A Ride to the Top: Porsche Makes Her Mark Across the Island
Volume 49, Issue 9
By Mike Lavers
In terms of the ultra-glam world of drag queens and female impersonators, it is perhaps no mere coincidence that Cherry Grove is home to the highest concentration of queens anywhere in the United States—and the world for that matter. Yes Mary and Ethel, the likes of Panzi, Philomena, Annida Green Kard, Bella, Luisa Verde and Gefil Tefish are among the sequined and coif-enhanced roster that regularly grace the stage of the Ice Palace and other Grove nightlife mainstays.
Even among the highly competitive and fiercely territorial world of the Grove drag queen, however, Porsche ranks high in her heels and wigs. Her combination of drunken shtick and live covers of Judy Garland, Joan Crawford, Cher, Eartha Kitt and most notably Janis Joplin have left her with an ever-growing legion of loyal fans while propelling her to the top of the Grove queendom. But in a recent interview with The News, Porsche said that she is just a hometown girl who puts her pantyhose on one leg at a time.
“I feel like Shirley Temple at the Oscars,” she said as she described the overwhelming response she receives during her more than half a dozen weekly shows and performances across the East End. “I never expected that.”
Like the former childhood star, Porsche, 26, took to the stage at an early age. She was raised in Austin, Texas and toured the country as a member of the Texas Boy Choir. And it was during this gig that Porsche had an encounter of the Presidential kind when she performed for former President George Bush, Sr., at a fundraiser in Dallas. But fortunately for Fire Islanders though, this performance was a one-night affair and Porsche soon set her sights on bigger (and dare we say) better things.
“I did the first Bush,” Porsche said. “That’s enough for me.”
Following her brush with the GOP godfather, Porsche traded in her dusty Texan cowboy boots for the bright lights of the Big Apple. She enrolled at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn where she began to study fashion design. But even among the scissors, measurement tape and pin cushions, Porsche yearned for something more and one night, on a whim, she donned a dress and took to the stage at Pieces in Manhattan’s West Village.
“I was 21 with a wig and a dream,” she recalled.
And dream she did—the fashionista-to-be soon realized that a career in the Garment District would be, well, a drag, and soon set her sights on a more glamorous career path.
Porsche first set foot on Fire Island’s sandy shores in 2001 and admitted that her first season on the island was difficult because she was a virtual unknown. Nevertheless, she persevered and her shows—Hollywood Squeers at Cherry’s, Mass with Sista Porsche at Sunsets on the Bay on Sunday and Sapin in the Fire Island Pines—have evolved into some of the most popular on the East End. And she also performs every Wednesday night at OW Bar in Midtown Manhattan and makes guest appearances at the Ice Palace.
“Instead of making my dresses, I’m [now] wearing them,” Porsche said.
Porsche is clearly one busy queen and she is easily one of the Grove’s most famous and recognizable residents. Nevertheless, she takes time out of her often busy schedule to support the Concerned Women of the Grove, the Pines Animal Welfare Society and a host of other community groups and organizations. And she even told The News that she is contemplating an “invasion” of the Grove’s more straight-laced neighbor to the West, Ocean Beach, alongside her fellow Grove queens.
But these plans pale in comparison to her new role as co-chair of the newly created Magee Hickey Fan Club alongside gal pals Gusty Winds and Ariel Sinclair. The three created the club to show their deep appreciation for the veteran WCBS red head.
Yet, she was quick to point out that her heart is firmly set on Fire Island and to those in the Grove and elsewhere who have supported her over the years.
“The island has embraced me,” she said. “It has been so wonderful.”
Concerned Women Raise $70,000 at Annual Benefit
The Concerned Women (and men) of the Grove (CWOG) were in full force on August 6 as more than 400 people gathered at Heaven ‘n Earth in Cherry Grove for the 10th annual CWOG benefit.
Bella and her mother joined Homecoming Queen Ivanna Cocktail, who took a quick dip in the pool, Celeste and Angela Mercy as Cher in serenading and entertaining the crowd. Groups including the Arts Project of Cherry Grove also made sizable donations to the CWOG’s ongoing efforts to stop breast cancer.
The CWOG, founded in 1995, have raised more than $350,000 over the past decade for the Stony Brook Foundation for Breast Cancer Research and Gilda’s Club NYC. And this year’s benefit raised more than $70,000 through a silent auction and a variety of other fundraising activities.
CWOG founder Annie Scarpa said that this year’s turn out and amount of money raised gives her and others the strength to continue the fight against breast cancer.
“We are doing really well,” she said. “When you get to today and get to the totals, how can you give this up?”
—By Mike Lavers
Photo By: Bruce-Michael Gelbert
