Blue Moon Bar hosted a special evening of drag on Sunday to fundraise for the Kamala Harris campaign. All tips to drag performers and bartenders went to the campaign. Everyone worked for free, donating their time and tips to the cause. The evening was better described as a celebration of LGBTQ life, with a political theme, than some stale fundraising event. When it comes to drag, the tone of even the most serious topics like fighting the rising tides of conservatism becomes a party. Ain’t it grand to be queer sometimes.
O.G. drag queen Cindy Crotchford hosted and MC’d the night’s festivities in a slinky, orange-sequined dress. “I like Kamala. I see hope in Kamala for our America. But we need to get people out to vote,” Crotchford said.
Highlights of the drag show include, but are not limited to: A special performance by Pittsburgh drag legend Cherri Baum, in what appeared to be the drag version of a white wedding dress with a train so long it took up the whole stage.
Camp and comedy queen Stevie Crotchford lip-sync’d to the “F*ck You” by Lily Allen and held up a “F*ck Trump” lawn sign, in a number that had the crowd screaming with laughter and more than a few expletives aimed at the orange former-President.
“Being gay is political. Being queer is political. Doing drag is political, so how can I not do a fundraiser that stands for all those things, at a place [Blue Moon] that means so much to me and all who I care about,” Stevie Crotchford said.
Jenny Sais Quoi’s backing track set up one hell of a performance. They combined real audio from Vice Presidential Candidate J. D. Vance’s harangue about childless cat ladies, dovetailing into the music from The Greatest Showman’s ‘This Is Me’. They then proceeded to meow live into the mic, singing the animal noise in tune and tempo with the song. To quote the performance: “Meow, meow-meow-meow, meow!”. This side-splitter was funnier in person. Just try to imagine literal cat calls set to music. The crowd even followed suit and meowed along with it.
To close out the night, Cindy Crotchford did a delightfully sinful number, combining drag and burlesque. She had the crowd in a frenzy.
Alistair McQueen organized the show. Originally, Akasha L. Van-Cartier was meant to host the night but she had to drop out due to illness. Crotchford filled in last minute. The flyer for the event more than just advertised a Queers for Kamala Fundraiser. It had a tagline that, in big, bold letters confidently said, “We are not going back,” meaning to Trump’s America.
Drag queen Niona Skyler agreed with that tagline. “We need to move forward as a country and leave hate behind us. And have every single opportunity for every single person whoever they are, to procure that and move forward to the future. If we have Trump elected we’ll move backward 50 years.”
The politics didn’t stop with the flier. The event organizers invited community organizers to speak. State Representative Lindsay Powell (D – Lawrenceville) of State House District 21 encouraged the audience to register and vote. Regional organizer Melissa Barbour gave a rabble-rousing speech on grassroots activism–knocking on doors and making calls from phone banks.
Drag king Brayden Butter thought it was good to include political activists. “I think this show was important. Not just for the fundraising aspect. What happened here tonight was more important–engaging the community and getting them involved. By having a state representative come here and help us galvanize each other, hopefully we can leave here, get more people to register to vote, and be active when election day comes around,” Butter said.
The audience turnout for the event was incredible. The bar was so packed you barely had room to breathe. For context, this was a big crowd for any show, but a huge crowd for a Sunday show, which are usually less well attended at Blue Moon.
Audiences are key in the profitability of a drag show. For those of you who’ve never been to one, drag performers are tipped in one dollar bills. Audience members hold out the ones, then the performer makes their way through the crowd, snatching the dollar bills from their hands. At the time of this article, credit card tips from the bar, QR code donations, and online donations were yet to be tallied. But cash tips were. Sunday’s total cash raised was $1,817. Now that’s a lot of ones.
“Don’t worry, they’re going to go to the bank and make it twenties before they give it to Kamala,” Crotchford said jokingly.
The Blue Moon crew did a hell of a job raising money. To sum up a wonderful and poignant night of drag–fun was had, good was done, and it was a gay old time.
