The Cost of Halloween

As everyone struggles to come up with a costume for Halloween, a few thoughts to consider: Last year, Americans spent $7.4 billion on costumes. Of that $3.2 billion was on costumes--$33.68 per person.

I spent over $100 in Hello Kitty stuff to perform in a local club's "Night of 100 Drag Queens" this week. It was an amazing experience (thank you Sidetrack) and they paid me back that amount as an unexpected surprise, but it's quite a sum. Should I shake my fist and cry "What are we doing?"

Ah, no.

I simply ask, what price joy?

Life has a movement in my eyes. As we cycle through our days on earth, we work, we ponder and we celebrate. We bond, we find commonalities, we create families. If we didn't have Halloween, we'd have some other celebration where we have an opportunity to physically manifest our inner selves. I certainly gave myself permission to burn through my paycheck.

And I had a ball.

Yours in excess,

Angel Bright

Becoming Bright

So here she is, Hello Kitty, as I debut in rehearsal last night as Angel Delusionae [delusion-ay] Bright, my drag persona. The intent is to capitalize on how I got into an indie movie with Margaret Cho that was filmed near Saugatuck, Mich., which is near Chicago. Long story short, "Alaska is a Drag" debuts next spring and in my mind, I had to do everything I could to try to promote myself as part of what could be a strong-performing motion picture--at least in the gay circuit.

While I've been developing a writing persona in the same vein called "Angel Bright," a friend of mine suggested another name based off of a conversation we had about having delusions of fame with this Margaret Cho movie. Believe me, I don't doubt my delusions, but I figure, can't hurt. Sheer luck put me on stage with Margaret Cho and while it would take a tremendous amount of cosmic alignment for me to achieve any amount of celebrity momentum from that one non-speaking appearance as a drag queen, it forced me to put on my best Kitty face and take the stage in a premiere drag show here in Chicago, Sidetrack's "Night of 100 Drag Queens." So here's to being fabulous in my own eyes.

Yours in delusion,

Angel Bright

Night of 100 Drag Queens

While it may seem like an odd thing to do, I signed up to perform in "Night of 100 Drag Queens," a pretty big drag showcase here in Chicago's Boystown strip. I have a couple of things to promote, one being an indie movie I happened to be in with Margaret Cho (due out next spring called "Alaska is a Drag") and the international Asians & Friends conference IFCON 2016, which will be in Chicago next Labor Day (www.ifcon2016.org).

It was a last-minute decision to toss my hat in the ring, and thankfully organizers had not reached their drag limit. (Sidetrack, 3349 N. Halsted, Chicago, Oct. 21-22, 2015. 7 p.m. start.) And after several days of considering my song, hunting for an outfit and creating and rehearsing choreography (not to mention lip syncing), I started to think about why I jumped into it in the first place.

While I've been a dancer for much of my youth and always dreamed of performing for a living, I've long since moved into my life as a business journalist. My financial stability is the fruit of my labor. It seems crazy at this point in my life to try to self promote myself as a performer, even though being in any movie with a major celebrity is a once-in-a-lifetime thing. I suppose one never gives up whenever there's a flicker of excitement on the horizon. I mean, I've accepted my lot. I've enjoyed what steady employment provides and for me, it is fulfilling work. Still, it feels good to jump off a cliff every now and then.

Yours in Adventure,

Angel Bright