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Julio Torres: His Immigration Story She Has Risen: Easter Events

The Legacy of CharlieMr.Brown

Written and edited by Mikkel Hyldebrandt Photos over the years by Russ Youngblood

Mr. Charlie Brown, one of Atlanta’s best-known and most notable drag performers, died on March 22 following complications after a heart valve replacement surgery back in February. He was 74 years old. With five decades of performing, he was a pillar of the LGBTQ+ community and its rich history.

Mr. Charlie Brown hailed from Lafayette, Tennessee, where she began her career after responding to a help wanted ad for a “male lead and soundman” at the “Watch Your Coat And Hat Saloon .” Charlie was hired and, during a switch night, had to come up with a drag name. After hearing a night auditor cursing, “God damn you, Charlie Brown,” a light went off in her head, and Charlie Brown was born. Due to the Blue Laws of the day, female impersonators had to use a male name in the drag handle, so Charlie added the Mister and was henceforth known as Mr. Charlie Brown.

Over the next few years, Charlie worked in clubs in and around the south, most of the time running in and out of clubs with her drag gear hidden in trash bags so she could sneak past those patrolling the parking lot looking for gays to beat up.

Shortly after meeting her partner, Fred Wise, they moved to Atlanta, and Charlie wasted no time getting shows at Timbers, Numbers On Cheshire, Bulldogs, Tallulah’s, The Eagle, Sweet Gum Head, and Backstreet. Her style was a mix of Las Vegas lounge meets a stripper with a great wardrobe of flashy clothes. It was then she was asked to emcee at Sweet Gum Head that she decided to add a little bitchy to her act, and soon she took the title of America’s Ultimate Bitch.

In 1990, Backstreet offered her a position on the third floor in the “Best of the Best” cabaret with Heather Daniels, the Goddess Raven, Lena Lust, Lilly White, Lauren LeMasters, and Shawnna Brooks. The magic at Backstreet went on for 14 years, even during blackouts from storms, where the girls lit the show with flashlights and used batteryoperated boom boxes until the bar bought a generator. To Charlie,

Backstreet was the Grandma of Atlanta’s LGBT community, and its closing is still mourned by many today.

After that, Charlie went to Underground Atlanta, where she partnered up with Masquerade to bring us Charlie Brown’s Cabaret. According to Charlie, the Underground was done in by negative press from the AJC, and after it closed, she decided to hit the road for a while and performed around the West Coast, ending up in 2010 as the host/emcee at the Horizon Casino in Lake Tahoe.

Charlie returned to Atlanta six months later and went to work at Blake’s On The Park until Lips came to town, where she was offered a position with them. Charlie met Yvonne of Lips NY when doing promo for HBO’s Charlie Brown’s Cabaret on HBO’s Dragtime; no stranger to television, she also appeared in several episodes of MTV’s Blind Date and the Travel Channel’s Forbidden Places. You can still watch Dragtime episodes on YouTube.

Charlie continued hosting and performing at Lips and other venues around town until she semiretired—but she would still perform on Saturdays and Sundays at Lips! When the new Atlanta Eagle opened, she was asked to once again come out of semi-retirement to perform there, and later, in 2022, the city of Atlanta honored her with its highest award and distinction, the Phoenix Award.

Charlie’s legacy as a drag icon, entertainer, advocate, and mentor has left its mark on countless people. When asked once if she had any advice for up-and-coming drag performers, she conveyed the advice that the show director had given her herself at her very first

bar: “Make sure you have a good, regular job first, and start doing it as a hobby. Before you jump in, make sure you like it and it’s what you really want to do. Learn how to make your own costumes, do your hair and make-up, and stay humble. The day you think you are a star, you’ll never be one.”

The outpouring of love and grief over this momentous loss has been felt all over Atlanta. Lips Atlanta posted that they were “eternally grateful that this fabulous queen was a part of our lives. Charlie will be remembered forever and always hold a special place in our hearts!”

The Atlanta Eagle went dark for its regular showtime from 9 to 11 p.m. to honor and respect Mr. Charlie Brown’s legacy. This gave people space to gather, share their stories, and toast a true Atlanta legend.

