Jessika Goes Old School

[“Reflections and random thoughts from a recent blonde-moment”]

…a night of jazz and ”The double-cross of clicking heels”.

Thrill…control …power…style…art…attention…insecurity…addiction…???

…the “riff” of fashion…the jealousy of creativity…

…the finesse of style…the pureness of detail…



…warring emotions hover aloft…”the battle for imagination”…strength deepens…

…deception…joy…confusion…shock…hurt?…BETRAYAL…fear…violence…

…love???

…is this a dream?

…the smothering weight of prejudice…the ironic-secrecy of hate…

…have another drink…maybe 10…

…what am I doing here…a wink in the mirror…

…my god, she’s hot…maybe I should buy her a drink…or breakfast…

…’naw, she’ll never talk to me…but, wait…she’s looking right at me…

…is this a dream?…eww, what was I thinking?!

…the sour after-taste of a scowl…the fragrant smile of a fresh cut bloom…

…the reality of a kicked-in door…the profanity of the law…

…should I run…climb that “stonewall”, bitch!…everyone is running…why am I still here????

…doing the “pee-pee dance of life”…men’s or ladies?

…which line is shorter…

…”Hello, will you be sitting or standing with us this evening?”

The foundation of change…the duration of struggle…the blunt awareness of family!

…the emptiness of a brother’s glance…the deafening force of a father’s silence…

…the warmth of a mother’s spirit…look in the mirror…who am I?

…is this a dream?

…new blood…the littlest diva…”the omnipotent hug!”

…”normality?”…am I the cause or affect…the influence…or excuse?

…”The supply-side economics of love”…

…the confirmation of chanted smiles…the bonds of wit…

…is this a dream?

(...wake up and find out.)

-end-

Well, Dah’links…what do you think…sounds like a drag-beatnik poem, eh?

[snapping fingers and sipping of lattes]

I recently had the pleasure of sitting down with a true diva after a visit to the “Green Mill” (one of the oldest jazz clubs in the country)…”Old School” is the first thing that comes to mind when I think of “Miss Tilly”.

Both over 80 years young…most don’t realize how performers like Miss Tilly have set the foundation for all of us…and going to a “real jazz club” gets you thinking about important things like “talent and class”…not “flash and hype”.

So get your ego-driven, ungrateful, lazy asses up off that sofa…stop bitching about what some other “queen” did, said, or supposedly took from you…and understand what being a “female impersonator” really is about! Do you even know what the difference is between a “Female Impersonator”(glamour), “Drag Queen”(humor), “TV/CD”(fetish), and “Transsexual”(identity/lifestyle)??? Not that any of these are good or bad, and do we really need more labels, but more people should really understand who/what they are before calling themselves a “performer”. I hate to say this, but I really feel that some of the “class” is slipping away from us….and I’m scared.

(…and we’ve got 4 more republican-years to hurry up and get our Sh*t together!)

Think about “performing” back in the 1940’s and 1950’s…the dark hidden clubs…the elegance of chandeliers and hand-made gowns…the looming cloud of your passion being “against the law!”…and the drive to always be better, anyway.

A long time ago…in a show bar…far…far…away…there were the girls of the “Chesterfield’s Revue”.

Like myself, I’m sure very few have never heard of it…and most really could care less. As I sit back on my barstool, and contemplate my olive, Miss Tilly paints this mental masterpiece of a true “Show bar”…linen tablecloths… candle-lit centerpieces…draped walls…leather booths…dressing ROOMS…Vegas-style showgirl revues…and a stage with curtains & real SPOTLIGHTING!

Think about what it would be like to not be able to come out of the dressing room between shows in drag! Think about what it would be like to be arrested for using the ladies room in drag! Think about having to spend 8 hours in jail for just being in drag!

Think about how if you look really bad…it’s a joke…and everyone laughs… (remember Milton Berle???)

…but, if you look really good…people get nervous…and you get arrested!

(..ah, the smell of insecurity…stinks, don’t it?)

Miss Tilly knows what that is like…and kept going!…and kept getting better!!

