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Queens Of Color Take Center Stage

Allison Tovey | February 13, 2020

Topics: Amber St. Lexington, Black Girl Magic, Chicki Parm, drag, drag performers, drag queens, Fallout, female rappers, Harlot Schmarlot, Jasleane Jade, Javon Love Lopez, Melanin Monroe, Niche Brand, queens of color, richmond drag queens, The Vixen

With Black Girl Magic, Melanin Monroe has created a series of drag shows exclusively featuring queens of color. The next edition, featuring The Vixen from RuPaul’s Drag Race, comes to Fallout on Sunday.

Richmond drag queen Melanin Monroe is preparing for the second show in her Black Girl Magic series, Black Girl Magic: Female Rappers, at Fallout RVA on Sunday, February 16. The show’s cast features only queens of color, including a special guest, The Vixen from season 10 of RuPaul’s Drag Race. Along with The Vixen and host Melanin Monroe, Richmond-based drag queens Niche Brand, Jasleane Jade, and Harlot Schmarlot, along with cast members Amber St. Lexington and Javon Love Lopez, are set to perform to a lively playlist celebrating the iconic women of rap and hip hop. 

“I wanted to see a show that exclusively was hosted by, and only booked black queens. While there’s a lot of diversity in the Richmond drag scene right now, I feel like there’s something very special about an all-black show,” Monroe said. “I want the takeaway from the show to be that there are so many different kinds of black entertainers that are out here killing it.” 

Monroe’s Black Girl Magic series began in December 2019 with a show dedicated to Beyoncé, also at Fallout RVA. Featured performers included Monroe, cast members Amber St. Lexington and Javon Love Lopez, and Alexis Breeden Kelly performing to and dressing as the iconic performer. The show took place on World AIDS Day and a portion of the proceeds was donated to Nationz Foundation, a charity Monroe works with often. The event was an immediate success, and Monroe got right to work planning and promoting her next show. Black Girl Magic: Female Rappers was announced only a few weeks later. 

“The planning process was fairly simple in my head, but putting those ideas into action was a little more difficult,” Monroe said. “My mind was darting between so many different things, especially with this being the second edition of the show. I really wanted to take it over the top.”

The Vixen (via Facebook)

And Monroe is doing just that. This show promises to be even bigger and beater with more performers, more female illusions, and of course, with a very special guest. The Vixen placed 7th on season 10 of RuPaul’s Drag Race in 2018 and immediately became a standout due to her unapologetic activism. During her time in the competition, she worked towards creating a conversation about racism within the structure of the show and its many fans. In 2016, The Vixen began her successful Black Girl Magic series in her hometown of Chicago. Eager to encourage other Black Girl Magic drag shows, The Vixen is currently hard at work traveling across the country to support local black drag queens starting their own Black Girl Magic series. 

 “The booking process was very exciting! The Vixen has been nothing but kind and professional. The Vixen runs her own Black Girl Magic shows across the country as well,” said Monroe. “Fun fact: Chicki Parm actually told me several times to reach out to The Vixen. Chicki mentioned how she saw an interview about how The Vixen stated she’s always open to showing support to local Black Girl Magic shows. I had some friends tag me in a tweet of hers about where she could bring Black Girl Magic to next. I responded to it and the next thing I know, she was booked for my show.”

Monroe’s Black Girl Magic series aims to create space and opportunities for black drag queens, and in doing so fosters an environment of inclusivity, support, and joy. Black Girl Magic: Female Rappers not only celebrates local black drag queens, but the trailblazing divas who inspire them. The outpouring of positivity from the performers, the audience, and the venue make Black Girl Magic: Female Rappers a show you don’t want to miss. 

The pre-show meet and greet will begin at 8 pm with the show starting at 9. A membership to Fallout RVA is not required, though the venue is 18+. Admission starts at $15, with a meet-and-greet available for an additional cost. Tickets are available at Eventbrite. For more info, click here.

Top Photo courtesy Melanin Monroe

Discovering the Therapeutic Properties of Drag With Melanin Monroe

Allison Tovey | August 27, 2019

Topics: Babe's of Carytown, Closetball, drag queens, Melanin Monroe, Nationz Foundation, Nationz Pageants, richmond drag queens

For Richmond drag performer Melanin Monroe, drag has been the key element in moving beyond her struggles and achieving her full potential.

For Richmond drag queen Melanin Monroe, drag is medicine. 

“Performing is an escape. It’s therapeutic,” Monroe said. “Drag has actually saved my life. It added so much happiness to my life. It made me comfortable being myself.”

Monroe began performing in drag almost three years ago, after she was inspired by local queens, like her drag godmother Raquel Colby, and the crowds they attracted. As a long-time dancer and musician, Monroe has always loved to entertain and connect with an audience.