Mr. Charlie Brown recently completed work on his memoir, “B***h of the South: How I Survived Vietnam, the AIDS Crisis, and MAGA Drag Bans,” co-authored with Atlanta journalist Richard L. Eldredge. The book is set to be released later this year in commemoration of Brown’s 75th birthday.

Our hearts and thoughts go out to Mr. Charlie Brown’s close ones, especially his husband, Fred Wise. We mourn the loss of a prolific figure and the light that has now gone, but we will forever carry the legacy and love of Mr. Charlie Brown.

How Julio Torres Used Imagination to Tell a Touching Story About Immigration

By Chris Azzopardi

Photos Courtesy of A24

When I think of Julio Torres, I think of someone who gave life to Ferrero Rocher. It’s a wild detail to recall about someone, but indicative of Torres as a comedian who has the sharp wit and stonefaced delivery to make a comedy bit about a beloved chocolate and hazelnut confection more memorable than it has any right to be. During his HBO special “My Favorite Shapes,” which debuted in 2019, Torres, who is queer, hilariously acts like he’s doing us a favor by showing us what a square is, what a rectangle is and, of course, what the prized sphere is — “who you may recognize for her current role as a Ferrero Rocher chocolate,” he says. He brings out another Ferrero Rocher chocolate, this time without the additional wrapper it sits in.

“Originally, we had booked a different chocolate to play this part but then I was backstage and I was like ‘places, places’ and I was like, ‘I’m sorry, but where’s your little skirt?’”

Torres, a hyper-aware observational humorist, has built a career on his very special way of seeing the world and translating that into bone-dry comedy. He’s obviously a standout in “Los Espookys,” the Spanish-language horror-comedy from Fred Armisen that ran for two seasons on HBO, but even when he shows up as Patti Harrison’s coworker at a coffee shop in “Together Together” for just a few scenes, you’re always wishing he could be the lead confection in a skirt.

He gets that starring role in “Problemista,” which the former “SNL” writer also wrote, and directed. Alongside Tilda Swinton, Torres plays Alejandro, an aspiring toy designer; the two create something otherworldly that is still very much grounded in our world — it is the tale of a person who needs a visa sponsorship to stay in the U.S. rather than return

to El Salvador. The story, inspired by Torres’ own journey as a Salvadoran, he told NBC News, is, at its heart, one about outsiders — “people who feel that they are on the fringes.”

When I connected with Torres recently on Zoom, he talked about bringing his vision to life (minus the spaceships), a very specific element in Disney films that inspired the film visually and how he hopes his work can engender empathy for the experiences of those like Alejandro.

I’m interested in knowing how you get to the places you get to artistically, and with “Problemista,” how did you land where you landed? You started writing it during the pandemic, and I’m wondering if that experience took you to what we’re seeing on the screen now.

I think with me, it’s always a matter of reigning it in. I mean, the first version of the script would’ve amounted to a three and a half hour movie with three times the budget. We’re talking spaceships…

And real spaceships too, not CGI?

Real spaceships, not Hollywood spaceships, yeah. So with me, it’s about starting big and then eliminating the Xs and bringing in cohesion and remaining true to the vision. So that is usually the process, and I think that I consider myself to be an optimist and to be a very hopeful person. So, it wasn’t difficult for me to get to that place writing this movie when I did.

There is social commentary about immigration that’s really impactful and based on your own experience. Do you start with the social commentary or do you start with the spaceships?

I think I start with emotion. I definitely don’t start with

social commentary. I think the social commentary comes as a byproduct of being honest and as a byproduct of showing truth, and truth comes from trying to accurately depict an emotion. So, I was not out to make some grand thesis statement about anything; I just really wanted to show how that process felt, and it is in the audience’s empathy that a commentary comes. The Bank of America scene, for example, is very cathartic because it shows you how those exchanges feel. And I set out to showcase that more than making any kind of statement.

How do you think a film like “Problemista,” and comedy itself, can help make issues like immigration more accessible to a broader swath of people and generate empathy?

I think that it’s [through] being very honest and being very specific and showing real people going through real problems and seeing characters not as vessels for ideas — seeing characters not as two-dimensional case studies that have no lives beyond the problems that they’re going through, but seeing them as fully fleshed beings that we can access real empathy. And that is the difference between consuming a work of fiction or getting to know someone and seeing a chart about any of these problems, right? It’s [about] people not as case numbers, but people as people.

