Known Fact: Club C4 hates mini-golf.

My standard rule of photographing at a new club is what I call the “Gin Blossom Rule” – if you don’t expect too much for me, you might not be let down.

Anytime I photograph a show at a space that is new to me, I say this to the performers who don’t like their pics – or who think I didn’t get enough photos of them.

Your concerns are valid; your feelings legitimate. You are right.

I will catch you back with better photos down the road.

Club C4 was a new space – and a very different space from where I have heretofore seen drag performed – and it will take some time for me to get comfortable with the way light and energy moves through the space.

Now, different isn’t bad. In fact, C4 has a cunty vibe.

Its the kind of place you expect to run into a guy like Rick Deckard, who sits down to tell you he “was looking for six replicants in a city of 106 million.”

Okay, thats a bit over the top, but if you have been there, tell me I’m wrong: C4 gives “An alley deep in the darkest parts of Hong Kong in a rainy night in the year 2137” energy, amiright?

Neon lights.

Industrial fixtures and decor.

I’d bet money there’s a lightsaber behind the bar in case a bounty hunter from the Outer Rim gets outta control. 🤭😹

The performances here were deeply personal – they have to be: the performers and their fans are all close enough to hold hands, performing and cheering on less than 750 sq ft of concrete dance floor, split neatly down the middle by a staircase.

As an audience member, you have no choice but to step forward and interact with art, or lean back against the wall and watch.

So the whole time throughout a performance, the crowd seems to surge and pulse, forward and backward, as supporters lean in and lean out of performances.

The show i saw was The Sunday Showcase, on July 13, hosted by Taylor Madison Monroe, Miss Gay Arkansas America 2012.

Now, I was there specifically to photograph a friend’s debut at C4 – Emerald Haze – and i was nervous about getting it right for them, while shooting an array of unfamiliar performers in a new venue. Though they didn’t tell me the details of the performance – something I am very glad for – I knew that it was personally very important to them, and I wanted to get, at least, those photographs right.

It helped to see familiar faces in the crowd – Nikita Pearl, Shego Wylde, Sugar Cookies, and Anita Mann to name a few – as that made the space feel so much more familiar.

Emerald Haze performed a glowing pair of numbers from Les Mis with a twist: “empty chairs and tables” preceding “do you hear the people sing” made at least this audience member think of the sacrifices a lot of living ppl are making right now to preserve the worldview that Trans and Black and Brown lives – and families – matter.

The other performances were striking: first time seeing roller skates in a drag show, a memorable Dolly Parton performance, and of course, Taylor is just a sweet and professional lady, and it was nice chatting with her after the show, and hope she was serious about meeting me for dinner or desert next time she is in “the Rock”.

To each of the performers at this show, I will return and get more photographs as I get used to the space.

I do have to call C4 out about one thing. The back patio has astroturf on it.

And no options for putt putt. Seriously, wtf?

Not everybody smokes. Some of us like mini golf.

Do better, C4. 🤭😉

Click on any image to view all the photos from this show in a full screen photo gallery.