Brandi Amara Skyy Faux Queen Fabulous Musings Interview

Ever want to know more about how i came to be me?!?! Well here's your chance. Check out my fellow blogger and faux queen's interview about your favorite faux queen--ME!

Check it out here!

And while you're, there take a look around her blog. She is one FABULOUS MUSING!!!

Now go get your DRAG ON!!

Drag Queens, Death Drops, Corsets, and Me

Yea! This week's RuCap was by far my favorite! i mean, HELLO, dancing was involved so of course this is going to be the best episode EVER!

i had so much fun with this one. enjoy!!

RuPaul's Drag Race Episode 4 RuCap: Dance, Drag, and Corset Connection

RuPaul's Drag Race + Corset Connection +Writer Brandi Amara Skyy = The

It's that time of year again for FULL ON fabulousity!!! Drag, corsets, shade, camp, and glamour OH MY!!! YEP it's time for RuPaul's Drag Race and this time its personal!! One of Dallas' own, Alyssa Edwards, is on the show and she came to COM PETE!!

SICK O NEEN!

This season Corset Connection (who has been the official corset sponsor for RuPaul's Drag U) is NOW the official sponsor of RuPaul's Drag Race! Yes HUNTY, we have arrived!

i have also traveled with Corset Connection as their official drag and corsets blogger! Every week i will be giving you the Tea on all things drag, corsets, and, yes, shade.

Check out my Episode one blog, "RuPaullywood--Let the Drag Games Begin!! (And May the RuPoods Be Ever In Your Favor."



Let me know what you think in the comments section!

Till next week!

New Drag Promo Shot!

2013 is going to be the year of the pageants! There are at least three that i'm looking to compete in: Miss CEBA Sweetheart, Miss Diva USofA, and the Rose Room Rising Star. With all this competing, i had to have a promo shot.

Enter drag mother extraordinaire Jenna Skyy and violià! Drag promo house down!This is my first drag promo EVER and i think it's FLAWLESS! What do you think?!?!

TA-DA!!!

YEA!!! Now i'm ready to take on the pageant world by storm!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dallas Block Party-- A Faux and 3 Drag Queens

What an amazing and unexpected weekend!

Here in Dallas, we have what is known as THE block party the weekend before Halloween; the street closes down, everyone gets dressed up, and they drink, drink, and drink. It's something that everyone needs to experience at least once.

i didn't plan on going this year (i've gone to all but one since i've lived here), but the drag-verse had other plans. At the last minute (literally 20 minutes *gasp*), i was texted by Richard Curtain--GM & show director at S4/The Rose Room not to mention THE Edna Jean Robinson--reminding me of a performance that i had committed to early in the week. i hadn't heard anything about it so i just ASSumed it wasn't happening.

SOOOOO

i painted the quickest drag mug EVER and ran across the street--trying to part the seas of people that were everywhere--and was greeting with the news that i was going to be performing with, not only Edna herself, but two of the baddest drag bitches in Dallas: Jenna Skyy and Krystal Summers.

HELLO!?!?! IT DOESN'T GET MUCH MORE FLAWLESS FOR A FAUX QUEEN!!

And there i was: in front of thousands of cheering Halloweeners as one of the 4 fiercest and best dressed queens on the block.

Wanna see?!?!?

(It's not my favorite pic of myself, but hey--it captured a moment that otherwise would have lived only in my head.)

Me, Jenna Skyy, and Krystal Summers

(That's my legs on the left!!) We were number 7 of the 15 Best Costumes at the block party!

WERQ IT GOLDIGGERS!!!

Great night, great peeps, and the longest catwalk ever!!

Here are more fun block party pics



To see the rest of the pics, click here.

Ahhh...i love Halloween!

Cartoon Characters in Drag. Let the Dragulation Commence!!

So i thought we'd do something uber-fun today! i am a SUCKER for cartoons (in particular the Powerpuff Girls, South Park, Family Guy, and Jem and the Holograms) and watch them often. Yesterday i was fucking around on Facebook and i came across this picture:

Best Powerpuff Girl EVER!

