Denver drag queen extraordinaire Nuclia Waste will lead the search for the next Evil Stepsister during a Saturday drag performance and audition show. The requirements: a flamboyant wig, facial hair, women’s lingerie and a great sense of humor. The tryouts are part of an annual bash thrown by the Denver Cycle Sluts, the city’s foremost drag-queen performance troupe, and is a continuation of a lengthy history.
“Our group has been around for 26 years,” says Waste. “And we’ve been doing the talent search for around 20 years now.”
The auditions are open to anyone willing to create an appropriate costume and character. They will be performed live as part of a larger show by the entire troupe.
A typical audition event might bring about eight, with only one or two deemed worthy to join the troupe; currently, there are five official members. “But we’ll take as many as we think are good,” Waste says.
The auditions are set up as a mock beauty pageant, with a Q&A session posing serious mind-benders to the contestants, like “Which contestant would you most like to see lose, and why?”
The group puts on three major shows each year, and the proceeds always benefit a local charity. Saturday’s show kicks off at 7 p.m. at the Erico Motorsports showroom (2855 Walnut St.; Erico is the annual sponsor of the troupe’s Pridefest float). The $12 ticket price benefits Sense of Security, a Colorado nonprofit group for low-income breast cancer patients.
Can’t make it this weekend? Catch the troupe every third Wednesday of each month at Broadways (1027 Broadway) for Drag Queen Bingo, or hit the next big bash when “Deranged in the Manger” hits town Dec. 17. Details at nucliawaste.com.
So What? seeks its original vibe
How long can a club night last before it’s time to call it quits? That’s the question gnawing at Shawn White, a.k.a. DJ Style N. Fashion. White has maintained the long-running So What? event on Tuesday nights for 13 years – practically unheard of in the club industry – with his cohort and fellow DJ K-Nee. The night started in the early ’90s and hit its stride about 1994 when Tuesday nights at the old City Spirit Café on Market Street were the hottest thing going in acid jazz and neo-soul music.
At one point, the event moved to 9th Avenue West, where White says crowds reached all-time highs, but the intimate vibe was lost. Since then, So What? has bounced among numerous bars and clubs, fizzling out most recently after a run at Rock Island and a brief stint at Rise Nightclub. On hiatus since July, So What? can be found once again on Tuesday nights, in its new home at the Karma Lounge (1701 Wynkoop St.).
“We’re sick of everything we’ve had to go through, but we’re not sick of the night,” says White, who is still willing to give the event yet another try.
After all the shuffling around, he still loves the music, and he still has loyal fans. “It’s a different kind of night,” he says. “It’s cool, it’s jazzy, and the reason we keep coming back is that we hear about it every time. People swear up and down to me that their lives will be over if we don’t keep it going.”
So what will make this new attempt different from the last one? White is careful about his expectations. “Sometimes I feel like it’s this vast conspiracy,” he says. “The younger kids want to hear us play exactly what they hear on MTV or on the radio, and the older crowd gives us mostly apathy or nostalgia. But I’d love to have the night come back to what it was.”
He hopes that the sexy, smallish lounge atmosphere at Karma Lounge – paired with the already successful Tuesday Sugababes ladies’ night at the adjacent Lotus Nightclub – will help So What? hit a new stride. “And it would be so cool to get to 15 years,” White says. “Then I could just chill.”
Kat Valentine writes about night life Fridays in 7Days. Reach her at kat@kingproduction.com or call 303-820-1568.
