Night of 1000 Gowns ‘08
By Jeannie
At shortly
past dawn on THE day March 29th ’08 another drag queen joined the
pantheon of royals across town all doing the same thing - primping,
repairing selecting, laying out
their creations for the night of nights. That I am a RG (Real Girl) made no
difference – aside from not having to perform the last minute shaving of
face, chest, and whatever else would be visible, the process and the tension
was the same. In total concentration it took me 2 hours to get it all together
and taxi to the Mariott Marquis Grand Ballroom, where the Imperial Court of New
York and their Sovereign Majesties Emperor XVI Craig Hollywood, The Fire Taming
Rose Emperor & Empress XXXIB, the Bewitching and Bewildering Empress, hosted
the 22nd Annual Night of a Thousand Gowns, a charity ball whose
beneficiaries this year are AIDS Community Research Initiative of America and
Bailey House. The Royals singled out four individuals who went “beyond the call
of duty”; Ball co-chairs Empress XIII Anne Toque, Emperor Damien Valentino,
President Emperor X Gabriel Della Notte and Empress XIX Robin Kradles.
However
the first visible signs of tremendous effort after the presentation of the
Flags and other invocations was the Broadway-esque spectacular
“Night
Fever” a medley of numbers from the show danced and lip synched by a huge
talented chorus line of New York royals who lasted through about 15 minutes of non-stop aerobic movements
designed and choreographed by NY’s former dignitary Empress X Ran-dee.
This year’s
only the glitch was that the coatroom was three floors below the ballroom
– leaving the Royals attending the festivities to traipse up and down several floors in front
of the gaping, gawking “civilians”.
But this
year’s extravaganza was definitely worth the effort: the food more delicious,
the setting more lavish, the entertainment more spectacular, the spirit insurmountable.
At midnite all the dieting purging and diureting that preceded
the event to get intoi those gowns was abandoned as queens in an orgy of self
indulgence gorged on the over the top deserts.
The evening ended early for this
one ;)