Not only is Buttercup my FAVORITE PPG, but she's in DRAG!!!!!!!!!!! So i started thinking about other cartoon characters who have donned drag and *POW* this post was born. These cartoons are animation history that drag has been in our pop culture consciousness for quite some time. Here in one fabulous gender bending post are my favorite cartoon drag moments. Grab your Lucky Charms cereal and enjoy!

Disney's the Chipmunks

My favorite cartoon growing up (and still is) Jem and the Holograms--although i identified more with Pizzazz . In retrospect, i really believe that Jem was Jerrica's drag persona and Jerrica, like me, is a faux queen--second only to Miss Piggy. Take a look for yourself:

Day/Night Drag

i don't think it's possible to have a conversation about cartoon drag characters without mentioning the Queen herself:

Bugs Bunny - The original drag queen

Bugs Bunny was in drag SO much that someone got smart and created this (so true BTW):



FLAWLESS

And who can forget when our favorite foul mouthed character donned a wig, dress, and heels (proof that all these things don't necessarily make a drag queen):

Cartman in drag

And my personal favorite--i didn't want him to get jealous since i spotlighted his partner last week:

Kermit the Frog on the Ed Sullivan Show

i was determined to find one of Popeye in drag but it didn't happen. Whatcha think? Did i miss any? Any that you'd like to share?

Bio Queen Manifesto Interview

i am VERY excited to announce that i have the honor of interviewing the 4 AMAZING women who co-authored the Bio Queen Manifesto. The interview is being conducted in 2 parts and i finished the first half last night. What a liberating and exhilarating experience!

As a community, we have such a rich history that we do not necessarily know about because it's scattered all over the place. The Bio Queen Manifesto is such an important piece of our drag history and the manifesto itself is nowhere to be found on the Internet. The myspace page where i originally found it has since been taken down. So i have published it in its original form here. Go read it. It's good stuff. It's a piece of our history that i hope to capture panoramicaly in the interview; the final edited interview will be included in the Female Drag Queen Anthology.

I can't wait to share it with you all!!

The Original Faux Queen - Miss Piggy

Dear Miss Piggy,

YOU had me "moi!"

i remember when we first met, you were a young piglet and came via postal mail in the form of a comic book, "The Muppet Babies." i saw you once again when you made your second big screen movie, The Great Muppet Caper. You were doing the most incredible water ballet in the fiercest costumes and i couldn't keep my eyes off you. i had to figure out a way to be just as fierce as you were. 

And then it happened!
i found you!
In spandex no less . ..

 

i did your workout like it was my own religion. i hung your pull-out poster on my wall as inspiration. i studied the record cover like it was a treasure map. i wished on star every night in hopes of adding even just a speckle of your flawlessness into my life.



But i still didn't feel any different. i still didn't feel glamorous. i was still no closer to your fabulousity than when i first started. Devastated, i did the unthinkable . . . i sold my record in a garage sale. i KNOW. i know. i was hurt.

Soon after albumgate, you wrote THE book that changed my life and became my bible:

WIGS!!?!?

FASHION?!?!?

i was on a roll to being a diva!

But life happens. i became a teenager and i forgot all about the world of one diva pig because i was too distracted by the world of clothes, shoes, boys as drag divas, and love. Yes love. i had lost sight of the origins of my flamboyantly diva self.

i had forgotten you.

But you, my darling diva, will not be denied. You did NOT forget about me.

20 years later you reappeared when i least expected it--in a place that i would have least expected to find you--a vintage record store.

You had come back to me!!! You had forgiven me for selling you in the first place and for forgetting about you. We were back together. 

i brought you home and dusted off my bible. As i listened and read, i started to remember all the reasons that i fell in love with you in the first place: because you did not let your appearance dictate who were were, because you didn't take any crap from anyone (not even your Kermie), because you were always a lady despite being born a pig, and you did all with great style, grace, and attitude. 

And then it hit me.  

