F Historical Museum, or Gaylord’s Call of the Wild Museum, but set on the poor side of town. Bits of this vision appear from time to time, such as this year’s tattoo shop, or the Sin-Erotic film space, which will be given over to arthouse sleaze, or the live bondage shows in a hallway nook revelers will stroll by and be able to watch. And that’s just the stuff out in the show. Live shows will take the stage almost continuously. Peterson calls it, “Burlesque, drag queens, and weird stuff,” but much of it is way out there. Getting in drag and singing “Sweet Transvestite” isn’t enough for the show anymore. Peterson has seen almost every drag act out there, and complains that the medium has lost its verve. He explains, “Most drag shows, you’re going to hear Celine Dion. Most drag shows are so mainstream.” But at the Dirty Show, attendees can expect performers like DeAngela Show Shannon. “I’ve seen about every drag act,” Peterson says, “and DeAngela does fucking flips and stuff, and she’s taller than me, with tits the size of watermelons, and these outrageous costumes.” Or bizarre inclusions from years past
feature have included what Peterson calls a “midget bar.” It was an area roped off last year that had a 6-foot-high ceiling, small furniture, and a small stage with a diminutive dancer on it. “There were supposed to be two midgets dancing on stage, but one got so drunk she fell off the stage on her first act.” On two different years, the stage has featured action painting of an unusual sort: A performer is given an enema of child-safe paint, and then squirts it out of their ass onto a canvas. If it sounds squicky, well, it is, but it was at least done behind a screen, which Peterson says, “makes it civilized.” The actionpainting routine’s name, Poo-casso, was made up by a heckler the first time it was performed. “It is hilarious,” Peterson says, “and I think it really does say more about art than anything else, because then the paintings are auctioned off.” It’s decisions like these that draw people out on snowy nights in February. Between visual art, performance, film, live entertainment, and a kind of party environment, the show is big. It outgrew spaces at the Hastings Street Ballroom, Bert’s Warehouse, and has
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n Gregory de la Haba’s “Equus Maximus” will return to the show this year. finally found what appears to be a permanent home at the Russell, which is more than large enough to accommodate the 2,000 people a night who pre-buy their tickets. Last year, part of the draw was special guest John Waters, which gave the show special visibility. Peterson said it was a challenge to keep people from pestering their esteemed guest. “All these outsiders are gonna
identify with John,” Peterson says. “But there’s, like, hundreds of them in every city, so they’re always going to try to give him something or tell him some long story. We tried to put out the word, please don’t bring gifts. Now, with somebody like Brad Pitt, who’s a big successful movie star, you’re not going to go and bother Brad Pitt, but people think, ‘It’s John Waters: He gets me.’ And there’s shitloads of them. He