Lips, the utlimate in Drag Dining

I’m often dining out at many NYC restaurants. Of course, Dining in Drag does create minor challenges like swallowing food with your stomach cinched by a girdle, trying not to spill sauces on faux designer couture and the smudging of lipstick. I thought that being a Drag reporter I simply must do a report about the Drag Queen eatery in NYC. The ever popular Lips restaurant has Drag Queen shows, Drag waitresses and Drag Queen artifacts and photos decorating the place. On Sat. Jan. 27, I stopped by to do the report and present them with my photo. I just hope they don’t hang it next to the photo of Dustin Hoffman as Tootsie. Actually, I just hope they hang it anywhere! I noticed when I got home that the photos on the photos on the snazzy Lips 2007 calendar were taken by the same photographer who took my photos, Jeff Eason of Wilson Models. I think that's a good sign. And the "girls" at Lips were absolute sweethearts. They welcomed me with open arms and air-kisses (both cheeks, European.) Yvonne Lame', owner, manager and the ultimate hostess greeted me at the door looking stunning with a blonde beehive and turquoise spangles. She seated me at my table where Tony Sawicki, Stephanie Butler, Marcos Gonzales and David Serrano of Under the Pink Carpet were waiting for me. Our waitress was the larger-than-life All Beef Patty, whose tall hair-do plus size must be neccessary to hold her big heart. The food was absolutely delicious and as tasty as the décor. Ariel Sinclair was the hostess of the floor show and she looked divine with her silver gown and long golden locks. She introduced me to the audience where I had my turn at the mic to get entertain the diners with some laughs. But I liked it better when she got some guy in the crowd to take his shirt off. We also met Rajene, Ginger, bartender Frankie Cocktail and they were fabulous and lots of fun. It was also great to see Sultana again. She told us how she gets all her wigs styled by Patricia Field and is trying to make art of belly dancing in vogue and proved you can shake it no matter what your size is. After the first show and round of diners, the place became jam packed with literally bus loads of hungry people. So we wrapped up our video shoot and left. I know that people like hearing Drag Queens insult each other and I realize I’ve said nothing but nice things. They don’t call me Honey for nothing! But the girls at Lips can get into some hilarious sassy name-calling, all in the name of fun. And fun is what you get along with your food at Lips.

Photos: Clover Honey with Yvonne Lame', All-Beef Patty, Ariel Sinclair

O69? - A Chorus of BINGO Players

I remember my mother and other married women in the NJ suburb I grew up in would often attend BINGO games that raised money for local charities. I dreamed of being an urbane big-city lady going to more sophisticated functions, but ironically I too would end up going BINGO games - and thoroughly enjoying myself! However, the games I go to are not in Episcopal Church Halls. The BINGO I went to on Wednesday January 24, was in a Manhattan Gay bar filled with Porn Stars, Gay Chorus Singers, Drag Queens, Cheerleaders, Cabaret and Broadway Stars. It was one of Will Clark’s Porno Bingo events at the 9^th Avenue Bistro in NYC. The event that night raised funds to pay medical and funeral expenses of our beloved friend, the late Morgan Rice. Morgan was a long-standing member of the New York Gay Men’s Chorus, an AIDS activist, director of special events at Gay Men's Health Crisis, and a huge friend NYC artistic community.

Porn Stars Brandon Aguilar and Tre Xavier, Drag Divas Millie Shyaintwright, Madeline Madalaine and Trai La Trash, reining Queen of the Chorus Brenda Bond, Chorus Butch Sir Brian, Jim Brochu and Steve Schalchlin of Broadway’s Big Voice: God or Merman?, Cabaret Diva Shavonne Conroy, Alan Anderson of Team NY, Members of NYC Gay Men’s Chorus, Members of Cheer NY and many others came out to the event to show their support.

Photos: Brandon Aguilar, Will Clark & Tre Xavier, Shavonne Conroy, Brandon Aguilar, Clover Honey with Brenda Bond and Millie Shyaintwright.

