http://www.bangkok.com/magazine/maggie-choos.htm#promo
there is a map of where to find this bar here
http://www.ozy.com/rising-stars/meet-th ... land/66713
The lights are dimmed, and a sturdy figure in a tight pink shirt and a towering black Afro takes the stage. ItтАЩs Gay Night at Maggie Choo, an underground bar in BangkokтАЩs Silom district, which means Pangina Heals, ThailandтАЩs answer to RuPaul, is at the mic. With her trademark insult comedy she leads the audience in a dance competition, telling the first contestant that her performance was тАЬspecial тАФ Forrest Gump special.тАЭ Later she reemerges in a white jumpsuit to lip-sync a Whitney Houston number, complete with a fake bag of cocaine and a T-shirt that reads, тАЭMariah sucks.тАЭ
Whether dressed as a drug-addled pop star onstage or a semi-naked sex professor for her defunct web series, Queer as Fuck, тАЬHealsтАЩs talents are completely unique,тАЭ explains Maggie Choo owner Sanya Souvanna Phouma. тАЬShe can get away with anything because at the end of the day sheтАЩs the most ridiculous person in the room.тАЭ ItтАЩs not just her employers who are in love. Last year her skills were broadcast to the entire nation during T Battle, a Thai reality show where 13 local gender benders competed in singing, dancing and impersonation challenges. Despite fracturing her foot and performing from a wheelchair for five weeks, Heals won the competition. Drag, 27-year-old Heals tells OZY, is тАЬnot about blending in; itтАЩs about standing out.тАЭ
Long before the self-assured Heals, there was Pan Pan Narkprasert, an insecure, overweight and effeminate young boy of Thai-Taiwanese descent.
Her victory was a landmark in part because of an interesting fact about Thai culture. Although this is a country where gender bending has a long and often accepted history тАФ it тАЬfits into a cultural mosaic,тАЭ which includes fervent beliefs in spirit possession, says Thamora Fishel, associate director of CornellтАЩs Southeast Asia program тАФ drag culture has yet to take off here. Case in point: Only two of T BattleтАЩs performers were drag queens. Unlike transgender people, who are welcome in cabaret shows and beauty pageants, opportunities for drag queens in Thailand are more limited. Few performance outlets are available, says gay entertainment promoter Ken Kreangsak Leing. тАЬItтАЩs hard to do for a living.тАЭ
After graduating, Narkprasert returned to spend a year navigating BangkokтАЩs art scene. He entered his first competition in 2010 and won a trip to NYC to see his idol Lady Gaga perform in concert. During his stay, he went out in drag and fell in love. тАЬI realized the art I wanted to do was art on my own body,тАЭ he explains. At home, NarkprasertтАЩs parents got on board; his mother even built him a closet in his cluttered apartment for HealsтАЩs wardrobe. But finding venues to perform in remained a challenge.
The Thai drag scene, such as it is, emerged in the тАЩ60s and тАЩ70s, guesses Fishel. And it may grow more, given that drag worldwide is having a moment тАФ after the emergence of the hit TV show RuPaulтАЩs Drag Race (like AmericaтАЩs Next Top Model for drag queens) performers all over the world struck it big. Just around the corner from Thailand sits India, where hijras, men who dress as women, were just recognized as a third gender тАФ further evidence that Eastern cultures might support gender bending. Heals hopes to take the identity conversation to the next level; she gets letters from kids тАЬwho are in real bad places and find it hard to be themselves,тАЭ she says. тАЬBut when they watch me being crazy on TV or YouTube they no longer feel so alone.тАЭ
Long before the self-assured Heals, there was Pan Pan Narkprasert, an insecure, overweight and effeminate young boy of Thai-Taiwanese descent. Growing up in the small Bangkok suburb of Samut Prakan, Narkprasert was bullied by his peers and battled depression and bulimia. He found comfort in art and music classes and in watching the fat dancing hippos in tutus in the animated film Fantasia. Only when he moved to California to pursue a fine arts degree at UCLA did his life begin to change. There, he had gay roommates with nose jobs who shaved their legs and тАЬcelebrated life and didnтАЩt say sorry to anyone,тАЭ says Narkprasert. They brought him to gay clubs where he was exposed to drag queens for the first time. He began dancing in a Korean hip-hop group.
In April, Narkprasert will headline the Gala Glam Dinner тАФ one of the Asian gay communityтАЩs biggest social events in 10 years. And thatтАЩs just the beginning for him. тАЬIтАЩve worked with many performers, and I can recognize a diamond when I see one,тАЭ says Leing. тАЬHe has this sparkle in his eyes. In three to four years, heтАЩll be the No. 1 drag queen in Asia.
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