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Friday, July 22, 2005

THE NAME GAME

my buddy TIM is spending the summer on FIRE ISLAND working at a bar there. tuesday was his 26th birthday, so he came into the city and we had dinner. while he was telling me about the "drag shows" he and his coworkers put on at the bar, he let it slip that he's been using the drag name i advised him NOT to use... AURORA MELISMA (aurora borealis could work, but he looks too young for that name).

when he came up with THAT name, back in march at the MARIAH conference, i told him the name didn't fit his energy and it takes too much effort pronounce.

then, for only a moment, i took my attention away from MARIAH and came up with the perfect name for him, T'MESHA TOMORROW. he said he liked the TOMORROW part, but hated the colorization of his real name with T'MESHA. i said ok, fair enough. we'll talk about this later, after the conference (if you remember, there were only 4 participants at our twisted little MARIAH conference).

fast forward several months and the issue of TIM'S drag name was never revisited until dinner the other night. i told my young friend that the rules of choosing a drag name are as follows.

1. it must reflect your persona. funny? sexpot? campy? grand? ironic?
2. don't make it too complicated.
3. a person should be able to read it, pronounce it and remember it the very first time they see it.
4. it should roll off the tongue and be fun to say.
5. stay away from creative spelling. you're allowed to replace an 'i' with a 'y', but stop at only one variation.

here are a few of my favorite drag names over the years:

1. BUNNY HICKORY DICKORY DOCK (lady bunny's first drag name)
2. APPLE LOVE
3. LILLY WHITE
4. BRITTANY FAIRCHILD (this was during the height of the careers
of MORGAN BRITTANY & MORGAN FAIRCHILD. sick. hot!)
5. SABLE SHEPHERD (yes, a nod to CYBILL)

6. CHOCOLATE THUNDERPUSSY
7. LaKESHA LUCKY
8. EBONY JET
9. CODY RAVIOLI
10. CHILLI PEPPER

11. YETTEVA ANTOINETTE
12. CHENA BLACK
13. LORI NEVADA
14. TIFFANY MIDDLESEXX
15. LaHOMA VAN ZANT

.

Posted by Ru on Friday, July 22, 2005 at Friday, July 22, 2005 | Permalink

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