In the Church of Peaches Christ
For the 11th year in a row, San Francisco film geeks came to worship at the Church of Peaches Christ this past summer of 2008. In case you are one of the uninitiated and unbaptized, the annual two-month-long event known as Midnight Mass is much more than a midnight movie. Irina sat down with the film freak phenom founder and creator, Peaches Christ aka Joshua Grannell, and got down to the nitty gritty details of how a humble (well, maybe not so humble) film student turned into a cult movie diva 2.0, became friends with John Waters, got her own VH1 show, started a religious movement, an SF film festival and got the man behind “Jaw Breaker” to produce her own feature film — titled “All About Evil” due out end of 2009 — and in general, spewed all kinds of fabulosity into the world of film geeks worldwide. Oh, and single-handedly created the status of “Showgirls” as a cult classic. Guests at Midnight Mass have included at least one person you and Rosie Palmer fantasized about during the early days of late night television. (Special shooting & post production thanks to Karim Amira)
Episode links: Peaches Christ
Heklina, Queen Drag Geek
Irina has been shadowing dragstar Heklina around San Francisco for so long, she may as well get a Tranny Chaser t-shirt! You can get one for yourself at Heklina’s legendary party called Trannyshack — mucking up our fair city weekly for 12 years, the club night has been officially recognized by our own special mayor, Gavin Newsom. No Cher or Barbara Streisand here, these drag queens do songs by Arcade Fire, Peaches, Missy Elliot, Bjork and the inimitable Kate Bush. Heklina has hosted Mary Wilson of the Supremes, Charo, Gwen Stefani and NY party monster Lady Bunny. Ana Matronic of the Scissor Sisters performed frequently at Trannyshack before moving to New York. Heklina IS a super drag geek and here we get a piece of history and a totally different kind of geek.
Episode links: Heklina, Trannyshack, Trannsformation photos [thanks Tara Spalty]