This Friday marks the third annual Capital City Alliance Charity Pride Show: Kings, Queens and Everything Between hosted at Splash Nightclub.
Typically, a drag show consists of men and women dressing up as the opposite gender and performing, usually dancing and lip-synching to pop music.
Justin Nicks, a Red Stick resident, will be performing at Splash this weekend. He provided some insight into the life of a queen in his own eccentric way.
Nicks is a typical 20-something in Baton Rouge. Over the past few years, he’s juggled hectic class schedules, a social life and a part-time job.
However, what sets him apart from many other young adults are his weekend transformations. Nicks delves into the gay bar scene, and more specifically, the drag show scene.
His alter ego, Cami Sais Quoi emerges in bars and nightclubs for drag shows.
“My first love has always been theater, and this is how I get my theater out,” Nicks explained. “It’s pretty much an actor’s delight, and I’ve always considered the greatest role for me, or any man, to play is probably a woman.”
Nicks joined the drag circuit back in 2009 at the request of his former roommate.
“I never thought that I would ever do this seriously,” Nicks said. “I never imagined as a little boy, at 13, I would be putting on makeup, aside from putting on my mom’s lipstick at five years old.”
Over these past few years, Nicks has already lost count
of how many performances he has given while sporting a dress. He’s now an expert, but it hasn’t always been this way.
“I looked like a weird, weird woman,” Nicks laughs. “When drag queens start out they don’t have anyone to help them out. It’s usually just a boy who wants to put on a dress and some makeup and say that he’s a drag queen.”
Nicks revealed that, for his first show, he wore a bare minimum of makeup and said being a truly great queen requires far more dedication, application and the right amount of body padding.
“It’s always been a learning process. Every drag queen is still learning, and there’s no limit of knowledge on how to get better in this business,” Nicks commented.
Nicks said that Cami Sais Quoi’s style is a harmony of classic Hollywood chic and “just a little bit slutty.”
“I enjoy doing emotional songs, but occasionally I just have to get out there and grind on somebody,” Nicks said playfully. Nicks reported that he isn’t completely sure what songs he’ll be strutting it to on Friday. He usually just goes with whatever feels right for that moment. Perhaps a Meat Loaf song is in the future, he hinted.
Nicks says that he loves to entertain, and the audience is his favorite part of performing.
“I don’t have to be the most popular queen, or be the most the beautiful, or even be the most well-known, but when I go out there and I see that audience, I am there to entertain them,” Nicks said “It just excites me whenever I get on that stage, and the lights hit me, and there are people there watching me. It’s a really fun opportunity.”
Nicks said he believes drag shows hold a special place in the LGBTQ community.
“Unfortunately in our small community there’s not really a place of gathering. All we have are bars,” Nicks said. “We don’t have a center, a coffee shop or a grocery store. We have bars. And drag shows are really just a great way to entertain people, and they have been since Shakespearian times.”
Cami Sais Quoi and other drag royalty will be present Friday to lip-sync and dance for audiences. Proceeds will be benefiting local equality group Capital City Alliance.
 
____ Contact Taylor Schoen at [email protected]