#Trans folx full

Now 'issue after issue' haunts its reopening I guess we're not taboo anymore.īar scene: A Wilmington pool hall remains boarded up. Now, bars for straight people even have shows occasionally. We had what they called 'bar wars' back in the day, where (if you performed at one place you might be banned from performing somewhere else). We were talking about how there used to just be one or two places to see drag in Wilmington, but in recent years the number of shows has exploded. It just made me take a step back and look at everything in a different light, that you can still feel like who you are, but without having all the visual outside things. Having my chest removed was very traumatic for me.

I thought I had to have this, that and the other done just to be complete in who I am. All that happened to me with my chest, with silicone poisoning and having my breasts removed, it gave me a different outlook on everything, even the definition of what trans was to me.īefore, I was in the mindset of, I was always a woman, I was born a woman, I was just in the wrong body. When I first started taking hormones, (trans issues weren't) well publicized, even in our own community, the drag community. It's kind of cool to look back on it now. What has it been like to see that term go mainstream and be the subject of such controversy? You've referred to yourself as transgender for more than 20 years now. I wish he was alive now so he could see how far I have come. He just took me under his wing and I guess saw potential. He was a theater person and he was well known in the community at the time, he was like everyone's hero. He was a big part of me becoming who I am. I think a lot of people remember the late Sam Garner, who ran Thalian Association Community Theatre back in the day but also emceed the drag shows at Mickey Ratz for years. More: Celebrate Pride Month 2023 in the Wilmington area with these 7 events

#Trans folx full

After that, Mickey Ratz (where Prost is now) opened up and I just started working there full time. The Palladium (where Rebellion is now) was the first time I'd ever set foot on stage doing drag. There was the Flying Dutchman, there was David's Lounge. When I first started doing drag you pretty much stayed in the block you were at. What was it like doing drag in Wilmington in the '80s and '90s?ĭowntown was so different back then. Probably not even a year after that I did it at a talent show, and then just kind of never stopped. They kind of dared me to do it for Halloween, and I did. Tara Nicole Brooks: Most of my friends at that time in my life were drag queens.

StarNews: You told me years ago that, the first time you ever did drag in the late '80s, it was on a dare. Wilmington's drag history: Big hair and bigger personalities reign supreme at drag shows, which are pulling in big crowds to some area night clubs Our conversation has been condensed and edited for clarity. I caught up with Brooks for a phone interview before she embarked on 18 scheduled performances in June for LGBTQ+ Pride Month. These days, you can also find Brooks doing drag brunches at such places as Felix Cafe, Hi-Wire Brewing, The Eagle's Dare and Sauce'd. She later added the last name of the person she calls 'my drag mother,' legendary Atlanta drag queen Shawna Brooks, and has performed most every Friday night at downtown Wilmington club Ibiza for more than two decades, donning outrageous costumes, busting moves and lip syncing to everything from soaring ballads to pulsing dance tracks. Brooks has had a documentary ('Dixie Queen') made about her life and she has stood the test of time, watching (and performing) as drag has gone from an underground, late-night club phenomenon into the mainstream with Sunday 'drag brunches.'īrooks started performing in the late 1980s under the name Tara Nicole. These days, she's more like an institution. Twenty years ago, people were calling Wilmington drag queen Tara Nicole Brooks a legend.