Another Year, No Glammy

Hey Gays,

Now I briefly brushed over the fact that I am a drag performer. I wasn't sure if I was going to get into my alter-ego on here because I feel I put a lot of time into her and this was a bit of an escape to talk about myself.

In the end I guess they can't be separated...LOL. The character is part of me but very different in a lot of ways. MargOH! , that's her, MargOH! Channing was this character i created because all I ever wanted to do was sing. I can't sing so she gave me the opportunity through Lip Synch to experience what it would be like to be that person. I threw myself into MargOH! and it started out that I impersonated Judy and Liza with great fan fair in Rhode Island.

Though I was popular up there I usually would perform my shows as the character's so if i did Judy i got up and did all Judy or if i did Liza I did all Liza including banter and all. So i never was the type of act where i was a brassy, bawdy drag queen that people flocked to.

People really respected my ability to Lip Synch and emote feeling from the songs I performed and i was proud of that but i always thought something was missing so I stopped performing for 5 years with the exception of a benefit or something...Though in Rhode Island I'm still known and when i go back I'm always asked to perform a number and never pay for drinks..LOL

Flash to NYC. I wasn't sure how i was going to go about being MargOH! here. Though NYC is a hot bed for Drag Activity, it was mostly associated with the bar Scene so I tried a bit when we arrived. I did some contests performing Liza and did well but i had gained some weight and I didn't look as much like her I feel so I didn't win anything or have anyone falling all over me. It was fine!Also things change and i wasn't into going out to bars anymore so the thought of getting in drag 4-5 nights a week to promote myself all over again didn't seem like an option.

One night Jeff and I were drinking and listening to music and we came up with an idea. We'll bring the drag queens to us by creating a cable Access TV Talk Show called "The MargOH! Channing Show". The same night we brainstormed and made up a whole back story about MargOH!, honestly in one night we decided that MargOH! would be the daughter of a Fish Monger from Bangor , Maine (we had been listening to country music and Coal Miners daughter came on so that's how we jumped on that) then we thought she should be a faded star and decided to make her the worlds most decorated extra so i came up with movies and weird roles that she could be in.

We were off...I applied with MNN and with a VHS-C camera we started filming the shows in our apartment. of course, it wasn't that simple, really, we actually would edit these shows vcr to vcr by pausing and bringing a black board down on the scenes to make sure we had filler for the cuts, it was a nightmare..LOL. We had fun though. i would write the shows and Jeff would direct and film them.

The original reason for doing the show was to have drag queens on as guests but none of the ones I asked would ever do it with the exception of Linda Simpson and it ended up being one of my favorites. it didn't matter because of the 2 plus years we did the show we had great guests like Penny Arcade, Michael Musto, Chris rael, Ken Kleiber,The Hazzards, Adam Dugas, Ann Carr and our favorite Nellie Mckay. We did a lot of skit type shows as well when we couldn't drag a guest over to our apartment. Here are a couple of clips




In the end I was really proud of the show and all the people we had on had fun and I still work or keep in touch will all of them. It was funny, the last show we did was filmed digitally and edited by Jeff. It was our 2nd Christmas special.it was fun show and it went so well we decided to make it the last...LOL

We never really hit it big with the show but i know we had on the average 5,000 viewers a week according to MNN tracking.

You know I may do it again!! who knows

MargOH! has continued to grow and guess what gays I sing now in my own voice and have had many cabaret shows. The other funny thing is I still don't quite fit in, by that I mean I've never really have been given notice for what i do. I've managed to create a little niche following and I'm happy with that but I've never had acceptance by the communities I perform in whether it be Gay bars, cable Access, print, cabaret or burlesque..though the burlesque scene seems to have embraced big old MargOH!



The reason why I called this post another year, No Glammy is because in New York there is an annual drag awards called the Glammy's and I've never been nominated. Technically they are for nightlife people so mainly performers that perform in clubs. I'm not bitter about it but I've been out there and people know who i am but i still go unnoticed by the community at large.

I haven't quite figured out how to crack that nut but I'm sure i will. I just wonder why sometimes......I know i don't suck and i know I 'm not the best but i think I'm somewhere stuck in the middle...well i do think I'm the best Lip Syncher out there...but will anyone ever really know.....who knows but I'm not going to give up until this fat lady sings!

XO, BT