Sharon Needles has found the perfect blend of her passions: Shock drag and animals.
Needles, who won the last season of RuPaul’s Drag Race with her Goth-glam look, is the latest celeb to do a PSA for PETA, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. Famous for their anti-fur ads, Needles’ promo shows her holding severed body parts.
Hey, it is Haloween season.
The big news in theater this weekend is the opening of The Producers from Uptown Players. The massive musical stars B.J. Cleveland as a sleazy theater producer who tries to mount a huge flop — with disastrous consequences.
Over at Sue Ellen’s Friday night, drag kings Mustache Envy perform a benefit show. And you can move from kings on Friday to queens on Sunday: Drag Brunch at Dish in the ilume continues to grow. This weekend, there are three seatings for the Sunday Funday meal-and-a-show: 10:30 a.m., 12:30 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. Four queens — Jenni P, Erica Andrews, Jenna Skyy and Krystal Summers — will perform while DJ Paul Paredes fills in the music the rest of the time. A three-course meal is available for $25; add $10 for bottomless mimosas for 90 minutes. Reservations can be made at 214-522-DISH or on OpenTable.com.
Lots of groups are putting the “fun” in fundraiser this weekend, too. AIDS Interfaith Network’s Great Gatsby party takes place Sunday, with Jazz Age chic encouraged. Legal Hospice of Texas is also having its big benefit this weekend — a casino night at Edison’s Dallas on Saturday. You can even get discount tickets if you email events@legalhospice.org before 5 p.m. Friday. The kickoff party for the Boyish to Bearish calendar, which includes a bachelor auction featuring most of the models, is at The Round-Up Saloon on Saturday, starting at 6 p.m. And the Texas Gay Rodeo Association is hosting a barbecue at Woody’s Sports & Video Bar on Sunday with food being served starting around 6 p.m., then live entertainment at 8.
On Thursday, you have to choose between the Newcomer of the Year contest at the Rose Room, or seeing Drag Race winner Sharon Needles perform at It’ll Do Dancing Club. Of course, you could try to do both …
Photo by Patrick Hoffman/Dallas Voice
Last night, Sharon Needles, the spooky drag queen who won season 4 of RuPaul’s Drag Race, wished the roughly 300 people crowding S4′s Rose Room a happy Halloween. Though she performed at S4 and JR.’s as part of the requisite Absolut summer Tour that all Drag Race winners must do, Needles did so with her trademark mix of shock, defiance and darkness.
By 8 p.m., a line of people wrapped around the block from S4 to Throckmorton and by 8:30 p.m., all the unreserved seats in the Rose Room had butts in them. The audience, including many who stood along the walls and beside the bar, waited about two-and-a-half hours for the show to even begin; the room growing hotter, the pre-show music thumping ever louder and the lines to the bar getting longer with each passing minute.
For photos of Needles at JR.’s, click here.
Resource Center Dallas gets Pride off the ground — way off —with its Pride Power Hour on the Wet Deck of the W Hotel (that’s the 16th floor, folks) tonight. An open deck looks over Dallas providing a grand backdrop and DJ Avenger as your music guide. You will also be automatically entered in the prize drawing of a free night’s stay at the hotel. Fun for sure.
DEETS: W Dallas Victory Hotel, 2440 Victory Park Lane. June 28 at 7 p.m. Tickets are $20 and can be purchased at the door.
In the most recent season of Drag Race, Sharon Needles immediately stood out as an early favorite for her shocking, Elvira-like makeup and equally bizarre behavior and dark humor. Even her name proved divisive among the viewers.
So when she made it to the final three, almost every fan of the show was rooting for her to win. And she did.
Now you can see her do that shock-drag in person tonight.
DEETS: The Rose Room at Station 4, 3911 Cedar Springs Road. 9 p.m. $5. Caven.com.
SPOILER ALERT!!!!
Last night we learned the real reason Willam was kicked off RuPaul’s Drag Race (unauthorized conjugal visits with his partner during filming), and also which queen was the winner of this season. And it went to …
Sharon Needles!
The scary diva broke with the tradition of glamourpuss winners by being the first shock drag winner. Congrats! It was just nice to see Phi Phi lose. Who’s with me?
… Well, we don’t know yet. But in a RuPaul’s Drag Race first, last week all three finalists — PhiPhi O’Hara, Sharon Needles and Chad Michaels — lip-synched for their lives, only to be told the winner would be announced this week. And further complicating matters, Ru sent the call out to the viewers and the blogosphere that she would take suggestions on who deserved it most, with posts via Facebook.
A quick look at the Drag Race Facebook page shows Phi Phi seems to be the one most viewers want to “sashay away,” but who’s to say if that will happen? I’m pulling for Sharon — something former finalist Manila Luzon basically agreed with in a story last week — but what do y’all think? Who do you wanna see win tonight?
The new season won’t kick off until late January, but Logo has already announced the 13 contestants competing on Season 4 of RuPaul’s Drag Race … and none are from Texas.
Of course, that was true last season, too … until Shangela made a surprise return in the season premiere, so don’t write anyone off yet. But it looks like the producers concentrated on Chicago, Florida and the Caribbean more than Texas. Joining Ru again will be judges Santino Rice and Michelle Visage, and the winner gets a healthy $100,000 cash prize, plus the title of top drag superstar.
Here are the contestants, and their cities:
Dida Ritz, Phi Phi O’Hara and The Princess (all from Chicago), Kenya Michaels and Madame LaQueer (both from Puerto Rico), Alisa Summers and Lashauwn Beyond (both from Tampa), Latrice Royale (Fort Lauderdale), Milan and Jiggly Caliente (both from New York City),Chad Michaels (San Diego), William (L.A.) and Sharon Needles (Pittsburgh — who wins my award for best drag name).
