It takes a village to raise a drag queen — some kind of support system for feedback and friendship, dressmaking, wig gluing, and whatever other sticky situations might arise. Even an enterprising entertainer like D.C.’s “magical drag goddess” Cake Pop! sometimes needs a little help from her friends to fulfill a fabulous vision.
Cake Pop! assembled her crew recently for a very special production. In collaboration with director Marty Nee, Cake (a.k.a. John Marsh) aimed to create a visual performance piece to play during her DJ set at the highly anticipated Kitty Kat Ball, a national tour featuring the stars of RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 18, including winner Myki Meeks, finalists Nini Coco, Darlene Mitchell, Juicy Love Dion, and special guests in each city.
All Stars Season 9 winner — and crowd favorite — Angeria Paris VanMichaels serves as the tour’s hostess. “I’m doing a pre-DJ set,” Cake Pop! explained over a video call from her hotel in Phoenix, mere hours before the Kitty Kat Ball’s opening night. “I’m DJing for an hour, and then I’m going to perform in the middle of the show.”
The original visuals are intended not just as background for her live video DJ sets on tour, or to announce herself to audiences around the country who haven’t seen the award-winning D.C. nightlife fixture perform or DJ. “It’s also a good opportunity for me to show some of my favorite D.C. girls that came out and supported and helped with the video,” Cake says.
“They put a lot of effort and showed up and really helped me out with this thing that they didn’t have to,” Cake continues. “I was like, ‘Hey, I’m doing this. I can’t pay you, but this will be a good opportunity to be featured in something cool across the nation.’”
So her village stepped up. “Citrine, Crimsyn, Sapphica, Margaret Cynthia Pearl, Shenandoah, my younger sibling who is a trans-masc queer individual, Alex.” Filmed at Bunker, the “stylized visual experience” spotlights D.C. drag — and dancers Chad Kovax and Justin Williams — while also reimagining Lady Gaga and Doechii’s house-music hit “Runway.”
An act of drag spectacle and community-building combined with canny self-promotion, “It’s my way of bringing a piece of D.C. along with me because the tour hasn’t even started yet and I’m already homesick,” says Cake, still less than a decade into her drag career.
A former marketing executive in life-before-drag, she acknowledges that, since she has not (yet) appeared on Drag Race or the like, the exposure gained could open the door for much bigger opportunities. “This is the first time I’ve done anything like this, and I feel very blessed to be supported by such a beautiful community.”
METRO WEEKLY: It’s exciting that we’re doing this on the actual tour kickoff day. How are you feeling going into the Kitty Kat Ball?
CAKE POP: I feel good. It’s definitely an interesting tour to prepare for because, to be real, I’m joining a tour with all these girls who were just on TV for the past three months. I believe in my own star power, and I know I’m good at what I do, but there’s just something that makes me nervous about feeling like I need to prove myself to these audiences. Some of them know who I am, but most of them don’t at all. And I have a very unique opportunity to be in front of thousands of people during this tour that are going to get to know who I am. So I’m really pulling out all the stops to show off. So I’m nervous. There’s a lot of moving pieces and parts that I’m trying to make work in one little tour. I’m probably doing way more than I need to, but I think it’ll be worth it, and it’ll show when people see online and in person what I do.
MW: Great attitude, and I also think that this is a great opportunity for D.C. to be seen, as well as you. Without giving too much away, what is a Cake Pop DJ set on this tour serving?
CAKE POP: So I think the big thing I’m doing that’s going to gag everyone, I’m video DJing the whole tour. I’m known in D.C. for having a very high-energy DJ set. I DJ primarily at Bunker mostly, which is known for circuit parties, but also for just tech house beats and stuff.
Being from Chicago, I try to combine my Chicago house music with the stuff that people want to hear in the clubs. So doing all that, and then adding video as another element that I have to think about and control is exciting because it’s going to be very effective. I think most tours, when they have a DJ, it just says Kitty Kat Ball or whatever, but this will actually have active content playing behind me. So it’s cool. I have a lot of little fun moments planned with the DJ set.
