Whether it’s Tuesday night at The Queer Agenda or Friday night at Rubye Moore’s Beatdown, you wouldn’t be hard-pressed to spot one of Arizona’s most ardent local supporters of all things drag named Christina Faye…
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An Inside Look at A God Awful Small Affair
Since the dawn of what we know as 21st-century modern drag, it would be inaccurate to say LGBTQA-friendly bars have no place in the drag scene. After all, many of these bars were friendly spaces which allowed these events to flourish with the queer community behind them. Once upon a time, bars couldn’t simply advertise their LGBTQA-friendly stances and operated their promotion out of the spoken word, but in the year of 2020, the possibility of drag outside of the classic gay bar setting grows each year…
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An Inside Look at Rubye Moore’s Drag Talent Show ‘The Beatdown’ at The Rock
Hidden in the wide open, the queer paradox known as the Phoenix-metro drag scene has something for everybody: whether you’re in the mood for pageantry, goth, high-fashion, or the down to earth, every day (except Monday) there seems to be a new drag show at any given gay bar in the Melrose District…
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An Inside Look at La Gattarra Cat Lounge & Boutique
When looking for a drag show in the Phoenix metro-area, you won’t be hard-pressed to find at least one event taking place between Tuesday to Saturday in the later evening hours, with most taking place in Melrose District queer bars with distinct pinache. But what of the folks who can’t stay out late or prefer not to frequent bars? In a valley where even some of the “drag brunches” take place at drinking establishments, a peculiar event recurs monthly on the crossroads of Dorsey and University at La Gattarra Cat Lounge & Boutique, simply titled: Drag Bingo + Cats. La Gattarra translates into English from Italian and loosely means: “the crazy cat lady”…
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¡Dale! featuring Quay Dash Brings Out Local Artists, DJs, and Live Performers
On my endless journey of searching Phoenix metro for the truly unsung, I came upon a flyer for the mononymous ¡Dale!. Marketed as an underground QTPOC (Queer Transgendered People Of Color) after-hours party featuring DJs, live performances, and two locally-prolific drag queens, the convincing point for me was the inclusion of headliner Quay Dash: a no-nonsense wordsmith rapper from The Bronx, NYC. ¡Dale! isn’t your run-of-the-mill, mainstream “queer” event. Instead of making it palpable for the lowest common heteronormative denominator, it separates itself by solely and consistently booking queer performers and artists of color. I would later learn from a speech by organizer and DJ La Siento, this would be the last edition of the event in its current form as he announced his move to New York…
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DoomsDay Does Drag in December: A Review
I began attending drag shows this past year part-time, but outside of taking photos and drunkenly enjoying the also-intoxicated antics of acts like Lady Christian, I felt like I couldn’t miss the opportunity to cover the December 18th DoomsDay in December w/ Doom Family event hosted by The Queer Agenda and featuring Arizona drag staple, Carnita Asada…
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