Glamz! cabaret bar in central Hamilton has been open since May this year, and director Leone Dwyer tells GayNZ.com things are progressing well. The venue is almost sold out for this Saturday night's Halloween events. "We've got the Palmerston North drag queens and kings coming to do their Viva Los Vegas show," she explains. "Then at 10pm we've got the Sweet Transvestite and Halloween party. So there'll be more shows and different performers there as well." Hamilton's Next Door Bar closed temporarily last weekend. Dwyer knows that bar's patrons are very loyal, but is hoping people will feel welcome at Glamz! until it reopens. "I'd love people to come in and see Glamz! as a bar – at the moment people come in and see all the chairs and tables from the restaurant, and wonder if it's a private function. But it's free entry after the dinner and show." Glamz! sits over 100 people, and many dinner and cabaret show book out quickly. "We just had 'Dancing Queen' - Miss Ford came down from Auckland two weekends in a row for that, and I'm convinced that it was because of her that we had sell-out shows. We loved her down here. We've also adored Miss Drag Wellington - Miss Arabia." The busy Christmas season is coming up, and the Glamz! calendar is already full. "The last three weeks of November will be our Country-themed show, then December will be our Christmas show, which is already almost sold out every Friday and Saturday night," Dwyer reveals. "We've got Debbie Dorday from Burgundy's and Jim Joll coming here too, on Wednesday 6th and Tuesday 12th December. They still travel around New Zealand doing duets and live cabaret shows." Dwyer heard about the bottle-throwing attack at the Next Door Bar recently, and says she won't let any of her drag queens go outside alone: "I make sure they're always accompanied." She says she does have the occasional problem with young people hanging around outside Glamz!: “Largely it's groups of young guys who are obviously under 18 and riding around on their pushbikes. They've got nothing better to do but make trouble. Sometimes they yell things. Sometimes they go past and knock one of my signs over deliberately. I go out and confront them head on.” She threatens them with fines and then they disappear, she says. “We have had a few issues but hopefully we're dispersing it slowly. It's never been too serious though. Certainly no bottle-throwing or anything like that. We're in Garden Place where we have cameras and it's quiet out here. If we were on a main street I have no doubt we'd have bottles thrown at us every Friday and Saturday night from cars driving past. Garden Place is pedestrianised so people have to get out of their cars and walk. It's a safer environment, but it's not hidden either." Ref: GayNZ.com (m)
Credit: GayNZ.com News Staff
First published: Thursday, 26th October 2006 - 12:00pm