I think that VJing is an art that’s been a little bit lost lately out there. I feel like bars just have their playlists that just play music videos and stuff, but I’ll actually be there spinning it live.
MW: Have you worked with any or many of the queens on this tour before? In particular, I would like to know, Angeria?
CAKE POP: Yeah. Actually, Angeria is the one I’m closest with. I’ve been able to work with her a lot over the past few years, whether it’s been her coming to D.C., or us meeting up at DragCon or randomly seeing each other. I DJ at 3 Dollar Bill [in New York City] sometimes, so we run into each other there, too. It’s really nice having a familiar face along with me on the tour. Also, the tour manager is someone that I’m pretty close with [the tour is produced by Flip Phone Events]. So the top four of this season, we all know each other, but this will be our first time actually hanging out because they’ve been busy touring the whole season. But it’s been good. We all hung out last night, and we actually have a rehearsal in two hours together as well. So I’m excited to get close to all of them. But yeah, Angie’s cool. She’s so cool.
MW: I looked at the tour schedule. It’s crazy.
CAKE POP: It’s intense.
MW: This week alone, you’re in Phoenix and San Francisco and Salt Lake City, Portland, Boise. What is your plan for staying sane and strong and hydrated and all that?
CAKE POP: Honestly, the thing that I’m trying to stick with the most is actually working out in the morning. Sounds crazy, but when I’m in D.C., I have a routine. A lot of people see me at VIDA every day from 9 a.m. to noon. I do that and get my little sauna in, because that just helps me to be relaxed during the day. So I’m a little bit concerned about getting too stir-crazy if I don’t work out. Some of my flights are so early.
The girls are flying out at 6 a.m. tomorrow after the show. So if I can’t work out before my flight, then I’ll work out after, but that’s going to be the main thing that keeps me sane. I know it sounds crazy that I’m going to do more work. But that’s the only time I really get time to myself, when I work out. So I kind of keep up with that while I’m on the road.
MW: Oh, you’re talking to somebody who does not find that crazy at all. Now, let’s take it back to what originally brought you to D.C. from Chicago? Were you doing drag there too?
CAKE POP: So I was born in Chicago, but I spent most of my life in Virginia Beach, which is four hours away from D.C. A lot of people don’t know this about me, but I moved to D.C. because I used to work for a vegan restaurant. I was one of their head chefs, and we opened some locations up in D.C., and I just moved up to D.C. And that was my first big move as an adult, back in 2018. Ever since I’ve grown to really love D.C. and get obviously involved in the culture of D.C. being one of the primary drag queens in the city.
If you would’ve told me when I moved to D.C. that I’d be doing what I’m doing now, I would be like, “What?” Because the company that I was with, they were a Christian company. I thought about starting drag, but it wasn’t anything I did until I actually left that company.
MW: Oh, my God, so many questions. First of all, queens have so many hidden talents. Do you still cook a lot for yourself?
CAKE POP: I do, yeah.
MW: Do you eat vegan?
CAKE POP: Yeah. I’m vegetarian now. I was vegan for a long time, but now I’m vegetarian. I still cook a lot for myself. I actually, on the side, still consult with that same restaurant and some other restaurants as well. I do a lot of their menus and programming, and then also marketing for restaurants on the side when I have time, but drag has obviously been taking up most of my time lately. Y’know, I’m an entrepreneur, we have to hustle to make it.
I think sometimes people expect that if you’re a full-time drag queen, you’re going to just do drag. And it’s like, no, girl, I’m consulting with restaurants about different things to make ends meet, and I’m DJing at random places. I DJ weddings, and I do this and that. It’s a lot to keep up with, but that’s what I have to do to survive. It’s not easy to pay rent in D.C. otherwise.
MW: So is there a way to combine drag and cooking?
CAKE POP: There probably could be. It’s funny, there’s some cursed videos that I’ll never release of me doing some cake baking. My drag name’s Cake because I used to make wedding cakes and cupcakes. So I named myself Cake just because I thought it was funny. I mean, I opened a pop-up bar a few years ago in Pitchers, and one of my big goals in life is to have my own restaurant or café. I always say that drag has been the perfect culmination of all the random skills that I’ve gained in life, whether it be marketing or dancing or singing or DJing or whatever it is. So I see food being worked into it at some point. Maybe you’ll catch me owning my own version of Hamburger Mary’s or something one day.