How much overlap is there between you and Alejandro and his story?

There’s a lot of overlap. I think Alejandro is a part of me. He exists within me, so the process of acting here was more like putting a microscope on that and letting that part of me drive [the story].

When you’re dealing with something as fraught as immigration in your own experience, does your imagination allow you to access your optimism?

Maybe, yeah. Maybe because I enjoy creation so much and I enjoy being able to create things, and I create things for the joy of creating them, not for a greater agenda, not to please anyone. I don’t do something to get something else. I don’t do something to impress anyone. I do it because I feel that it’s fun and I feel compelled to, and I’m very, very, very lucky that I get to do that.

The opening scene features Alejandro with his mother who does what she can to protect her son. Was that scene inspired by your own life?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. A very, very loved, very protected person who was sort of in an incubator for the longest time. And yeah, no, it’s very true. And how that’s such a double-edged sword because you grew up with so much love, but you also grew up with no flaws. And this is the story of Alejandro knowing that he does have those flaws and that those don’t necessarily have to be for aggression, but they can be tools.

You recently said that, directing this, you brought together your visual and spatial interests, humor writing, story writing and world building. How did all those aspects of your work come together to create this film? Everything is in conversation with each other, and everything is in service of everything else. And I am a very visual person, so I think visually. Even if it ends up being different, I do think about what

people are wearing, what the environments look like, what the camera movements are like. And so, directing afforded me the opportunity to make those things happen and bring in other people to collaborate with, who have their own genius ideas and finding the best answers from all the options. And I don’t cook. I’ve never cooked. I’m a bad cook, but it sounds like cooking is a little bit like this.

About the visual references in “Problemista”

— I was getting some “Alice in Wonderland” vibes from the beginning of the film.

Fairy tales are definitely influencing and informing this movie. I was a child in the ’90s, so I was watching a lot of the Disney animated stuff, and there was something that they would always do, which is they would have this huge orchestral music, and then you’d have this long pan into whatever the main architectural structure of the story was going to be. That was very important to just glide down until we got to the cave. And that’s the castle.

How did that detail about how you wanted to do that camera pan stick with you for so long? Because they all follow the same recipe. I’m assuming that they thought it worked one time and then they did it over and over and over again. We glide on the jungle and then we end up in the rock where Simba is baptized or whatever that ritual is, and then we glide on Paris, and we find Notre Dame. We glide on Agrabah, and we find Aladdin’s castle; it’s all the same.

One of my favorite pieces of yours is “My Favorite Shapes.” Do you see a relationship between a project like that and a project like “Problemista”?

Yeah, they’re all coming from the same well. It just so happened that, at that point, I was in a time where what I wanted to say was best explained by showing little objects and, here, what I wanted to tell was best explained in this way. But all those worlds are connected.

Chris Azzopardi is the Editorial Director of Pride Source Media Group and Q Syndicate, the national LGBTQ+ wire service. He has interviewed a multitude of superstars, including Cher,

Photo: David Clifton-Strawn

Embrace the spirit of SHEaster and join us for a whirlwind of festivities that will leave you feeling energized, empowered, and ready for Spring!

Friday Queen Butch presents the Carrie Nation

Start your easter weekend off right with a dose of The Carry Nation and DJ Vicki Powell! This is the official SHEaster opening party, so get your outfits ready to dance the night away.

Where: The Heretic

When: 03/29 at 10 pm - 3 am

Queen Butch Afters

The official SHEaster afters featuring Final First and Zaida Zane.

Where: Future

When: 03/30 at 3 am - 6 am

Saturday

Loosey Laduca & Amanda Tori Meeting

Let Loose, ATL! Jump into Spring at MSR with not one but TWO of our fav queens from RuPaul’s Drag Race

Where: MSR My Sister’s Room

When: 03/30 at 9 pm

Easter Drag Races

Join the notorious Armorettes for fun and games, including the ifamous Easter Bonnet Contest.

