Gay Pride Special: I, Ivana

Here I am, below, on the recording, at a seriously crowded party in 1989, impersonating Ivana Trump in drag and doing my own singing. I also had some ribald patter to deliver and wrote that myself.

As Sheila Gillerman, I performed several times at Rose's Turn, booked by the fabulous Sidney Meyer. I was a five-time award-winner at the now-defunct Crowbar in the East Village. They had a weekly drag competition hosted by the legendary Mona Foot.

I did my own singing, in character, and considered what I did performance art. I wrote my own patter and almost all of my songs. Everything I performed I considered social satire and a reflection of the times and my perceived direction of pop culture.

My friend, Ron Davis, dug into his archives and found me performing as Sheila as Ivana (audio).

Ron wrote: "a RARE Historic archival recording of Sheila Gillerman in a live performance of another one of her huge hits in the persona of Ivana Tramp. The official title of this number is "The World Is My Oyster But You Won't Get In My Clam (Megabucks)". Most folks just know this number affectionately as "Megabucks". Again this is obviously from a bootleg tape surreptitiously recorded. Sheila's work at the Actor's Studio clearly has paid off especially when, in her character as Ivana Tramp, she exudes such monumental contempt for the less privileged. A tour de force performance. You'll undoubtedly notice the studio audience enjoyment! A rare performance indeed!" 

http://members.toast.net/rldbeverly/sheilagillerman/megabucks-norm-150613.mp3

Can it be I'm the only male Ivana Trump impersonator? Vonder vhy. Happy LGBT Pride Month, y'all!