Whether it was a visit from Mae West, or some other star of the time…the “Art of the Female Impersonator” was something special back then. Elegance, style, and pride were the important things to her.

No MAC brushes…no derma blend…no online catalogs…no gay-rights!

“I had to walk ten miles in the snow, IN HEELS, to get to work each night!!” (kidding)

I’m constantly fascinated by the pride taken in the details…the professionalism…it truly was “theatre” back then.

Can we say that today?…can we say that about ourselves?

Was all of this something bigger than just a “boy in a dress”?…I think so…
But hey, who am I? Have I earned the right to say anything…probably not.

Do I think the “Art” exists today?…absolutely…do we need to get better…ALWAYS!

…should we forget the past…NEVER!!!

…think about this…what’s the difference between a stripper and a showgirl????

Do any of you know about “Stonewall”????…wanna guess why “gay marriage” was a key topic during last year’s election?…do the words “Minority”, “Majority”, or “Morality” influence your lives daily???…no?…wanna bet?!

Dah’links…who am I do judge anyone…(..who are they to judge me?)…who am I to make any kind of social commentary…who am I???

…nobody really…

…just a “boy in a dress”.

I’m sorry if this column isn’t my usual “goofy-wit” of our “tongue-in-cheek” (wink) escapades…but I really took a look in the mirror after meeting Miss Tilly. She really got me thinking about how things are today…how lucky I am for performers like her preserving the “art”….hell, for just surviving deserves an award!!!

Ok, you girls get my point…enough with the serious stuff, right?…ready to hear about our weekend now????

Sunday night, the Bumper Boyz and I were the special guests for the very first media sponsored “Lakeview Lounge Tour” with BOI Magazine/ChicagoPride.com columnist, Jason Paul of “Riding the Velvet Ropes” fame. And a fabulous evening of cocktails and finger foods (Hi, Adam!) from all that Boystown has to offer lay before us.

With entourage in a tight little “V”-formation…birthday boi-JP lead the group to such fabulous places as the Pepper Lounge, Kit Kat Klub, Firefly, Circuit, and even a quick stop to Charlies for the late-night show. What could be better???…. how about having a dozen people pick you up by chanting your name from the sidewalk below your balcony?!

…[Jes..si..ka…Jes..si...ka!] …I felt just like “Evita”…lol…(“Don’t cry for me Chicago!”)

[wave…wave…and smile]

After entertaining the troops at “Chateau du Sterling” with elegant shots of some flavored vodka chipped away from that iceberg growing in my freezer…and the opportunity to FINALLY put to use those 12 Finlandia shot glasses I got from some “thing”...”somewhere” was at hand…it was time to be off for some “petite fromage”, “pomme frittes”, and a fine merlot at “Firefly”. (Boystown @ Halsted/Buckingham)

(…for you more “rural girls”…that is “Little Cheeses”, “French Fries”, and “Red Wine”)

This lovely little french bistro is one of my very own fabulous favs in our cozy neighborhood. And since all our stops tonight will be “on the strip”…isn’t it such a security blanket to know that no matter what kind of trouble we get into during this tour of the fabulous Lakeview/Boystown nightspots…

”We can crawl home if we have too!”

The official “Tourists” for the evening included such notables as Tim & Allen (pictured) @ BOI magazine, Jason @ Chicago Gay Men’s Chorus, David @ “Hell-in-a-Handbag” Productions, JR, Sven, Adam(also of the band “16 Candles”), and Jessica @ Crew, John @ Urban Lift Salon, Brian @ D/Vision, Louie, and few others I’m too blonde to remember…oops!!!!…and we even had the extra foto-fabulous George St. George (popular Chicago photographer) looking like a rock star joining us…what fine additions to the “Bumper Boyz” all!

(…I did tell you that you are a Bumper Boy now, didn’t I????)

Speaking of which, my foto-fabulous-frock of the evening was my spicy, red, latin-inspired, cocktail dress and tan ankle-strapped heels…AND, since my infamous “cherry stem trick” is a fav of JP’s (I tongue-tie it into 2-knots, then un-tie it …tahdah!) …I even had on my new “cherry stemmed earrings”…since it was an evening themed of cocktails…duh?!

