Gimme, Gimme More Aviance

Legendary drag artist Kevin Aviance’s latest music video is a cover of a song we know all too well: “Gimme More” by Brittney Spears.

The idea for Kevin’s cover  began as a joke on the weekly podcast, of comedian and dirty party boy Jonny McGovern. He was so taken by the song (which came out during the height of Spears’ crazy period) that he wanted his idol (Kevin) to make a cover. The lyrics, McGovern claims, described what it feels like to watch Kevin perform at a nightclub after 4 a.m., provoking cheers from tipsy crowds of adoring queers. Amazingly Aviance agreed, and a year after many have forgotten the song, it was released. And it’s pretty amazing because it’s a very simple video with a the raw performance that is “so Aviance”: Kevin’s crazy outfits and a face performance that is altogether scary, weird yet so very compelling.

Aviance is a pioneering drag artist because he refused to conform to the drag rules: no wig, no tits, and no tuck, even. The drag aesthetic his house follows is to challenge all convention, and their own words strive for the avant-garde.

Any bald black queen who tries to put on makeup is immediately compared to him. The question is, how will evolve with the times? While drag is not subversive in the way it used to be, nowadays the mainstreamed gays and hipstery types don’t seem to have as much respect for the art form as ages past. Some look at this shame as self-hatred, or at least a refusal to accept certain elements of long passed-down gay culture. Others just seemed to be embarrassed, the way teenagers bemoan the extreme cheesiness of their aged parents.

However folks like Jonny and Kevin may find it hard to capture the same relevance of the last ten years in a rapidly evolving gay community.  Among young, indie gay hipsters and faux hawk sporting mainstream gay guys, what is the future of New York’s night performers and comedians?

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