Deep Dish Toronto: Issue 771

Inside Out Opening Party, Wed, May 7 @ The Burroughes Building

Lights, camera, subtraction. One talented gay minus two gifted lesbians does not a major movie make. But I think if you were to add an interesting back story, a video camera and multiply their numbers, they could possibly get their film showcased in this year’s annual Inside Out LGBT Film Festival. Such is the case with my pal, budding videographer Ray Helkio, who, instead of adding gay men with lesbians, has come up with a different equation by showcasing what happens when you add dresses to men in his documentary The Great Impostors, which delves into the history of this legendary drag troupe that has been operation in one form or another for decades. His is just one of the films that will be screened this year, and he and many other film makers and their admirers, including Ron Kennell, Bruce Godfrey, James Fowler and Rick Kopfensteiner, have come to celebrate at the launch party in The Burroughes Building. Scott Ferguson, overseer of all things queer cinema, is glowing as he announces that this year’s festival will open with the much-anticipated premiere of Larry Kramer’s The Normal Heart. It’s quite a coup. Add in DJ Craig Dominic, free-poured booze, hardwood floors and a fantastically well-dressed crowd that wants to party, and you end up with messy movie goodness. Is someone filming this? We’re ready for our close-ups.

Business Woman’s Special Wig Party, Sat, May 10 @ The Round

Wigs, weaves, addition. One shy guy plus one wild wig does not a drag diva make. But if you were to add some alcohol, which would minus some inhibitions, you would have Business Woman’s Special’s jam-packed Wig Party at The Round. As guys and gals in expensive wigs and dollar-store ’dos dance to some hairy beats courtesy of DJs Nino Brown, Sammy Royale and Phil V, Devine Darlin sits sipping at the bar prepping for her performance. For her, every day is a wig party. But out-wigging almost everyone is Phil V, who, between working the tables, is working up a sweat while working out his massive David Hawe–commissioned pink-and-white candy-floss headpiece. “Tonight, you can call me Just Candy,” Phil squeals, channelling his newly created alter ego. Sweet. Giving Phil (and maybe even Farrah Fawcett) a run for his money are beefy boyfriends Nigel and Matt, whose long, sexy, deep-brown wigs are upstaged only by their massive, heaving chests. Meanwhile, host April Wozny looks truly fishy (as the queens say) in her auburn curls and halter-top dress — a slutty out-of-water Ariel. “Where’s your wig?” slurs one drunk in a Dollarama disaster while almost falling into us. “It’s at the dry cleaner’s,” I reply wetly. This drunk blunder is almost as bad as my tipsy mistake in thinking one woman’s Pat Benatar look is not her own. It is. And she’s fully owning it. Is someone filming this? She’s ready for her close-up.