So when I was feeling rather maudlin during the week leading up to my birthday, I bit the bullet and booked the double-event bundle for Precious Paula Nicole's Birthday Show Part II and the Happy Bey Day events, all that way at Rampa Club in QC. This was the first time I had opted to go to a new local queer space since Tobie first brought me to O Bar in 2009. I know, I know, I'm pretty set in my ways. But Precious has played a large role in many of my O Bar birthday celebrations over the years, and I definitely felt like I wanted to feel some of that magic again. And given how my actual O Bar birthday celebration was rather muted this year (except for the O Boys, who are always the best), I felt even better about opting to go somewhere other than O Bar.
This meant a 22km journey to Thomas Morato and trying to figure out how things work at a completely different bar. Entrance and reservation fees were deceptively affordable, as getting a table also comes with the weird requirement of needing to get a liquor bottle, which costs more than double the consumable amount for a cocktail table. And since the night technically consisted of two events, we had one bill for the first show and a separate bill for the second show, which again felt a little nuts. We only got to sidestep this a bit by reaching out to Precious beforehand, and she basically made arrangements for the second half of the night. Things were a little uncertain at first, but we established a good initial relationship with our waiter, and later Precious's manager made sure the staff was generally looking out for us that night, including a LOT of help from the bouncers and getting upgraded to a VIP table for the second event. It was all kinda crazy, but I super appreciate how everyone went out of their way for us, even if it meant the little reservation placard was labeled as "Sir Rocky Sunico", because the O Bar performers inevitably call me sir whether I like it or not.
The first event was an extension of Precious's birthday celebrations, which meant most of the audience consisted of her fan club. I've encountered some of them here and there over the years since DRPH Season 1, and they were certainly in full force that night. It made for a great atmosphere for the night, one that's very different from how things are at O Bar. And the show itself was so good. Precious had arranged some complex routines with the O Boys (another reason we figured it would be worth the travel), which just speaks to her amazing talent as a dancer. Her showmanship is something else and one of the reasons we fell in love with her when she started performing at O Bar. The roster of guests was equally impressive, featuring a number of O Bar queens who had participated on DRPH and many of the cast of the upcoming fourth season.
It's amazing to watch Precious connect and interact with the audience - and I'm not just referring to her hugging me and Tobie in the middle of one of her numbers. She really shows her love and appreciation for everyone who supports her, which is a big factor in why her fan club has only grown in the years since DRPH Season 1. But it also meant the world to us to be thanked on stage just because we showed up, because this was the first time we had gone to see her at Rampa, a club where she's tagged as one of the owners. I do miss having her at O Bar on a full-time basis, but last night was also Tobie and me accepting that it's worth the trip to QC to see her more, instead of waiting for her to do one or two numbers during particular O Bar events. And it was funny to see that a number of the queens were surprised that we were there at all, as they had not noticed us during their individual performances.
The second event was more of a regular Rampa Club night with a theme, in this case, a celebration of Beyoncé's birthday. So every single number was a Beyoncé number, and the nightr it was largely carried by Precious and the Rampa Reynas. There were also some notable guests, but there's no denying that Precious's love for Beyoncé has defined a lot of her drag career. There were some new pieces, some surprising pieces, but also some classics that we've seen done time and time again. And yet Tobie and I found ourselves tearing up during particular Precious numbers - it really just brought us back to the early years before DRPH, before the pandemic, when we were all just forming a unique found family with her and other queens.
During the second event, us having been moved to the VIP couch also meant Tobie engaging with some of the Precious fans around us. It was weird with just two of us on the couch, so Tobie started offering seats to some of the girls because he can't turn off his GRO mode in spaces like this. As they were all longtime Precious fans, many of them were surprised to find out who I was because most of them have watched my O Bar videos of Precious on my YouTube channel. When your channel is literally your name, you just have to accept people exclaiming, "Rocky Sunico?" before lighting up. So many of them thanked me for all the videos I've posted, as it allowed them to see Precious in her earlier years. Even one of the guest drag queens asked me if I was Rocky Sunico in the middle of filming, I guess because she recognized my camera work? Then again, it's easy to be curious about the guy shooting things in landscape instead of how everyone else takes more social-friendly vertical video. It was also nice to engage with the Rampa Reynas, particularly Kieffy Nicole, Mistress Khiendra, and Neenja, who were all surprised we were there, but also very appreciative that we made the trip and that I had recorded their numbers. It's weird, but it has become a bit of a thing to have a performance video on my channel, I guess? I've had many non-O Bar drag queens say similar things when they get to guest during an O Bar event.
The highlight of the night, and probably one of the biggest reasons we arranged this evening in the first place, was getting some time with the Precious at the end of the double event. Her manager made sure to bring her to us, as she was pretty busy engaging other guests all around Rampa. We hadn't even said anything, and all three of us started to tear up as we just hugged each other and expressed how much we missed each other. It has sort of been this way the few times we get to interact - the last big one was in the middle of O Bar's 20th anniversary event, even though I was filming at the time. We've seen her during various O Bar events since then, but we never get time to hang out after the show, as she typically needs to run off right after her numbers because she's always in demand. That was a lot of hugging and some crying and a lot of statements of love and reminding her how proud we are of all that she's accomplished. And Tobie and I both felt so much lighter after - a sort of emotional revitalization after such a heavy series of weeks at O Bar.
This doesn't represent some drastic pivot to Rampa from O Bar - the distance is still a big factor, along with the rather crazy cost structure. Plus, we still want to support the O Boys and the current O Divas as they're still part of our found family. However, I don't think our hearts can survive exclusively going to O Bar alone, as things definitely feel like they're shifting, or maybe we're just being (inadvertently?) taken for granted since we've been going for so long and have done our best not to be overly demanding or make too many waves. I miss the O Divas that first made us fall in love with O Bar, most of whom are no longer full-time performers there. And it's worth the effort to go seek them out and watch them perform in other spaces, if only to feel some of that magic again.
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