July 2. 2004 ! jUSt OUt 43
CULTURE
New York’s
premier drag
queen, Edie
Peacock in the Park goes out with a bang
by
L isa B radshaw • P hotos
by
M arty D avis
t Lady Elaine Peacock’s final Pea
Pink Martini opened the show, followed
cock in the Park in 1993, the drag
by Portland’s biggest diva treat of all time:
and performance event’s founder
Margie Boulé, Poison Waters and Pink
released doves from the stage that
Martini’s China Forbes blending a delight
flew up and out over the audience before ful triad of melodies. In addition to the tra
soaring off to places unknown. But one of
ditional drag numbers was a performance
the birds stuck around.
by pianist and composer Michael Allen
It “actually landed on her shoulder and
Harrison, who reprised a song he wrote for
sat there for awhile,” remembers event co
Lady Elaine more than a decade ago.
organizer Kimberlee Van Patten. Wanting
Portland-area
to relive that moment in Lady Elaine’s
students were also
memory, Peacock co-hostess Maria released
onstage, receiving $20,000
the doves again at the June 27 show,
in scholarships.
something she hadn’t done since 1994.
As another queen who liked to
This time, no birds stayed behind,
wear her hair big, Elizabeth I, once
but they did hover over an apprecia
said, “The end crowneth the work.”
tive audience at Washington Park
“I did cry at the end of the
Amphitheatre that cheered,
show," admits Van Patten.
clapped and sunbathed its way
“However, I didn’t feel as sad
through the 18th and final Pea
as I did proud. I was so
cock in the Park. Peacock Prcxluc-
pleased with the way
tions is discontinuing the event—a
things turned out for our
fund-raiser for the Audria M. Edwards
last Peacock in the Park. It was
Scholarship Fund—because of ever-
everything we had dreamed it
increasing production costs.
would be and more!" jm
Former La Femme Magnifique International Tiara Desmond
A
Pink Martini’s Thomas Lauderdale (left) and
Timothy Nishimoto sing a duet
Kimberlee Van Patten congratulates
scholarship recipient Victoria Miller-Moon,
who is studying gay and lesbian advocacy law
Darcelle & Co. never looked better
One of the great diva moments in history: From left, China Forbes,
Margie Boule and Poison Waters share a song