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1988 - Monika Treut releases Virgin Machine with Shelly Mars' character Martin (left) doing the infamous beer bottle-jack-off. Shot in San Francisco at The Baybrick Inn in 87.

1989 - SAN FRANCISCO Leigh Crow performs as Elvis Herselvis (below right ) for the first time at Mr. Nancy's seminal dyke club Female Trouble. Female Trouble also gave birth to Tribe 8, 4 Non Blondes and many other dyke bands. Leigh calls herself a Drag King and the press do too.

Elvis Herselvis 1990NEW YORK Diane Torr (below left)develops her Drag King Workshop idea in collaboration with Johnny Science at Annie Sprinkles' Salon.

Diane's internationally recognized King for a day workshops lead Time Out London to name her "Drag King Ambassador to the world" in 1999. Along the way her work is also profiled in G.Q., The Washington Post, Village Voice, The Manchester Guardian, and is documented by BBC2 in its Q.E.D. series.

diane torr1990 - SAN FRANCISCO Elvis Herselvis lip-synchs at several San Francisco venues throughout the year.

LONDON Della Disgrace releases her first photo book, the groundbreaking and dangerous Love Bites documenting the Chain Reaction group. It is banned in bookstores everywhere for portraying transgressive SM imagery, butch-femme roleplay and...(gasp!) penetration.

1991 - SAN FRANCISCO Elvis makes his live singing debut at the Castro Street Fair with Drag Queen Patsy Kline & her Memphis G-Spots. In the fall Elvis is royally wed to Glamouretta Rampage aka Justin Bond aka Kiki of Kiki & Herb at Klubstitute. The late, fab Kris Kovick in minister drag presides. Toone is in the audience visiting from London. vegas in space poster

Lori Naslund a.k.a. Hans Ubereasy appears as a Drag King astronaut who changes into a woman in Philip R. Ford and Doris Fish's classic drag film Vegas in Space, which has been in production for over 5 years.

LONDON After being the subject of a London Observer Sunday feature story where she's described as a cross-dressing genderbender, Toone quits her then band, The Well-Oiled Sisters when they object to her coming out as Trans and a top in the national straight press. (below left)

Annie Toone in the Sunday Observer 19911992 - SAN FRANCISCO Toone moves to San Francisco from London, forms The Bucktooth Varmints, and starts singing original Dyke-a-billy songs from a passing perspective.

Elvis Herselvis is singing live all over town too, and news that The King is alive starts to spread. Elvis & Kiki grace the cover of The SF Weekly as drag couple extrordinaire.

1993 - SAN FRANCISCO The Bucktooth Varmints share bills with Elvis Herselvis, Kiki & Herb, Tribe 8, Pansy Division, Team Dresch, Phranc, Pussy Tourette and others at queer clubs like Female Trouble, Klubstitute, Club Confidential, Downtown Donna's Faster Pussycat, and Lu Read's DragStrip and Merkinstock extravaganzas. Sister George single 1993

 

Elvis, Patsy, Kiki & Herb & the Varmints also play the straight club circuit, as do the punk bands. The press start calling this scene 'Queercore' also included under the Queercore umbrella are Sister George, a London dyke band from The Chain Reaction scene featuring Debbie Smith & Ellyot Dragon - check their LP Drag King.

Swaddling Couture flyer 1993

NEW YORK & LONDON Belle Reprieve by Peggy Shaw and Lois Weaver in collaboration with the Bloolips drag queen troupe wins the Obie Award for ensemble acting. In it, Peggy plays the Stanley Kowalski character from A Streetcar Named Desire.

AUSTRALIA Elvis Herselvis performs and MC's at the Mardi Gras in Sydney, Melbourne Gay Pride, and Tazmania where she is given the key to the city.

SAN FRANCISCO Stafford wins the proto SF Drag King contest at the DNA Lounge. Elvis and Kiki MC. Ggreg Deborah Taylor is a judge. Produced by The LAB.

In September, Elvis Herselvis broaches Annie Toone with the idea of creating an original sci-fi Drag King rock and roll musical.

In December, Elvis & Toone team up with Kiki & Herb for a month long Xmas drag revue called Swaddling Couture at Café du Nord.

BJ

1994 - SAN FRANCISCO Wednesday May 18th Mr. Nancy and Katherine Murty hold the 1st Official San Francisco Drag King contest at The Eagle. Elvis MC's. Club Confidential hosts' Stafford and Jordy Jones are among the judges. BJ wins (right).

SAN FRANCISCO A London TV crew arrives to make a documentary about Elvis Herselvis for English television.

NATIONALLY Peggy Shaw performs as a man, and a passing woman in You're Just Like My Father.

NEW YORK Toone and the Bucktooth Varmints go to New York to appear at the 25th Stonewall anniversary events sponsored by OUT magazine.

Nigh on 15 years since the first W.O.W. and both straight and gay New York audiences are still puzzled by Toone's Drag King persona -- except at CBGB's where Peggy Shaw and Lois Weaver are in the audience and the newly relocated Justin Bond leaps onstage to go-go-dance with dazzling San Francisco Drag Queen Jordan L'Amor.

carlos las vegasSAN FRANCISCO Photographer Chloe Atkins does the first Drag King calendar with pictures of Elvis Herselvis, BJ, Stafford, Skeeter and Steak Haus among others.

WINNIPEG, CA Carlos Las Vegas (left) begins kinging in Canada.

 

 

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