Film Stars Reunited with Martinis

After the above mentioned BINGO event, I went to Club Vlada for to attend another party called The Martini Club, hosted by movie actor/producer Casper Andreas and marketing PR guru Steve Deitsch. Casper wasn’t able to make this week’s party, so actor Jesse Archer filled in for him. This was Jesse’s first time as Martini Club host so I went with my girlfriend Madeline to show him some support and have a good time. Also, Jesse and Madeline haven’t seen each other sine we were on the move set of the Casper Andres film A Four Letter Word. It was a fun Drag Queen Bridal Shower scene. We were also reunited with the make-up artist of the film, Chad Hayduk as well as another Drag Queen in the movie, the famous and fabulous Edie, who treated everyone with one of her high-kicking performances that evening. She opened with a go-go high energy "Route 66" and eventually led into some "I wanna be a Rockette" high steps. She told me that she just got booked to perform on the Atlantis Gay party cruise liner. I wondered what would happen to me if I were trapped on a Cruise boat with hundreds of Men alone in the middle of an ocean. Then I had a Martini to cool down. Singer/songwriter Brian Kent, a former Mr. Leather, also performed some songs from his new album “I’m not crazy.” The Martini special of the night was called a Sparkle-tini and was plum flavored. After a few of those, we asked Jesse about his having to act in the notorious sex scene in the Andreas film, Slutty Summer, where he “tops” an anonymous "back-side." “There was no acting in that scene, it was all real.” Jesse confessed to a not-so-shocked group of people.
Photos: Jesse Archer, Edie, Brian Kent

Disco and Naked Cowboys at the YMCA

Classic Disco is still going strong in NYC and around the world. And the hundreds of people who were at my dear friend Randy Jones’ (original cowboy of the legendary Village People) official release party for his new CD titled Ticket to the World know for certain this is true. Randy was looking and sounding great and loaded with energy as he treated us with a live performance of some songs from the CD, kicking off an international tour. The event took place on January 23 at a candle-lit club called Retox in Chelsea, NYC.

Randy was joined by another famous Cowboy, The Naked Cowboy, known for his guitar playing in Times Square. The two of them at the same event were much more exciting than anything in Brokebacke Mountain! Keith Collins (Fuse, VH-1), Chip Duckett (Spin Cycle), Michael Lucas (La Dolce Vita), Bruce-Michael Gelbert (Q on Stage), Will Grega (Composer/Producer and Randy’s Husband), Mark Schulte, Jeff Karpf and countless others were there.

With 2007 being Studio 54’s and Village People's 30th anniversary, It’s obvious that Disco never died --"And I'm still fucking standing!"—Randy reminded everyone and took us all down memory lane by exuberantly performing YMCA, while the audience, of course, jumped to their feet and classically danced and shaped the letters in the air with their arms and hands.

Photos: Randy Jones and Lady Clover Honey, The Naked Cowboy

Keeping Warm at a Bollywood Beach Party

After unseasonably warm temperatures, the cold winter winds finally made their fashionably late arrival in the Big Apple and we were hit with the first weekend of freezing weather. Fortunately, the parties I get to are still hotter than ever! And thanks to the Diversity that’s New York, an exotic tropical beach paradise was just a short cab ride away. On Saturday, January 20, Al took me to a scorching Bollywood Beach Party, the theme of the monthly dance party called Desilicious. It’s a party for Queer Desi (A term for Indian/Pakistani/South Asian) people and their friends. Saree-draped drag queens and party-goers of all ethnicities gyrated to Bollywood and Bhangra beats spun by DJ Ashu Rai. On the walls of the club were Beach Party movies of the USA like the classic Beach Blanket Bingo with Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello and the more recent Psycho Beach Party with Charles Busch. The club was decorated with inflatable sunbursts and 1960s Beach Balls. Also in keeping with the beach theme, a tall, dark and Dravidian young man named Renny asked me to rub oil over his back and chest. The highlight of the evening was the bathing suit and body contest, presided over by a Drag Desi Diva called Zeena Deepavali who looked divine in Hindu Temple Goddess jewels. One contestant, when it was this turn on stage took off his “chocolate boy” t – shirt and revealed to the crowd that he was really a Lesbian with two breasts. The shocked crowd went wild with cheers and Zeena declared her the winner! Dancing arm in arm with a tall, dark, handsome Desi to a Hindi language version of “I Will Survive” complete with hand cymbals and sitar strums with Frankie Avalon in the background was a wonderful and beautiful was to keep warm in the middle of winter. I highly recomment trying it!
Photos: Clover Honey and Desi Drag Queens (Sholay Productions), Contestants