(…sorry, but I couldn’t tie those into a knot with my tongue from my ears…
I’m talented, but not part frog!)

After an hour or so of lovely ambience…everyone getting into the (French) mood by being pretentious to everyone else, it was time to be off to “Latin Night” @ Circuit…
…and a line going around the block!

As our groups of “tourists” arrived in a fag-a-licious fleet of cabs, bolting from his cab
MR. “Don’t you know who I am?!” JP takes charge with a stern “OH, I’m not waiting in line…WE ARE THE LIST, HONEY” and in we all go, escorted by none other than owner Mike M. himself!

(…by the way, we were going in anyways, Mike was just being polite and waiting for everyone to show-up and take us in together to VIP all of us at the bar. But let’s just let JP have his moment shall we?!…it was his birthday….lol)

Big shout out to Mike (www.circuitclub.com) and showing all of the club owners how it’s done with “VIP treatment”! It was a real pleasure to finally have a moment to chat with him since the recent reopening. I assured him that previous comments that the new club design has “been to the West Elm catalog a few too many times” it is still a fabulous addition to Boystown…and once yours truly maps out the locations of the air conditioning vents to stand under, we’ll surely be back for a “less glowing and more flowing evening”. (…love the club, but gurl, I felt like a lit-candle in there!)

After we finished our graciously comped-cocktails we were off once again…we had a show to visit…and Miss Lauren Jacobs and the cast at Charlies was just a few clicks of the heels next door!

What a fine welcome we received upon our mid-show entrance…and after Lauren proceeded to inquire “So, how many Bumper Boyz tonight, gurl?!” from her MC perch, I respond with a proud “8”…and was graciously invited on-stage…

“Thank you…but it’s YOUR stage, dear…”
( …and I surprisingly passed on the offer…being the shy-flower that I am.)

…I love her, but having 8 hunky guys on your arm is not given up so soon!!! (wink)

Our evening continued by me also keeping a close eye on Miss Monique Marquette getting all chummy with my Boyz…haha. I was glad to hear she finally got out of that lesbian-relationship with that nasty-bitch “Tina” and I got to see my old friend from Club 7301 once again…I missed ya girl…it was great chatting with you again…xoxo (seriously)

AND, we unexpectedly had Bumper 1st-class, David, and fellow Armani Representative ‘Mitchell” catch-up with us soon after! Mmmm, maybe I do need to visit the Armani/Chicago showroom more often???? I do need a new dress and some strappy heels now that you mention it…wink…wink.

Finally, the absolute highlight of the tour had to be when Miss Lauren “recognizes” JP in the audience!…and gives him a “Hey, you’re the guy from “Riding the Velvet Ropes”!

With arms in air, and a smug grin from ear-to-ear…JP finally gets his birthday present…

”Don’t you know who I am?!”…”YES, we do!”

…and here are the pictures to prove it!

”Love you more than my luggage!!!”
xoxoxo
Jessika Sterling

p.s.

AND…AND…AND…”Big News” reminder…

“Jessika Sterling and the Bumper Boyz” will be visiting Miami/SoBe/Ft. Lauderdale April 14-20!!!

Such fabulous venues as…

The Aids Walk/Miami Event (sponsored by justcircuit.com)
Jade Lounge/SoBe
Coliseum/Ft. Lauderdale
Pawn Shop/SoBe
Amika/Miami
Mansion/Miami
Nocturnal/Miami

…are all planned for our VIP tour!

And a HUGE “thank you” to our upcoming gracious hosts…

Shane & Victor @ justcircuit.com
Edison Farrow @ the “SoBe Social Club”(www.sobesocialclub.com)
Gary Santis @ Coliseum (www.coliseumnightclub.com)
Steve @ chicagopride.com
Ryan/Micah @ dragtastic.com

…and Miss Gabrielle Giovante (…my drag-mom!)

SO, hang-on for the next column…it’s going to be “something” for sure!!!

(…pray for me, dah’links…lol)