MW: Is there a bar in the DMV that you consider your home bar, or are you like an at-large councilwoman?
CAKE POP: So it’s funny, yeah, I’d say it’s weird, because I’d feel guilty picking just one bar as my home bar.
MW: I don’t want to get you into trouble.
CAKE POP: Right, I know. I don’t want to get in trouble. But I’ll say, as far as bars that have supported me and are responsible for me sitting here today and DJing this tour, Pitchers has been a huge support to me throughout my entire career. The first Ru Girl shows I hosted were there. The owner [Dave Perruzza] has always been super supportive of anything and everything I do and need. Bunker is where we filmed the video. And Zach and the people at Kinetic really have invested a lot in me as well. Kiki is another bar that I have hosted shows at. I’m in a weekly cast spot there as well. So I’ve done a good job at not being shoehorned into one specific bar, but I’d say those three bars in the city are the ones that really have supported me.
Also, Trade. I haven’t done as much at Trade, but Ed Bailey specifically has been a huge supporter of mine and has always had my back, been there to give me advice and everything. I really feel like a D.C.-raised queen as far as the bars and the people supporting me.
And even I posted on my story yesterday saying, “Oh, I can’t believe my life. I’m on tour.” And I literally got 100 replies, I don’t even have time to reply to the people from D.C. that are just showing me love. And I’m just like, “Wow…” It’s cool because you think you’re under-appreciated sometimes because drag’s not in everyone’s face all the time, but it’s moments like that that make me sit back and be like, “Wow, I’m really lucky to have the support that I have around me.”
MW: Then you’re a good person for my next question. What can you tell me about D.C.’s nightlife or drag scenes that people might not know?
CAKE POP: I’d say it’s interesting because I know I’m talking about feeling supported. I will say that D.C. nightlife in general, while there is a pocket, a corner of people who love drag, I do think that it’s different than other cities that I’ve seen. I perform and DJ at 3 Dollar Bill in New York. In Chicago, I’m there all the time. I’m in Minneapolis all the time. And I think because D.C. is a smaller city than people think — a lot smaller — there’s only so much drag that can fit in the city, but there’s a lot of amazing drag in the city, and I think that the more people that can go out and support these queens and kings and artists, the better the city will be.
I think sometimes it’s hard to make money work in D.C., as far as bars being able to justify paying for drag entertainment, but also having a dance floor open for drinks and stuff like that. But I think the more nightlife decides to throw their support behind queens, the better the city can be, because I’m a perfect example of someone who has had that support, and look where I am now.
MW: I don’t know if you remember that we met almost two years ago at that panel I moderated, “Drag Chronicles: From Art to Activism.” And one of the subjects that came up that day with you and Destiny B. Childs and Shi-Queeta Lee was a real or perceived disparity in the pay scale and bookings for established D.C. queens, versus girls who had done Drag Race. Do you feel like that situation has improved much since then? Again, not to get you in trouble.
CAKE POP: No, I know. I feel like this answer will get me in trouble, but I’ll be honest about it. I mean, I think that you have to invest in your craft and advocate for yourself. So I was not on Drag Race, but I’ve spent years investing so much time and effort and money into my drag. And even with this tour, I’ve probably spent the same amount of money that I’m going to get paid from this tour. And the reason why is because, yeah, I need the money to pay my bills, but I also know that the thousands of dollars that I’ve put into the costumes, the money that I put into making this video with Marty, everything that I’ve invested is going to be returned to me in the future.
So as far as a pay disparity, there definitely still is one because obviously someone who has a national presence is going to bring more people into a show. And I think that Destiny and Shi-Queeta had good points as far as Drag Race changing perspectives of what drag can and should be, but you also have to adapt to the world that we’re in. And I get gigs for those rates now. So it may not be coming as much as the other Ru girls, but it’s a lot more than the standard girl who isn’t necessarily investing as much in their craft.
