Am I one of a very few?

[PattayaMale]

I was reading the PG Report today and noticed that the pictures from the Venue were mainly of ladyboys preforming. Also I saw Sawadee Bar advertising "cabaret" shows featuring Alcazar dancers. At the fund raising for Mick, with the exception of El Duo (I really liked their singing with their shirts opened...very nice bodies IMHO), Toi and a very talented farang singer the acts from Copa and BBB were also ladyboy themed (male dancers only as background). I also read that at the Venue fundraiser coming up in August many acts and guest "artists" are ladyboy or drag acts. There is a great host bar in Sunee plaza I frequented (not much now) where the Thai owner dresses in drag at times and many of his friends act or are ladyboys.

 

I feel that I must certainly be in a minority (maybe a defect of my gay genes?), as I would choose to stay away from venues (small v) that offer these shows. Truthfully, I do not care about that kind of entertainment. I do not enjoy it. Give me a show with guys dancing and signing! That is what I like. Very hard to find in Pattaya any more.

 

Now if anyone thinks I am bigoted (am I am a bit), it should be known that I rent a room in my outside guest house to a ladyboy who preforms at Alcazar. Very nice person. So I am not downing ladyboys or people that date them.

 

What is the great fascination with all these cabaret drag ladyboy shows? Why not more shows featuring guys as guys? (Hope this post does not bar me from the many places that have cabarets)

[Guest]

Chicks with dicks are cool IMHO. I so much more enjoy the Cabaret shows to the JO or Sex shows. When it comes to sex, I like a real guy. I think in NYC, the clubs were all centered around Drag shows and all my friends were drag queens. I loved it and the shows and always have. There use to be one bar on Soi Twilight that had a fantastic Broadway style Cabaret show and I would go there nightly. I loved it. Now, when the bars on that soi start the sex show, I am off (not getting off, but off my seat looking for another venue.)

 

I had friends that use to love the JO show at Kaos. They would sit nightly for it. I must admit I watched it once and enjoyed it. But, that was it. Never again. Not my thing. I hope I don't get banner from those bars that thrive on this.

[Guest frodo]

I totally agree with PattayaMale, and you can forget the sex shows as well. I remember the boys dancing at the old Hollywood disco on stage - now that was worth watching. Please tell me, where is the talent for dressing like a lady and miming to recorded songs? No more of that for me thank you.

[Guest buckeroo2]

At the fund raising for Mick, with the exception of El Duo (I really liked their singing with their shirts opened...very nice bodies

Pop into Pattaya's California WOW on some afternoon and watch Richard and DK working up a sweat so that they can open up their shirt fronts and sing their hearts out. They work out together as well as sing together.

[Gaybutton]

What is the great fascination with all these cabaret drag ladyboy shows?

I'm with you. I don't like he drag shows either. As a matter of fact, I dislike most of the bar shows I've ever seen. The way the shows are presented, in my opinion if you've seen one, you've seen them all.

 

For me, show time is get up and go time. When I go to the bars, I'm there to see the go-go boys.

[KhorTose]

I guess I am really old, but I remember when gay activism was a function of the gay "court". Remember Stonewall was mostly lady boys and their BFs from the NY court. In many big cities the court is still active but in a much diminish role. While I did not join in in their pagentry, I have always enjoyed their type of cabaret shows with all the lip syncing, and vamping. I have always seen these shows as just people having fun, and I am reminded that the word and even the idea of "camp" came out of these sometimes silly shows. I too get up and leave with the show is a JO or sex show. Just not my style, but I do not see anything wrong with others enjoying it. Now I will admit that a lot of the shows in LOS are not that good, but just seeing the effort some of the "boys" go to if often worth it to me. In Chiang Mai we used to have a really great cabaret show with first class sets and performers, but alas it grew stale and lost its creativity, but it was a great show. Different stokes for different folks (no pun intended).

[Guest thaiworthy]

I am with GB and PM, I just want to see the boys in their bulging (hopefully) white underwear. When the show goes on, I'm gone, too.

[Guest gay_grampa]

I acknowledge that shows must be a crowd puller for the bars otherwise they would not put them on.

