spotlight
“I’m very happy with it,” said RuPaul of her nascent album. “In fact, we’ve had
“[Cover Girl]” since August and I haven’t gotten tired of listening to it! This whole
album is really great, I’m so proud of it. It’s dance-pop—it’s what I love the best. It’s
the kind of thing I listen to all the time when I’m taking my hikes or when I want
to get motivated to go out and face the world—beautifully melodic and catchy.
It’s not a concept album but it does have a lot to do with accepting the world
on its own terms and fighting to be number one. To own your power—that’s
something we all have and something we all shun at one point because it’s a lot of
responsibility to not play small and to own your power. A lot of people choose not
to do it, but this TV show and this album is all about being the champion that you
are. The songs are inspired by the idea of competing. In my life and in my career,
the biggest challenge has been not with other people; it’s really been with myself.
To stay engaged and to stay interested in doing it. It’s all about stripping away the
blockage, stripping away the doubt and allowing yourself to shine in a way that is
kind of scary for a lot of people.”
Having made cool music, trained a hot new generation of glamour artists and
proven herself as an actor with a comedic edge, what else can the first lady of drag
do to come to a full poetic circle?
“I would love to manufacture garments—things that are meant for that special
lady,” hinted RuPaul. “Not just dresses and shirts, but things that enhance girls who
are larger than life. I get letters and e-mails from women all over the country who
have a bigger size or bigger feet—like I do—but still want these gorgeous sexy
shoes. And they want to know where to get them. I also get letters from women
who have gone through chemotherapy and want to know how to find wigs that
look like the hair is growing out of their head. I’ve always been a resource for that
and I’d like to take it a step further and actually manufacture those things.”
While she may not have had the most uplifting experiences in the San Diego
she remembers from the 1960s, the blooming city of today’s generation holds
more promise for future visits.
“I think I’m old enough to the point where I’ve processed a lot of the frustration
I had in San Diego. So now it’s all good,” declared RuPaul. “I love it there! You know,
I only started admitting that I was from San Diego, maybe eight years ago. Grow-
ing up, I had so many demons I had to overcome and so I felt like a whole other
person. I had to reclaim that little boy from San Diego and now I can say it. Most
people just thought I was from Atlanta because that’s where I started my career. I
moved there when I was 15 years old. I grew up near Lemon Grove, near highway
94 and Euclid Ave. I went to a lot of different high schools before I finally dropped
out. I went to Patrick Henry, I went to Valhalla…I didn’t have much luck in school.
I’ll bet if I went now, I’d do better. I had so much emotional stuff going on then. The
last thing on my mind was focusing on school work. But I would probably enjoy it
now. And I appreciate San Diego now. It has less to do with the fact that it was San
Diego and more to do with the emotional turmoil in my home. I will come down
there! My sister still lives down there. I think it’s been about a year. I live in Los
Angeles and New York but my plans will always include San Diego.”
It’s reassuring to see that someone who had so much difficulty in her past can
now be constructive and nurturing enough to keep such an affirmative legacy
alive. “I have to be that way for myself because that little boy from San Diego still
lives inside of me, explained Ru. “I have to keep an eye on being kind and gentle.
That’s why, when there was conflict on the show, it was because one of the girls
felt threatened and fearful. So you don’t approach that fear with more fear. You
approach that with kindness and nurturing. That’s how you can unlock someone
who’s in the grips of that kind of fear. That’s the antidote.”
Philosophically, Ru has got it down to an art. Let’s hope that her generous path
leads her to a few rockin’ performances here in her hometown. For now, let us
watch as a new breed of drag entertainers takes aim at Ru’s throne. As RuPaul says
it best: may the best woman win!
64 RAGE monthly | FEBRUARY 2009
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104