"DRAMA QUEEN" DISCO (Have FAN, Will DANCE)

**markydefad** · July 21st, 2003, 04:04 PM

There is a certain genre of DISCO that appeals to the GAYBOYS who wish they were SHOWGIRLS...the FAN QUEENS!!!! I was reminded of this when Bobby Viteritti recalled a most embarassing incident at Troc... a particularly choice FAN QUEEN song was being played and this one particular FQ got on the stage to perform in the LIMELIGHT. Basking in all the attention, the FQ threw her fan in the air to impress her friends with her SHOWGIRL expertise hand catch...BUT the damn fan fell on Bobby's turntable knocking the needle off the record!!! DEAD SILENCE!!!! Bobby picked up the fan "like a schmatta (rag) with cooties" and tossed it back on the dancefloor. Humiliated, the FQ fled the building...never to return to Troc!! Oh, the DRAMA!!! :lol:

Anyhoo, I notice certain songs cropping up in lists from time to time, that SCREAM GAY FAN QUEEN to me.

My list:

1) IF YOU COULD READ MY MIND - Viola Wills (THE FQ's Patron Saint; their Mother Teresa)
2) TOUCH ME IN THE MORNING - Marlena Shaw
3) I WILL SURVIVE - Gloria Gaynor
4) DON'T LEAVE ME THIS WAY - Thelma Houston
5) COME TO ME - France Joli
6) IN THE NAME OF LOVE - Sharon Redd
7) IF MY FRIENDS COULD SEE ME NOW - Linda Clifford
8. I NEED A MAN - Grace Jones
9) LOVE PAINS - Yvonne Elliman
10) TAKE ME HOME - Cher
11) SO MANY MEN, SO LITTLE TIME - Miquel Brown
12) IT'S RAINING MEN - The Weather Girls
13) KEEP ON HOLDING ON - Margaret Reynolds
14) MacARTHUR PARK SUITE - Donna Summer
15) NO MORE TEARS (ENOUGH IS ENOUGH) - Donna Summer & Barbra Streisand
16) STORMY WEATHER - Viola Wills
17) AIN'T NOTHING GONNA KEEP ME FROM YOU - Teri DeSario
18. I GOTTA KEEP DANCING (aka KEEP SMILIN')- Carrie Lucas
19) THE HEART TO BREAK THE HEART - France Joli
20) GLORIA - Laura Branigan (the MOST sought after record by the "Tourists" in my tenure at Aloha Records in SF...long after it was outta stock...the Mo's from East Armpit, Nebraska were asking for it!!!) :P

Oh, and how could I forget???-- honorary mention...MAYBE THIS TIME- Norma Lewis (maybe this time...I'll be lucky...maybe this time, I'll win... maybe this time, he'll stay, maybe this time, for the first time, love won't hurry away!!)
Oh THE DRAMA!!!!!!! :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

And your choices????

**BrunoRepublic** · July 21st, 2003, 04:16 PM

Good list. :) Although I've never seen someone pull out a fan, I have witnessed normally masculine men collapse into screaming queens at the first few notes of many of those songs. Actually, I witnessed this effect to "No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)" thing last night... nothing shatters the butch façade like that!

**markydefad** · July 21st, 2003, 04:36 PM

Ah, Graham...I know those "gasps"!!!!!

The butch leatherman you've been drooling over suddenly turns into Jm J. Bullock!!! :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

I guess the FAN phenomena is over...I hated dancing near those queens...you always had to watch out that they didn't smack you in the head after they snorted their poppers and started a particularly intricate exhibition of their twirling talents!!! :roll:

FAN QUEEN ALERT!!!!! :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil:

Uh, could we move to another part of the dancefloor??? :P

**NickNack** · July 21st, 2003, 05:49 PM

:lol: :lol: OK, I'm collapsing on the floor. I haven't thought about this phenomenon since I left New York City. There were two or three guys in our little 'family' that worked these things. The leader was the oldest, 55+ years-old Leo back in the mid-70's. He broke out a fan on anything slightly pretty or grand sounding. His collection grew by leaps and bounds as people started giving them as gifts for his birthday. Some were quite beautiful but I wouldn't be caught dead with one of them in my hands. DJ image you know...

**markydefad** · July 21st, 2003, 09:50 PM

Geez, did I get them all in one fell swoop???? :roll:

Well, I'll add a few more......