So I think that there is a pay disparity, but it is reasonable and understandable given the platform that these girls have. And I also think that other people like myself can make up for the difference by investing in our own craft and advocating for ourselves.
Even me going on this tour, I only got it because I happened to be in a room with the right person, and I was like, “Hey, I’m a DJ. I want to travel more. You should book me.” It’s a conversation I had with Zach from Bunker. I was upset because I wasn’t booked at Bunker for a month, and he was like, “Well, you got to advocate for yourself. It’s not that we don’t want you, it’s just like you’ve got to advocate for yourself.” And that was an important lesson. He told me that. And then a few weeks later, I advocated for myself with the right person that ended up putting me on this tour. I think a lot of people will not like that answer, but that’s the truth behind it.
MW: Well, I would hope people can appreciate the lesson learned, because “advocate for yourself” applies to everybody in almost all situations.
CAKE POP: Yeah. Invest, advocate, and believe in yourself. That’s the secret sauce.
MW: Okay. Well, brewing up the secret sauce, what initially inspired John Marsh to create Cake Pop!?
CAKE POP: Back in Virginia Beach, I was actually… It’s funny because we don’t have to go too deep into this, but I was in a relationship, I was engaged to a girl, and she had a lot of gay friends, and we used to go out to drag shows. I used to watch the shows and, I don’t know, it was cool.
One of my best friends, who’s passed away, but she’s one of my drag mothers, Kiara was her name, she did drag, and I thought she was marvelous. And I was like, “Okay, I want to do this at some point.” So she actually put me in drag one day in 2018 before I even moved here, and I was like, “Okay, I can do this one day.” So I’d say that I was inspired by seeing people’s talent in local bars that I used to go to, Rainbow Cactus and Club Ambush in Virginia Beach. And I just slowly kind of fell into doing it. After that, it would take up all my time. I actually was working as a marketing director for a company when I started doing drag, and then I just ended up doing so much drag that I had to leave that job. That’s what happened.
MW: Well, good for Cake Pop!. And how would you describe your aesthetic? Because, I saw a phrase that jumped out at me on your website, “Galactic Glam.”
CAKE POP: I could talk about my inspirations all day. It’s funny, I think people probably see a lot of my drag as inspired by a few different things. I love Power Rangers. I grew up watching and loving Power Rangers. It’s what is on my TV most of the time, which is funny because I’m 35. But I love Power Rangers, I love anime, and I love the concept of Afrofuturism, in general. Think George Clinton and that whole aesthetic, or Janelle Monáe.
I had a conversation with Utica [Queen, of Drag Race and Project Runway fame] a few years back, and she was like, “What inspires the drag that you do?” And I told her these things, I was like, “I want to be a Power Rangers villain, but I want to be a Sailor Moon-esque type anime character, but I also love Afrofuturism.” And she was like, “Okay. Imagine that you have a little box with these three things. If you’re doing something that does not fit within that box, don’t do it.” And her having that conversation with me, she’s actually given me a lot of advice that really has helped me to hone what I want people to see when I perform.
So a lot of my looks are inspired by those things. You’ll see a lot of hidden references to Digimon and Power Rangers and all these little things that are campy and a little bit different than what you’d expect from someone who’s doing drag. I’ve been asked before, who’s one of my style icons, and I always say that Sailor Moon is. “I mean a real person.” Like, that’s real. I love that shit. So yeah. That’s pretty much what inspires it. Obviously, I have my little moon insignia that references Sailor Moon pretty heavily. To dig deeper into that, the reason why I love anime and Sailor Moon so much is that when I was growing up, we didn’t have a lot of money, and so we would watch — do you remember UPN?
MW: Yeah.
CAKE POP: So UPN was like the only channel we had, and every morning Sailor Moon would come on before school. So I would watch Sailor Moon every morning. I would watch Dragon Ball Z and stuff at night later on. And there was a moment in my adulthood, in my early twenties where I kind of stopped watching anime and all that stuff because I was in Christian college and taking life a lot more seriously than I needed to. And at a certain point, I was like, “Wait, you can still appreciate these things that you appreciated, and it doesn’t make you any less mature or anything. It just means that you’re not afraid of still being connected with your youth, and with times where things were a little more carefree.”
