Posted on 01/05/2003 6:53:02 AM PST by Behind Liberal Lines
Cable music station VH-1 will be in town Thursday to film an upcoming documentary about drag queen entertainers, featuring two of Rochester’s own.
Pandora Boxx and Darienne Lake, also known as Michael Steck and Greg Meyer, were selected from a pool of seven local “queens” to appear in the one-hour “day-in-the-life” documentary, according to Steck. The film may be aired as early as March.
A film crew will follow Steck and Meyer for three days, capturing “every aspect of their lives” -- shopping, exercising (Steck has lost 130 pounds from his 400-plus-pound frame in the last year), working at their salons and performing in a show at Muther’s, 40 S. Union St., on Friday.
Both entertainers have been in the spotlight before, having captured the Ms. Gay Rochester title -- Steck in 1996 and Meyer in 1999.
“The Ms. Rochester was really important, so that was really cool, but this really surpasses that by far,” Steck, 30, said.
VH-1 scouts, who found Steck through his Web site, had been looking, in part, for celebrity impersonations.
“They chose five queens and two are from Rochester,” said Meyer, 31, who apparently does a winning Anna Nicole Smith schtick. “That says a lot for what we have to offer.”
For Friday’s show, Steck plans to do his Pink and Madonna numbers. Meyer said he would perform to the theme song of the Anna Nicole Smith Show.
“I try and hope that I can act a little better than she does,” Meyer said. “I mean, you know, anybody can look like a woman, but few can act like a lady.”
The film could mean a lot of publicity for Muther’s and for the two performers.
“I don’t really want to raise my expectations and think that this is going to change the scene in Rochester. I’m not going to think that, ‘Oh, I’m going to be discovered,’ “ Meyer said.
“Just this experience is enough. Anything on top of that is more than gravy.”
For anyone who cares, more on the gruesome twosome can be found here and here (but they aren't for the squeamish).
And, just to show that Ithaca is the City of Evil, a Google search for these two resulted in a web log ("blog") showing up that indicated they have dedicated fans down there.
My mind gets distracted with these types of questions, I am sorry to say.
Nah. Just change their name to Six Fags.
Compete with Disney.
. . . Finally, there are legions of villains walking the hallways of the television industry, but VH-1 has become the Murder Incorporated of Tubeland. Its series "Music Behind Bars" features convicted killers and rapists playing in prison rock bands. Before almost every episode, family members of those murdered asked VH-1 not to feature the killers on television because the thought of it reopened all the old wounds. VH-1 did not even pause a beat, however, and continued to air the series even after almost every sponsor had dropped out. For this, VH1 President Christina Norman attains villain status, as does the program's host, actor Dylan McDermott. Television doesn't get any worse than this. Although I'd better be careful, 2003 is poised to hit us with villains galore. And next year, we'll be right here with the list.
Have no fear, Bill will be on this one, too.
Hell,the only ones they show are Bon Jovi,Madonna,and Elton John over and over.They act like they are the only ones that ever existed before [c]rap music took over.Now they shove that white[c]rap music down our throats so I guess it takes a couple of candy-ass fairies to break up the monotany.
So should these folks, who aren't too far from where I am. The name on the sign is actually "Boxxx", so I think they've got a case...
...I was born May 2, 1972 in Jamestown, NY. My earliest memories are very happy, normal childhood ones. I was well liked in school. I got good grades, although my teachers did say I was a little chatty. The changing point came in second grade when my father’s job transferred him to Olean, NY. This was the beginning of a change in me, this began my introversion into myself. This began the self-hatred that has plagued much of my life.
Olean was very different. I no longer felt very comfortable. This was also when the teasing began, something that would haunt me for most of my life.
I remember walking down the halls of school or being outside during recess and praying, “Please don’t let anybody say anything. Please don’t let them hurt me today.”
It rarely helped. The taunts and torment were daily occurrences. I don’t even remember if there was a day that went by without me getting picked on. The names and phrases whispered and shouted, “Fag. Is that a boy or a girl? Hey faggot! Homo. Queer.”
Everything I was called and every hurtful phrase just forced me further into myself. I always wished that I could be one of the kids everyone liked, someone that was very popular. I wanted to be a part of a world I felt so distant from.
I remember walking into the boy’s restroom of my elementary school only to find my nemesis and his friends. I wanted to leave without trying to make it look like I was running but it was too late. He came up to me, backing me into a wall, pretending like he was going to kiss me. I turned my face away not knowing what to do. He was bigger and I was definitely not a fighter. He just laughed at me. “What are you some kind of faggot”, he said. “If some guy tried to do that to me I’d punch him in the gut. You must be a faggot!” “Yeah look at the homo”, his cohort said. The funny thing is, at the time, I didn’t even know what a faggot was. They were just words to me. Words that were bad to me because that was the reason I was not like everyone else, because I was a faggot.
The overture for the show begins to play. I can hear the clicks and patters of the shoes upstairs walking to their seats. The crowd starts to cheer and scream. I fumble through my rack of clothes looking for the outfit I want to wear. I push through the different plush fabrics, the colors of black, pink and blue. I think about how each outfit is like a different skin, a different mood, a different character.
Characters. That was my only escape when I was young. I discovered acting at a very young age. I could become someone else, if only for a brief moment. I could be anyone, I could escape my fears and my shyness. Most importantly, I could be somebody else besides me.
When I discovered “drag” it was as if someone shined a floodlight on a dark room. The way the audience would scream and cheer the performers. The way they loved them and accepted them. Everyone knew who they were.
Thus Pandora was born. Born out of need and desperation, born out of a longing and desire. The key to being free of the desolate world of shyness. I could be the one everyone wanted to know. I could be in the place I always wanted to be, the center of attention...
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