HELL HOUSE AND OTHER HORRORS

If you're in NYC, you have until 10/29 to catch HELL HOUSE at St. Ann's Warehouse in Brooklyn. If you're not in NYC, maybe you can find the documentary of the same name from several years ago. HELL HOUSE is a christian-themed House of Horrors which Jerry Falwell developed in the late 70's. You see, evangelicals don't approve of the celebration of the old pagan holiday Hallowe'en--hell, they even think HARRY POOTER is sinful--so they've substituted the traditional ghouls and zombies with scenes of abortions and fags with AIDS to scare you back to the path of righteousness. But if failed abortions and AIDS-riddled fags scared me that much, I wouldn't have been able to watch half of the drag performers in NYC!

But at HELL HOUSE I was shrieking all right--with laughter! As were my cohorts Lahoma, Lurleen, Ryan Landry and David Ilku of Duelling Bankheads fame. We met Beelzebub, Jesus, Prince HIV, a gay couple who were joined in unholy matrimony, some hipsters who were too cool for Jesus and a gurgling Terri Schiavo. At one point, gigantic tongs (aluminum foil-covered boards) appear to snatch a fetus and everyone gets splashed with fake blood. (The "script" apparently offers pointers on which cuts of meat look most like an aborted baby.) The showstopper? In hell, you pass by many actors in vignettes lamenting their moral downfall. One is a prissy Broadway queen in a tux singing some god-awful show tune! Hilarious! Get stoned and check out this insanity. Of course, in NYC, it's presented as a joke, though some audience members claim to have been genuinely freaked out. It's bizarre to imagine that sincere productions are still regularly mounted around the country.



But they can't be as scary as the freaks who run and attend JESUS CAMP, the documentary about which I'd say is a must-see. To watch close-ups of children's innocent faces speaking in tongues is more demonic than any hellions from Hell House. Let's see, the organizers of this camp spirit the kids out to the woods (a la a witch's coven), encourage them to speak in tongues as if they were possessed, and then trot out a foamcore effigy of George Bush to be praised? Wouldn't that be the false idolatry that the bible denounces? These people are a mess. And the head honcho? He meets with president Bush each Monday to map out Armageddon. The evangelicals actively seek to entertwine church and state and 75% of the kids who are home-schooled are evangelicals, who want to spirit the kids away before they are exposed to new-fangled, salacious concepts like Darwin's theory of evolution or stem-cell research or abortions for rape victims. JESUS CAMP also shows how evangelists trick the kids by making christian music which doesn't actually mentioning god or the father in the song's lyrics, and by making use of popular if unlikely musical influences from rap and heavy metal. Um, aren't the three predominant themes in rap, thug, 'ho and bling? Very pious. And isn't the black clothing, skull imagery and dark sound of heavy metal the direct opposite of Jesus's light? Through tricks like this, christian music sales are up 300%. Scared yet? I was, but then I did read an article somewhere about how young evangelicals are leaving the church in droves. And they're leaving on witches' brooms.



And speaking of witches! Tangella Deville, a rare, early Pyramid Club drag diva who is featured in the original WIGSTOCK: THE MOVIE by Tom Rubnitz which is now on YOUTUBE in 4 parts, sent me this frightful link. (Although maybe I'm more frightful in my opening number of the first Wigstock--see why I don't wear flat wigs anymore?)

They even have their own rainbow flag logo dripping with blood! A sample of what it's all about in their own words:

QueerHorror.com is a site devoted to exploring the horror genre and its inclusion of gays, lesbians, bisexuals and the transgendered. It's a place where queer folk can explore their interests in, or connections with, the horror genre.

The connection between queers and horror is a very strong one. By many homophobes, we are seen as the villains in horror; corrupting families, spreading plagues and destroying the moral fabric of society. However, we know ourselves to be much more the heros in horror, trying to fight to overcome almost impossible odds while always knowing that there is an evil presence out there that wishes to destroy us, no matter what the cost.

Hungh?

Anyhoo, I got a head start on Sin Season performing at Richmond, VA's gay pride festivities a couple weeks ago:



Bunion made front page news, though the reviews were somewhat mixed! Hey, a video clip of my act is loaded onto my site for a reason. You view it, you determine if it's appropriate for your crowd, and if so, you book it. If it's too trashy for you, then decide right then. I do have different Laugh-In routines and will sometimes prune out the filthiest jokes for an all ages crowd. But no one suggested I censor myself for this venue.

FROM THE RICHMOND SUNDAY TIMES-DISPATCH:

Gay event pushes city's envelope
People at Richmond's pride festival call for understanding, respect

"If the political conversations at the Gay Pride Virginia Festival didn't move people, the upbeat and often-vulgar musical medley from drag artist Lady Bunny probably did the trick.

In clear platform heels, a sparkly dress and sky-high blond hair, Lady Bunny's voice carried over the crowd that filled the 17th Street Farmers' Market yesterday afternoon.

Brian Boyce watched the audience laugh, saying the act pushed the envelope a little bit, especially for Richmond. Still, he would have liked to have seen a stronger turnout, and he attributed it partly to some people being afraid to show up at such an event in a conservative city."

MORE: TIMESDISPATCH

THANKS TO THIS "GAL", I DIDN'T GET A STANDING OVATION. I'M TEASING--THAT'S ONE OF MY MYSPACE GIRLFRIENDS WHO BROUGHT ME A DIVINE FAKE CHANEL LIPSTICK WHICH WHEN SWITCHED ON, MAGICALLY TURNS INTO A PERSONAL FAN!



However, one reviewer wasn't too thrilled with the show:

FROM THE TIMES-DISPATCH ON WEDNESDAY:

"Speaking of gay pride, where is it?

