Let me preface what I have to say about Wigstock 2003 in general with this:
It was a great pleasure to work with Sweetie and The High Life/Low Life crew on the production number we did. Choreographed by Julie Atlas Muz, it was truly a pleasure to work with an energetic group of people who have the old "Let's put on a show!" spirit that inspired us to do Wigstock in the first place way back when...
However, the rest of the event...
I have nothing against vile, toilet humor per se, but when one bad and filthy joke follows another ad nauseum, I begin to wonder just exactly what statement is being made here. I think the clincher was when Bunny said to the little girl of about six years old she brought onstage, who really was dressed in the true Wigstock spirit, "Alright get off the stage now, bitch!" Totally uncalled for and totally repulsive.
In fact, there were a lot of other statements from the gutter that day. And from the gutter in front of the Gap, not a very interesting gutter to use as a reference point at all.
Aside from a very few, such as Tabboo! and Bob and a very few others, the show was not very interesting, IMHO. Nothing cutting edge and nothing very entertaining either. But I suppose that makes it very East Village 2003, doesn't it?
I think the clincher for me was the attitude of a certain backstage "Security" person. Dressed in jeans and a T-Shirt, with no badge in sight (of course,) he nonetheless had NYPD written all over him. You know, courtesy, professionalism and respect all the way.
As I was trying to get a better look on the stage-right side backstage, he came at me. "Where the fuck are YOU going?" he bellowed up in my face. I decided to bite my tongue and didn't answer, but retreated to another spot. "YOU CAN'T FUCKING STAND THERE!" He came at me again all up in my face. I decided he was just crazy and turned my back on him and retreated to the stage left area.
About 1/2 hour later, I noticed Big Scott (former Wigstock backstage security btw) with his dog and stopped to say a few words to him. All of the sudden, my NYPD friend was back screaming at Scott. "You and the fucking dog have got to leave. No dogs allowed in here!" Scott of course raised a ruckus, as the dog has always been allowed backstage, but left. I didn't understand, if there was this sudden No Dogs Allowed rule, then why did they let Scott in in the first place?
Needless to say, I left the park, turning to the "security" and said, "If you had handled that right, there wouldn't have been a problem. But YOU made the problem, asshole."
The whole thing left a bitter taste in my mouth.
I am usually the one who says, "Never say never..." But let me say it. For me, Wigstock? Never again!