two GIGANTIC film cameras there, so I'm sure it's all on high quality video somewhere. Any idea what will happen to those tapes?
Finally, for good measure, here's Jackson giving the camera head as we waited at the foot of the stage for TWO GAY HOURS for the show to start. Phew! It was worth it. The video begins with a bit of the Trannyshack video montage prepared for the audience:
And here's some lovely photos from the event! Enjoy!
If you're unfamiliar with the iconically San Francisco event, Trannyshack has been going on for god knows how long. It's a drag show. It's irreverent. And it's every Tuesday night at the Stud. That is, every Tuesday night until August, when the show will end its run of 12 years, leaving the city without a reliable source for queer dragtastic fun. My dear friend Ethan dragged me out (get it?!?!) this evening to meet Jesse (who I went to SF State with) and his bf Max for "Showtunes" night @ Trannyshack. Troy joined in on the fun.
Here's Tshack hostess Heklina and two queens opening the show with a dueling Liza Minnelli "New York, New York" number, preceded by the standard Muppet theme song that opens each Tshack!
Good stuff! Faux queen (that means she's actually a lady during the day, too) Holy McGrail also performed her beautiful performance of Spamalot's "Find Your Grail," which won her a Miss Trannyshack Starsearch award!
This was a very short, three minute whimsical film out of London featuring a performance art piece with two female-bodied performers -- chests bound by a kind of black duct tape -- dancing to a song by bending back and forth. It read to me as a celebration of the ability to move our bodies freely and whimsically, without care. It was good natured fun.
"THE BOND"
Director: Michael T. Connell
Trevor's Rating: 3.5 / 5 Stars
What a charming little film! Basically, this short six minute piece features a father's reminiscing about his daughter's transition from male to female. I think his frank and honest commentary may have made some trans folks in the audience uncomfortable -- he talked a bit about mourning the loss of his son -- but I appreciated his candid disclosure. Before she transitioned, she served in the army, married, and had two kids! Oy vey! It was lovely to have the father and daughter both at the screening (and at the trans-filled afterparty). Very cute!
"DONNY AND GINGER"
Director: Jon Bush
Trevor's Rating: 3.5 / 5 Stars
Trailer for HBO SHOUT Short Film Contest:
My friends hated this movie. I wasn't quite as offended as they were by its somewhat cliche story, but I'm getting ahead of myself. This film won HBO's LGBT "SHOUT" short film competition, giving director Jon Bush $15,000 to produce the flick (see trailer above). So in comparison to many of the other low-fi films included in this collection, it was fairly polished and professional looking. My friends took issue with the 10 minute movie's plot, which opens with a transgender sex worker asking a cop for a ride. There's clearly more to this relationship than meets the eye, as the burly male cop winds up taking the woman to breakfast. It turns out that the cop is the woman's father, and bitter estranged family dialogue ensues. My friends were upset that the only film directed by a non-trans person in this collection of shorts about trans people was the most stereotypical of the batch. It's a fair criticism. But taken out of the context of this screening, I think the film is fairly solid, if perhaps a bit stale.
"FELICIA"
Director: Tim O'Hara
Trevor's Rating: 4.5 / 5 Stars
What a charmer! This film was a delight. In eight minutes, it opened up a window into the life of Felicia Elizondo, a transgender woman facing the reality of aging alone. The film opens with her talking about her pets, a 17 year-old dog, a 18 month year old dog, and a 9 year-old cockatoo. Every morning when she wakes up, she makes sure to give the older dog and the cockatoo a good shake "to make sure they're still alive." Funny stuff. Felicia's been HIV-positive for many years, and has lost many of her friends to the disease. But she still has a group of friends that she makes sure to keep in touch with regularly, calling them every day or every other day. She's a gem, and I loved hearing her story. I'm glad this film was made.
71 year-old Vicki Marlane is the oldest living, continuously performing drag performer in the world. She performs to this day over at Aunt Charlie's Lounge here in San Francisco, every Friday and Saturday night. I've actually seen Vicki perform before, and she's a real treat. This nine minute short documentary was BRILLIANT. I loved every second of it. Vicki is a trip and a half, hamming it up for the camera at every turn. She used to perform in carnival acts in the 1950s, sometimes filling in as "two of the four legs of the four-legged woman." She has many on stage stories to tell, many involving her "usual cocktail" of a stiff drink and sleeping pills. But hands down my favorite part had to be when she reveals her make-up secret: applying two pieces of clear tape to her forehead to stretch away a few years. Wow. Despite living with HIV for many years, Vicki still has the spirit of a 22 year old on stage. That resilient spirit shines here in this fabulous film. Get your hands on it if you can.
"THE ROLE I WAS BORN TO PLAY"
Director: Lukas Blakk
Trevor's Rating: 2.5 / 5 Stars
This short film wasn't short enough. Using nine minutes of clips from the movies She's the Man, Boy's Don't Cry, and Just One of the Guys, Blakk attempts to piece together a kind of personal gender monologue -- but the film is just a mess. Boy's Don't Cry is nothing light to throw around, and one scene flashes the movie's most violent scene, interspersed with a kind of inner monologue about why the narrator never hooks up with people he's not out to as trans. Using clips from other movies in this way is an interesting idea -- certainly many of us look to cinematic portraits of queer life to help us understand our lives and worlds -- but it's not executed particularly well at any point.
