Hey, girl, hey: In this week's Super Ego clubs column, I talk to the reigning king and queen of SF Drag: Fudgie Frottage of this Saturday's 13th Annual San Francisco Drag King Contest, and Heklina of Trannyshack, whose weekly club is coming to a nuclear close after 12 years as I type this (listen very carefully and you can hear dizzy trannies exploding in the distance....) before her giant Trannyshack Kiss-Off Party on Aug 23 at the Regency Center.
Footage of the century: A youngish Heklina plugs the first Trannyshacks at Fudgie's legendary DragStrip club, April 14, 1996. Arturo Galster MCs.
Look at me, I'm a starfucker. Below is my extended, unexpurgated, sticky-fingered interview with Fudgie, aka Lu Read, whose hairy roots stretch back to the heyday of SF's punk rock drag scene. Strap one on and dive in.
SFBG: This is your lucky 13 -- are you planning anything, like, spooky? Are there any SF Drag King disaster stories you can share?
Fudgie: Well, our theme this year sets us Kings donating to a sperm bank -- that is genetically spooky to many, though most find it hilarious. Drag King disaster stories? Well, last year one of my balls failed to inflate during the opening number "Big Balls," but the concept got across so it wasn't a total disaster.
Yes Nurse! No Nurse! Photos by Larry Utley
SFBG: What in general do you have planned for this glorious, gorious evening?
Fudgie: Hard and throbbing musical productions, firm and penetrating performances, and extraordinary feats of entertaningly unbridled masculine stamina and staying power. Cohost Indra and I have a few surprizes, Electro, the Pop n' Lock King, SFDK title holder from 2000 is flying in from NY as our special guest. He hasn't performed here for 8 years and I'm really looking forward to seeing him -- he is a fantastic performer!
The Contest is very much like a variety show, we've got bands like The Mighty Slim Pickins and TuffnStuff, aerialist burlesque with Kitty Kitty Bang Bang: some Kings lipsynch, some sing live, some choreograph amazing dance routines, of course there's Fakin' Aiken, this year's title holder plus the troupe title holders The Pacmen from Sacramento who are adorable, talented and handsome. Surely Delicio Del Toro, L. Ron Hubby and Seimen Marcus will do something wild and crazy. The contest is like a mash-up of the Miss America Pageant, American Idol, So You Think You Can Dance, Project Runway, Halloween and a Monster Truck Show.
Fudgie gets fishy
SFBG: An annoying thing for me: Many people I know, even smart ones, don't know much about the drag king community -- drag queens get all the freakin' press. What do you think about the lack of drag king visibility on the SF scene?
Fudgie: I think there needs to be a drag king who crosses over to mainstream -- like what RuPaul did for drag queen notoriety. Murray Hill is doing a great job in NY and makes his living in show biz, Mo B. Dick had his 15 minutes of fame in John Water's "Pecker" but then stopped doing his character. Locally, the East Bay King's Club is weekly at the White Horse, but here in SF, there are already so many weekly and monthly drag shows that to start a new one is a challenge. There are plenty of kings who perform frequently here in SF, but it's all about promotion.
Aim for the cup, don't hit the pup
SFBG: Chez Badunkadunk, your amazing regular strip club above Cat Club, is on hiatus, right? What other things is Fudgie Frottage up to?
Fudgie: Chez Badunkadunk will be back soon, most likely at the Center for Sex and Culture, but I don't have an exact date yet. I'm planning a Drag King Invitational, because when the contest press goes out, I get calls and emails from all over the world from kings who want to come to SF to perform; I also plan to bring back "Burning Woman, Flaming Queen" for people who stay in town instead of going to Black Rock, and to revive "Merkinstock" which I first launched in '93 as a spin-off of Lady Bunny's Wigstock.
Since I mentioned the importance of promotion earlier, I have to add that in '95 and '96, my club, DragStrip was the biggest monthly drag show in town!
I recently read an interview with Heklina, who in her shameless quest for press claimed that Trannyshack sprang up out of a huge void after Klubstitute, well that is SO not true -- DragStrip was the biggest drag party in town and it was absolutely outrageous! I plan on getting my video archives up on YouTube soon. There was so much talent: Justin Bond, Kiki & Herb, Elvis Herselvis, Arturo Galster, Connie Champagne, Trauma Flintstone, Hattie Hathaway from NY, Matthew Martin, Pussy Tourette, Jerome Caja, Juanita MORE!, Glamamore, The Steve Lady, Timmy Spence, the list goes on and on. There were so many performers that the shows would last for hours! One night Lipsynka walked in, out of drag, and was refused entrance into our fetish VIP lounge, "Dungeons & Drag Queens" because my door person didn't recognize her -- that was embarrassing, but fortunately, she thought it was funny.
SFBG: Why did you stop doing DragStrip?
Fudgie: Rob Schneider owned the DNA Lounge back then, and when his career started to take off on Saturday Night Live he put the club up for sale and once it sold, it closed for remodel, leaving DragStrip homeless, fortunately Heklina AND Pippi Lovestocking had started their weekly show Trannyshack, at the Stud, so everyone still had a venue where anything goes. Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to diss Heklina, I love Trannyshack and she works her ass off as a promoter and performer -- I am looking forward to the Trannyshack Kiss Off Party ALMOST AS MUCH as The 13th Annual Drag King Contest.
Don't forget, I am "The Man with the Biggest Balls in Show Business" -- so I gotta live up to it!
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