The special guest of the public, outdoor event at Richmond's 17th Street Farmers' Market was the outrageous New York City drag queen Lady Bunny.

As the festival's Web site promised, "The multi-talented Diva and Wigstock founder will serve as the event's MC and deliver an exclusive performance you won't want to miss!"

The "exclusive performance," broadcast over the PA system and heard by children, included an ode to a bodily fluid based on a Broadway tune, a ditty about pedophilia borrowed from an Elton John song and a vulgar version of Roberta Flack's "Killing Me Softly With His Song."

Lady Bunny, who has a very sweet voice, sang about cocaine-fueled gay sex quite graphically.

Clever? Definitely. Funny? Maybe in a club setting.

Festival attendee Brian Boyce cautioned Times-Dispatch reporter Olympia Meola that "we're not all about random sex acts. We're about life, love, the pursuit of happiness. What our Founding Fathers wanted us to have."

Well, George Washington did wear a wig."

READ THE REST: TIMESDISPATCH

He cites the US's moral bankruptcy as exemplified by Anna Nichole Smith's wedding 3 weeks after her son died and daughter was born as a good reason for muslims to despise us.

And for the record, though I glad you think I have a "sweet voice", I never sang about cocaine-fueled sex. (I only performed it with children in the dressing room tent.)



As Whitney Houston, I did light up a crackpipe, but there was no mention of sex and coke together. I have standards! And really, the reporter could have come up with better examples of vulgarity--the gerbil I pull out of my ass to the tune of Tamia's THERE'S A STRANGER IN MY ASS, perhaps? Guilty as charged, I'm vulgar!

And like Miss Mark Foley, I've checked into rehab for alcoholism and related, behavioral issues. I might as well tell you now that I'm a gay American. Oh, AND, also like Mark, I was abused as a child. From what other source could such a twisted act as a mine ever evolve? The abuse was so traumatic for me--when it stopped! I was devastated and wanted more!

LIKE FLIP WILSON (WHICH GUARDS CALLED FLOTILLA DURING HER BRIEF STINT IN JAIL!), THE DEVIL MADE ME DO IT!



Anyhoo, Virginia's still part of the bible belt and a few christian protesters showed up to sour the festival. (Damn it! That was MY job!) I cheerily thanked them all for coming and posed for a few pix like the ones at the top of the post. But really, I don't believe in god, but do you see me picketing your fucking church bake sales? (Only when their prices are too high.)

I even made it into a sermon --they are presenting a video to the Richmond city council and hope to bring charges against me! If you care to listen, it's roughly halfway through the sermon's file. But you guys already knew that I'm the devil, didn't you?

I shared the bill with a lovely creature named Shawna, who performed a showstopper from some brand new Broadway musical. I tell you, these out-of-towners know Broadway shows better than us New Yorkers, who are too busy hustling for that landlord to buy many $100 theater tickets.

SHAWNA--SHE'S A TITLE-HOLDER: AMERICA'S TOP BOTTOM!



The stage show broke for a fashion show beside the 17th Street Farmer's market, and the crowd lined up to watch the models strut their funky stuff.



This gal wasn't on the runway, but should have been with that pose.



There are some very real-looking trannies in Richmond, ranging in looks from well-scrubbed, respectable Southern white women to muthafuckin' Hazel realness.





Sirena Sparkles added a little Radical Faerie flava!



MS. PEACHES



Ms. Peaches here is only 19 and she's sporting an inspired hairdo which teeters on a very thin line between high fashion and the ladies who worked at the lunch counter at my grade school. To use your own hair and then sculpt it with gel is not a look I could ever pull off, but maybe it could be considered lesbian chic, if such a thing as lesbian chic existed. KIDDING, my yke sisters! Peaches emailed my site asking if I'd put up her pic and asked for some drag advice. So here's a little tip: avoid posing next to a trash can! Go ahead and get in it!

THE RETURN OF ROZZIE ROZ!



Though I don't imagine that this will interest too many of you, your yawns will most definitely be drowned out by the screams of Atlanta old-timers who see this gal for the first time in decades. She was my roomate in Atlanta circa 1983 and she pretty much looks the same. Roz was the funky black chic on the alternative rock scene which centered around Larry Tee and Lahoma's genius old band, THE NOW EXPLOSION.

YOUTUBE now has a clip of Lahoma and a shapely young Bun lip-synching to one of THE NOW EXPLOSION'S biggest hits, STUFF, with vox by Elouise Montague and The Lady Clare, one of my early mentors in sow business.

THE NOW EXPLOSION'S LADY CLARE



IT WAS A REAL MIND-FUCK TO HEAR A VIRGINIA DRAWL COME OUT OF THIS PUERTO RICAN CUTIE'S MOUTH. PERSONALLY I'D PREFER AN ASS-FUCK, BUT THESE DAYS, I TAKE WHAT I CAN GET!



AND WHO THE HECK NEEDS VIRGINIA HAM WITH ALL THIS YUMMY BEEF? VIRGINIA REALLY IS FOR LOVERS!



But back to Hallowe'en! The holiday is so sinful that we gays call it "Gay Christmas." And speaking of Christmas, look what J.C. Penney's has just come out with in time for your holiday shopping: THE CAROL CHANNING VENTRILOQUIST'S PUPPEY! It's for ages 3 and up, but do "kids" even 30 remember Carol? I hope so, and pray that I hear "Raspberies!", her insane line from THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE, rasping out of strollers in the near future. Some demonic fag must've dreamt up these dolls for J C Penney's as a way to indoctrinate the young'ns with seemingly harmless gay show biz icons! First step Carol, next step meth orgies of Sodom!