 

Some of the more masculine performers are attractive to me but the 'cock-in-a-frock' acts leave me cold. Since the majority of these shows consist of lady-boys and katoeys I very rarely go to see them.

 

But why do the shows consist mainly of lady-boys? Is it because there are more femme performers than butch ones? Is the effort of getting a trim body too much for wanna-be performers that they just get into the dress and learn make up instead? What other occupation is there for a katoey?

 

The more I go to gogo bars the less often I 'off' one of the boys in undies on the stage and usually chat up the staff who are there as doormen or waiters. Is it a symptom of getting old when I prefer to meet people who have their clothes ON???

 

Too many questions, I know.

[Bob]

Give me a show with guys dancing and signing! That is what I like.

 

I actually prefer to hear them singing as the signing guys fall off the stage much too often. But, to each his own....

[Guest xiandarkthorne]

I think the propensity for ladyboy shows is a cultural thing - and a cultural misunderstanding.

 

Thais love ladyboy shows themselves (why do you think so many of their handsome boy competitions feature mostly slim twinky types in makeup?) while, from the frequency of ladyboy acts in non-ladyboy bars, I suspect the bar owners think that all farangs want ladyboys and that those who DON'T want ladyboys are in the 'must-be-catered-for- minority.

 

Incidentally, a number of ladyboys in Malaysia have made a success of themselves as show organizers, hosts, presenters or comperes for private functions like wedding parties and coorporate affairs. One of them, a good and very old friend of mine who works as a bank officer in the daytime but runs his own event management company after office hours, bills himself as 'the last virgin in Penang' and is very much in demand for his risque humour. Of course, the biggest advantage ladyboys have in Malaysia is that they tend to speak very good English.

[Guest luvthai]

I tend to avoid the drag shows as they are just not my thing(I never have understood the femme thing). I use to enjoy Simone Cabaret when they were on walking street but could not go more than once per trip. But I do not look down on or treat the ladyboys as sickos, I just avoid them.

[Guest]

You are one of the very many on this board.

 

I also dislike cabaret & drag shows.

 

Give me guys in white underwear any day, maybe with poledancing for a little bit of variety.

 

I'm all for freedom of choice with ladyboys etc, but I can't think of any reason why someone who likes guys should automatically be expected to like ladyboy shows. Seems like a fundamentally different market to me.

This is at it's worst when one goes into a gogo bar & about 5 minutes after a fresh glass of beer arrives, all the guys are replaced by drag artists.

In places like Tangmo I quickly learnt to time my visits.

[fedssocr]

I never really got the whole drag thing either. I think that subculture seems to be dying out a bit in the US these days as gay kids see more "normal" possibilities for themselves. Not that long ago the whole view of gays in mainstream culture was that we were all drag queens or wanted to be women. Now that there are more and different role models I think that has made a big difference.

 

But I think there is a difference between ladyboys and drag queens.

 

When I first went to Thailand it was worth seeing a show or three to have done it. The cabaret shows are least interesting to me. I went to the famous one in Bangkok on my first visit. It was way overpriced and the audience was full of Russian tourists who seemed to have no idea how to react or what they were supposed to be doing when. But now all of the shows are all boring and repetitive to me. I do like to see the boys dancing though...especially if they are actually dancing. Whenever I go to a strip club or go go bar anywhere I am always more attracted to the boys who actually dance or seem to be having a good time.

[KhorTose]

I use to enjoy Simone Cabaret

 

That is it. We use to have a very famous cabaret in Chiang Mai call Simons and I would bet Simone in Pattaya was a copycat. I stand alone here but I do like the shows, as not all the performers are ladyboys. Most of the shows I see have a mix with some really good looking guys--sort of like Monte's show and I do hear the Venue is doing well(?) with its lady boy show.

[Guest Astrrro]

Guys who like ladyboys seem to especially dislike the cabaret shows. Ladyboy admirers tend to prefer their ladyboys in bikinis. None of the Pattaya ladyboy gogos have a show.

OTOH, the ladyboys themselves love shows.

 

However, the rare femboy in a ladyboy bar that can dance and lip synch while the other boys are doing their normal standing and staring routine is priceless.