I think a lot of people view it as a bit of a superficial inclusion, having that Sailor Moon thing, but it really means a lot to me because it brings me back to a time where I maybe could care less about stuff in life. It’s nice having that zen point now because it took me a lot of work to get there today.
MW: Well, I don’t hold the keys to the gates of Sailor Moon fanship, but I don’t feel like you have to do a full-on costume to be sincerely reflecting it.
CAKE POP: Yeah, yeah, exactly. And a lot of stuff, I’m not doing exact replica cosplay stuff, either, because I don’t want to be another character, I want to be myself. But I want to be myself and show all the things that have influenced me in life, which is why you’ll see a little reference or a costume that looks like a certain thing. One of my best looks I love is a gown that is inspired by a Megazord from Power Rangers. You wouldn’t expect someone to wear something like that. And you have to look at it and be like, “Oh, that’s what that is.” But once people get it, they’re like, “Ohhh.”
MW: As part of the process of getting to feel liberated doing drag, did you have to account for your faith?
CAKE POP: Yeah. Oh, my gosh. I was Christian-Christian. Pretty much, I started going to Vacation Bible School in elementary school. So I was fully groomed. I was in it. I went from going to Vacation Bible School to running Vacation Bible School, and I was in leadership in our youth group, and I was on the worship team. I was one of the singers, and I played cello as well. I did this through 2017. So not even 10 years ago. And I ended up leaving the church, honestly, because my fiancée at the time, she got told that she was dressed too scantily to be in church. And I had a huge issue with that. It was just misogynistic as hell. So I left the church because of that. And eventually I stopped.
I’m not a Christian anymore. I think my religious view is just that, we’re obviously seeing a lot of the harm that’s been caused in society by people thinking that they have this afterlife thing figured out. And I’m not denying the existence of a higher power. I don’t think that anyone on this Earth has that figured out so strongly that I would try to convince anyone else to believe something, because I’ve been hurt by that before.
I went to a Christian college, I went to Regent University. I went through conversion therapy at Regent University. I actually wanted to kill myself because of how traumatic some of that stuff was. So to go from that to now being fully free, happy, and doing that without needing the church is definitely one of my biggest accomplishments in life.
And it was hard. There was a time where I was trying to reconcile my faith with my sexuality, but at a certain point, I was just like, “You know what? If God is around,” which I think he could be, “I would hope that he’s not so fucked up that he’s not letting me be my true self now, because I’m happier than I’ve ever been.”
MW: Well, I’m glad you’re here, and there. Now I want to ask about the House of Pop!, because are you a drag mother now. Was that thrust upon you, or did you see somebody and say, “You need me”?
CAKE POP: I’ve been a drag mother since 2022, maybe 2021. Yeah, I have a big drag family now. It’s interesting because there was a time where everyone was really dependent on everyone’s help, and we’re still a very strong family, but everyone’s grown now. It’s interesting. Not completely grown, but grown enough to not need me to hand them all these bookings and a system with X, Y, Z. A lot of them, they’re helping me with stuff now. So it’s cool. I love my drag family so much.
You can catch a lot of them: Venetian is one of the main girls at Crush and Bunker now, Daya [B. Tease] is a very talented seamstress and just turns out looks like crazy, and Brooke [N Hymen] is an incredibly talented performer. She takes after me as far as hosting a bunch of shows as well. I was in that same hustle mindset. You’neek Nu’york was on a TV show. She was on Camp Wannakiki. Aquarius Moon is a traveling burlesque performer.
So it’s interesting — everyone’s built their own legacy that I don’t feel any kind of responsible for, but it’s cool that we are all connected. We still have a little family group chat. They’re all literally texting me today being like, “Good luck on your first day of tour.” I even have a drag grandkid now, so I’m just like, it’s crazy. It was interesting too, because they’re all so busy. We did this video for the tour, but the only person in my drag family that was in the video is my drag grandkid, because everyone else was so busy that they didn’t even have time to do it. It’s a good thing, it’s a good thing.
