Creme de la Ru

For 3 weekends now, MrStinky & StinkyLu have roped unsuspecting friends and family into attending quite suspect "entertainments." Two weeks ago, the Ramona Pageant in Hemet, CA; last week, Charo at Casino Hollywood at San Felipe Pueblo. This week? Creme de la Do -- a benefit for New Mexico AIDS Services -- right here in Albuqueerque!

Truth be told, StinkyLulu was a tad reluctant to partake -- correctly anticipating Creme de la Do to be "A Queer Epic of Amateur Proportions," a particular genre of "benefit" entertainment/performance to which Albuqueerque has been subjecting StinkyLu for nigh on two decades. (A decade -- as the emcee of last night's Creme de la Do was careful to point out -- "means ten years, guys! That's alot!!!") But the event promises to be a "hair show" & RuPaul was scheduled to perform, so StinkyLu packed in the attitude and headed over to the Hyatt (where StinkyLu's presented at 2 Conferences de la Academentia)...

MrStinky & StinkyLu (along with friends who we'll call QueLinda & ChaCha) awaited entry, crammed into a vestibule along with a couple hundred sissyboys and chubbygirls of all make and model. (All told, it seems that 1300 folks attended this year's Creme de la Do.) Smells of sloshing cocktails mixed with the nearly visible odor of so much hair product as the sissyboys and chubbygirls hooted and honked, succumbing only occasionally to a surreal hush as one particularly muscular young man or another pressed through the cawing cackling throng, likely lost on his way to or from the backstage fluffing zone... Then the show.

Creme de la Do gives runway to 7 or 8 area salons to create a concept for a hair/fashion show of some kind. And a bunch of prettygirls & sissyboys strut while the occasional musclelunk galumphs & poses. Some entries create concepts -- like ABQ Hair Studio which stuck twigs, sticks and feathers all over kids from the local John Robert Powers franchise, creating the effect that (a) these children had been sleeping in the chicken coop or (b) they were on loan from a middle school production of The Lion King's Greatest Hits . Other entries simple create a vibe -- like Ace Barber Shop which put a bunch of hipster kids (possibly already high school grads, possibly not) in nifty threads from Infiknit. The best entry came from 2nd-Hand threads retailer/resaler Buffalo Exchange -- which had the kids staggering around in some early 80s thrash style which was fun but didn't really make sense until the "Free MJ" posters were revealed & most of the models snapped into a kicky riff on the zombie dance from "Thriller." But Fusion Hair & Skin offered the most effective entry -- with a twisty turny concept number ripped from EnVogue's "Never Gonna Get It." Female models lapdanced on hunky suited guys then stripped the guys down to their undypants. The whole number sorta really worked -- despite the stripper style & steroid chic -- though looking at video from last year's entry from Fusion (it's toward the very end) makes it seem that the bumping & grinding might be Fusion's signature moda...

During the show, however, The Stinky Gang suffered some defections. QueLinda lasted about an hour; ChaCha not quite two. But MrStinky & StinkyLu were bound and determined to stick around to see at least a little bit of RuPaul. Two numbers in, after an audiotracked introduction by Shirley Q. Liquor , RuPaul was clearly turning in a quite competent performance of this prerecorded set, obviously prepared for RuPaul's 2005 gaybar/pride circuit tour . Unfortunately, the tightly tracked numbers left next to no room for the banter that Ru does so well (and which StinkyLulu loves best). So, when MrStinky turned to StinkyLu and said "I liked Charo better," StinkyLulu had to agree. So, barely clearing the 3 hour mark of this Amateur Epic (not counting the hour and a half of preshow waiting), The Stinkys cleared out.

Whew. Hafta wonder what dubious theatrical adventures The Stinky Gang will have next...