Where: The Heretic

When: 03/30 at 3 pm

Banshee Late Night feat. Deep South

Where: Ansley Square

When: 03/31 at 2 pm

The Deep South crew take over Banshee to have you dance into the night. DJs Brian Rojas, Alexis Curshé, and Wild Cherry on the decks.

Where: Banshee EATL

When: 03/30 at 11 pm

EASTER Sunday

Bottom’s Up drag Brunch

WUSSY Mag presents this boozy drag brunch featuring special guests Loosey Laduca & Amanda Tori Meating from RuPaul’s Drag Race.

Where: City Winety

When: 03/31 at 12:30 pm

Easter EGGstravaganza!

Ansley Square will be busting at the seams with activity as all the bars and business come together for an Easter celebration extraordinaire with lots parking bars and entertainment.

Deep South’s Sunday Service

The Deep South crew opens their Sunday Service season while closing out their SHEaster weekend.

Where: Sister Louisa’s

When: 03/31 at 7 pm - 12 am

Photos by: Russ Bowen-Youngblood

LGBTQ+ Fractions Advocate for Easter Unicorn and Pastel Rainbow Flag

By John Hilton

In a surprising turn of events leading up to Easter Sunday, various fractions within the LGBTQ+ community have come together with a unique proposition: to replace the iconic Easter Bunny with an Easter Unicorn and to introduce a pastel-hued rainbow flag as the new symbol of LGBTQ+ pride.

According to representatives from the Pastel Rainbow Coalition, a coalition of LGBTQ+ advocacy groups, the initiative aims to promote inclusivity and celebrate the diversity within the community. “While the Easter Bunny has long been associated with this holiday, we believe it’s time to embrace a symbol that better reflects the magical and diverse nature of our community,” stated spokesperson Jamie Rodriguez.

The proposal includes the introduction of the Easter Unicorn, a mythical creature adorned with pastel-colored fur and a rainbow-striped horn, as the new ambassador of Easter festivities. “The unicorn symbolizes strength, beauty, and individuality – qualities that resonate deeply with LGBTQ+ individuals,” explained Rodriguez.

a refreshing change and others expressing skepticism. “I love the concept of an Easter Unicorn and a pastel rainbow flag – it’s whimsical and inclusive,” remarked LGBTQ+ activist Taylor Nguyen. “But let’s not forget the importance of tradition and the symbolism of the existing rainbow flag.”

Additionally, the Rainbow Coalition suggests replacing the traditional rainbow flag with a pastel-hued version, featuring softer tones of pink, lavender, mint green, and baby blue. “While the rainbow flag has served as a powerful symbol of LGBTQ+ pride, we believe that incorporating pastel colors will represent the gentleness and diversity within our community,” Rodriguez elaborated.

While the initiative has garnered attention and support from certain factions within the LGBTQ+ community, it’s essential to approach it with a sense of humor and perspective, especially considering the timing of the announcement.

As April Fools’ Day approaches, it’s worth noting that this proposal may indeed be a lighthearted jest rather than a serious endeavor. After all, what better way to celebrate the spirit of April Fools’ than with a playful nod to the imagination and creativity within the LGBTQ+ community?

So, as Easter Sunday approaches, keep an eye out for pastel-hued unicorns and rainbow flags – but remember to take it all with a grain of salt. After all, in a world as colorful and diverse as ours, anything is possible, especially on April Fools’ Day.

Happy Easter, dear readers, and may your celebrations be filled with joy, laughter, and a touch of whimsy –whether it’s courtesy of an Easter Unicorn or a mischievous April Fools’ prank.

The proposal has sparked a lively debate within LGBTQ+ circles, with some embracing the idea as

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We all have those moments of ‘wait, did they just say that?’ Lucky for you, we compile the best of the best right here on this page. Want to join in on the b*tch session?

Submit your own nuggets to info@davidatlanta.com.

Due to personal reasons, I’ll be screaming.

Being gay is crazy because the uglier you are the more sex you have.

I don’t know how to explain this but bottoms drink Starbucks and tops drink Dunkin.

Iʼm suffering from PTSD: Post Traitors Season 2 Depression

No, he was three boyfriends ago – my great great boyfriend.

If you hear me telling the same story, just let it go. I have six memories and they take turns.

Why would I finish a thought when I can start a new and exciting one?