March 15, 2012
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RPDR Puerto Rican Invasion
I'm a huge fan of RuPaul's Drag Race. I watch no TV except for this show. I hate reality TV, but this is . . . SUR-reality TV. Which means it goes through fake and comes out the other fabulous side, usually sequined.
And the Puerto Rican girls have a long (well, 4 seasons) and proud tradition on the show. The enrapturing Nina Flowers was #2 in the first season and set a gold standard for future PR girls.
And, much to my great fortune, the 5 fiercest PR queens made a one-night-only appearance in SF that I was thrilled to catch. Here are some highlights. Note: I wasn't close to the stage, and my camera was low on charge (argh), so excuse any blurriness.
Nina Flowers: She was the edgiest queen on season one and introduced me to the very useful term "Loca" (i.e. crazy, but female gender, used on anything and anyone regardless of gender, and potentially inflammatory said to the wrong Puerto Rican person). But she proved she can do soft and hard looks with ease. Her first performance was a softer-Nina magenta-indigo knockout. Her second was a blue-sharkfin full-tattoos look that was outrageous.
Next was Jessica Wild. She was a stellar performer and very hard to snap a picture of because of her motion! I drank Absolut in her honor, as she was sent home from RPDR for failing a challenge in which she had to both sell herself and an Absolute Berry Acai drink. But in her failure, she coined one of the most memorable and "in the know" phrases ever uttered on TV. "I love thees dreenk!" Seriously, if you ever say that, and one person in a crowd of 15 laughs, they watch RPDR. Count on it.
Yes, it's two back shots. But a) look at that ass! and b) look at the happy people!
Next was Yara Sofia. Next to Nina, Yara wins my heart. Although Nina did a lot of "genderqueer" drag, i.e. showing off her nice muscles as well as mascara, Yara Sofia was not afraid to walk the line between gruesome and 17th century French Aristo Chic. Yeah, I just wrote that.
Yara Sofia could also do amazingly soft looks too. She did this one gold-bikini outfit in her season that frankly should have sent the rest of the girls packing. She was also by far the funniest on the microphone last night. I wish I'd been able to get more picture of her, but she was constantly in motion.
And now we come to the current season. There were two PR girls this time, and first up is Madame La Queer. Madame brings old-school drag to the fore. She was fantastic on stage.
Oh, yeah. She's got enormous tits.
Ha! I'm just now seeing her outfit made of money, too. Hilarious (and she likes green, and frankly looks good in it, but Michelle Visage on RPDR differs). Still, it's great.
And last, and least in terms of size, especially after the plus chic Madame, is Kenya Michaels. She failed horribly at the Snatch Game on the show, doing a camp Beyonce that was baffling and better suited to the Three Stooges.
BUT...she was a dazzling performer, dancing like a thing possessed, and really was, in all her nearly-five-feet-tall tiny glory, a sight to behold last night. She and Jessica got the crowd going and could dance and move on that stage like nothing I've ever seen.
Viva Puerto Rico!
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