Newspaper Page Text
m TAKING PRIDE IN OUR CULTURE
ICI 21 - mil 3 I 1993
LIZ DOES
ATLANTA
PAGE 17
Major victory in battle with Cracker
Barrel pages
Inheritence fight over the Eagle heads
to court pages
Atlanta Chamber of Commerce makes
statement by honoring Theatre in the
Square director pages
VIEWPOINTS
Southern Voice gives its opinions on
mayoral and City Council races pages mo
NATION
Update on the trial on Colorado's
Amendment 2 page is
OUT AND ABOUT
MUSIC
Lesbian act Fem 2 Fem puts Its sexy
Image night out front pace ss
MUSEUMS
Atlanta History Museum opens its $11
million facility hes
FILM
"Ruby In Paradise," the acclaimed
Southern film from an Atlanta
producer, premieres here page si
iioioheg;minus phase dechie 7Sc where soid
Boo, I'm a Drag Queen
Men who would never don a dress make
an exception for Halloween night
RICHARD ELDREDGE
The man who will be portraying “Joleena Neveroff
Tutu-Much” this Saturday evening at Burkhart’s Pub
(who we’ll refer to as “Jo” for the purposes of this
article) is not ordinarily what you describe as “the
shy type.”
Jo is the type of guy who can stand up in the
middle of a crowded IHOP on a Saturday night and
play music trivia with a hooker sitting three booths
away and not even notice the agitated pimp sitting
next to her. He’s a natural extrovert, who by day is a
diligent tax student and at night slings drinks at a
Midtown watering hole. You can ask Jo anything
about his sexuality and he’ll give you a frank, no-
holds-barred answer. He hits no problems with being
gay-
So why is this guy having such a difficult lime
buying a dress for his Halloween costume?
Jo’s not alone—his friends Joe Wild and Marc
Hyde arc experiencing similar problems. They’re all
gay men who usually wouldn’t be caught dead in
drag. That is, with one exception—Halloween night.
“We don’t approach drag the same way real drag
queens do,” says Marc, one aftcrmxtn last week,
sitting on a bar stool next to Joe. “With us. it’s not a
career or a regular part of our lives. It’s just for fun,
and it’s not too traumatic to do it once a year.”
“It’s the one day of the year where it’s accepted,”
adds Jo. “Anything goes on Halloween. I never take
it seriously. Let’s face it, people arc going to look at
you strangely on Halloween no matter what you’re
wearing. I’ve convinced Marc, Joe and others to
out together this year because then you’ve got moral
support. There’s strength in numbers and be
sides, you’ve got people to hide behind.”
Years ago when Jo pul a dress on for the
first time, he had no trouble obtaining the nec
essary articles of clothing. He got them from a
master. “Charlie Brown got me my first dress,” *>
Jo recalls, “and girl, it was flawless.” Unfortu- ,
nately you can’t borrow dresses from Atlanta’s pre
mier female impersonator forever, so Jo was forced
to strike out on his own in search of a frilly frock.
And where did Jo end up? Where America Shops,
of course.
‘There’s a Sears surplus right down the street
from where 1 live,” he says, “And let me tell, you
there’s nothing like pulling one over on a Sears ladies
department employee. 1 told her I needed a dress for
my mother. She said, ‘Do you know her size’ and I
replied, ‘She’s about my size.’ Now granted, the
dress I ended up with was a little matronly, but it still
worked.”
Joe Wild is also having dress troubles this year.
This is Joe’s first Halloween in drag, and he’s under
standably a little nervous about all this.
‘This is something I’ve always wanted to do, but I
never had the guts to do it by myself. Making a party
of it has made me a lot more comfortable. I’m prob
ably going to go to a Salvation Army shop and get
something and drag one of these other guys along so
they can stand at the register and pay for it.”
“I’ve been telling Joe to go for the Olympia
Dukakis look,” says Marc, “You know, something
off the shoulder so he doesn’t have to shave too much
chest hair. And maybe a big hat.”
Marc is lucky. His former roommates were from
New Orleans and left a heap of costumes and shoe
boxes full of make up behind for him to rummage
through.
Although Marc hasn’t made the crucial costume
decision yet. he knows what he’s looking for this
year—comfort and warmth. “Those tire two ncccssi-
CONTINUES ON PAGE 17
HALLOWEEN HIGHLIGHTS
•Halloween Masquerade Bali, Saturday
Oct. 30, 9 p.m., Lowe Gallery, 75 Bennett
St., Buckhead. Dance to benefit the
Lambda Community Center. See Page 25
for details.
•All Hallows Feast of the Dead, Sunday,
Oct. 31, 7:30 p.m., First Existentialist Con
gregation, 470 Candler Park Drive, Can
dler Park. Bring food for the dead to enjoy
(the living will actually do the eating) and a
poem, song or story about the dead to
share. For information call 872-2815.
Ji m PARKS