MW: Wait, who is your drag grandkid?
CAKE POP: Sapphica Star.
MW: Whether queens get into this to become drag moms, I think another position that gets thrust upon drag entertainers these days is becoming an activist, whether you want to be or not. And I’ve witnessed your activism. I was also at the March for Drag to Kennedy Center [organized by Qommittee for Drag Media in March 2025]. Does being an activist seem like a necessary part of the job to you these days?
CAKE POP: Oh, absolutely. And it’s funny because I’ve had a lot of hesitation. Not that I have a hesitation to be political, but honestly, a lot of people don’t know this about me, I had a really bad run-in with cops back in 2014, years and years ago, where essentially I was in a situation where I could have been harmed by a police officer because of him.
This was in 2014, so this was before the Black Lives Matter movement. It was not a good time. And ever since that moment, it honestly was so scary that I have not put myself in any rooms or situations where I feel like I’m going to be around a cop, be arrested, whatever. So I’ve had a fear of protest. And it sounds so silly. I know it’s an important part of what we do — but I’m a 6’4″ black man, and I feel like I’m the first target when it comes to wanting to enforce [control].
So even doing that March for Drag… I’m very glad I got involved, but it was difficult because I wanted to be involved, I cared a lot about it, but then when I did it, everything I said there I genuinely meant, but then the reaction. There’s a lot of people that were happy about me doing it, and there’s a lot of people that were just like, “Oh, you were only there for a photo op,” or, “You’re not always speaking up about stuff, so you don’t actually care about these things.” I know there’s always going to be negativity when you’re doing something good, but that particular day was interesting for me because I was excited that I had conquered a fear of protesting. And I think at some other protests I had been involved in before that — I went and handed out water at some protests for Palestine and stuff as well — but I really try not to put myself in spaces where I feel like I’m going to get arrested.
It’s interesting having that fear, and then coming out of it with a little bit of a bad taste because a lot of people had negative things to say about me doing it only for the press. But from there, I was just like, “Okay, what are some ways that I can be an activist in our community and feel good about it, and have it be something that comes across as genuine?” Because I do genuinely, obviously care about our society. That shouldn’t even be called into question, but it is something that people do. So in the past year, I [joined] the board of Capital Pride. I think people know, but I’m not screaming it from the rooftops. And I’m actively on the board having conversations behind the scenes that are helpful.
I’ve also been really actively campaigning for Janeese Lewis George [for D.C. mayor] as well this year. Also, obviously, people saw this stuff with Rush that happened this past year, and I had to really speak up and say stuff about that, too. I mean, I think there’s always going to be people around that are still going to have something negative to say about the stuff that I do, but I think what counts is what I actually care about and what I’m actively doing for society. So I try to just brush that stuff off, not pay attention to it, and really know that my intentions are actually pure when it comes to doing things for society. That’s my take on activism. There are certainly entertainers that are very, very loud, and I appreciate what they do as well. And I just try to find practical ways that I can contribute that also work with how I function as a person.
MW: That particular protest was about the hostile takeover of the Kennedy Center and the subsequent cancellation of anything drag-related from their programming. Unfortunately, I don’t think those people at the Kennedy Center were listening. What else do you think we, or the community, gained from that movement?
CAKE POP: So that one in particular, I think it was just nice getting together a lot of drag entertainers and people who don’t necessarily get to work together, or see each other a lot. I will say one of the good things about that protest is that there were people who I think actively didn’t necessarily like me leading into it that I feel closer with now, and I’m able to work with now because they saw that I genuinely do care. And I think that work is continuing now with a lot of the different philanthropic drag shows that have been happening in the city. There’s been a lot more of that now, due to entertainers like Mari Con Carne, who I feel really close with now, and Seneca Gemini as well. And also my daughter, Brooke, does a lot as well.
I mean, obviously, drag is inherently political. I think it’s cool that we’re all having new opportunities to continue to make a difference in our city and in the world that needs it. We actually just had a meeting with the Office of LGBTQ Affairs, which is pulling entertainers together in order to try to figure out what drag entertainers need in order to thrive in the city. There’s things slowly happening, and I think that we have to continue showing up and showing out, because the “evil powers that be” are trying to shut us out and silence us in a lot of ways, and we can’t let that happen.
