Leather & Lace Night @ CUBE, Canberra

I have been to Canberra once before, about 7 years ago, so I had a rough idea of the city layout. But 7 years on, things were a bit fuzzy in my mind - partly because of all the hairspray fumes I have breathed in since then...

My boyfriend was to drive us down to Canberra for our Friday night gig in a Tarago-styled car, but had work come in over the weekend at the last minute, so we three drag queens decided to jump a bus for the A.C.T!

(Yes, yes - very Priscilla of us I know! Well, Priscilla minus the bus breaking down and the hot heat of the outback - but 3 drags on a bus to a interstate gig nonetheless..)

We did have a ball on the coach though, giggling as Ru fell asleep (dribbling onto her chest! LOL), sharing so many sugar-filled lollies,Tim-Tams and drinks. It was our own little party on the bus! We did have some quiet time at one stage within our sugar-filled high - Charisma reading her gossip mags, Nanna-Ru sleeping and me reading my book "The God Delusion" (Yes I know I have had that book since Xmas! What can I say? I'm not much of a reader!).

Before heading down for our gig at Cube Nightclub, I refreshed my memory of our nation's capital on Google Earth. It's an amazingly designed city - you should jump online and check it out (or go in person!).

The bus trip (only 3 hours) went so quickly for us - a fast bus trip is always a good thing! Before we knew it we were right in the heart of Canberra, delivered right from the heart of Sydney!

The PR/Events manager at the club, Candice, picked us up at the terminal and took us straight to the nightclub to drop off the show costumes and props and to show us the stage, backstage area and club in general.

Cube is such a great venue! It has a sunken dancefloor with different levels to dance on , which is something I always love. A hot addition to the dancefloor was the poles - obviously installed for those who need to test out how sexy your trade can move before you take him/her home! There are some lounge/beds with personal stylish lockers for your valuables on the sides - and an amazing floor near the toilets that reflects rainbow colours! Very cool! In fact there are so many little things in the club's setup that's sensible and stylish - the kind of things that makes a place and give it it's own character.

Now the VIP room, which was our exclusive dressing room for the evening, had comfy couches and a big long aquarium along one wall - gorgeous! It was so secure, we needed swipe passes to come in and out the door, of which of course all three of us were issued with. (We don't get that security in Sydney!)

Candice did an amazing job with our poster, blowing it up to an enormous size and putting it up on prominent display. I even got my name scrolled on an electric billboard in the club! It was all incredibly humbling, but at the same time quite camp! Big pictures/advertisements of us.. my name finally in lights! LOL

After meeting the owner/manager of the club, Morris, and some more of the staff setting up the club for the night, we headed off to the hotel suite we were booked in to. It was nice and close, just 2-3 blocks away..

Candice dropped us of in a gorgeous and spacious 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom suite with a large balcony.. What I couldn't believe was it was all ours! We were being looked after so well!

We ducked out for a quick bite to eat back at Petrie Plaza, then headed home to have a short rehearsal and to take our time getting ready for our 10:30pm arrival at the club.

Morris collected us personally at 10:15pm, taking us straight to the VIP room in the club. We went out to mingle right away, and were met by a friendly crowd who were eager to see our show. Shortly we went back to the VIP room to find 3 large cocktails waiting for us on the glass table! We were certainly being spoilt!

We performed our 3 spot numbers to a very responsive crowd! Charisma performed "Boogie 2nite", Ru sung live "Dancing in the Street", and I closed with "I Will Survive". (I accidentally wrote "I Will Survice" on the CD after I burnt it on my laptop at the hotel - damn Ru Bella was asking about room service at the time! LOL)

After another quick mingle, we were backstage getting ready for the main show, my award winning production, Rough Trade Hers. With Candice's girlfriend Lucy helping us change cossies, we performed the show without any hitches. The crowd loved the show. We took our bows (I sprayed water on the crowd when I did! *giggle*) and headed backstage to quickly pack our show up into our bags.

With the packing done, Charisma and I changed back into our boy clothes while Ru stayed as a girl. We settled in to a fun night chatting and dancing with the patrons and staff of Cube.. That went on til the not-so-wee hours of the morning! We made it back to our hotel suite by about 7/7:30am where the girls decided to stay up until the bus trip home at 10:30am. Needless to say, mindless chatter filled the suite.

After a shower and a fresh change of clothes, I walked the girls to the Terminal just up the road and sent them on their way back to Sydney. From there, I stayed in Canberra and met one of my dear friends Nik, who took me back to his place to do a photo shoot. In the end we didn't do the shoot though, as we got chatting about old times and playing dress-ups in some costumes that we ran out of time. It was good to catch up with him and to meet his sweet boyfriend though! (He later so very generously gave me the costumes to take home - thanks so much Nik!).

Now time in Canberra must be about 5 times as fast as it runs in Sydney, cos every time I looked at the clock throughout the trip, hours had gone by in what I felt was minutes! Before we knew it, we only had a short time to get me to the Bus Terminal for the trip home! So we sped back into the city to arrive just in time for me to board the bus for the 4 hour trip back to Sydney (The bus stopped at Liverpool and the Sydney Domestic & International Airports this time which took an hour longer! Yuk!)

It was an awesome trip to Canberra, and seriously one of the best gigs I have ever done.

My thanks to our Sydney contact, Penny, for asking us to head down to the club, to Morris - the best owner/manager of a nightclub ever! Thanks for treating us like celebrities!, to Candice - for your hard work advertising us at the club and for looking after us at all points in the day & night, to Lucy - for helping us with costume changes and for also looking after us, and of course to the other staff and patrons at Cube for a fun-filled night and a warm welcome to the VERY COLD city of Canberra!