Next, It's Vodka with Madame

Among the City’s best LGBT Networking parties are the monthly Next Works soirees hosted by Next Magazine. There was one tonight held on Thursday, January 16 at the first class health club, Club H Fitness. The party featured big gift bags and an open bar sponsored by Christiania Vodka, a new spirit imported from Norway and one of the smoothest Vodkas I ever had! I also loved the gorgeous Norwegian bartenders! The party was also celebrating the arrival of Next Magazine’s new Health & Fitness issue. Fitness and Networking are among the most important activities in NYC, right next to eating, drinking and breathing. I wasn’t the only flashy Lady at the party. Madame, the bawdy, yet sophisticatedly hilarious Grand Dame of puppets was mingling about the event, telling everyone about her return to NYC with a new Cabaret show. She was with her new partner Joe Kovacs, who's been keeping the old girl going strong since the passing of Wayland Flowers. I also mingled and networked with Don Robinder, Lou Marino and others from Next Magazine, Milan Kowalewski from Laser Cosmetica, Bob Beleson from Christiania Vodka, Blake Mays, Adam Kilpatrick and others from Club H Fitness, Will Clark, Bradley Staher, my girlfriends Rita and Madeline and many others.













Photos: Lady Clover Honey, Madame and Joe Kovacs, Lou from Next, Mike from Club H, Next Magazine

Martinis with Movie Stars

On Wednesday January 15, I went to Mid-town’s hottest Mid-week party Club Martini at Vlada Lounge. This gathering is hosted by Steve Deitsch who runs Reverberate Marketing Communications, and Casper Andreas, actor, writer and film director. His directorial debut, the Gay romantic comedy Slutty Summer is being followed up by his second feature A Four Letter Word. It actually had a small role in A Four Letter Word, and I was delighted when Casper told me that the final edit was done and my line didn’t end up on the cutting room floor. Editors can be so cruel! Jesse Archer, the star of A Four Letter Word also came by the party and it was great running into him again. We all joked about how my spangled dress kept making noise on the film set and was driving the sound tech guy crazy. Oh, the unique and varied problems with working with Drag Queens! Singer/songwriter Ruben Butchart performed live and entertained us with songs from his new CD Come & Play. I also ran into photographer Jeff Eason, promoter Rich Overton and others. The featured Martini of the evening was the Atlantis-tini, a mixture of Pineapple infused vodka, lime juice and Blue Curacau. The drinks with their aqua-blue-green color were as intoxicatingly pretty as they were delicious. And my ensemble matched the cocktail! Tre chic!
Photos: Lady Clover Honey with Casper Andreas, Jesse Archer.

Bingo with Porn Stars

After the Martinis I couldn’t resist stopping by Will Clark’s Porno Bingo fundraising event at 9^th Avenue Saloon. The poster with the hot picture of special guest star of the evening, Diesel Washington of Titan Men, was generating a lot of talk so I just had to stop by and see Diesel in the flesh! Not that I really need any temptation to stop by, it’s always a fun time to stop by Porno Bingo and see Will, AB, Manny and the others who partake in this enjoyable weekly party where you can win erotic prizes and maybe even win a date with the guy sitting next to you. But is was especially nice meeting Diesel and see in person his immense, tall body and ripped muscles that were only matched by his towering personality. Porn Stars Spike and Tre Exavier and writer Mark Schulte were among the crowd that stopped by to raise funds for The Museum of Sex.

Photo: Spike, Will Clark, Diesel Washington and Tre Exavier.

Madonna, Julia Roberts and now Me with Rupert!

