Royalty reveal their secrets of success

In the Kitchen... goes glam this week as arts editor Mara Nelson chats with the Queen, and a quarter of the Kings, of the Ball. Conservatory senior Neil Parsons represented the Queen, Courtney Cocks, while Paul Stanley spoke for KISS, the Kings of the Ball.

mara nelson: So why the reunion for drag ball?
paul stanley: Gene had a near fatal groin injury this summer, and as a result had the revelation that we should get the band back together again. Ace and I were living with him at the time and thought it was a great idea. Pete was on the lam, we heard he was playing bongos for Jimmy Buffet down in Puerto Rico. We got in touch with him by calling his old dealer, and she told us where to find him.

mn: Did you still have all of your old costumes, or did you have to start over from scratch?
ps: We had to recreate everything. About four days before drag ball we started making lots of trips to the arts and crafts and hardware stores. We were holed up in Ace's house for a few days making the costumes, but we had a lot of help. People stood and modeled while we stitched and sewed on their bodies. We sewed their underwear to the costumes, we just did horrible things to these people. But we gave them beer and let them smoke, so they were fairly content.
mn: Did all of your make-up correspond to the original makeup?
ps: Yeah, everything was completely authentic, classic KISS. We studied old tapes, did our research.
mn: Was there blood involved in the final production?
ps: Some assface forgot the blood in the car. Some chump groupie. We left her at the show, we wouldn't let her get in the limo because she couldn't do the job. So there was no blood on stage, but blood was produced.
mn: Was your walk down the runway choreographed?
ps: Basically the plan was just to get down the runway. When you're in eight inch platforms made out of various sundry materials that you're not sure will support 150 pounds, no planning is involved, it's all improv.
mn: Did you know right away you had won?
ps: Everyone was sure we were going to win from the get-go. We talked about what we were going to do in the hotel all week. Crist knew as soon as he turned around and saw the fives and the cheering crowd. Our adoring fans were there for us all the way.
mn: Did the evening in the hotel live up to expectations?
ps: Oh, absolutely! It was full of frat kids drinking LaBatt's and we hung out with them.
mn: Did you have fun at drag ball itself?
ps: No. We got to Drag Ball, walked in, and waited and waited through that horrible procession of people who don't know how to dress in drag and don't care and don't know the true meaning of the drag ball. But then we got to walk down the runway, which was fabulous. We felt like real rockstars, which we are. And then we got in the limo with groupies and people puking, just like real rockstars. It was great.

Drag Ball itself left a little to be desired. I wish that this campus respected the Ball as much as it deserves. We were a little disappointed with the lack of chicks gawking at our feet. There could have been more of that.

mara nelson: So, you're not actually the Queen of the Ball, but her alter-ego. Do you want to tell me something about the Queen?
neil parsons: Well, her official name is Courtney Cocks, and it all started when we had this idea of doing a peacock.
mn: Who had the idea? You had the idea?
np: Well, it was a collaborative idea between my girl-friend and me. My girlfriend designed it, and her mom actually made the tail and engineered it all and made it so it flips up and spreads out.

mn: How does the tail work, are there strings and pulleys?
np: It's just a belt with the tail attached to rods. You can flip it up by hand and Velcro straps hold it in place. It's so simple.

I actually had very little to do with this. I just kind of helped to hone the ideas and make sure that it all worked. We found the blue sequined dress at Salvation Army for five bucks. It used to be a prom dress, it had ruffles on the bottom that we cut off. It got kind of short, mid-thigh, but that added to the effect.
mn: How did you make the headdress?
np: The headdress was just panty hose with the legs cut off and strips of elastic. We sewed on feathers and sequins and then wrapped a green boa around it. It was so simple, but really, really effective.

We were forced to do the headdress, because, I don't know what it is about my head, but wigs do not look good on me. I tried on a really nice wig, but it made me look like E.T. There was all this glamour and then the frumpy wig.
mn: So what was it like when you walked out on the runway?
np: I stood up there, and the spotlights came on me, and there was amazing non-stop cheering all the way down the runway. I stood at the corner for a second and then flipped the tail up, and the noise was deafening. It was double the volume of what had already been immense. I couldn't hear a thing. I couldn't hear the emcee; I didn't even hear them announce my name. I was just on this adrenaline rush. And then I just walked.
mn: Did you know then that you were Queen?
np: I had been checking out the rest of the competition all evening, so I had a pretty good idea. I had come to win. But as soon as the crowd went crazy, I knew that I had some support. I didn't even see the judges scores, but apparently there was another wave of ecstatic screaming from the crowd as they put up all fives.

As I was going down the steps, people were stroking my legs, and I was just like: Whoa ... this is crazy. I was this sex idol.
mn: Any future plans for Courtney Cocks?
np: No, I don't know if we can top this, but next year will be pretty outrageous. I hope that other people do something as flamboyant as this. It's kind of a new standard as far as the Queen of the Ball is concerned.

Photography by Adam Reitano & Laren Rusin
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