Original news and features articles in The Real MainStream about drag.
Quad Cities Fall Pride held its fall festival Sept. 11 in Davenport. Enjoy this Long Live Community gallery of performers, community members, volunteers and vendors.
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Amanda Green (aka Hugh Jindapants) helped co-found the I.C. Kings of Iowa City 10 years ago. Here, their decade of performing as Jindapants — a crass, showy, sneering display of toxic masculinity — is captured along with several highlight group shots of the I.C. Kings. Enjoy this stroll through the memories — then check out Green’s tribute to the groundbreaking drag king troupe, where they reminisced, shared some joy and pain, and encouraged fellow drag performers to use their voice to support social justice in the way their character and…
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It’s the end of June — but something feels, off. This Pride month is different, and many of the spaces — physical, emotional, spiritual — have been drastically altered. We’ve felt the loss of live performances and underground glimpses of poignant art. Instead, we’ve found a grieving for the face-to-face conversations yelled across a loud, dark room thumping with bass … and this looming sense of unarticulated loss, or of being lost. It’s weird to even be a person right now. I’ve forgotten how to be comfortable chatting in groups,…
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WHAT: Buffalo Grove Pride Drive WHERE: Buffalo Grove, IL WHO: Buffalo Grove Pride and many residents WHEN: June 6, 2021 PHOTOS BY: Buffalo Grove Pride
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WHAT: Metro East Pride Street Party & Drag Show WHERE: Belleville, IL WHO: Community members and performers, plus Club Escapade WHEN: June 5, 2021 PHOTOS BY: Randy Elser
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WHAT: Eclipse Nightclub Pride Party WHERE: Sioux City, IA WHO: Queens, performers and community members celebrating Pride at Eclipse Nightclub & Cabaret. WHEN: June 5, 2021 PHOTOS BY: Vanessa Nevarez (Divine) WHAT: A night out at Studio 13 WHERE: Iowa City, IA WHO: Rio S. Suave and Corey Alan, founders of Key City Pride, and Studio 13 personalities WHEN: June 12, 2021 PHOTOS BY: Rio S. Suave, founder of Key City Pride
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DUBUQUE — Key City Pride is moving forth with at least five months of events through June, starting with a Black History Month drag showcase Feb. 6. Featuring drag performers from Iowa, Wisconsin and Illinois, the Feb. 6 showcase will be offered both in-person, and through Facebook. For those partaking of limited capacity tickets, temperatures will be checked at the door and masks are required, says event organizer Río S. Suãvé. “COVID will tell us,” Suãvé said, emphasizing that all planned Key City Pride events are held contingent on what…
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ORANGE CITY –– In eastern and central Iowa, you can take in a sultry drag show several days a week without worry of any hassle from government officials or conservative activists. But in northwest Iowa’s Orange City, at the 3rd annual OC Pride celebration, city officials censored a headlining drag show, imposing a list of conditions for the performance including “no gyrating of buttocks, genitals or breasts” and “no physical contact” between performers and spectators. The city of Orange City announced its censorship of the show days before the performance…
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Studio 13 will start offering early-evening shows this Sunday, March 3, with Sasha Belle’s Drag Race. In its eighth season, Sasha Belle‘s Drag Race will start at 7 p.m. Sundays from here on. The shows will be “PG” and end by 9 or 9:30 p.m., says Studio 13 owner Jason Zeman. Zeman said the early evening show is in response to frequent comments from people who simply can’t attend the standard 10:30 p.m. shows. “The world is changing, and we need to change with the times,” Zeman said. “Sunday is…
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The thrill of mass adoration, the pain of discrimination, and the inspiring satisfaction of fighting back all came flying at A.J. Adorien within a few months’ time, at the tender age of 17.
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