Amanda LePore – The WOW Report

I’ve known the World of Wonder gang for decades and been writing for The Wow Report going on 4 years next month. This was the third year of RuPaul’s Drag Con, and I FINALLY got my ass on a plane and in the doors of the L.A. Convention Center! OMG, kids, it was SO not what I thought it was going to be. It was SO much more…

Like you, I’ve seen the pictures and the videos and watched the panels and ribbon cutting and RuPaul’s Key Note Address, the Drag Race queens, and the vendors and merch and on and on. But the best part REALLY IS the people who show up. Talk about a rainbow! The most outrageous get photographed the most, but just about every kind of person you can imagine is walking around (or standing in a long line) having a BLAST just being together in this “anything goes” environment.

One of the best things I saw all weekend (sorry, I don’t have a pic) was a “blue collar” man, probably my age –older maybe– dressed in a blue t-shirt, jeans, runners, wearing GIGANTIC, chandelier earrings 4″ wide, 6″ long just walking through the crowd taking it all in. LOVED THAT.

It was all pretty overwhelming, so much so that I’m not sure where to start…

I flew in on Virgin America from JFK to LAX last Friday, but to my regret, my flight was delayed. By the time I got the rental car and drove from through L.A. in Friday night traffic (ugh) to the Hollywood Hills where I was house-sitting my friend Rocky’s cat, Walter, I was a bit too late to make it over to the convention center. So, I missed Mama Ru walking around saying hi to the vendors and everyone setting up. Also, I managed to miss an AMAZING party after by Brandon Voss Events and World of Wonder at The Belasco. I heard the next day from Wow’s Thairin Smothers that it was not to be missed –but I missed it. So boo. But I went to another AMAZING show the next night.

Ru cuts the ribbon on the third annual DragCon

Jinxx Monsoon walks the pink carpet as the winning queens are announced one-by-one

The next day, I got into even MORE L.A. traffic so, by the time I got to the convention center, I had missed the queen’s procession and all of the parking lots were full. I parked nearby and figured out how to get my pass. Rudy, who’s coordinating major aspects of the GIGANTIC operation came down to get me. My pals at WOW had kindly arranged for me to do a signing of my book, Transform Your Life with Color By Number. It came out election day and it’s a coloring book featuring my work which is based on vintage paint by number. World of Wonder sends out a cool holiday gift every year and this year it was my book along with markers and postcards to color and a World of Wonder color by number.

Next to me signing was the cute, charming and funny star of G.B.F. and Faking It, Michael Willett, who was taking pictures, signing autographs and giving hugs. I was wearing my signature PAOM jumpsuit and he had one on too so we were jumpsuit bros. His manager Danielle was fun and we chatted a lot and his sister Melinda showed up later to hang out. Without going into great detail, let’s just say the DragCon crowd was not so interested in my coloring book. But I had a nice vantage point to people-watch and my old pal and World of Wonder founder, Fenton Bailey, came and sat with me for a bit and we had time for a nice, long chat.

Me with “G.B.F.’s” Michael Willett who was my autograph buddy for 3 hours

With pal Fenton Bailey, Wow’s king of the Queens

Billy Luther and son Nolan selling official DragCon march for a third year

Fenton’s husband Billy Luther was on hand as was his young son, Nolan who was in HEAVEN selling Official DragCon merch at the WOW booth. It really was a family affair. WOW’s other founder, Randy Barbato, his husband Gil and their two young sons, Henry and Luca also came the next day, all in coordinating nautical attire. Too much cuteness. My World of Wonder coloring project in the Kid’s Zone was apparently a big hit, so I felt like I contributed something positive.

Wow’s Randy Barbato with his boys, Luca & Henry

After my shift was over I was in the backstage area and ran into, Lori Petty (who SCORED signing autographs with PILES of cash backstage) artist Sham Ibraham & Wow’s MX Qwerrrk (Paisley Dalton) plus a few queens like Tammie Brown and Farrah Moan in the Green Room. I later saw that the backdrop for Tammie’s booth was a Keith Haring “inspired” color by number. Who knew?

Just like every other convention, there are various sized booths you can rent for the weekend. WOW has a signing area that you can do whatever you like and fans line up and the cost is just getting yourself there and having to something offer fans. But most of the queens have their own booths and let’s just say, its become a competition as to who can have the most elaborate booth and the longest lines.