After all those years of trying to be you, i realized that i found you through just being me. You were never going to really tell me your secret to your flawless self, i had to go out and find that divaness for myself by myself. i realized that THAT'S what you were trying to tell me all along when you said, "the secret of getting that marvelous present you always wanted is to go out and buy it yourself." --i finally did that. i went out and created myself into the marvelous present/queen that i always wanted to be. My queendom was the only present i needed. i just had to need and want that queendom so badly enough that i would go out and find if for myself. And i did.

i still do.

We are kindred spirits, Miss Piggy. i, like you, am a little speckle of drag glitter-glamour where you would least expect to find it. 

kissy kissy from your forever devoted subject,



moi

How can you not LIVE for this FLAWLESSNESS?!?!?!?

Want more Miss Piggy fabulousity? Check out this amazing website: http://www.misspiggyfans.com/

Behind the Scenes of a Faux Queen

So, this past weekend i was feeling nostalgic and extremely thankful for this amazing creative life i am living and i decided to go back through some (not all cause there is WAY TOO MANY) of my drag photos. Here are some of my favorite backstage photos from my 7 + years in the drag world. Enjoy!!

Drag Queens on the Capitol in Austin, Texas!!

My friend, Kai Lee Mykels, and a group of other queens got together for the second annual Stonewall rally in Austin Texas . . . on the Capitol . . . in drag.

What follows is an amazing visual testament to the many sides and faces of drag: the glamour, the fun, the camaraderie, the celebration, and, yes, the political activism. Being political doesn't stop when we, as queens, put on some make-up, a wig, and a dress. On the contrary. Drag's very nature situates us within political and social contexts, commentaries, and statements. The queens in this picture embody and reflect much of the same political and social gumption and fearlessness that those queens who began the Stonewall riots did.

Texas is NOT an LGBTQ friendly state. Just because it's 2012 and we, on the surface, appear to be making political strides doesn't guarantee that in our everyday lives we, as a society, have progressed beyond the hatred, harassment, and homicide that was the reality before Stonewall. In March of 2012, mother Wanda Derby in Fort Worth Texas beat her son's boyfriend with a cane because they were gay. In the city that i call home and who's streets i roam as a flamboyant and PROUD gay, 2 men were attacked and beaten with BASEBALL BATS. Baseball bats, people. This past June in my hometown of Corpus Christi, young lesbian couple Mary Kristene Chapa and Mollie Olgin were shot in the head. Chapa was in critical condition and Olgin lost her life. The cops said "there was no sign of a hate crime."

And in the very city that these queens took this picture and on Austin's PRIDE weekend, Mike Soret and Andrew Oppleman were on their way to get pizza when a man picked a fight with them and began pounded them with his fists. This happened a week ago today. That could have been you. That could have been me. That could have very well been those queens who were photographed in front of the Capitol of Texas celebrating the birth of our movement that has allowed our community to be open and freely gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and/or queer and remembering that it wasn't always so. And reflecting on the fact that it's not always so now.

Let me clarify: i'm not saying that the trials and tribulations of LGBTQ people are exactly the same as they were back in 1969. We have come a long way. And yes, we are making strides. What i am saying is that hatred of LGBTQ people and the very real consequences of that hatred still exists.

So, as a queer lesbian gay drag faux queen i am thankful and forever grateful. Thankful to be a part of a lineage of bravery, sacrifice, camaraderie, and love. Yes, love. There is a lot of love in our rainbow village. Grateful that there are still queens, as well as others, who are willing to put themselves out there for ALL of us: flamboyantly queer, those who wish to assimilate, those just coming out, those still in the closet, and gay republicans. i am grateful for the queens of the past, the one's in the present, and the many more of the future for their endless bravery of putting on a dress and heels in a society (and a community at times) that doesn't always see drag queens as the invaluable and revolutionary beings that they are. 

This post didn't start off in the manner in which it became; my intention was to post an amazing picture of some drag queens that caught my attention on Facebook and that i connected to for reasons that i didn't quit understand.

i understand them now.

