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www.ExpressGayNews.com • May 6, 2002 Q1 CYMK By Ian Drew that I’m a woman. My character is not even a “My act is basically sketch comedy. I upstate New York farm as some of the It’s Mother’s Day at the Voodoo Lounge, woman—she is a drag queen. Everybody’s always try to do something different so they happiest days of his life. He spent much of and the joint looks tamer than usual. different, and I give respect to people who wonder what I’m going to do next,” says the that time developing his talents in the arts, The Fort Lauderdale nightspot is want to be a woman and don’t like to be called diva. “As far as emceeing, I was awful when especially drama. usually packed to the rafters every Sunday drag queens. But that’s not me.” I first started. It took awhile to get the hang After graduation, Kenny returned to night for its popular drag revue, hosted by of it, but now it’s like going to group therapy. South Florida to be closer to his mother. one Daisy Deadpetals. The One and Only Daisy D. I get out all of my frustrations and laugh While working in a retail job at the Crowds usually break down the door to Daisy Deadpetals is not just any drag about them.” Sawgrass Mills Mall, he met a man who get in, but it is less than an hour before queen. started teaching him dance in a private showtime and the space is at only half the Besides her constant media presence in studio. That led to an audition for Miami’s usual capacity. magazines, television commercials and radio “This is just my job, prestigious New World School of the Arts, Slowly, though, it starts filling up as a ads, Daisy has established her name and and while it’s not a where he was quickly accepted to begin magnetic figure hurries through the status with an alarmingly innovative studying dance full-time. developing throng. It is not Daisy herself, repertoire that is seen at such local hotspots problem for me Kenny didn’t stay focused on school but it is someone with the same immediate as Kashmir, Coliseum, Ozone and the for long, though. He dropped out when a rush of intense charisma. Boardwalk. juggling Daisy and few experimental nights-on-the-town as It is only as the figure gets closer that Mixing together sounds and styles from Daisy, whom he named after a rare Tori Amos the outlined face of Daisy appears, tucked a wild cacophony of retro and current cultural myself, it is a problem B-side, started paying off. underneath a blue baseball hat. The man influences, she blends it together nightly in Kenny has worked full-time as Daisy for behind the makeup speaks quickly, introduces her rarely repeated conceptualized pieces. for other people” almost a decade. He sees Daisy as an ultimate himself as Kenny and hurries me back into a This is true performance art, and while Kenny career and a natural outlet for his endless dressing room. is just a boy masquerading as a drag queen Searching for a Real Love creativity. Kenny is beating the clock to transform “I spend all week getting ready and to make a dollar, Daisy is a talented artist Back in the dressing room, the suitcase himself into his alter ego, but the differences preparing for each act that I do,” says Kenny. trading on image for self-expression. Kenny has in tow pops open and traces of between the two are obvious. While Daisy “With my job, I am a makeup artist, dancer, Over her performances, Deadpetals Daisy start to come together. On tonight’s has a reputation for being warm, gregarious stand-up comedian, fashion stylist and writer. speaks—and brilliantly, at that. Her acerbic menu is Daisy’s Mother’s Day salute, an act and witty, Kenny is all of that with a more I get to do it all, and I have ideas in my head wit and likeable persona set her apart from she has prepared with fellow Voodoo sister, apparent sensitivity and realness. for months. I constantly watch movies and the pack with her endlessly engaging stage Glitz Glamour. It is this duality that Kenny is constantly listen to music to see what I banter. As the emcee of Voodoo’s show, the The piece is a twisted fighting to reinforce. can use. I am always trying to crowd hangs on her every word. version of Mommie Dearest, “Kenny is a person trying to create make my show better and take Deadpetals defines her act and the mixing the infamous wire hanger things—that is me and my creativity,” he says. it to the next level.” hosting gig simply enough, staying true to scene from the flick with “Daisy is something I created, but it is not Daisy’s career is going her reputation for telling it like it is. Deadpetals’ signature mélange of even higher now as her budding pop music excerpts to intensify acting career is starting to and outright morph the original explode. She just finished drama into her own warped shooting a new movie called fantasy. Hittin’ It, and she hopes to In reality, Kenny has a good eventually bust into the world relationship with his own mother, of stand-up comedy. who lives in West Palm Beach. Mom often helps him out with ideas for his shows, and he has More Than plans to celebrate the holiday with Mascara her the following night. After the swirl Most of the relationships in of getting ready is over, Kenny’s life have to work around Daisy is glued together and his high-profile job. While his gets in some last minute mother accepts both him and Kenny at age 6 rehearsal time before taking Daisy now, it has been harder to the stage. pull that unconditional love into other Once onstage, Deadpetals wins over relationships. the crowd again, coming off with as much “People can’t get past the fact that I do theatrical bravado as her idols Madonna, drag,” says Kenny. “A lot of people hear it Carol Burnett and Tracey Ullman. and stop right there. If I am going to date Throughout the night, however, it is somebody, they don’t think of me as just a hard for Daisy to keep Kenny completely boy they could date. This is just my job, and hidden. Equal shades of counselor, friend while it’s not a problem for me juggling Daisy and confidante come through, whether it and myself, it is a problem for other people. A is Daisy jumping behind the bar to make lot of performers don’t separate it and don’t sure her friends have drinks or counseling feel the need to, but I want people to know and offering a place to stay to a distraught the real me. I don’t want to have relationships woman who has an altercation with her unless they are real relationships.” husband. At one point, Kenny even appears Not in Upstate with Daisy on stage. In order to keep the New York Anymore show moving during a technical glitch, Kenny Calabria, the man who would one Deadpetals jumps onstage without her wig day rise up as Daisy, was born in Syracuse, to work the crowd until the number is ready. New York. Kenny’s golden blonde locks are seen by Though he lived for a short time in South all, but she doesn’t miss a beat. Florida during his childhood, he remembers It is a long way from the farm, but it is Daisy Deadpetals works the crowd at Voodoo Lounge his high school years growing up on a serene clear that Daisy Deadpetals is home. Q2 www.ExpressGayNews.com • May 6, 2002 CYMK Em refused to take responsibility for his its release and gave the gay rights movement cemented her status as the ultimate gay Music has always had a leg up on other anti-gay licks, throwing it to the fact that he a boost it most needed before AIDS. diva. art forms by being a unisensory experience. used the other F-word in a context that was Ross admits that the song was an homage The centerpiece of the concept album, Film, theater, television and other artistic already defined by society at large. to her gay fans, and other album tracks also the pumping instant classic “Vogue,” and entertainment mediums confine us by The protests culminated around the hip- became eternal gay dance club staples and captured underground gay subculture and demanding more than one of our senses and hop homophobe’s duet with Elton John at drag queen lip sync favorites, including its most beloved screen icons in one our undivided attention while we are the 43 Annual Grammy Awards where, “Upside Down” and “My Old Piano.” glamorous exhale. engaged. despite the uproar, he walked away with all The songs would become even more The rest of the ditties served as a Meanwhile, music only takes up one, of the major rap trophies. culturally significant when they were sampled stylized salute to all things gays have thus allowing itself to be ingrained in our in numerous hip-hop hits 20 years later. stereotypically worshipped: glamour, consciousness as the soundtrack to both revenge, excess, camp and even spanking. other art forms and our everyday lives. While Madonna was always a gay Music underscores, accompanies and favorite, I’m Breathless gave shade with accents every living action and reaction that full-throttle excess and torch song styles we press ‘play’ to.

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