In the nine years since its premiere on Logo, RuPaul’s Drag Race has become a television staple satirizing gender stereotypes while championing the rise and acceptance of LGBT culture. Not without its critics, the show has been accused of advancing negative racial stereotypes and its namesake drag icon has even been accused of making transphobic…
Drag Star Shea Couleé Ready to Slay Heat Nightclub
Upon entering the workroom on season nine of RuPaul’s Drag Race, Shea Couleé fiercely declared, “I didn’t come to play, I came to slay!” Flaunting an uncanny resemblance to 1970s icon Grace Jones, the Chicago native quickly emerged as one of the top queens to beat, giving season nine winner Sasha Velour a run for…
Derrick Barry and Chad Michaels Come Together for Show at Aztec
In the age of RuPaul’s Drag Race, it’s not uncommon for celebrity impersonators to be mistaken for the actual performers who inspire their acts. That awkward moment happened to Chad Michaels in 2009 when People Magazine mistakenly used a photo of the drag star for a spread on the iconic pop star Cher. Similarly, drag…
Rey Lopez Birthday Bash Returns for Sixth Year
Since its 2012 premiere at the Bonham Exchange, the annual Rey Lopez Birthday Bash has featured appearances by some of the top performers from RuPaul’s Drag Race. With the reality show’s increasing popularity and its recent jump to VH1, there seems to be no end in sight for these gender-bending, boundary-pushing queens. Before last year’s bash…
‘Drag Race’ Starlet Peppermint Is Celebrity Grand Marshal of SA’s Pride Parade
Peppermint, the drag queen and songwriter who recently came in as the runner-up on the ninth season of RuPaul’s Drag Race, will be in San Antonio to serve as the Celebrity Grand Marshal of the Pride Bigger Than Texas Parade and to perform at the Pride Festival on July 1. Peppermint will join the other…
Chameleonic Queen Nina Bo’Nina Brown Brings Her Wild Drag Stylings to Heat
Not that it hasn’t always been there in some way, shape or form, but exaggerated, outlandish costumes and makeup concepts have flourished in recent seasons of RuPaul’s Drag Race — exemplified by the likes of deranged living doll Trixie Mattel (season seven), “7-foot-tall, live-action anime character” Kim Chi (season eight) and Atlanta-based transformation specialist Nina…
Villain or Vixen? Sin City Drag Star Kimora Blac Brings Her Sexy Show to Heat
Even though her claws didn’t entirely come out on RuPaul’s Drag Race, Las Vegas showgirl Kimora Blac still got pegged as one of the villains of season nine — a designation some attribute to a reality TV pitfall tellingly dubbed the “villain edit.” Sure, Blac bitched about challenges involving sewing . . . and bedazzling…
Drag Star Valentina Set to Perform at Heat
As we move further along into season nine of RuPaul’s Drag Race, Rey Lopez Entertainment is bringing another one of the shows break-out stars to Heat Nightclub – the sassy Latina fan favorite Valentina. Born James Andrew Leyva, this former Los Angeles resident brought tears to the judges when she dressed as Lady Gaga during the first challenge in episode one. Her…
Latest ‘Drag Race’ Star Farrah Moan to Make SA Visit
Just three weeks into season nine of RuPaul’s Drag Race, Rey Lopez Entertainment is bringing Farrah Moan, one of this season’s breakout stars, to Heat Nightclub on Wednesday, April 12. Born in Texas and now working as a Vegas showgirl, the twenty-three-year old Farrah describes her look as a cross between fetish, old school Hollywood and…
Julian P. Ledezma Unveils Drag Photography Show
On Friday, February 24, photographer Juilan P. Ledezma will host his first art show in his new studio space at Woodlawn Pointe in the Decco District. Billed as Evoke the Reign: 10 Queens, the show will consist of Ledezma’s photography featuring local drag performers as well as performers from RuPaul’s Drag Race. Ledezma’s work has…