Reno Winston, Samira Sacriste Aguinaga, Robbie Foster, Althea Trix, Kara Foxx Paris, Nadine Hughes, Kai Lee Mykels, Pannica Tack, and Reagan Reynolds shine on you crazy diamonds! And thank you. i am so grateful for you taking that extra (flawlessly heeled) step.

i am humbled and proud to be a part of the drag family.

~b.

miss texas ffi 2012

wow! what an amazing evening of pageantry! there were 12 (yes, 12) contestants at miss texas ffi last night so big kudos goes out to all the judges, my dear friend tom theladyt mclain who was everywhere and anywhere last night getting the pageant together, and, of course, the amazing layla larue for bringing this system back. girl, you better werq~

12 contestants: 

janet andrews, beyonce mykels, toni andrews, chanel lamasters, anastasia daniels, unshante defoxx, kourtney paige van wales, alexis rayne, phiara glamazon, contessa piranha, armani davenport, kennedy davenport

your miss texas ffi 2012 placement

most beautiful kourtney van wells
best talent chanel lamasters
creative presentation kennedy davenport
fashion wear kennedy davenport
miss congeniality alexis rayne
2nd rup kourtney paige van wales

1st rup chanel lamasters
miss texas ffi kennedy davenport

congrats to everyone and thank you for dragtasitcal evening!

now you ready for some pictures?!?!?!? here ya go

gearing up for miss texas ffi

today is going to be a dragstatical day!! not only are my dallas cowboys playing, but tonight is miss texas ffi (for female impersonators).

this pageant was my first foray into the world of drag pageants. i had danced in an ffi prelim with jenna skyy in 2007 and miss texas ffi 2008. she didn't win that year, but the experience was amazing and i've been hooked on drag pageants ever since.

the royalty at this pageant is like no other. i mean serious: alyssa edwards, layla larue (who now owns the system and was one of the first drag queens i ever saw), leyla e. o'hara, and the current reigning all american goddess, asia o'hara. what a legacy and what an amazing evening this is going to be for one special queen.

i'm looking forward to seeing all my drag buddies and fellow queens. make sure you check back later today for some pre-pageant outfit shots!

brandi amara skyy faux queen performance collection

so i've been working on finding & putting together a collection of some of my favorite performance with gaybingo dallas and various pageants. i created a youtube channel with some of these performances.

i was trying to find the first show i did as a faux queen at gaybingo, but that search continues on.

check out some of these videos and let me know what you think!

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL99EE9905D785EDFE

make sure you check out my channel and add me to your twitter!!

youtube: http://www.youtube.com/thebrandiamaraskyy
twitter: @brandiamaraskyy

female drag anthology call for submissions - revised

so i have redrafted the call for submissions to the new drag anthology i'm editing. since i've redrafted it, i have received so many great and exciting responses. read the revised call below or click on the link.

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS - NEW ANTHOLOGY ON FEMALE DRAG PERFORMERS
Calling ALL Performers of “Feminine” Drag: Faux Queens, Burlesquers, Bio Queens, Femme Dragsters, Female-Female Impersonators, and Drag Queens![1]

Title: TBD

Who: We are looking for female identified individuals who love performing “feminine” drag including but not limited to: bio-queens, female-female impersonators, high femme dragsters, burlesque, faux queens, drag queens, etc. If you are performing as a drag queen or in woman drag, we want to hear from you!

About the project:  This anthology will explore drag from the not-often-written about or discussed female perspective. In majority of drag arenas, female performers are frequently over-looked, undervalued, and are often not  considered to be doing drag because of their choice to drag their birth gender as opposed to its opposite. But over the past few years, female dragsters have slowly begun to emerge, impact, and fashion their places in discourses of drag, gender performance, and queer consciousness. We want this anthology to create a tangible space in which we, in all our drag forms, come together to tell our stories, share our experiences, analyze ourselves in our art, and help pave the way for other female performers. Our goal is that this anthology ignites a dialogue that bridges us to one another, introduces us into discourses of gender performativity and gender identity, and ultimately deepens our connection to the fabulously flawless world of drag.

