We Are The World

I am jumping ahead to retell this tale at Feathers that seems very relevant today.
As I watch the world recreate “We Are the World” I flashback and remember the night Feathers recreated “We Are the World”. I not only had to cut out the letters for the backdrop, but had to be Bob Dylan. Do not even ask me how I was chosen for the role, but oh what fun we had with that night.
It all started when “Everyone’s Leading Man” Clint wanted to be Bruce Springsteen and Randy the Chinese Dee-Jay wanted to do something to help Ethiopia. Put them together and you have the greatest, largest collection of drag ego’s the world has ever seen!
I am laughing remembering that show! It was incredible that it was pulled off, but a lot of us gave our all to make sure it happened. Randy was a Chinese Michael Jackson, Eddie the manager was Billy Joel or Kenny Loggins’, Peter Mona was Kim Carnes, Gary Dee was Cyndie Lauper and went nuts with the mike stand and almost hit Peter in the face, Terry was Tina Turner, Dominick and Scott G. were Halls and Oats, Scott the red head waiter gave us all roses. He was fired the night before. Elgin was Dionne Warwisk, David Ryan, Kevin Jackson, JC, Oh and our Stevie Wonder who taped his eyes and put cotton in his ears. No one had the heart to tell him that Stevie Wonder could hear…lol
The night marked a special event for me. It was my first night as a bartender. I was giving bar four, the Poseidon Bar, the dungeon. I was so nervous, on top of performing as a recovering addict singing “Just you and MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.” I had to bartend. Clint came on the same time and we had to share one night, but Thursday, bar 4 was all mines. I remember Scott Guidice whispering behind my back, “How did he become a bartend when he didn’t even waiter.” I was going to go back with something, but he was right.
Oh, wow this is really out of turn, after being a star Hank had to give me a job to make me a possession of Feathers so I could not perform anywhere else. He put me in the coatroom. It was ok. I wasn’t allowed to keep my tips because according to Hank the tips from the coatroom paid for the electric bill for lights in the parking lot. He told me he would take care of me…The words of death! Like the Italian’s kiss of death, when Hank said “I’ll take care of you.” It meant you were either fired, or he needed something from you. He also told me that he would buy me a condo in Florida if I lasted the whole season. I did and he didn’t. According to him the coatroom didn’t make the money should had.
After the coatroom season ended he didn’t know what to do with me. He tried me as a waiter, but he already had Clint and Red Head Scott and I forgot who else. I think I have a picture of my first night as a waiter. They got me a new tray just for me. I had my name on it. I just hated servicing people. I remember we used to have three bartenders on Monday and Saturday, the busy nights, each waiter had a big bar and the other waiter had the small little ones.
I was a HORRIBLE waiter. All I would do is run from bar to bar- “Do you need anything? Do you need anything?” I would push my way through the group shouting “Lady with baby-move it” Everyone moved for motherhood…lol. We used to also get paid per drink and had to hand in drink tickets. It was 10 cents for the first fifty and 15 cents for the ones after that. I used to sell up to two hundred drinks in a week’s time, and I wasn’t that good. We would have fun making up our drink tickets at the end of the night. We pretended we remember every drink we sold. Eddie, the manager, was the only one we remembered to give drink tickets to. Dominick used to make them up for me. He was so creative, grasshoppers and old fashions, godmother and any other odd drink you could think of. Anyway, I hated waitering so I would pretend to faint and drop my tray with glasses. It was so funny. I would brake glasses and Hank couldn’t afford to replace the glasses and being he needed me he would put me behind the bar to wash glasses for the bartenders and eventually taught me how to bartend. Eddie the manager trained me at the downstairs bar on Thursday nights and Sammy trained me. To show you the kind of person Hank was, he told Sammy his job was secure and to go ahead and buy the new car. Sammy bought it and Hank had him train me behind the bar as a backup bartender. Well, I wondered why Sammy wasn’t given a part in “We Are the World” he was fired and I was given his positions. Scott was also fired and had to show up to do the show…These were weird times…Because through all this meanness we raised money for starving Africans …
Till Tomorrow, be kind