Edmonton Queen

I attended the book signing of an old friend of mine, Darrin Hagen, who's book The Edmonton Queen has just been republished on its 10th Anniversary. Darrin delighted the crowd by reading from this and his other book, Tornado Magnet at Audrey's Books. The hilarious accounts of his drag persona, Gloria Hole, and the defunct gay club Flashback and all its tawdry characters took me back 20 years -- a time when I was first hitting the nightclubs here in Edmonton. Apart from being a talented drag queen, Darrin is a gifted storyteller and performer and I'm thrilled to see him having such success. I have countless personal memories of Gloria Hole: how she used to terrorize patrons when she bartended at Flashbacks; performing "This is My Life"; in her Star Trek catsuit serving jello shooters on the bus ride to one of my Hell parties; playing the accordian as a contestant on the live gameshow Panic; and just too many wondrful nights at the clubs to list. Thanx Darrin for being truly one-of-a-kind!