On Tuesday January 15, it was time for another networking party. Networking is crucial life-skill for any socialite and journalist, and I’m one Lady who knows how to work a room! This party is called Times Square Social and is a monthly event promoted by the handsome marketing executive Hugh Hysell. It was held at the posh Club T, which is perfect since I’m a T-Girl. Even more perfect is the fact that the club is right next to the Broadway theatre where Hairspray is playing and mist form the huge can of hairspray above the Marquee spewed down over me, making feel like an Aqua Net Goddess right before I made my entrance to the soiree. Once inside I met Rupert Everett, the British movie star, and I received a copy of his new memoir, Red Carpets and Other Banana Skins. It’s a wonderful and juicy tell-all. Where else does an openly Gay man confess to secret Heterosexual love affairs with Women? In it he revealed he had had flings with Paula Yates, Susan Sarandon and other ladies. “I am mystified by my heterosexual affairs — but then I am mystified by most of my relationships," he told me. Everett is known for playing Madonna’s Gay best friend and Julia Robert's Gay friend in the movies. Of course, It’s always so fabulous to run into gorgeous and famous Gay men who are friends and lovers with women, but I could only spend limited time with Rupert, since the room was packed with wall to wall men. And this Lady had her networking to do!
Photo: Rupert Everett and Lady Clover Honey

A Honeyed Ethel Merman on Broadway!

After the above networking party, I rushed home to change wigs and re-touch make-up and glamour girl, TV correspondent Lady Clover Honey was transformed into Grand Diva Ethel Merman! It was time to for the highly anticipated Broadway event celebrating what would be Merman’s 99^th Birthday! The event took place at the theater where the hit musical The Big Voice – God or Merman? is running. The show was wonderful, touching and laugh-out-loud funny! Jim Brochu and Steve Schalchlin have made fantastic theater out of the drama of their lives with the autobiographical musical. Looking up to great dames of the Theatre and listening to show tunes can be divinely inspirational. It reminded me of all the problems I’ve gotten through as a child while
listening to my parent’s Ethel Merman Gypsy album over and over again that I kept hidden beneath the rock records. The show demonstrates how multifaceted the connection with God can be for Gay men. But the show’s message is genuine: Whatever inspires joyous, reverent passion in you, therein lies your religion.

After the performance, there was be a Merman-off costume parade hosted and judged by the legendary Marge Champion and Donald Saddler. Marge directed Ethel as Dolly when she went into the show and Donald directed Ethel many times including her famous show with Mary Martin. Empress Gefil TaFish was there to hand out prizes and she was fabulously dressed up in an exact replica of the Dolly Levi costume from Hello Dolly! The role of Dolly was actually written for Ethel Merman and she did eventually play Dolly on Broadway after, Carol Channing, Mary Martin and Pearl Baily. I ended up winning second place in the contest! Everyone was surprised but delighted that the winner of the Merman-Off was a GG (that’s Genetic Girl in Tranny slang) Lisa Berman who wore a fabulous sailor suite replica of Ms. Merman’s costume from Anything Goes. After the Merman-Off we all had refreshments including a gigantic cake decorated with a replica of the Don Bevan caricature of Ms. Merman from Sardi’s restaurant.

Photos: Lady Clover Honey and Empress Gefil TaFish as Ethel Merman, Birthday cake

Legal, Out Rappers and Birthdays

On Friday January 12, I went to join writer and man-about-town Mark Schulte and friends for drinks to celebrate Mark’s birthday. Mark said to meet at East Village hotspot Boysroom, a lounge enjoyable in that sleazy East Village way that’s hard to describe. It’s a place with cheap drinks and an even delightfully cheaper clientele! No dis intended! That night was also the opening night of a new party called Barely Legal and everyone knows how I just love “Openings.” And it’s always great to see Mark. If Barely Legal weren’t the name of the party, it could easily refer to the Go Go boys dancing in their underwear on the bar. But of course, I can’t make any snide comments about that since I too have always looked very young for my age! Cazwell, one of my favorite Out hip hop rappers was the host of the party and also DJed with Dru. Cute bartenders Pedro and Matt gave me lots of free drinks. Randy Jones (original Village People Cowboy) and husband Will Grega were also among those who stopped by with birthday wishes. Randy told me how much he like Under the Pink Carpet’s coverage of his birthday party that aired last night in NYC. Also stopping by were Milan, Daniel Nordico, Alberto Renna and others. The evening also provided a fantastic high-energy concert by VIP a band with three Gay white rappers from Philadelphia. Their lyrics were about their outrageous lives filled with promiscuous, illicit sex. “Partying, dicks and fashion” are what lead singer Johnny Make Up says their lives and their music is all about! I can easily understand and identify with that statement!
Photos: Stripper, VIP