                                         

What we are looking for: Everything!! We want to engage with all aspects of women performing drag and highlight our diverse voices within it: our personal definitions, our relationships (if any) with drag queens, our lived and/or academic theories, our drag personas and how they developed, and our insatiable need to perform femininity on stage. But we also want to touch upon what goes on behind the scenes by considering questions pivotal to the female drag and drag community: is there something deeper that  bio-women need to understand before proclaiming, “I want to be a drag queen” and/or claim their place in drag? What does the emergence of female identified performers in the world of drag mean for traditional drag queens and drag theory? Is it necessary to be a lesbian and/or queer in order to perform drag? Some other ideas that could be explored:

·         Personal stories and essays on why/how you came to drag

·         Why did you choose the identifier that you did to describe your performance of drag?

·         What does drag mean to you?

·         How would you define the drag that you do?

·         Poetry about your life in drag

·         How have you been perceived by the drag community?

·         Your experiences in the drag community

·         Some of the reactions to your performances

·         Does the drag community in your area embrace what you do?

·         Funny stories, the craziest thing that’s happen to you on/off stage, worst performance, favorite performances

·         Do you believe there’s a difference between all the various female performances of drag, i.e. burlesque, faux, and traditional drag queen drag? Why or Why not?

·         Is your drag performance also your identity?

·         What inspires you? Who are your biggest influences?

·         When and how did you first learn about the female drag community?

·         Tips for those new to the world of the drag. Best advice?

·         Has your acceptance within the drag community changed because of the way you identify?

·         For the bio-female, can/is the desire to be a drag queen a transgender space? Why or why not?

·         Do you have a drag mother? If so, how did that relationship come about?

These are all just ideas to get your creative drag juices flowing! Please don’t limit yourself with this list! We want your experiences, your creativity, and your words. We would also love pictures of your performances, your drag mother, your first time in drag . . . send it all! (But please don’t forget to include your name—drag or real—and some detail about the pictures.) Please forward this call for submissions to any and every one you think would be interested.
               

Anthology information: Publication date will Summer 2013 with a to-be-determined publisher.  We will keep you posted on the project status.

Submission Guidelines: Please include a short bio of yourself. Email your submissions to: submissions@fauxqueens.com or mail them to: Female Drag Anthology, PO Box 195212, Dallas, TX 75219.

Submission Deadline: January 1, 2013

Please feel free to send any questions, comments, and/or ideas to:

baskyy@fauxqueens.com

For more information on faux queens and/or to join our virtual community, please visit: www.fauxqueens.com and/or www.facebook.com/fauxqueens.

---

[1] This call was originally titled “The Faux Queen Anthology.” However, we received a lot of emails about wanting to submit, but being unsure if this anthology included their performance or identity because they didn’t necessarily identify as a faux queen. So we have modified the call to reflect the anthology’s inclusivity that wasn’t adequately portrayed in the initial call. If you consider what you do drag, then we want to hear about it!!

http://www.fauxqueens.com/female-drag-anthology/

this seasons must drag read (or look through)

this is a must have for any queen!

miss highland park america judges!!

what an amazing evening! take a look at the flawless judges this year! so honored to be a part of this team!

miss gay dallas america

soooooooo

i'm uber excited about the return of miss gay dallas america tonight! as you may or may not know, dallas is known for its pageant queens and tonight is going to be flawless!!



that's my fabulous drag mother featured (yea, i come from royalty)!!

in addition to trying to figure out what to wear, i decided to use this opportunity to test out my pageant talent make-up look.



i'll post pics later this evening so you all can see how it turned out!!

CONGRATS TO MISS ASIA O'HARA - ALL AMERICAN GODDESS 2012

i want to give a HUGE shout out to one of my best friends, Asia O'hara. Your new All American Goddess. SOOOO Proud of her!!!!

Love you!!

fauxqueens.com

just got a face lift!! the website looks amazing and i can't wait till the forum is open and running on Friday!! happy fauxing!!

www.fauxqueens.com

drag queen words to live by

i live and breathe for these words...you betta werk *snap snap* !!!