“It’s a level of energy, like having three vodka Redbulls. It feels so good to be able to share that experience with somebody,” Monroe said. “When I watch a performance, or when I’m doing a good performance myself, and I see the crowd reacting, that feeling is what made me submit myself. Just thinking, we’re going to do this all the way through. This is what we are going to live on.”

Her passion and excitement for drag and performing is what keeps her dancing the night away every Thursday at Babe’s of Carytown, or at the numerous shows she books a week — even after a full day of work.

“I get home from work, I shave my beard, and get ready to perform. For me, because drag is so much fun for me and such an escape, I don’t mind having show after show after show on top of my 9 to 5, showing up to work in the morning looking dead with glitter still in my eyes,” Monroe said. “It’s hectic, but I wouldn’t have it any other way right now.”

Her busy schedule makes the unbridled and uninhibited energy that Monroe brings to each performance even more impressive. Her glamourous costumes and bouncing dance style make her hard not to love, and impossible to ignore. Inspired by Southern pageant styles of drag, Monroe often chooses glamorous gowns or spangled leotards for her performances. 

“Melanin is your rich ghetto auntie who has had one too many drinks,” said Monroe. “She’s really bougie, really high class, but she is not afraid to fight for her kids.” 

Monroe credits the Richmond drag scene for her quick progression as a queen. Constructive criticism and guidance from those around her ensure that she is always improving. Beginning in amateur competitions around the city, Monroe formed fast and deep connections with her peers and was welcomed into a close-knit drag family with queens like her drag mother, Aaliyah Michaels Ova, and close friend and drag sister, Jasmen Clitopatra. The queens Monroe surrounded herself with helped her to improve her makeup and define her dance style, which Monroe describes as “HBCU majorette band girl dancing as hard as she can.” 

 “There are some great people that help foster and grow drag entertainers in other areas, but I would not want to start out anywhere but Richmond,” Monroe said. “If you look at where I started and how far I’ve come and all I’ve done so far, I don’t think drag would have been as positive for me anywhere else. Richmond has a lot of support, a lot of love, and a lot of people who are always willing to help.”

Born and raised in Richmond, Monroe has always made giving back to her community a priority, in and out of drag. 

“Some people volunteer with their hands; they pick up trash or feed the homeless. For me, my expertise is more in event planning and performing,” she said. “Every event I put on that gives back to the community is a drag show, a ball, something entertaining where I know I can best apply my talents directly and feel like I’m getting the best outcome. That’s my whole heart. I love throwing my body on the ground for charity.”

Her reign as Nationz Closetball diva is coming to an end, after winning the title almost a full year ago at the non-profit’s annual pageant. 

“I have had the absolute time of my life with Nationz because all of the amazing things they do in our community,” said Monroe. “They have the food pantry, they do free HIV and STI testing, they provide mental health services.” Before last year’s Nationz Pageant, she had previously worked with the group doing charity events at VCU, and couldn’t wait to get more involved.

“Just to be able to be a part of an organization that gives so much back, that’s the kind of title that I always want to be a part of,” Monroe said. “I was looking for something that gives back, and they do so much for our community. Just being a part of something bigger makes me so happy, which is why I’ll be so sad when my reign is over. I’ll still volunteer with them, but being a direct representative has been everything to me.”

The Nationz Weekend pageant, which determines the community leaders of the non-profit organization, was Monroe’s first drag pageant. She was a nervous wreck, but felt she did all right during the presentation and evening gown portions of the night. However, when it came time for talent, she came alive. She went on to win the competition, much to her surprise and excitement.

“You can see it on my face, the feeling of ‘wait, me?’ I was so shocked. I was so emotional. I can’t even put it into words,” Monroe said. “Competing is everything to me. I’m not in a pageant just for the money. For me, it’s getting to compete against people, to learn from people, to form new friendship and bonds. You can’t put a monetary value on that.”

Though Monroe has always been at home in front of a crowd, doing drag has helped her extend that confidence offstage as well.

“Before I started drag, I always struggled with being fully accepting of myself,” she said. “The more I’ve gotten into doing drag and the more I’ve progressed with it, I’ve gotten a stronger level of confidence.”

Today, Monroe credits drag with helping her work through issues with toxic masculinity and internalized homophobia, and helping her achieve her full potential.

“That flip, that escape into me really accepting and loving who I am and how I get to express that really helped me put those things to bed,” she said. “Melanin unlocked a new level of happiness. I would not be the person I am today, or where I am today, without drag.”

Photos courtesy Melanin Monroe

Chicki Parm: The Comedy Queen of Richmond

Allison Tovey | July 31, 2019

Topics: chase keech, Chicki Parm, comedian, comedy, drag, drag comedian, drag queen, drag shows, entertainment, extra cheese, Fallout, fallout rva, LGBTQ, local drag, local shows, performances, richmond drag queens, rupaul, rupauls drag race, trixie mattel, wicked wednesdays

Local drag performer Chicki Parm focuses on the funny, hosting a monthly comedy show in Richmond between tours across the country.

