#donnarama

October 31st in the 60’s and 70’s usually meant mobs of homophobes standing on Yonge, just north of College, waiting to hurl rotten veggies and eggs at drag queens walking into the St. Charles Tavern—one of the only bars that would have them.  Today, however, just east of Yonge, a typical Halloween night means a street party and hoards of straight folk now just waiting to throw OMG’s and camera flashes at queens to post on Facebook (or possibly to jerk off to later). It’s safe to say that for queers in Toronto, these days, Halloween might be getting better. But can the same be said of their straight counterparts, especially the ones who come every year to make a spectacle out of their spectatorship?

Why do the straighties feel the need to segregate themselves from the rest of the Halloween happenings in the city and are these non-queer Halloween events really worth going to anyway? Have straight people’s costumes gotten better because of their annual freak gawkings? Or have straight folks just become better at hiding their bitterness for not having drag queen bazazz (why else would did throw rotten shit at fabulousity in the 70’s)? It’s a sad state of affairs when you’re standing beside a queen who has spent hours making a mask inspired by the movie Alien with a Minnie Mouse bow on top (Donnarama has done this), when all you could muster is your old unwashed hockey equipment covered in dried up actual blood or possibly your Reitman’s dress coat, some badly drawn-on whiskers and a pair of shitty cat ears from Dollarama.

We here at Gutterbird asked two of Toronto’s most fabulous drag darlings—Donnarama and Nancy Bocock—to take you under their Always Ultra-Thin Wings in order to wean you off the tit of your hallowed hetero-mediocrity.

Donnarama makes her living as a painter and a drag queen and has been performing on stage in the Village since 1996. When we asked if her name was an allusion to that place where you bought your sweatshopped cats ears from, she replied, “I came out before that….stooooore… and that made me have to lower my rates.” She ran the Queen of Halloween title two years in a row (so you better be printing this shit off and highlighting everything that she says). 

Our other queen, Nancy Bocock, does, in her own words, “so many disgusting things” on stage that the venue usually needs to set up a splash zone before hand (along with highlighting and taking notes, you also better be clearing your browser data or burning the physical copy of this after reading). She is a member of the disco/rock/funk band, Fortuna, and is a gender terrorist on Queen St. West, performing often at the Beaver and the Hen House.

When we asked Donnarama what gets her off about Halloween and she told us: “Always liked Halloween. There’s something about that time of year that everybody…or I get really excited about. Because I love horror films—any Jamie Lee Curtis related horror film. Halloween is where everybody breaks free. It’s like living in Medieval Times…without the tournament and dinner.”

What gets Nancy wet about Halloween is working at Creeper’s at Dufferin Mall. She gets to wear ridiculous costumes on the job (be sure to look out for her in boy drag to ask for advice face to face). She also loves any chance to make herself look “uglier and more cracked out than normal.”

            Now for the tips:

  Donnarama wants the straight girls to…

  Pound the make-up because you’re already doing that on a Friday night anyway. Prepackaged costumes from Seduction or Creeper’s are ok, if you iron them out. They’re fine if you build on them. It’s your canvas. Build on it!

  Donnarama just wants the straight boys…

  And the boys? You can do what ever the hell you like. Just be free that night. Straight guys should get a gay guy to do their make-up for them. Find them on Craigslist in casual encounters and if you can’t do that, go on Grindr and you will find yourself a partner for make-up…or for making out.

  Nancy encourages intoxication (or meditation) for costume ideas…

  Get stoned and think of something really really really funny and that’s probably a good costume. It may take some work, but get at it early.

  (We here at Gutterbird take full responsibility for not informing you sooner)

  Nancy loves you, but not that much. Get on Youtube and teach yourself how to do your own make-up.

  Get on Youtube and check out as many make-up tutorials you can find for the image you want to create.

  For something original, blend the unoriginal…

  Take something pretty normal like a character from a Television show and put an extra spin on it—like homeless Barney, or like slutty Marge. Instead of being just one character—make a hybrid—turn it into someone you didn’t necessarily expect.

  Nancy has no time for modesty or class…

  Makeup? More is more. Two pounds. Halloween is not the time for modesty. If you’re gonna do it. Do it without class!

  For those you who procrasturbated to the very last minute, don’t worry, Donnarama told us she’s worn a garbage bag before because she had no time to plan. The last minute for her is “when people are the most resourceful. Be sure to ransack your house and garage.”

  However, Nancy was a little less kind:

  If you’re just going out in a striped shirt and the rest is your own clothes that doesn’t make you a pirate. If you’re gonna put effort in, put effort in and go all out. If you can’t put together a good costume, put together a really bad costume. Your friends will enjoy seeing you look like a piece of shit. Do your best to make yourself look like a piece of shit!

  If you didn’t know what a drag mother is before, you, dear reader, now have two. Even though they haven’t sat you down in person, to give you hands on make-up and costume tips as the usual drag mother does, they have given you the secret(ion)s to their beauty and infamy. They’ve also requested that you send in your pictures for inspection c/o of [email protected]. We will be posting the best of with their commentary. The worst of will get a drag hoard waiting outside your favorite bar or club to throw rotten shit at you 70’s style.