all words: Robb Scott, all photos: Katherine Gaines
Capital Pride may have kicked off with a beyond amaze-balls Spandex party starring Sharon Needles (photos and coverage found here) but the (second) most anticipated event had to be Town’s Pride Party. With the top three finalists of the most recent season of RuPaul’s Drag Race in the building, all the gays were in place—here I must mention how overcapacity they were… like good googily moogily a girl could barely breathe!!!
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Last year’s Drag Race homage show drew a similarly large crowd, but this year certainly put it to shame. Gays, Lezzies, Drag Divas, Hags, and Stags were all itching to get a glimpse of Alaska Thunderfuck 5000, Roxxxy Andrews, and Jinkx Monsoon. With a line wrapping the block, these ladies had very high expectations to live up to. On that note, I won’t say they dropped the ball, rather the format was dramatically different from the last go-round—comparisons wouldn’t be fair to either event.
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As the lights dimmed and the resident den mother of Town, Lena Lett, took her place, we were introduced to the usual line-up of queens. Highlights from these ladies fall exclusively on DC’s own Beyonce, Epiphany B Lee who shut it down with her take on “Grown Woman” (get educated if you haven’t already downloaded and learned the choreography to Bey’s new single). Ba’Naka coming out as Adele for “Rumor Has It” also deserves some recognition; girlfriend had me doing a double-take from the jump, so kudos to her.
To the main event, first out the gate was Miss Roxxxy Andrews—no one can tell this queen anything when she takes the stage. Serving body for days, season five’s resident bitch was a sexpot as she traipsed around the room. She was a vision reminiscent of a Latina Marilyn Monroe with a beyond blonde wig and blue “sequence” gown (no honey, it’s still pronounced ‘sequin’). Despite her less than favorable depiction on the show, the room was living for this queen—she fed of our energy, and we ate up all that she had to serve.
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Alaska Thunderfuck-an-expletive-notation, a personal favorite (not to mention the REAL winner of season five) was all the fishy trailer park dragoon we fell in love with. Props to the 49th state for having sang her set—leaving the lip sync behind really set her apart from the rest of the queens performing. Here is we’re the distinction was established between last year’s Pride event and this year’s. Live singing, regardless of how campy and comical, made the night feel more personal. She sang a cover of Melissa Manchester’s “Don’t Cry Out Loud” mashed up with “Get Ready For This” by 2 Unlimited (yeah, she went there).
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Oh Jinkx Monsoon, you make it hard to hate you… she was all the infectious comedy girl we have come to know her for, and then some. Toasting the night, capital pride, and her fellow performers with a chugged glass of champagne she proceeded to go full-on camp with her performance. Props also to her for singing live as well—who knew how much actual singing captures attention during a drag show. Something else that caught much attention was her impromptu deep throating of the mic—who knew Jinkx had a kinky side.
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Though I was team Alaska since day one, I respect Jinkx for using her new crown as a platform to promote positive messages. By positive message, I’m referring to her pro-420 speech, not her marriage equality speech (well, that too… but c’mon, let’s be real). Much like Sharon Needles before her, Jinkx recognizes the vantage point she has as a RuPaul’s Drag Race winner to reach one, and teach one (on the point of marriage equality that is… not weed… stay in school kids).
The second round of sets from these three queens delivered three very different versions of what we know them for. Starting with Alaska, girlfriend pulled out a Metallica cover of “My World”—umm, what? That’s a 180 from the ditsy, borderline pop queen that is miss Thunderfuck 5000. Sang live once again, it was smoothed out a bit to serve it’s purpose but definitely unexpected.
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Moving on to Roxxxy Andrews, better described as Big Bird in Miami—once again, umm what? This queen is usually impeccably styled and so on point; something was definitely awry. To her credit, her hair was laid right and her face was beat the house down. To each his own I guess.
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Jinkx Monsoon somehow discovered her inner Twerker when she came out with “Rich Bitch” by Die Antwoord. Clad in one BAD-ASS Playboy Bunny esque outfit, she popped it and dropped it like the rent was due. For some reason, Jinkx never turned up the sex appeal during her season so it was a bit surprising to see her getting raunchy, but it was very well received.
This recent season of Drag Race provided some of the most unique queens to date, and DC was very privileged to have them for this weekend. Hopefully it won’t be too long before they each return in their own time. Until then, however, enjoy the visual coverage that is the accompanying photo set of the night.
