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From EDGE Magazine, Boston

Jackie Beat is no drag queen… she’s a "drag superstar" - at least, if she has anything to say about it. The diva has spent the last ten years entertaining audiences across the United States and Europe with comedy of wit and song, culminating in a one-woman show, "Jackie Beat is a Whole Lotta’ Love" which ran in NYC for eighteen months.

At heart, she is a comedienne of the fiercest order. But for one singular event - the filming of "Coming Out Party," premiering this month on here! TV, she doffed the dress and joined six other gay and lesbian comedians to talk about "coming out." Filmed live at Gotham Hall in Santa Monica on June 18th of 2003, the event is a hysterical, touching look at self-realization in the community.

We asked Jackie a few questions about life, fashion, and how she came out… of the dress.

EDGE: Growing up in Los Angeles, did you meet many celebrities?

JB: Actually the best star-sighting I have had recently was in New York. I saw Uma Thurman grocery shopping. She was stunning, statuesque and lit from within! I had to control myself from accosting her as she thumped her melons.

EDGE: You’ve been a television/film star, live performer, singer, comedienne and writer. Which is your favorite form of entertainment and why?

JB: I love it all! Being in front of a packed house with my rock band, Dirty Sanchez, with the entire room singing every word with us is amazing. Wigstock is always a blast. Movies and TV are so glamorous! Traveling to a new city and seeing the looks on people’s races when I not only sing, but do it damn well! And if the song is about poop, forget about it, they lose it! My favorite is a small cabaret with a bunch of people who are all liquored up.

EDGE: You spent time in NYC. Do you think there is such a thing as a Chelsea top?

JB: A Chelsea top? You have your facts ALL WRONG! Do you work for CBS News!? Seriously, Chelsea is like West Hollywood -- so many tank tops, so few tops!

EDGE: What is your single most important piece of advice for women everywhere?

JB: When performing oral sex on a gentleman you must go at it like you haven’t eaten in weeks.

EDGE: In this film ("Coming Out Party") you appear out of drag... did you enjoy it?

JB: I hate it. I try to do things that are outside my comfort zone, but in drag I really feel like I can say and do anything. It’s hard to describe, but for all the paint and artifice, it really brings out the real me -- my true voice. Watching myself perform out of drag is painful. But I do it every once in a while just to shake things up.

EDGE: Also in this film, you point out that your parents knew you were gay before you did... how were they with your outing?

JB: My parents are amazing! They love me and appreciate what I do. I showed my dad a tape of my show recently. There I am in full drag singing song after song and finally he said, "I just don’t get it." I thought, "Uh-oh" and paused the tape. He turned to me and said, "I don’t get why you’re not a millionaire, son. This shit is hilarious!"

EDGE: You are well known as a "fashion policewoman." What is the most egregious fashion faux pas in evidence today?

JB: Neck ties with t-shirts, faux-hawks and boys with lip gloss and/or nail polish are OUT! And trucker caps? Seriously, when did looking like a semi-retarded, inbred hillbilly with the I.Q. of a McNugget become sexy? And if I see one more motherfucking red string Kabbalah bracelet I will puke on the person wearing it. Religion is not a fashion accessory, people!

EDGE: How will you prepare yourself for menopause - you look young, but a girl has to think about these things, does she not?

JB: I was sterilized by the U.S. government years ago so I am not terribly concerned about going through "the change". Think of all the money I will save on tampons. I use Louis Vitton brand so we’re talking $1200 a month!

EDGE: Is there an important reason why audiences should watch "Coming Out Party"?

JB: Yeah, so the producers can make lots of money! Seriously, it is very funny and touching and maybe it will help a nervous gay person muster up the courage to come out. And it may help the friends and family members of gay people understand how difficult -- and wonderful and fun and fabulous -- being gay can be.

EDGE: You’re a venerated celebrity here in the US... but there are legions of Lithuanians who have no idea who you are (we checked). What are your plans for internationalization?

JB: Thanks to 9/11 I can only perform within a five mile radius of my cockroach-infested single apartment in the Little Armenia section of Los Angeles, so...

EDGE: Boxers or briefs?

JB: Control-top, figure-shaping panties of course!

EDGE: What projects are you working on now? Where can people see you in the near future?

JB: People should check out my website to keep abreast of my upcoming performances and appearances. Note to any up-and-coming drag queens out there, it’s ALWAYS real funny to use words like "abreast".

Debbie Harry interview, IN Magazine for Gay Pride 2005  (Scanned Article)

Picture me, little Jackie Beat, in my childhood bedroom in Scottsdale, Arizona practicing my best stage moves while singing “One Way Or Another” by Blondie, using my sister’s hairbrush for a microphone. Now picture my mom walking in and freaking out at the sight of her gayer-than-gay son as he pranced and pouted like Blondie’s lead singer, Debbie Harry. Okay, it never happened. Oh, the singing part did, but my mom never freaked out. She was a huge fag hag and actually loved that fact that I was gay. God only knows how many hours I spent pretending to be Debbie Harry, the smoldering new wave Marilyn Monroe I adored as a child. Imagine my excitement when I got the opportunity to talk to her recently about her upcoming performance at L.A. Gay Pride!

