B-GLAAD sponsored Drag Show fills Legends

David Forbes - Clubs / Organizations Beat

Appalachian State University’s chapter of Bisexuals, Gays, Lesbians and Allies Associated for Diversity (B-GLAAD) sponsored the bi-annual Drag Show Saturday at Legends.

While the show’s date was scheduled around National Coming Out Day on Oct. 11, this semester’s theme was slightly altered.

“Due to the date falling exactly one month after Sept. 11, we focused on unity in general this year,” said Chad Wilson, member and former president of B-GLAAD.

The show itself began around 9 p.m., by which time most of the seats in the club were occupied. The performers included professionals Monica Mitchell, Dana St. James (both Appalachian alumni), Monica Love and others, as well as a slew of amateurs, including current Appalachian students and Boone residents.

“We try to keep the performers as centered around Appalachian as we can,” said Kevin Perkins, the show’s producer and former president of B-GLAAD.

Most of the drag queens, performing songs everywhere from “Moulin Rouge” to Madonna, drew quite a bit of applause from the crowd, which grew steadily as the night progressed.

The costume contest for the more outrageously dressed members of the audience also drew quite a bit of attention. “This is the third time I’ve produced the show. It’s just a lot of fun and an event everyone seems to enjoy,” said Perkins.

The show ended around 11 p.m. and the crowd took over the dance floor themselves.

“This was a very high-stress year. We’ve never had this many professionals before,” said Perkins.

Katy Medley, the current president of B-GLAAD, was pleased with the tournout. “This was a huge success, and I was really excited with the turnout,” she said.

Special to The Appalachian

Booda Velvets’s influences range “from folk and early punk to new wave and hip hop,” according to the band’s official Web site,

Booda Velvets brings intense style to Murphy’s Monday

Janelle Silverman - Entertainment Beat

The Booda Velvets, a New York-based rock band, has quickly gained momentum and success over the last few years. The group is now touring to promote its album “Headrush,” released last month.

Booda Velvets (BV) began five years ago when Dan Cromie and Jamie Balling met while attending the University of Pennsylvania, said Cromie in a telephone interview Thursday.

The pair moved to New York after school, where they met lead guitar player Adam Wolfe Lerner through a newspaper ad. The band was almost whole, with Cromie as lead singer and rhythm guitar, Balling on bass and Lerner on guitar.

While looking for a fourth member, Cromie and Balling thought of Jonathan Yang, a friend from Penn and an excellent drummer.

With the band complete, the members began to write songs and practice together. People soon started paying attention to their music, and the band was asked to be in the Guinness Fleadh Band Search, a battle-of-the-bands contest held in New York.

The Booda Velvets won the competition.

The group signed a contract six months ago with Gotham Records, distributed by Alternative Distribution Alliance and AOL Time Warner.

Its debut album “Headrush” hit record stores Sept. 4. “Three years ago, we weren’t ready for this,” said Cromie. “It has been a big growing process.”

The band will travel across the entire Eastern seaboard in the next few months.

“It is a chance for us to meet everybody and a lot of different people,” said Cromie. “We’ve always done really well in college towns.”

The Booda Velvets will perform in Boone Monday at 11:30 p.m. at Murphy’s Restaurant and Pub, said Cromie.

The band’s music is intense and intellectual, he said. “A lot of it is introspective and with a message. A lot of thought went into the songs,” said Cromie.

The guitar-based band has been compared to bands such as Live, U2, RadioHead and Tool. A comparison to an individual band is difficult since the four members have different music backgrounds, said Cromie.

“Adam [Lerner] is mostly punk rock, Jamie [Balling] is more hard core and new wave, I am more of the Irish folk music, and Jon [Yang] is reggae- and funk-oriented,” said Cromie. “We just kind of gel together.”

Cromie said the four band members are like brothers, with different strengths and personality traits.

The band was recently sponsored by Puma and has been asked to be included on an album to help the disaster relief in New York. The album, called “Bands for America,” is a compilation of bands and musicians brought together by the company Fast Tracks.

All proceeds from the album sales will go toward The September 11th Fund, sponsored by The United Way. “The album will be available in about a month or so,” said Cromie. “It is amazing here in New York City right now. There is still smoke coming up from the disaster site, but everyone is binding together and petty issues do not seem as important to anyone.”

Its album has sold out in record stores across New York, according to the band’s biography at boodavelvets.com.

“Our collective influences are all over the place, from folk to early punk, to new age and hip hop,” said Cromie in the band’s biography. “Our music seems to appeal to a lot of college students.”

For more information about The Booda Velvets’ Oct. 22 appearance in Boone, call Murphy’s Restaurant and Pub at 264-5117 or visit the band’s Web site at boodavelvets.com.