LA VIE EN ROSE - Grace Jones (morning FAN;OK, she's TIRED...BUT NOT THAT TIRED that she's NOT gonna perform to Disco Piaf)
NATIVE NEW YORKER - Odyssey (more morning FAN)
VICTIM - Candi Staton
YOUNG HEARTS RUN FREE - Candi Staton
THIS TIME BABY - Jackie Moore
THE GREATEST PERFORMANCE OF MY LIFE - Loleatta Holloway
THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH - Metropolis
DON'T YOU WANT MY LOVE - Debbie Jacobs
TOUCH ME BABY/LOVE IS THE ULTIMATE - Ultimate
WITHOUT YOUR LOVE - Cut Glass

Any more?????
:o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o

Nicky,

"Grand Or Sweet" well sums up the records that propel the FQs into Full Flame!!!! :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

In SF, we had a retired 60ish dentist, nicknamed Disco Daddy Mike, who
sorta "marched up and down" the dance floor in time to the music...dressed in nothing but cut-off jeans. He seemed oblivious to what people thought!!! I wonder if DDM is "dancing in disco heaven"???!!!! :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll:

**NickNack** · July 22nd, 2003, 09:31 PM

We had a friend named Danny. He would work two at once. Amazing --- never missed a beat. Do you remember "Take Me to The Bridge" by Vera? He loved that song. :)

Miss you, Danny. :(

**markydefad** · July 23rd, 2003, 09:47 PM

Oh Nicky...

Of course I remember Vera's "Take Me To The Bridge"!!!

Classic Troc morning track!!! :D

I must mention the Boystown Gang oeuvre also:

especially "AIN'T NO MOUNTAIN HIGH ENOUGH/ REMEMBER ME"-- now that was FQ heaven!!!!

Keefe,

Doncha have any FQ tales to tell????!!!! :lol:

**Art Figueroa** · July 24th, 2003, 07:23 AM

Originally Written by NickNack

We had a friend named Danny. He would work two at once. Amazing --- never missed a beat. Do you remember "Take Me to The Bridge" by Vera? He loved that song. :)

Miss you, Danny. :(

Nicky, I had a picture of Danny, fans out, laying flat out on butch leatherman's motorcycle in front of Sneakers, it was classic Danny.

Another "fan" song that evokes images of Leo for me is "Forbidden Love".

Art

**PhyllisHyman** · July 24th, 2003, 08:21 AM

Spotted in East London last Sunday at a mixed club...one drag queen with fans twirling to Boystown Gang 'Can't take my eyes off you'. By the way does anyone know where you can get those huge fans? They're for, ahem, a 'friend' :)

**PhyllisHyman** · July 24th, 2003, 11:32 PM

Seriously, my *cough* friend *cough* needs a fan!

**bobbchap** · July 25th, 2003, 12:33 AM

:D :D Oh the stories you people tell!!! :P
I had lots of friends who did the "Fan Queen" thing. Sometimes I got tired of it because I wanted to dance, not see a show. I remember one show I saw a friend of mine do that was a show stopper. He was doing "The Boy From New York City" by Manhatten Transfer. Weeellllll, he was a little too ...hhmmm..heavy to be wearing the dress he picked out. And at one moment in the show, I say "one moment" because that's all it took. He thru out his chest and the buttons...all the buttons which were in front, popped off which let the entire front of the dress fly open letting everybody know..."how to tuck" :roll: and they also saw a new way to use "duct tape". :o Poor guy. He did finish the number..like a trooper, the show must go on. BUT he did as I remember get real drunk after wards.

He was sweet and I miss him.. :cry:

**PaulC** · July 25th, 2003, 10:56 AM

...

**markydefad** · July 25th, 2003, 01:20 PM

PaulC,

I'm not saying those are bad records--they just appeal to GAY BOYS. No judgement call here--although none were on my TOP 25--I own all of them. :D

I just recall these as the "squeal-inducing" songs that propelled GAY BOYS to rush to the dancefloor, fans in hand.

Art,

"Forbidden Love" was definitely one of the FAN QUEEN Faves!!! I thought of it, but forgot to type it!!! :oops:

Also, how could I have forgotten "FOLLOW ME" by Amanda Lear????!!!!! TOP 10 FQ!!!!!

**totoman** · July 25th, 2003, 04:59 PM

I found this really funny, it triggered a memory of way back when on the 80s in England going to a few clubs and seeing the butch men dancing with fans.

The thing that really got me was I know and love every song mentioned. Am I subconsciously a fan queen!

toto