When they’re not busy as the ukulele-playing host of Tavern on Camac’s “Eric Jaffe Show” or pairing up with pianist, composer and chef Lili St. Queer for drag parody theatrical musicals such as “Gay Mis,” “American Hamstand” and “The Lizard of Oz,” or winning drag award after drag award, Eric Jaffe is your COVID19 lifeline to the virtual Philly drag world holed up in place at their respective palaces.
From their Daily Live Stream and Facebook Live Round-Ups compiled at the drop of a sequin – as well as Eric’s weekly Digital Drag Brunch, every Saturday at noon on Facebook Live – Jaffe is bringing the whole of the in-person, up-close and personal, nonbinary, live theatrical vibe of drag Philadelphia to your home in all its Technicolor, Cinemascopic fashion.
The full list of Jaffe’s curated shows are on their Facebook page (“I recommend shows by Ebony Ali, CJ Higgins, Moon Baby, Swan Flambe, and many more”), the same virtual space that houses Jaffe’s weekly Drag Brunch.
“Once we were all forced inside and the bars had to close, I knew that queer performers would go digital,” said Jaffe. “It happened so fast, I saw shows going up left and right and I knew that there needed to be a place that you could look online to see a schedule of these shows. I put out a call on Facebook asking community members to let me know when their shows are and I would compile a schedule. That way you can look and see who is performing when. These entertainers are family, they are community leaders and they are out of work for the foreseeable future. It’s an uncertain time to be an artist, but our community here in Philly has proved over the past week that we will be there for each other.”
As for Jaffe’s Weekly Drag Brunch, fun has been the name of the game with the only thing missing being the tinkle of swizzle sticks knocking against cocktail glass rims.
“I have done two of them so far and they have been amazing,” said Jaffe. “I encourage people to get up and get dressed in something cute and to make themselves a nice meal, things that I think are very important in these trying times. Performing at home is strange, but it is certainly the new normal and I’m optimistic that the queer performance scene will rise stronger from this. We are leading this technological performance art renaissance, and more importantly, we are proving that our community is stronger than ever before.”
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