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Hostess
Lady Bunny interviews a future showgirl
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“Late
one night in the spring of '84 a drunken group of friends, seeking
more diversions, closed the Pyramid Club and traipsed over to
Tompkins Square Park, six-packs in tow. Brian Butterick, Michael
"Kitty" Ullman, Wendy Wild, The "Lady" Bunny
and a few members of the Fleshtones were horsing around in the
bandshell when someone (no one remembers who, it's all such a
blur) came up with the idea of putting on a show - a day-long drag
festival - and calling it Wigstock. It was Bunny who was foolhardy
enough to take the idea seriously, going recklessly ahead and
getting the necessary permits.” (As posted on the HOWL
Festival website 2003).
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A
Packed Audience Looks On
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From
the 1,000 attendees that first year, the event became the most
celebrated drag extravaganza in the country, if not the world,
attracting as many as 25,000 people a year – gay, trans,
straight, and tourists alike. By 1991, then held at the Chelsea
Pier (they outgrew the park), the event featured celebrity talent
such as RuPaul, Lypsinka and other’s, and enjoyed its fabled run
until closing in the summer of 2001.
Its
been said that, “you can’t go home again.” But on Saturday
23rd 2003 for three hours that’s exactly what
Wigstock did. Lady
Bunny, as she had done since that first year,
took center stage in Tompkins Square Park to “Emcee” a
reprise of the famed event as part of the six day HOWL - a lower
eastside arts festival in NYC. And they didn’t disappoint.
I arrived late - just as the Famous “Bob” took the
stage and dedicated her number to the memory of International
Chrysis, a cabaret performer who was a very beloved trans-pioneer,
and to me a friend I remember fondly.
The crowd was so thick I had to struggle to get to the
backstage gate as a Liza impersonator on stage made me do a double
take, and if it wasn’t for the towering Dean Johnson, the
6’7” drag queen lead singer of the group The Velvet Mafia, I
may not have found it. The show was packed with trans performers
and celebrities on stage and backstage. I ran into Devotion, Linda
Simpson, and Peppermint, in addition to all the performers
anxiously waiting their turn to once again take the stage and do
their thing, as if it were the very first time.
The
show was well mixed, and the audience loved it. It was a feel-good
afternoon party, beginning at 4:30pm and scheduled to end at
6:30pm (we all knew better), but actually ran until almost 7:30pm.
Mother’s were there with kids, and a generally mixed crowd put
their hands overhead and swayed as Sade Pendarvis sang John
Lennon’s “Imagine.” Sweetie
wowed ‘em with her lip-synched rendition of Madonna’s “Like
A Prayer,” and the famed and fabulous Lypsinka was, well,
fabulous! Dean
Johnson had the crowd smiling as he mused that just because he
might sleep with you, doesn’t mean you can be his dance partner.
Miss Formika delivered a passionate version of “Aquarius,”
with her flower children in tow, while Afro-dite, from Boston,
demonstrated drag creativity when she pealed away layers of
clothing and wigs, to continually change her persona as the song
developed. Cashetta did a little magic, Flotilla sang her ass off,
and then there was the Dueling
Tallulahs -- a pair of dressed-in-black queens who do Tallulah
Bankhead, singing “Y-M-I-Gay,” to the Village People’s song
YMCA. Afterwards, Randy Jones (The cowboy of the Village People)
was on hand to take the stage to say hello to the crowd and give
the two old broads a hug. All the time we were delighted by
Bunny’s quick and edgy wit. But when you say the words
Kevin Aviance, who is enjoying a #1 Billboard dance song, it’s
the same as saying, “hold on to your garter strap, a tornado is
coming!” Her power
on stage is overwhelming and she gives 150% in every performance,
today was no exception.
With
such a great show inquiring minds needed to know, so I asked Lady
Bunny, “is there a chance Wigstock might return next year?”
and she replied, “ I had no intention of reviving the festival
annually, but it turned out so beautifully, that I really don’t
know at this time. HOWL Festival did most of the work
(fundraising, stage set-up, portable toilets, etc) so that I could
focus on putting the show together.”
In reflecting back on the day she continued, “ Wigstock
was born here, at Tompkins Square Park, so it felt like a
homecoming.” Seeing all the beautiful artwork around the park,
to celebrate HOWL, she said, “It was one of those NYC moments
when you think – oh yeah, this is why I moved here!”
At
Tompkins Square Park, the show for me (and apparently Lady Bunny)
is much more endearing and intimate - like a neighborhood
gathering. The trees diluted the hot rays of the sun, in contrast
to the open area and sweltering heat of the Chelsea Piers. “I
prefer a wide area for the audience as apposed to the long narrow
one we had at the pier,” Lady Bunny said. As Maki and I were
leaving the park she reunited with a friend she had lost touch
with who had taken her to her first Wigstock.
As I watched the two women exchange hugs, phone numbers and
the genuine good feelings of being reunited, I realized then that
that same sentiment seemed to linger in the air. For Wigstock, and
the people who came in droves to share the experience, it felt
good to come home again!
copyright
2003 - All rights reserved