"THORN IN YOUR SIDE"
Director: Dean Hamer
Trevor's Rating: 3 / 5 Stars
I understood this making of this film to be almost about producing a historical record of a small piece of the transgender movement here in San Francisco, the Trans March. And basically, that's what you get here -- a glimpse at the March's activities and spirit. It's innocuous, very cute.
Okay, I'm a bit biased. Ethan Suniewick, the film's creator and primary director, is one of my best pals here in the city (my BFF Jackson is also featured here). Like Johanna's film that I blogged about yesterday, Ethan worked on this film over his second year at SF State for his Masters thesis project. But his film really is fabulously important. What I love about Ethan's film is that it has an applied practical purpose -- it's a short, 18 minute training video for health care providers. How cool is that? There's no jargon here, just real stories about trans people's experiences with providers, and suggestions for how providers can take steps to improve their trans-competency. One of the most troubling stories, for instance, comes from a transgender woman who works in a clinic in the city who went to the ER with a fever and bronchitis. Despite this, she found herself being hoisted into stirrups under a spotlight while a group of doctors looked at her vagina. Enraging! But the film is quite touching. Very smart, straight the point. Bravo, Ethan! We're so proud!
This film was cute, if a bit silly. A transgender puppet living in the 2040's reminisces about life back in the early 2000's, before he moved back to "the land" to take over his family's farm. The agro-politics here are just a bit outrageous, but hey, it's always good to think about what we want our future to look like. So I appreciate this film's commitment to imagining it, however whimsically.
"THE GAY BED AND BREAKFAST OF TERROR"
Director: Jaymes Thompson
Trevor's Rating: 4 / 5 Stars
Trailer:
My friends and I had been excited about this screening for weeks -- a slasher flick with drag queens? Rock! So we were particularly randy tonight by the time the reel started rolling. We arrived at the Castro theatre a full hour ahead of time -- we were first in line! One of the film's stars, local drag sensation Precious Moments, rolled up in a black limo, attempting to stir up applause from generally confused passersby. Priceless.
I liked a lot about this film. There was camp. There was good bloody gore. There was even a bit of anti-Bush politics thrown in for good measure. We learn for instance that, after being gang banged by 100 Republicans, the crazy innkeeper Helen (played by a deliciously creepy Mari Marks) gives birth to a homicidal, worm-like quasi-human child. That's pretty fucking amazing. But I felt that there was a bit too much back story at times -- it had a tendency to get a bit tedious. And -- although I'll refrain from blowing the movie's ending -- I thought it was pretty lackluster. It seemed as though they kind of just threw the last 20 minutes together without much thought, which is a shame because the rest of the film is generally good popcorn-munchin' entertainment. In any case, the film's been picked up for DVD release -- so do make a point to check it out!
Speaking of black drag queens, Salon.com has just posted an article analyzing the recent trend in black movies to feature male actors doing.... drag? Well, it's not quite drag, really. It's something much more tricky and complicated and problematic. The author cites critics who call this trend nothing more than an updated minstrel show:
Like Chappelle, blogger Darryl James sees the phenomenon as part of an effort to neutralize black masculinity. For him and a lot of other straight black men, gender-bending comedians are "castrated clowns," whose emasculation makes them palatable to white people and man-hating black women alike. "The black man in drag is one of the new coons," he writes. Never mind that he's also one of the old coons -- according to Marjorie Garber's 1999 book, "Vested Interests," the men who played women in minstrel shows were "the best-paid performers in the minstrel company."
Her analysis in the rest of the article I find a bit weak, but it's worth reading. I think this trend is something that we -- we being people concerned about representations of race, gender, and sexuality -- should certainly be thinking critically about!
Wish I could write more, but I'm off to lunch with my friend Ethan and then hopping in a car with my friend Bill, whose giving me a lift to Guerneville!
Okay, so I haven't quite formulated things yet here. But Perez Hilton has just posted this video of a black drag queen performing as Wonder Woman to a remix of Bonnie Tyler's classic song, "I Need a Hero." It's pretty fucking fierce. Check that shit out.
But on to the meat. Perez has been posting to several performances by black drag queens of late -- particularly a performer by the name of Britney Houston. So this leads me to my question: Why are black drag queens in particular so visibly present in popular gay culture right now?
This is intensely complicated, and perhaps not particularly new -- after all, who's the most famous drag queen in the world? RuPaul of course. But there's something about the moment we're in now that makes me feel like black drag queens are much more visibly present that their white counterparts. I have two main lines of thought here:
1) I think black drag queens have embraced popular culture in a way that white performers haven't. Well, embraced is the wrong word. It's probably what José Esteban Muñoz has termed "disidentification" -- they're using / queering symbols from pop culture for their own purposes. White queens seem more obsessed with cult films (Showgirls, Elvira, etc) and female icons from many moons ago (Judy Garland, Joan Crawford). It's good stuff, don't get me wrong. But it's not nearly as legible in popular culture.
2) There's something perverse going on about the relationship between white gay culture and blackness in general. I'm thinking here of my time spent in the company of other white gay boys (and men!). Whereas the white gay man of 20 years ago would conjure a dramatic line from a Joan Crawford movie to express affective emotion (anger, bitterness, ecstasy), the young white gay boys I know today (and even older guys I know) will conjure the black woman. "Oh, snap! No she didn't!" You know what I'm talking about. So I'm wondering here if this is playing into the way that images / performances from black drag queens are being consumed right now...
I need some help thinking this through, though. Any ideas, y'all?
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Pam's House Blend
She's a fabulous North Carolinian blogging about politics, LGBT and women's rights, the influence of the far Right, and race relations. What more can I say?
