The Journal

Issue date: 4/3/08 Section: Lifestyle

Media Credit: Colin Dabbs Kennedy St. James, a professional drag queen, puts on the face she will be wearing March 29 at the 12th annual Drag Ball. Kennedy, a regular performer at WU's Drag Balls, also occasionally hosted this year's show while Siren, the actual host, changed costumes in between performances.

Media Credit: Colin Dabbs Amateur performer Mimi Amore, (senior Matt Grant) croons while a live action feed broadcasts the show. This was Mimi's first performance in drag, much to the delight of the

Media Credit: Max Gersh Ryder, a professional drag king, wails to Fall Out Boy's song "Thanks For the Memories." Ryder has performed at the Webster University Drag Ball for the past few years.

Media Credit: Max Gersh Spike Longwood (alumna Elena Pahl) uses a phallic flashlight in her routine to the song "Erection" by the Faint during the 12th annual Drag Ball March 29. Spike is a professional drag king and thus performed three times, including to "Razzle Dazzle" from the

"Jesus! What a thing to lay on a man with a head full of acid," Hunter Thompson observed in "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas." Rather than a bar full of lizards, the 12th annual Drag Ball featured a man dressed as a woman dressed in a green jumpsuit reminiscent of a chameleon.

Drag queen Madison Elise gyrated to "Shake Your Groove Thing" in a shimmering multi-shaded jumpsuit and worked her way through the crowd. Like many of the other queens, she draped herself around the most uncomfortable-looking person she could find.

The Drag Ball featured a Hollywood theme, as drag kings and queens danced to a wide variety of music, from "Bohemian Rhapsody" to "I Want Your Sex."

Siren, the Drag Ball host for the past two years, shared her emcee gig with Kennedy St. James. The two traded barbs about clothing and personality.

"Kennedy just brought it to my attention that my leotard is backwards and that I've had a wedgie for an hour and a half," Siren said. "It should be covering my va-jay (vagina)."

The two saved their digs for one another, for the most part. Many jokes were
about themselves.

"I can't even imagine vagina," said Siren, after she admitted she was a male underneath the makeup and stockings. "It's an abstract concept to
me - like algebra."

The Drag Ball was divided into two parts. A contest for best audience drag king and queen was held during the intermission. The winners, drag king Zachary Porter -Elise Chi, a sophomore advertising/marketing communications and interactive digital media major- and drag queen Margaret -Josh Grogan, a junior history major - received gift baskets with goodies from the City Diner, Cheap
Trix and MokaBe's.

Despite the Hollywood theme this year, there was almost no mention of it throughout the Drag Ball. The most direct reference was a dress that Kennedy St. James wore that was reminiscent of the famous white dress Marilyn Monroe wore in "Seven Year Itch."

Bring on the genderfuck

"We queens are such bitches, aren't we?" Siren said. "But we don't have to be."

Siren, whose actual name is Tyler Cross, has been hosting the annual ball for three years and has participated as a performer for the past four. She was decked out in 80s glam/punk rock gear early in the evening, wearing hot pink fishnets and a Poison T-shirt ripped to shreds.

Spike Longwood, also known as Elena Pahl, a WU alumna, performed as a drag king this year. He drew attention from the crowd with his glow-stick erection apparatus he was swinging from a string to the beat of the techno song, "Erection," by the Faint. Spike continued his performance by pointing the phallic glow stick at the audience, which responded by jumping up and giving him dollar bills.

Spike said he has been doing drag for a year and a half, but this would be one of his last shows for a while. The WU grad has joined the Peace Corps and will be leaving for Panama April 14.

"I never thought I'd end up doing this, but this show is a great opportunity to express genderfuck, which is the blurring of gender and sexual preference and their boundaries," Pahl said.

Drag queens Tabbi Katt and Madison Elise, both of St. Louis, also work the local drag scene. Madison had some words of advice for those who are newcomer performers (in drag).

"Don't do drag first," Elise said. "But, if it's something you want to do, take opportunities like this, and you will eventually get to where you want to be."
Later, backstage from the show, Madison commented on how hard it is to be a woman.

"I may be switching to male drag in a minute - glue on some facial hair - because my feet are killing me," Madison said.

Tabbi Katt said she first performed in drag at WU's Drag Ball quite some time ago and now performs "everywhere" in the local drag scene.

"Tonight, I wanna get real drunk and then maybe help some young man find his sexual - oh I'm just joking," Katt said. "We just want everyone to watch and have a good time - and some mixed drinks!"

The show must go on

Nick Dunne, a freshman public relations major and president of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Questioning/Queer Alliance at WU, said he hoped everyone enjoyed this year's show a much as they have the past 12 years. The popular campus event encourages men to dress lie women and women to dress like men, thus fulfilling the "drag" look.

Dunne presented a bouquet to Amanda Converse-Rath, a senior double major in education and math and the LGBTQ secretary. He said Converse-Rath was rewarded for her hard work in the organization. Dunne received a bouquet as well.

"It really meant a lot to me that the former LGBTQ president Quinn Gardner said we did a spectacular job this year with the event," Dunne said. "The presentation of the flowers also was important to me because it represented the fact that we (the Alliance) are unified through the organization and we do work really hard together."

Converse-Rath said she helped with last year's Drag Ball and that her favorite part of the evening was the student performers.

"It was great seeing my peers get up on stage and perform," Converse-Rath said. "You get to see the other side of people that we know - see their creativity and what they can come up with in regard to performance."

NARAL, a pro-choice organization that advocates reproductive rights in the United States, had a table set up in the gym to dole out information to interested attendees. The booth was run by WU's NARAL club secretary and junior sociology major Lucy Doherty. Sophomore journalism and anthropology double major Delisa Henderson also helped inform Drag Ball attendees about NARAL and its pro-choice stance on abortion. The ladies passed out a barrage of condoms, mints, lubricants and information pamphlets.

Project ARK also set up an information table in the gym during the event. ARK stands for AIDS Resources and Knowledge. This is a project out of the Washington University School of Medicine Pediatrics department. Two men from the Guardian Project, one of Project ARK's programs, were manning the table at the drag ball and were telling people about HIV and STD awareness and prevention. They were also giving free HIV tests to those who wanted one. Project facilitator, A.J. Pupillo said Guardian Project is a discussion group for LGBTQ men to discuss issues affecting their community and their peers.

"We also do outreach to children, young adults and families who are infected or affected by HIV because they need support too," Pupillo said.

The Guardian Project handed out pamphlets and condoms to those who were interested as well.

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