Last night was a bittersweet as the lights dimmed on Belle Aire’s Dragnet at Hamburger Mary’s. Its final show was packed with 10 queens competing for top spot, all presided over by the self proclaimed “Fabulous Hostess, the Amazing Belle Aire.”
Dragnet was the first drag show I saw, and was the birthplace of Blaire von Bitchbag. It was great performing with old and new friends: Angel Simmone, Cleo Torres, Mia Fierce, Immani Phoenix and all the rest. It was a knockdown, drag out fight for the top spot, and it ended with me and Cxxx Cock in a as the final two queens vying for the top spot. A clap-off from the audience and Cox was crowned the queen by an eyelash. (Not to toot my own horn but more than one person told me afterwards that I was robbed!)
That’s the fun of Dragnet. Since its inception the show has attracted its own group of loyal followers, and the occasional trickle of straight couples coming to gape at the sequined-side of life. Starting earlier than any other show in town, in a restaurant rather than a bar, the show had a PG-13 vibe that made it safe to bring in your family or out-of-town guests. No matter how wild things got, it always seemed like innocent fun to me, just a bunch of girls putting it all on the line just to entertain. I have never had a better time.
Here are five of the top things I will always remember from the club I called my Sunday home:
- My first win, being crowned queen in the monthly showcase competition after a rousing performance. It was made sweeter when I saw that the staff had written, “Bitchbag Won!!” on the message board in the kitchen.
- The look of shock on one diner’s face when Momma took a full plate of food from their table and back to her dressing room. A joke? She would bring it back, right? Not Momma. I guess that taught them to pay attention during the performance.
- Being chased through the restaurant by a wild-eyed, Talking Tina clad Venus Delite on a slow Sunday night show following Halloween.
- Seeing Tammy Brown perform the first time, after showing up late. No one told her that the show starts at 9:00 pm, hours earlier than a drag queen is used to.
- As happy as my first win was in the monthly showcase, the memory of the month I was cheated from a win is still sad. Despite the difference in votes, a fill-in host for the Fabulous Belle Aire shockingly decided that her boyfriend’s performance outshown mine. When members of the audience actually shouted their descent on my behalf, this infamous hostess simply said that she was not changing her mind.
Dragnet is gone now, replaced by a weekly follies show. Sunday nights just became a little less fierce.
