Jack 08242016

Sizzling,S
& F
aith
would never do what I saw on
BY COURTNEY CLARK
jack
Hamburger Mary’s on the Southbank near San Marco is
known for being LGBTQ-friendly with nightly drag
shows. After years of hard work and self-discovery,
two Drag Queen regulars dazzle Jacksonville audiences with
high-energy dances and personalities as large as their hair.
Get to know these lovely ladies and what it takes for them
to be stars.
You’ve gotta have Faith
Jacksonville native Faith Taylor
has been performing in drag for 13
years.
“When I first started I was
going to the gay bars as a young
gay boy, and I always swore I
stage,” she says. “You couldn’t pay
me enough money to put me in
heels and a dress on stage.”
But with encouragement from
Jade Jolie (RuPaul’s Drag Race),
Taylor competed in her first talent
show. “I did ‘Dirrty’ by Christina
Aguilera. ... I had on this god-awful
red-fringe outfit with these little
black booties. ... And I rocked it.
I won the talent show that night.
From that point on, I was Faith.”
After building her brand from
the ground up through tireless selfpromotion,
Taylor now performs
four to five days a week at various
locations in multiple cities. She’s a
Hamburger Mary’s regular and its
Sunday show director. On stage,
she rocks leopard prints, sparkles,
big hair, and her own killer
makeup.
And what is her favorite part of
performing?
“Honestly, as cheesy as it
might sound, I love making people
happy,” she says. “I can go on
stage and make somebody smile or
give someone a glimmer of hope
that they, too, can be a star.
“People always say, ‘Oh my
God, you’re so beautiful!’
“And I say, ‘Honey, with as
much makeup as I have on you
could be, too.’ And it’s true.
Everybody’s beautiful in their own
special way. …:
[I can be] somebody on stage
that people can look up to and talk
to freely. And I [can] encourage
them that they [can] be anything
they want to be, because I never
thought that I could be what I am
now.”
And on show days, she
has her own routine.
MORNING
• First: “I gotta wake up.”
• Check Facebook as part of her marketing
strategy.
• “After that, I may or may not brush my teeth
before I have a cup of coffee.”
AFTERNOON
• “I usually turn on ‘Law & Order: SVU.’ That’s
usually on in the background all day long.”
• Back to marketing: booking shows, on and
off the phone, making flyers.
EVENING
• “I always make sure that I eat by a certain
time ‘cause I don’t want to be bloated by,
you know, the time show time comes. But I
also don’t want to be chewing my own arm
off halfway through the show.”
• A few hours before each show
Taylor begins her makeup,
beginning with a relaxing bath.
• And “everything gets shaved.”
POST-SHOW
• To unwind, “I have got to have some
type of alcohol to put myself to
sleep. … I deliver a very high-energy
show.”
4
jack |
AUGUST 24 - SEPTEMBER 6, 2016