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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (June 3, 2011)
P 4 JUNE 3. 2011 pridefiles P O R T L A ND L E S B I AN C H O I R P R E S E N T S W W W .JUSTOUT.COM » In times like these, C E L E B R A T I N G OUR MUS I CAL ROOTS you need the .name you can trust. SERVING OREGON & WASHINGTON P: 360 693 8585 E: tbiasOfarmersagent com Queens Be Portland’s reigning Superstar Divas on their past, present and future BY DANIEL BORGEN W: www farmersagent com/TBIAS /¿¡§L Saturday • June 25th, 2011 • FARMERS ^ Rose City Park United Methodist Church Tirkrtx $ iK al Ihodnor • $ 15 in athanrc • S3 Hiacnuiit S<’iiim/Slml« iil Advance Tickets Available • Choir Members • PDX Gay Pride Booth FTyinR Cat Coffee Company • POR MORE INK) V ISIT WWW PIX'I IOIR.ORG HOME . AUTO . LIFE • COMMERCIAL Anja Spence, Proprietor 503-234-7707 aooRN TaTTDOSPIERCIND.JEWBLRV PkiKtdfkkki fonPndel (and uatjinafoof) 6 4 2 0 S.E. FOSTER ROAD MON-SAT 11AM-7PM Resources for OMMP Card Holders BENIT3L PIERCINGS POR VOU aNO VOUR PaRTNeR WEST so3.a92.7abB 9217swBV+feHwy E3ST sea.a3a.baaa 253S SE Betrat St vMM.aDaRNBODVaRT.coH non-profit collective • smoking lounge • • organic cannabis • products A lengthy run like theirs wouldn’t remain a Sunday night, Memorial Day eve, the now infamous Superstar Divas banter onstage success without unique stars. Carmichaels, after a rollicking, carefully choreographed played by Daniel R Elliott, is easily the show’s group number. Honey Bea H art steps for most recognizable face, to which anyone ward, moving into a solo act, and the show’s who’s ever sauntered into CC Slaughters can other two stars, Bolivia Carmichaels and attest. Carmichaels is C C ’s five-nights-a- Ginger Lee, exit gracefully, stage right. week house drag queen— a position she’s held Strolls morph into outright runs as the duo for several years. Elliott grew up a musician head, as fast as their pumps allow, down a o f sorts, playing the trumpet throughout ju hallway, into and through a sprawling, awk nior high and high school. Elliott also tried wardly shaped kitchen, down a long flight of his hand at acting and theater, a journey that stairs and through a base continued through college. ment. They finally reach a ■‘W e get along really w ell Then a spry 20 years old, shared dressing room— he created Bolivia Carm i The chemistry is such we tiny quarters filled to the chaels, C C ’s found and captured her, and the rest brim with gowns, jewelry, don’t worry about much. I’m makeup and wigs. The di is Portland drag history. not saying w e don’t have vas’changing room seems A few years into her as far from the stage as is fights or arguments. W hat tenure at C C ’s, C arm i physically possible. chaels decided she wanted siblings don’t?” two talented co-stars for Carmichaels, slated to -PIP KENNEDY, her weekly drag show. Pip perform next, must travel AKA HONEY BEA HART Kennedy, who plays H o n from stage to dressing room, change her dress and wig, and be on ey Bea H art, recalls the recruitment process. stage before H a rt’s five-minute Adele song “I had been a guest at ‘Carnival De Bolivia.’ ends. Lee enjoys a few extra minutes, scant Bolivia approached me, saying, ‘I want two moments that pass quickly, and she knows other queens to star in a show with me. You she’ll soon be in the identical hurried posi in?”’ Kennedy had been hosting show nights tion.. Carmichaels returns to the stage in at The Embers Avenue, first with Summer perfect time; H art introduces her, and C ar Seasons, then alone, gigs that sneaked up on michaels moves right into one o f her signa him. “One Halloween, I went to Embers ture Reba McEntire hits. The Superstar D i and performed ‘Bring O n The M en’by Linda vas Mega Show doesn’t miss a beat. Eder,” Kennedy says. “The artistic director And so the formula goes every Sunday wanted me on cast immediately.” From night, since May 2007. Their solidly success there, Honey Bea H art, the diva, worked her ful, weekly four-hour show typically includes way up. at least a dozen solo numbers— each, along Kennedy’s interest in drag piqued when he with group performances. The trio often was younger, while playing Frankenfurter in a enlist guest stars, ranging from first-time production of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. amateurs to seasoned veterans. “It was then I decided to delve into drag,”