MW: I feel like there’s a wing of people within our community who are, I don’t know, who their way to relate to drag is only through negative commentary about drag, which I’m like, “Do you even like drag? Then why are you talking about it?”
CAKE POP: What I’ve been really harping on lately is, I think a lot of it is rooted in misogyny, a lot of it is rooted in people who don’t believe that women belong in our gay spaces and stuff. And that is the thing that is actively irritating me and that I want to work on in our community, because I do obviously think that the right-wingers and the Republicans of the world are the people who really deserve most of our ire and energy, but I also think that we have a lot of work to do within our community of making sure that sapphic individuals and trans individuals feel welcome in our spaces as well.
And I think a lot of people’s disdain for drag is rooted in — it sounds crazy because, obviously, I personally am a man in a wig — but for some reason, me doing this, there is a subset of gay people who do not enjoy it because, I mean, a lot of my fans nowadays are sapphic individuals, and that’s just how drag has turned. And there’s not an issue with that at all. We should actually be a welcoming space that allows other people to come in and thrive and enjoy. But I definitely think that sometimes disdain for drag is rooted in misogyny, and I think that women should be celebrated just as much as gay men.
MW: I agree, drag shows are for everybody. I mean, sex parties, that’s a different argument. So another D.C. LGBTQ publication recently published their list of the most eligible singles in D.C., and you were included on that list. So how’s that working out for you?
CAKE POP: [Laughs.] Still single. I don’t know how eligible I am, but I’m single. I mean, yeah, I’m such a lover. I definitely want to develop some kind of a relationship at some point, but it is difficult being a traveling artist and trying to, you know. But I will say this, I think a lot of people are more scared of me than they need to be. I’ve come to this over the past year or two. It’s like, “Yes, I am somewhat of a figurehead in this community, but I’m not someone that’s going to excommunicate you.” The last thing I want is for someone to feel uncomfortable going out or whatever. And I think that maybe some of the intimidation around me as an individual is centered around people being afraid, “Oh, if it doesn’t work out, then I’m not going to…” Yeah, I don’t know, whatever.
MW: I get it. So that implies a partner who’s also in nightlife or drag.
CAKE POP: Yeah, yeah. I think it takes a certain kind of someone to be with someone like me, someone that’s not necessarily going to be upset or jealous about attention that I’m receiving from drag or whatever. I’ve had a lot of cool people that I’ve dated but haven’t necessarily had time to develop anything. It’s like every time I start talking to someone I’m interested in, I’m like, “Okay, I’m going to be on the road for a month,” and I’m like, “Damn, this is going to fizzle out.” But I try as much as I can to maintain things.
MW: Well, if that’s what you want, you’ll find it. So the tour will wrap up in Philly, D.C., and Orlando, which is awesome. And from there, Capital Pride is coming up. So what do you have planned for Capital Pride, and where else are you going from there?
CAKE POP: It’s funny because you would think I’m like, “Okay, I’m done with touring, and then I’m going to sit my ass down for a second.” But I’m out of town the weekend after I get back. I have shows in Charlottesville, and then I’ll be in town for Capital Pride. I’ve actually kind of tried to keep my schedule a little bit light. I’ll be at Echostage on Friday and Saturday night, Friday with Myki Meeks and Bob the Drag Queen, and then Saturday I’ll be at KINETIC: Toyland. So lots of opportunities to see me that week, but then after that, I’ll be in North Carolina the weekend after. So Pride Month gets busy. I’ve been trying to keep it light based on the fact that I’m going to be done with the tour and just wanting to chill at home for a second, but I’ll still be on the road quite a bit.
The Kitty Kat Ball dances into D.C. June 7 at the 9:30 Club, 815 V St. NW, following dates in NYC (6/3), Philly (6/6), and many other cities. Visit kittykatball.com or flipphoneevents.com.
For more about Cake Pop! visit cakedoesdrag.com.
Source: Metro Weekly – www.metroweekly.com
