Metro Manila Community Quarantine - Day 1214
It's officially the start of Drag Race Philippines season with the somewhat awkward release of the Season 2 trailer. There are two current O Bar queens in the race, Bernie and DeeDee, and one former O Divas - Katkat. We're still waiting for the official Philippine release of their individual Meet the Queens videos (as they appear to be region-locked to exclude the Philippines for some reason), but in general, we're excited for the girls. We knew a number of Season 1 queens and it's the same story with Season 2. Naturally, we'll be rooting for the queens we know more than the others, but we'll all just have to wait and see how things will go.
I still haven't uploaded my O Bar videos from their Pride event and the special celebration for Precious' birthday last Sunday. With a new DRPH season incoming, it now feels more urgent to get them out there because there's going to be a lot of curiosity regarding the queens. And I have more than enough Bernie and DeeDee content to help fan those flames of interest before the show begins in August. This is my weird legacy for practically artist who gets to perform on the O Bar stage - documentation.
Funnily, we've agreed to meet up with a professor who is writing a book about many queer things including O Bar and its legacy in the community. The whole thing began with a very formal email asking if I was open to meeting up, mainly because of all the O Bar videos I've taken over the years. We got to wave to one another briefly at O Bar last Sunday and we've subsequently made plans to have lunch this weekend.
Truly, so much of my life is tied to O Bar in one way or another. And this professor isn't the first person to reach out to me because of the stuff I've posted online for the O Divas. I've signed releases for various TV shows and I've received heartfelt messages of thanks for people in other countries or even just based outside of Metro Manila. And it's really those last types of communications that really move me and inspire me to continue to make the effort to document future shows.
DRPH season means a lot of interest in queens we've loved for years. The spotlight that the show casts on the drag artists who have decided to join can be crazy intense but I know they'll all manage to stand the pressure and live up to the hype that will inevitably buzz around them.
As for us, we'll get to smile somewhat smugly on the sidelines and get to be all hipster-y when we say that we knew many of them before they really hit it big. We've watched many of these girls come into their own and refine (or even just define) their drag over the years. And we're already so proud of all of them and will continue to celebrate them regardless of how they do on DRPH.
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