Drag City

You think you know what drag is, but you have no idea.

- Rory Callais

Most people have the same general idea of what defines a “drag queen”: a man dressing up as a woman, using large wigs, sequined dresses, fake breasts, feather boas and capricious amounts of makeup to get on a nightclub stage and sing Donna Summer or Whitney Houston songs.

Not skinny queens with no fake body parts getting beer poured on them as they sing Warrant’s “Cherry Pie.” Not a loud bearded lady wrangling jock-strap-laden men in a lube-soaked wrestling match. Not androgynous aliens who don’t feel a particular need to chose one gender over another.

Yet throughout the city— particularly in the St. Claude corridor—a new vision for drag is emerging. “I think the scene has changed in a really good way. I feel we are engaging audiences a lot more,” says Gag Reflex and Jock Strap Lube Wrestling host Neon Burgundy. “On our side of town, we occupy different venues. We put on themes with our shows, and the drag queens are in costumes based on that theme. Everything is a little more conceptual.”

Burgundy (pronounced burGUN-dy, like the street) is one of the pioneers and prominent figures of this new St. Claude drag scene, producing both her shows at the AllWays Lounge. While the AllWays is home to many drag and burlesque shows, Burgundy cites the club’s lighting rig as one of its more appealing attributes. “When someone is working the lights and using them to tell a story, it makes such a difference. You don’t get that everywhere.”

Burgundy uses the lights to full capacity for both her shows. Gag Reflex (which returns for a third season on October 28) is a monthly variety show built around themes such as the news (with queens dressing as WDSU meteorologist Margaret Orr) or impersonations (where queens impersonate one another). She also includes a drag queen duet with each show, something more rare than one may think.