JACKIE BEAT: The last time I saw you was in New York, backstage at my final FEZ show when [former drag queen and now party promoter] Formika dropped his pants and revealed his new ass implants. You seemed completely unfazed. Does anything ruffle your feathers or have you seen it all?

DEBBIE HARRY: Well, I’ve certainly seen that end of it! No, I guess we all have our final areas of vulnerability I suppose, don’t we? Let’s hope so anyway.

JB: You are the quintessential New York girl. So tell us what you like about Los Angeles.

DH: I love to go to Los Angeles to see my friends from New York who have moved there! Ive done some work in Los Angeles. I’ve done some records out there and of course a few llittle film things. It’s always an adventure and it’s good social life. It’s the kind of social llife that’s a little different than New York. It’s a little more relaxed and a little more cafe oriented. I don’t really like the driving. You end up spending at least half your day on the road and that sort of gets on my nerves especially if you want to cover a lot of ground. In New York you can cover a lot of ground so quickly, so easily.

JB: Yeah and now it’s not just annoying on the freeway, but you can get shot for no reason at all. You don’t even have to flip anybody off!

DH: Not even driving badly, you can get shot?

JB: Oh, yes! At least in New York they kill you for a reason.

DH: (Laughs) Let’s hope it stays like that!

JB: Tell me, how does it feel to be a gay icon?

DH: It’s shocking how it all happened, but a girl’s got to do something!

JB: Have you seen any drag queens dressed as you?

DH: I don’t know if I’ve ever really seen any drag queens dressed like me except for in some vague way. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anybody really going full out to look like me.

JB: So maybe they’re not really “doing” you, but they’ve obviously been inspired by you?

DH: Yeah, in those little cocktail dresses.

JB: Things have changed so much and we’ve come so far that I sometimes wonder if Gay Pride is still really necessary. If you could say one thing to some gay kid out there in some small town who’s maybe feeling scared and alone what would it be?

DH: Hmm, that’s a deep one! I don’t know, “Keep the faith” I suppose. It’s sort of an old reliable one. Just bide your time. You will have a better time of it if you can survive getting through high school. I think that people who survive getting through high school that aren’t particularly at the top of the heap usually have a much more interesting lives in the long term, so there’s always that to think of. People who are superstars in high school usually that’s it for their lives. Those of us who didn’t do much in high school, who were sort of hanging on and just getting through, seem to have a much better time as adults.

JB: I saw an amazing picture of you and Christopher Makos at an Interview Magazine party at Studio 54 taken in 1980. Everyone was bisexual in 1980 -- especially at Studio 54. Be honest, were you involved in any girl-on-girl action you’d like to ‘fess up to right here and now?

DH: I think at that time, I actually wasn’t. I think that I was pretty monogomous and I was in that long term relationship that I had with Chris [Stein of Blondie] and we had such a good time together. So I don’t think I had any Bi relationships at that time, they were before that and after that.

JB: I see! A friend and I were listing to music recentyly and we had a discussion about how if unique legendary voices like yourself or Cyndi Lauper or Chrissie Hynde were on American Idol today it’s possible you all wouldn’t even make into the top 12. What do you think of American Idol and/or the current state of pop music?

DH: Cyndi Lauper would win! It’s kind of scary, but I think that they are trying to make American Idol a bit more personal. Some of the arrangements they’ve done of songs have been better, have improved, but for the most part I think the material is -- what am I trying to say? -- it’s ridiculous. It goes from the ridiculous to the sublime. It’s sort of in this one little area. I know that once in a while they do pick out a song and they do a special arrangement and I find that particularly charming and entertaining.

JB: Do you like any current bands or singers in particular?

DH: I listen to Top 40 radio. I listen to my friends from the city. I like this band Opti-Grab. Of course I like Peaches. That Peaches is so well established now!

JB: Speaking of music, the world-famous CBGB is closing. Any last words?

DH: Horror! It’s just so shocking. Everyone should run down there and take a lot of pictures because it’s terrible when something like that happens. Although it did happen to the Cavern and a lot of other clubs over the centuries. And now Fez. They come and they go. I guess you just have to go with the flow and wait for the next one to open. Hopefully something will. It’s had a terrific run when you think about it. Clubs don’t really last over 30 years usually, so it’s quite a long run. Kudos to Hilly [Kristal, owner and founder of CBGB] for being such a patron of the underground music scene and being such a father figure in a way. That’s not an easy thing to do, but somehow or another he had this weird temperament and he could handle it. I think we were the lucky ones to have a place like that. Really, really lucky. I mean, it was like going to school. I’ve always said that it was sort of like going to music college in a way. Not only did we get to play, but we got to play in front of audience -- even if they were completely drunk or stoned, it didn’t matter.

JB: “Fade Away and Radiate” is one of my all-time favorite songs. What’s your favorite song?

DH: I hate my songs! (Laughs) I refuse to select. It’s awful. I’m not a list type of person. I suppose I should have a list made up and hang it everywhere I go and just say, “Oh yes, okay, now let’s go down the list...”

JB: Finally, as one of the all-time most stunning women to ever walk the earth, can you give me just one quick sure-fire beauty tip?

DH: For me the best beauty tip is -- and I learned this from years on the road -- water, water, water!