Chase Keech has turned his love of drag and comedy into a full-time career performing as Richmond’s drag star Chicki Parm. 

“I would have never guessed I’d get to be a full-time drag queen. My wildest dreams have already been shattered with drag,” Keech said. “I used to do drag goals for every drag birthday. I used to write out fifteen to twenty quantifiable goals, but I don’t even do that anymore. I would break them beyond my wildest dreams.” 

Keech was introduced to the world of drag in 2014 after meeting a drag queen at a house party. A natural-born performer, he was immediately drawn to drag. 

“It was so new to me. From there, I binged RuPaul’s Drag Race and I saw that there was a real lack in the Richmond scene of the kind of drag queen that I was always drawn to — which is a comedian, a comedy queen,” Keech said, “I saw a path for myself, started drag, and became the comedy queen of Richmond.” 

Keech had been working in IT at the DMV at the time, and he balanced his two worlds for over three years while he worked all day and performed all night. As Keech’s popularity rose and the bookings became more frequent, however, doing both was no longer an option. In November of 2018, Keech made the decision to quit his day job and to fully pursue his dreams of performing, turning his passion into a thriving career. 

“With drag, it’s only as much of a business as you make it. If you’re just doing gigs and not thinking about the bigger picture of what you’re doing, you’re not really trying to profit, then you don’t see much of a profit. Very early on into starting drag, I knew that’s what I wanted to do: do it for work,” Keech said. “I just have to be very business savvy with it all. You have to be very strategic; you can’t say yes to everything all the time. I have to be picky about what I do on the weekends because those are my big money-making days. And then I have merch — I’m able to sell a patron something besides my performance. You really have to go about it with a business mindset.” 

That ambition is what’s taking Keech all over the country as he travels state-to-state hosting and performing, as well as hosting multiple shows all over Richmond. He hosts Quenched Wednesdays every week at Thirsty’s RVA, as well as his own monthly show at Fallout, Extra Cheese, which features both drag performers and stand-up comedians. 

Keech pitched the idea for Extra Cheese when he was in the cast at Fallout’s Wicked Wednesdays shows as a drag stand-up comedian. This August 12th will be the third anniversary of the show, which falls on Keech’s 25th birthday. 

“It’s really nice to be able to have a show dedicated to the art forms I love, and dedicated to me being silly on the mic. My single favorite thing about drag is being on the mic and just killing a joke. That is better than performing or anything to me,” Keech said. “I always tell myself that my job is to be a comedian, and drag is the avenue through which I do my job. Drag is how I do my comedy.” 

Keech’s comedic chops are a huge part of the Chicki Parm persona, as well as his defined aesthetic. 

“I have tried very hard to create a brand, a color palette,” Keech said. “I want you to be able to look at me and say, oh, that’s a very ‘Chicki’ look.” 

When creating a look, Keech often draws on themes of futurism mixed with classic drag elements, like outrageous curves and head-to-toe rhinestones, all inside the strict color scheme Keech has set for himself. 

“I only wear three colors of hair: baby pink, platinum blonde, and silver. I only wear orange, blue, pink, black, and red,” Keech said. “I try to be consistent.” 

Among his influences are Bob The Drag Queen, the season 8 winner of RuPaul’s Drag Race, and Nicki Minaj — whom Keech cites as his “problematic fave.” 

His love of Nicki Minaj is what landed him with the drag name Chicki Parm, a name that has received lots of attention recently after Trixie Mattel of RuPaul’s Drag Race fame shouted out the fun and campy name. 

“Chicki came from my boy name, Chase, plus Nicki Minaj. So I sat on Chicki for a while and then one day I was watching Parks & Rec and there’s a bit where Aziz Ansari calls Chicken Parmesan ‘Chicki Chicki Parm Parm.’ I just thought, ‘ohmygod that’s me,’” Keech said, “And there’s so much I can do with it; Extra Cheese, and my merch with the spaghetti demons. I can do Italian-inspired numbers. I love my schtick. And so does Trixie, I guess.” 

The name Chicki Parm completes the strong branding that Keech has always aimed for in his drag career. 

“I think I’m unique in that I knew what I wanted to be, coming in to drag. I have a lot of people tell me, ‘I saw what you were doing early on and it’s been cool to see you polish it up.’ Even my colors, I knew early on,” Keech said. “It’s been such a cool journey, being able to develop that and grow with that. I really think it’s important, if you want to make it, to have a brand. People are weirded out by that word, or don’t understand, but it’s really so important to know who you are.” 

Keech’s performance style as Chicki is engaging, hilarious, and intentionally individual. He keeps an audience on their toes and playing along, even promising to scream in your face if you tip higher than a one-dollar bill — much to the delight of everyone watching. The Chicki Parm persona is defined and marketed, but never disingenuous, and always a great time. 

Chicki Parm is quickly becoming one of the biggest names in the Richmond drag scene, and Keech shows no signs of stopping. 

All Photos courtesy Chicki Parm

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