27 year old Joseph Wilson is a rising star Brit queer filmmaker and he is also a central figure in East London's burgeoning Alternative Drag Scene which has set the city's cultural scene alight just as the likes of Boy George and Leigh Bowery did in the 1980's. queerguru tracked down Joseph to a cafe in Hackney's Amherst Road and talked to him about his work and his life and tried to find out exactly why drag was his ecstasy.
2015 turned out to be quite a year in the spotlight for the transgender community and one of its brightest stars and advocates was trans filmmaker, actor and activist Jake Graf.
Fresh from performing in the award winning "The Danish Girl",Jake now seems to be everywhere: posing on magazine front covers and writing inside them too.
We tracked him down to London via Face time to try and discover for ourselves why Jake Graf is a man that we want to sit up and take notice off. In this very frank (and funny) interview for P.T.V. it is very easy to discover why he is indeed 'The Man Of The Moment'.
Every year, the week following P Town's spectacular annual Carnival in August sees one of the best events of the whole season takes place. What is even more special about it is that fact there is no organizer or planning, people juts know to show up at Bubula's Restaurant on that Thursday at 2 pm. Wearing drag of course.
The occasion is Townie Drag Brunch an annual event started originally about 15 years ago ostensibly for all the town residents to who had been working during the actual Carnival Parade itself the previous week. Over the years the qualification for attendance has relaxed slightly, but the essence of the event is still very much in tact. Everyone looks to create, make and improvise their own very unique outfits, but even with all that glam piled on, there is never any attempt to even start to disguise the fact that they may all be in DR(essed) A(s) G (irls), they are all (every inch) men.
This year as we filmed the afternoon for PTV we were also invited into the pre-party to witness make-up being applied and shoes being squeezed into whilst bubbly was being consumed. (No-one ever seems to eat much, even though it is technically a Brunch). The whole spontaneous gathering is a sheer joy to be part of, and also enormous fun to witness when the streets of the Town are full of this outrageously dressed bunch of drag queens-for-a-day as they totter toT Dance in their very high heels to finish the afternoon.
P.S. The (real) lady at the end of movie who is taking in the sights is Marilyn Maye the legendary jazz singer who had been performing in Town. Click here to see the interview we did with her driving around town in the back of her Rolls Royce.
If you are wanting to start the New Year doing a good deed, then here is one that might just appeal to you. It certainly did to Rik Ahlberg my Provincetown based Editor & Director who is not only a dedicated vegan but has quite a penchant for Drag Queens too. He is encouraging me (to encourage you) to help Honey LaBronx fulfill her dream of getting her very successful web series back on air.
Four years ago Miss LaBronx started The Vegan Drag Queen Cooking Show which was a big hit from Day 1. I mean who wouldn't love someone obviously having such great fun combining their love of drag and veganism to make animal rights accessible to a mainstream audience?
Now she needs a few things to transform her new NY apartment into a multimedia studio where she can freely create new podcasts, as well as her new talk show, record her vegan parody songs and create photography projects. To meet the $8000 cost of equipment, which will include a new camera to film my show, audio and lighting equipment, and a new computer Miss LaBronx has set up a Fund Razr Project.
BUT it ends on 31st December 2015 and is still well short of its target, so that is where you come in. Click on the link to watch the video and if you like what you see (and what's not to like?) then click on the link to make a donation.... big or small .... and help make a Vegan Queen happy. And my Director as well .... is that too much to ask?
This summer queergurugot to sit down to talk with Mark Christopher the writer and director of one of the most successful LGBT movies of the year 54 The Directors Cut.Mark talked to us about how he went from being a farmboy in Ohio driving a tractor singing showtunes (!) to become what critic B.Ruby Rich described as one of the most important voices of new queer cinema, and then getting the unprecedented opportunity of making this Directors Cut.
Columbus Day Weekend sees the start of the annual Womens Week in Provincetown, now in its 31st week, it is the largest non-commercial women's event in the US. Over the years it has grown way past anyone's expectations with events that include workshops, meet-and-greets, lesbian literary festival, walking tours and of course the very best entertainers to perform all week. One iconic star who is an undoubted highlight of the week and will be performing most nights is Kate Clinton who calls herself 'a faith-based, tax-paying, America-loving political humorist and family entertainer.' We think she is one of the funniest women we have ever met with her quick wit and sharp humor that is totally unafraid to give her take on all the hot-button topics of the day ..... and so much more. She sat down with me for Provincetown Community Television early this summer and talked about what Women's Week means to her ...... and so much more. Take a peek at our conversation, and then go get a ticket to her Show before they all sell out.
P.S. Don't forget to check out Kate and all the other performers play football (!) on Thursday October 15th at the Bas -Relief Green for some relief yourself.
