Jahnna Steel, a superstar, recently died. She was a former Las Vegas show girl. |
Greetings and salutations on this auspicious occasion as Pooh's friend Owl would say. Welcome back to the Drag Rag, where we chit-chat about pageants and the girls who do them — and it has been a busy season recently.
Since the Continental PLUS and Elite contests are approaching quickly, we’ll discuss the that first. My good sister, Tajma Hall, will be relinquishing her title, along with the shapely, gorgeous Danielle Hunter. I am so proud of these ladies for the jobs they’ve done. As for PLUS prelims, Dramatica won Missouri with RU Regina Aignier; Evelyn Forest won Miss Ultimate with RU Terri DeMour; West Virginia is Brianna Nicole Cartier with RU Diamond Dynasty; Metropolitan is Roxy with Jocelyn Summers; Miss TX is Lori Fairchild; and Sandra Lopez is the new Miss VA Icon with RU Ivy White.
On the U.S.ofA. scene, Naomi St. James is the new Miss Arizona with RU Celebrity Starr; Great Lakes, Alexis Rouge; Illinois, Rochelle D’Leight; Lake O’ The Pines, Aspen Tyler with RU Alexis Nicole Whitney; Southern States, former Miss Gay America Dominique Sanchez; Tri-States, the ever-lovely Sasha Andrews with RU Taryn Taylor; FL, Myah Monroe with RUs Angelique Ali and Sheena Devine; and, finally, GA, Bianca Nicole with RU Stasha Sanchez. In the U.S.ofA. at-Large arena, Payje Turner won FL with RU Jocelyn Summers. The new Miss FL Classic is Nancy Taylor with RUs Christiana Sinclair and former Miss NC America Sharde Ross. Miss GA Classic is Ashley Kruiz with RU Brigett Nichols. Miss Reina del Sol Classic is Tori Steele.
Speaking of the U.S.ofA. system, the last prelim for Miss NC, Miss Piedmont, was held at Warehouse 29 not long ago. Congrats are in order for Fuschia Rage (evening gown winner) who won. Her RUs were Verba S. Deo of Asheville and Ericka LaShea who won interview. Constance DeMarlo won talent!
Also recently at Warehouse 29 was the Miss Mardi Gras contest. Eden Parque Divine, winner of evening gown and on-stage question, was the winner and 1st RU was Neely O’Hara who won talent and presentation.
Another fabulous contest that just took place was Miss Scorpio. I must say it was one of the best I’d seen in ages. There were several good talents. The top three was so close I was on the edge of my seat — I truly did not know how it would fall. Houston’s LaWanda Jackson won (winner of on-stage) and her runners-up were Greenville’s Amanda Blake (winner of evening gown) and Charlotte’s Detra Penucci ( winner of talent). Creative Winter Fashion went to Monica Lovette. Sierra Nichole won the Tracy Morgan Award and debuted a new fantastic Missy Elliott talent. Go on, girl!
In closing, this column is dedicated to Las Vegas’ Jahnna Steele who passed away last month. Jahnna, who was born in San Antonio, actually lived in Charlotte back in the day and worked at the Odyssey (this was admittedly before my time) and, if I’m not mistaken, used the last name Reiss at the time. She was a former Miss Gay USA before the pageant was purchased by Jerry Bird (and later became Gay U.S.ofA.) and was once voted the Las Vegas strips’ most sexy showgirl, until she was exposed on TV’s “A Current Affair” as being transgender. She later toured the country entertaining and doing the talk show circuit. She also did a stint in Hawaii at a La Cage-type revue and was known to date high-profile celebrities. She can be seen as hostess with the mostest at the World’s Most Beautiful Transsexual in the documentary “Trantasia.” She was a Texas sweetheart and will be missed by so many. I had the honor of meeting her at Miss Gay U.S.ofA. when Layla LaRue won. |
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