Michael Musto, Cazwell, Gossip and Homo Rap

On January 9th it ti me for my first release party of 2007 and this one was double header! Michael Musto , famous gossip columnist was celebrating the release of his new book La Doce Musto, containing musings of the world’s most outrageous gossip columnist for over 20 years! Also, Queer hip hop artist Cazwell celebrated the release of his new CD, Get Into It, released by West End Records. The night took place at Room Service nightclub in Chelsea, NYC and was hosted and promoted by Suzanne Bartsch, who I told reporters there last night has the best parties in NYC! Michael Musto’s party started first at nearby Barns & Nobel bookstore where the stars came o ut to shine and dish with our favorite hip writer and commentator. The glitterati included Joan Rivers, Ivana Trump, Perez Hilton, Cindy Adams, Tina Louise, Randy Jones (Village People) and Mariel Hemingway. La Musto looked fabulous in his white pirate blouse from the Sienfeld episode. It looked better and more fitting on him than on Jerry. I wore my black Oscar Da La Yenta designer gown with hologram sequins. Joan Rivers asked if my jewelry was from her QVC collection but realized it wasn’t when she got a closer look at my metallic silver pearl double-strand necklace. “K-Mart” I admitted to her.

The second part of the evening at the same club was dedicated to Cazwell’s new CD release and included a powerhouse performance by Cazwell with Amanda Lepore, Peppermint, some scorching dancers and others. Cazwell announced that Ms. Lepore’s music single “My Hair looks Fierce” will be used as a theme of the new Oxygen network TV series Tease a hair-stylist competition reality series hosted by Lisa Rinna. It was wonderful meeting the people behind that series but of course I won’t be needing the services of any stylist. Thank heavens for synthetic fiber wigs that hold their body and style! Burlesque diva Dirty Martini garnered attention by almost immediately removing her dress and working the party wearing only a g-string and pasties over her nipples. She would of received even more attention if the crowd were "Straighter." It was fabulous running into and seeing Bryan Raughton, Francis Legge, Peppermint, Jeff Eason, Kenny Kenny, Milan, Astro, Hector Diaz, Randy Jones and Will Grega, Ryan, Sultana, Suzanne Bartsch, James Anderson, Michael Wakefield, Howie V and so many others.

Photos: Cazwell, Dirty Martini, Peppermint, Suzanne Bartsch

Wrestling: Recreation, Rousing Gay Fun or Both

On Saturday, January 6th I went with Tony Sawicki to video tape a Gay Wrestling Tournament for Under the Pink Carpet. Metro Wrestling NYC is a recreational athletic team that fosters the sport of Wrestling to Gay Men, building community through sportsmanship and fun and they held the tournament at NYC’s LGBT Community Center. Metro Wrestling NYC responsibly promotes, coordinates and provides opportunities for Gay amateur wrestlers to achieve their full human and athletic potential. It was different covering a Gay event that wasn’t Arts related. There were no actual or aspiring Stars who have records or tickets to sell that Tony had to interview. And it was a refreshing change! It is also great to be able to show Gay men finding potential through athletics as well as the arts. The participants weighed in, and were paired off with a competitor to have a match with. It was an absolute delight to see those men, dressed in those tight, revealing singlets, grabbing each other and rolling around. Which brings us to the question of do Gays view wrestling as a competitive sport or an erotic turn-on, or a combination of both? Of course Wrestling is an actual competitive sport with rules, regulations and skills to develop. It’s practiced by Straight, Gay and Bi Men for recreation and fitness. The guys in the tournament, and some take it seriously, came to compete, enjoy the sport and the camaraderie. And there are many places in NYC where Gay men can find sexual thrills, you don’t need to join a Wrestling team for that! But seeing all those gorgeous, scantily clad, masculine men thrashing on the mats makes it hard to ignore the erotic aspect. The guys we met and interviewed were the greatest and very enjoyable and some of them did comment on the arousing facets of the sport. It should make an interesting news segment.