RuPaul‘s booth and lines are another story altogether, has she has her own domain at the back. You buy a ticket first, and then you line up for a wait. Bring a sandwich. And a drink. And a pillow, maybe. That line was forever so, needless to say, I didn’t get an audience with the Pope of Drag. When you do get to see Ru, you have your own moment to have your picture taken or get an autograph and then later, you get a print of the picture.

A gigantic Mama Ru watched over a display of her gowns and her Emmy

Behind that wall sits you-know-Ru…

WOW’s Tom Campbell LIVES for this sign, which is his fault

And there’s merchandise of every description. T-shirts and posters and make-up. Jeffrey Starr‘s line’s were among the longest.

My pals, the photographers, Idris+Tony had a booth featuring the photo fanzine magazine Bastard along with some march they created with Print All Over Me. I did a collaboration with PAOM two years ago (see my jumpsuit) and Wacky Wacko‘s collaboration with PAOM and Seth Bogart was one of the best at DragCon. The walls floor and every available surface was covered with Bogart’s illustrations. Fenton and I both got march from them.

Idris+Tony wearing PAOM merch with their Bastard fanzine

Two Glamazons in the Wacky Wacko PAOM booth

I spent a while walking around in the afternoon, missing some of the panels I wanted to see but I did run into Bob the Drag Queen, Trixie Matell and the very cute Mateo Lane in the Green Room. Bob was still wearing the outfit he wore for the winning queens entrance that morning. (Did you see it? If not, go here.) Trixie was bragging/complaining that she had sold out of her tees already. What could she sell? I suggested just going around her apartment and collecting things she didn’t want anymore, like a Drag Tag Sale but I think she went with her new perfume Plastic.

Trixie’s summer-themed booth

Bob & Trixie

Plastic by Trixie Mattell in the sparkling clutches of Bob the Drag Queen

My old pal David Scharff and his boyfriend, Pablo Soto met me for a spin around (how do you spend HOURS with two people and forget to take a picture?) We went upstairs to WOW command central for a bird’s eye view of the convention and who came in shirtless in full makeup? Jerry O’Connell. You might have heard he was made over by Ginger Minj and he dressed in full drag and worked the runway. He told us that he,

“lost his shirt…“

A likely story. So, he grabbed a pink DragCon tee but not before posing for my camera and posing the idea to Randy Barbato that if and when they do Celebrity Drag Race, he’ll be the first to sign up. I’d watch that!

Jerry O werking the panel’s runway

Flaming cheers, queers!

Afterward David, Pablo and I went for dinner across the street at the downtown location of El Compadré where lots of DragCon folks, including Farrah Moan who were cooling their heals and downing some flaming margaritas.

We then walked, yes WALKED IN L.A. to The Globe theater (which was about 20 blocks away) for a Drag Race showdown with Alyssa Edwards, Alaska, Derrick Barry and more, MC’d by Shangela…

But more on that in the next post. And check back tomorrow for Part 2…

Trixie & Katya’s “Uhhh! Live” panel was nutty, as you might imagine

Violet, a mom and her little Princess

Alyssa & Shangela’s side-by-side booths had some l o n n g lines

Manila Luzon & Raja with fans

Peppermint’s booth was all about the lighting and wind machine

Naomi Smalls with an adorable, adoring young fan

Ginger Minj got up close and personal

Farrah Moan was ALL about the glam seeing fans in her boudoir

Detox greets fans in a fluorescent green plexiglass tub inside a blue tent

Sometimes going is just as good as coming…

The post RuPaul’s DragCon 2017: Two Days in the Life (Part 1) appeared first on The WOW Report.

May 7, 1840– Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky was the original nutcracker and the leading composer of late 19th century Russia. He is beloved into the 21st century for his ballet scores, symphonic poems, symphonies, operas, songs, piano music, and chamber works. He became one of the most popular composers in the world, inspiring a cult of gay admirers finding in his works, themes of forbidden same-sex love.

When Tchaikovsky was 37-years-old, realizing his forbidden attraction to men, he married Antonina Miliukova, one of his biggest fans. Miliukova had stalked Tchaikovsky for years. He eventually said: “Fine, we can be married, but we can’t consummate. My parents will be thrilled.” Unfortunately, she was cray-cray and held his being gay against him, threatening to out him to the world, which probably added a lot of stress in his life.

After just two weeks of married life he threw himself in the Moskva River. His doctor insisted that he leave his bride and he split St. Petersburg and never saw his wife again, although he continued to support her. She had several children by different men, gave each infant to an orphanage and spent the rest of her life in various asylums.

