It ain't easy being queen, says Joel Valenzuela
Angelina SX, a.k.a. Joel Valenzuela, onstage at Drama Drag.
It didn’t take much to pull Joel Valenzuela out of drag-queen retirement. A hairstylist and makeup artist by day, Valenzuela gave up drag in 2007 to take a break from the expensive and often mentally draining drag scene to focus on life in the real world. But when friend and fellow queen Nina Flowers (a runner-up on season one of RuPaul’s Drag Race) asked Valenzuela to join Drama Drag—a monthly drag showcase/club night at Tracks—he couldn’t resist starting the beauty process all over again, and has since become a regular in the show. The oft sold-out event is nearly a year on and will celebrate this month with a Halloween show featuring zombie queens, killer hair, and glammed-up versions of characters from Carrie and The Exorcist. Valenzuela gabbed with The A.V. Club about the resurrection of Angelina SX, the hierarchy of drag mothers, and the often thankless profession of a male beauty queen.
The A.V. Club: Why did you decide to come out of retirement?
Joel Valenzuela: I took from break from early 2007 until March of this year, when Ms. Nina Flowers approached me and said, “I think you’re fantastic and fabulous and I need you to be a part of my vision for Drama Drag.” So I came out of retirement for her. When I took my break from drag, the scene had become very devoted to charity work, which was a wonderful thing, and I did it for many years. But it got to the point with drag in Colorado where fundraising was the only place or reason to do drag. I was performing in front of uninterested audiences with the charity work, and it just wasn’t what it used to be. Frankly, it takes a lot of money to look this cheap. [Laughs.] People don’t realize the makeup, the hair, and the wardrobe are expensive—I’ve spent $1,600 on a costume for one show, and it left a bad taste in my mouth. You can also lose yourself in the scene and it was getting to the point where people wanted to see Angelina instead of Joel. So I said, enough is enough.
AVC: Is performing in drag for you like being two different people or do you see Angelina as an extension of yourself?
JV: I think it’s a little bit of both. There is definitely a part of Joel in the mix. But in a lot of ways, it’s really about two different characters, as there are parts of Angelina that aren’t present in Joel. It’s a process, mentally and physically. Sometimes I’ll have a dresser, but most of the time it’s just me, and it takes about three hours to get ready. Two and a half hours of that is reshaping and contouring my body and transforming my face with makeup. It involves a lot of padding to give me the shape of a woman, many pairs of dancers’ tights to hide those prosthetics and padding. [Laughs.]
AVC: How does one learn the art of drag? Is there a hierarchy or mentoring dynamic happening in the scene?
JV: Yes. Most queens have a drag mother—they take you under their wing and show you everything. They help shape your look and give you direction and feedback on your performance. To be a drag mother, it just sort of comes with how well-known you are, your experience, and involvement in the local and national scene. As a drag mother, you can have a house—sort of like a brand—and those you mentor can take on your last name. My drag last name is SX, my drag mother’s original name when she first came onto the scene. Later on, she evolved from Kiera SX into her own house, the House of Sexton.
AVC: What does being a drag queen mean to you?
JV: It’s about expressing myself in way I wouldn’t normally do. I’m not saying it would be weird or awkward to run down the street in women’s clothing. [Laughs.] But for me being a drag queen is an art form. I do hair for a living, and coming from the world of fashion and hair shows, I’m able to incorporate those elements into my performance in a way I couldn’t as Joel. It’s really exciting every time I get into drag. I get to look at what’s the latest thing going on in fashion and music, and I figure out how to incorporate it and project to my audience. As a creative person, I get to use hair, makeup, and costuming as my art.