Lower East Side Decadence

On January 4th, I thought it was about time to break my New Year’s resolution of being a good girl. So I brought a new tube of red lipstick and called my girlfriends and went to where the best partying takes place, Downtown on the Lower East Side. We’ve been wanting to check out the new, hot party called Unisex Salon at Club Delancey and this was the perfect excuse. There were no hair-cuts or manicures, but the styling on the dance floor was super! I wore a mod 60s floral print gown and went with Becky, Madelyn and Wren. The party is hosted by Earl Dax and James Coppola at a hip multi-level club called The Delancey. The roof was covered with tropical plants and with the unseasonably warm weather we’ve been having, I felt just like I was in Miami and almost started looking for a man to rub oil on my back. The large water fountain was turned off and transformed into an impromptu stage with a literally hot and sizzling performance by Michael Dirt of Modern Gypsy breathing and spitting fire, twirling flaming fire batons, poles and ropes around his bare-chested body and the petite body of Trina Rose. "Amazing" only begins to describe the awesome performance that blew everyone away. Downstairs on the main floor DJs Nick Hallett and Designer Imposter spun tunes that would of cured the “Winter Blahs” if we had winter weather and inspired break free dancing in a new year. One fabulous dancer was the plus-size Go Go girl Miss LES Glenn Marla who had all the right moves covered with sequins. There were performances by the raunchy Bridget Everett singing about her “canhole” plus beautiful inflatable art on display giving new meaning to the term, “great blow.” It was fabulous to see again Go NYC magazine editor Sharyn Jackson, Michael Noir, Justin Bond (Kiki & Herb), Max Simone, Alberto Ruiz, Raquel Almazon and many others.

New Year, New Blog

Exciting New Year, exciting New Blog. It’s always fabulous to start a new year. Looking back on 2006, after making history as the first Drag Queen to conduct at a sold-out Carnegie Hall concert, highlights of the past year include when I danced on stage with a nude punk rocker (Houston Bernard) at the decadent club Siberia, hosted a networking party at the first Queen Media Television conference (Q-Me Con 2006), hosted the opening of the Fresh Fruit Festival, Hosted a music video showcase for Out Music, Performed for a celebration of Cher's 60th Birthday, in the Final Hurrah concert series marking the closing of the legendary Cabaret showroom, Danny's Skylight Room and so many other events in NYC, Philadelphia, Asbury Park NJ and Salem MA.

But now it's 2007, a new year and there’s always so much to look forward to, new people to meet, new places to visit, new guys to flirt with. So I thought I would start with a new more technical Blog site. I used to just blog on one of my blank web pages. My New Year’s eve was very “intimate” so I’ll start my Blog by mentioning a fun evenings last week.

On January 3rd, My (T/G, C/D) girlfriends and I had a beautiful Ladies dinner at my place in Midtown. Rochelle fixed up a gourmet quality food including marinated grilled London Broil with sautéed mushrooms, peppers and onion. After dinner, we headed to Dave’s, an old-fashioned Times Square watering-hole where the guys like to challenge my girlfriends to games of pool. Later Madelyn, Caprice and myself went Downtown to The Monster, the well-known Village Gay Dance Club for Jesse Volt’s weekly Drag show. Jesse opened the show with a great jazzy version of “Big Spender” in high kinky boots. I was glad to see Milan was also in the show. I know her from around town and she was in Da Lipstixx and on Broadway. She did a flawless impersonation of a young Donna Summer. After the show I met NY’s most well-known bartender, Tree. He was there tending bar at The Stonewall Inn on the night of the infamous 1969 riots. He told me the The Stonewall Inn has new investors and will reopen soon! “Everything old is new again!”