Tchaikovsky’s brother, playwright Modest Ilyich Tchaikovsky, was also gay. He also married for convention, and he too was trapped in unhappiness. There are many documented letters between the two brothers, but the Tchaikovsky family didn’t release them for quite some time after his death. The correspondence offers an unambiguous look at their take on being gay in Imperial Russia.

It seems that it was not just his gayness that was the cause of crisis of confidence causing his ennui. It was longing brought on by unrequited love that was at the core of Tchaikovsky’s suffering.

There were actually quite a few gay people in high levels of Russian society during his era. Tchaikovsky wasn’t as persecuted about his sexuality as you might have assumed. It wasn’t so much about his being gay, but more about his not getting to experience fulfillment in his love affairs. Tchaikovsky had a close circle of gay friends and he wrote about his homosexuality in letters, telling those in his confidence that being gay was “the most natural thing ever”.

Classical Music fans have long held the idea that Tchaikovsky’s angst, despair and suffering are apparent in his music’s melodic lyricism and can be directly traced to his struggle as a closeted gay man living in a kind of torture with his secret. But, that may not be true.

Letters to his nephew, Vladimir Davydov, indicate that they had a romantic relationship despite a difference in their ages and their family association. According to their notes to each other, Tchaikovsky seems to have suffered separation anxiety during his lengthy trips to the USA. In one exchange, he tells the nephew that he an amazing idea for his final symphony, but that: “I’ll take it to the grave with me”.

This makes me consider Tchaikovsky’s death at a young age. There have always been reports that he drank un-boiled water known to be tainted with cholera, implying suicide, or possibly when a certain Russian Count discovered that Tchaikovsky was having an affair with his son and asked the Tsar to intervene, that Tchaikovsky was ordered to die by his own hand or was maybe murdered.

All of these theories have led to a speculation surrounding his swan song, the Sixth Symphony, Pathetique, which is often characterized as a suicide note, a portrait of gay martyrdom, or some other form of homosexual tragedy. The fact that he dedicated it to the nephew and conducted it in front of an audience for the first time just before his death only thickens the plot.

Knowledge of Tchaikovsky’s life as a homosexual was far less accessible than his music. Nobody mentioned it to me in Music History 101. Although some of his letters and diaries survive, most of his personal papers were suppressed, destroyed, or altered, during the Soviet period of Russian history. Today most musicologists acknowledge the composer’s gayness, but opinion concerning its importance to his musical life varies widely.

I am going to tell you the truth, dear readers, not that the truth really matters, but I am going to tell you anyway. It has been interesting for me to spend time researching Tchaikovsky because I have very little passion for Symphonic Music, despite having played in orchestra in my youth. But, Tchaikovsky’s life had an influence on my early life because of the Ken Russell film The Music Lovers (1970). This was the first film I had ever seen that depicted a gay man and it blew my little 16 year old mind to smithereens. I saw it with my best friend, Richard, from high school. We had just started to share our feelings about being gay and what it would bring to our lives. Then I saw this outrageous film and I was conflicted, but thrilled.

The Music Lovers was like nothing I had ever seen before. It is troubled, anxious, raw and unashamedly personal. The crazy camera movements, the over the top acting, the use of music both as part of the plot and as a background, plus an emphasis on the gay aspect of the great composer’s life, was a bit of shock to me. Russell’s film was able to show a gay man in the 19th century, with his failings, successes and the indulgences that were behind his creative genius, and show the agony, despair and joy behind his music. Plus, the famed Russian composer was played by dreamy Richard Chamberlain, then in the prime of his beauty and talent.

Critics panned the film for its bombastic emphasis on Tchaikovsky’s homosexuality. But, Russell was not just portraying the composer’s sexual orientation, but the all the demons that haunted him, the confusions and anxiousness that followed him throughout his life: his love affairs and friendships from which so many of his masterpieces came to life. I loved how cleverly Russell used the music to enhance the drama and the mood of the film.

Chamberlain gave his best performance in it and Glenda Jackson who worked with Russell on Women In Love (1969), was insanely original in her role as the wife.

Tchaikovsky was a rock star in his lifetime. He was the conductor at the opening night of Carnegie Hall, 126 years ago this weekend. He took his final bow at just 53-years-old. His mysterious death caused the kind of grief and speculation that we are experienced with losing David Bowie. 60,000 Russians showed up for Tchaikovsky’s funeral.

EVERYTHING SPARKLES.

Thanks to all the eye candy whatever the age, body type, sexual orientation or gender identification, DragCon welcomed ALL. See you in NYC!

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