Boarding the bus

Posted Aug 14, 2005 by Baird Helgeson

Updated Aug 15, 2005 at 09:51 AM

We are getting ready to board the bus home. People are tired and ready for a nap.

Mostly, that Tampa area crew had a quiet morning. Some had brunch, others rested, a few went to church.
Key West just keeps chugging.
Duval Street has rejuvenated with a new collection of tourists looking for rest, food and a good time.
Scooter rentals seem brisk for the slow season, as nervous riders make their way around town.
By 4 p.m., a few bars started to fill up. Restaurants are in the lull before the dinner rush.
The Tampa crowd seems ready to head home.

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A changed man

Posted Aug 14, 2005 by Baird Helgeson

Updated Aug 14, 2005 at 04:39 PM

I must finish this assignment alone.
Photographer Chris Urso decided to rent a car this morning to spare himself the nine hour bus ride to Tampa.
He said he wanted to leave early to get back to his wife and young child, but I suspect he needed the long drive to sort out his new-found love of Key West’s zany brand of drag shows.
Duval Street seems to have changed Urso for good.
We followed the crew from Tampa to a drag show on our final night in Key West. We were well passed deadline, but went in case something newsworthy happened.
A few performances into the evening – including a riotous one about a romantically frustrated woman – the festive mood took hold of Urso.
“This is great,’’ he kept saying. “This is so great.”

When one of the drag queens mentioned she had written a book about her journey from Oregon, Urso insisted he needed to buy it.
This morning, he was off to see his family. But his final words were about that book.
This is a tough assignment to explain to friends and loved ones. All sympathy for the fact we are working on a weekend runs dry when they find out we are in Key West.
Urso tried to call his wife last night to tell her about our very long day.
He made a crucial mistake of calling from a wonderful little Latin restaurant in a covered alleyway. We are about to have a late dinner. Laughter and island music from the street seemed to float in on the warm breeze.
Her night with their child wasn’t nearly as festive.
“I sensed some tone,” he said after a brief phone conversation with his wife.
He seemed to forget all about the “tone’’ midway though the drag show.
This morning he insisted he had to come back to Key West – soon. But next time he will bring his wife.
She better like drag shows.

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Protest party

Posted Aug 13, 2005 by Baird Helgeson

Updated Aug 22, 2005 at 05:25 PM

People don’t take anything too seriously in Key West.
Today’s half-hour gay pride parade was a perfect example. Plenty of cocktails were consumed before the march down Duval Street. Destiny was tough to miss, the 7’ 1” (in heels) drag queen, who apparently is Miss Pride Fest 2005.

The parade began with barking commands from some guy in the front of the parade who knew how to throw a march. He directed participants to hold the flag at the right height so the media could get the best photos. In Key West, marches start to feel routine for many locals. Just a block into the march, some were asking how soon until they were at the bar.

“This is a town that knows how to protest and how to party,’’ said Mark Bias, of St. Petersburg.A bubble machine toward the end of the march reminded people that no protest should be too serious.
Many were thankful for the lighthearted protest of Hillsborough County Commissioners decision to ban recognition of gay pride displays and events.
“Thank you for making fun of how ridiculous this is,’’ said Nadine Smith, executive director of Equality Florida. 

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Duval Street

Posted Aug 13, 2005 by Baird Helgeson

Updated Aug 13, 2005 at 03:37 PM

The organizers of “Pride in Exile” knew what they were doing when they decided not to start any events before 11 a.m. Things got a little crazy last night at Aqua nightclub on Duval Street. Melanie Minyon, a drag queen from Tampa, did things on stage that we certainly can’t run on a blog, much less in a family-friendly newspaper.

Everyone on the trip seemed to shake the buzz from the nine hour drive from Tampa and replace it with a more fluid buzz by midnight. The buzz was more of a chemical frenzy by 2 a.m., when we lost track of the Tampa Bay crowd.

This morning’s planned historic trolly tour of Key West looked more like a hangover wagon. It’s a good thing they didn’t take attendance. I doubt they had 50 percent.

Mostly, people spent the day regrouping and refueling for tonight’s march down Duval Street. Oh, and the “Best Commissioner” contest. It had been called the “Best Bigot” contest, but organizers thought that was a little over-the-top, even for Key West.

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Hemingway and queens

Posted Aug 13, 2005 by Baird Helgeson

Updated Aug 13, 2005 at 01:15 PM

It’s tough to imagine anything weirder than seeing an Ernest Hemingway look-a-like at a drag show.
It’s even stranger to see this Hemingway, the embodiment of masculinity, sing along to Shania Twain’s, “I feel like a woman.”
Loud.
But this is Key West. And here, drag queens are as plentiful as Hemingway fakers. So all in all, I am told by locals, the image shouldn’t be that outlandish. Relax, they tell me. This is Key West.
Melanie Minyon, a drag queen from Tampa, performed a few songs at Aqua, which seemed like the place to be for the night. She was predictably dramatic, thrilling the crowd with our weeklong journey, through three time zones, (none of it true) from Tampa to Key West. She belted out a few good songs, made some friends and posed for every camera in the room.
Minyon mentioned Tampa frequently, drawing cheers and whoops from the crowd. She also criticized Hillsborough County commissioners, which drew boos and hissing.
Tampa Bay area gays and lesbians threw in a jab or two at local government officials, drawing easy applause.
One of the organizers of the Pride in Exile celebration asked me: So, how does it feel to be gay for a weekend?
I wasn’t completely sure what he meant. I’ve been to drag shows before, and I’ve certainly been to bars. Aqua didn’t feel much different. I should have asked him, what does it feel like to be heterosexual for a weekend?
It’s tough to know.
Sometimes Key West moves too fast for reflection. You just have to go with it.

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