Manila Luzon and On Til the Break of Dawn

Manila Luzon called me from the road in the middle of a breakneck tour to kick around some questions and be her hilarious self for our readers. Luzon recently collaborated with Cazwell on a new single, “Helen Keller,” where she adds rapper to her growing list of talents. Nicki Minaj might wanna step her game up.

Berlin Sylvestre: What’s keeping you busy lately?

Manila Luzon: I’m always traveling around the world, ever since “Drag Race.” That’s keeping me busy. Currently, I’m on tour with about six other drag queens for “Ru Paul’s Battle of the Seasons” tour. We did Seattle last night, we’re doing Portland tonight … we’ll be going to Vegas, San Francisco … city after city after city, all before Monday.

Do you ever get time to yourself?

Never.

Do you like it that way?

Probably not, but it’s fine. I’m a giving person and I wanna give it to the fans.

I really dig you in Helen Keller. Did you write your own parts?

No, that’s Cazwell. [He’s] such a talented lyrist, rapper, writer, artist and person. That’s all Cazwell; I just had to put my swag on it.

You kinda got this kickass Gwen Stefani solo sound going.

It’s white-girl rapping. Asian white-girl rapping.

I literally about an hour ago watched a video of you getting ready to perform, and what was fascinating to me was this metamorphosis that went beyond the physical. It was like a possession of sorts, but a really self-positive one. I wonder if you could tell us about what happens mentally when you go from Karl Westerberg to Manila Luzon.

It’s like a meditative moment for me. I usually get ready alone. I take a nice hot shower and let the boy wash away and I sit there and just start painting. I’ve always loved painting from when I was a kid, painting on canvas. It’s a great way of slowly transforming. It’s releasing the gay drag queen female power inside of me.

You have the opportunity to live life in the male and female form. Do you notice that the world treats you differently as a woman?

For sure. When I’m in drag, I become a gigantic woman. I’m six feet tall and when you put on the pumps, I can get up to 6’6 with the hair. It’s obvious [I’m male]. I think people stare because [drag] is a thing of beauty, something people aren’t used to seeing a larger-than-life, beautiful woman. Of course, people have to do a double-take and figure it out and question their own sexuality. If you find me attractive, it doesn’t make you gay. It just means I’m doing my
job well.

People have commented that you seem so down to earth. Do you have to check yourself now that you’re an international star?

Every day, I wake up and think about how blessed I am for being able to do what I do, which is to get dressed up in women’s clothes, which I find so much fun. And being able to do it at the level I’m doing it, with as big of an audience as I have, I just think … I’m a man in a dress. I can’t let it go to my head. I’m not Beyonce. Yet!

If a man wanted to get your attention, what would he have to do to set himself apart?

It’s easy to get my attention if you’re a man, honey, but what’s gonna set you apart is being a sweetheart. I’m attracted to all sorts of people, but if you’re a sweetheart, you’re golden. Humble, sweet and hot.

What personality trait is an absolute turn-off?

Someone who’s too cocky. You can be cocky, but you have to back it up, but guess what, honey? There’s always somebody with a bigger dick than you.

What’s an album in a guy’s music arsenal that takes him from ‘kinda hot’ to ‘hot as hell?’

I’m attracted to gay guys, so if he has Madonna in his collection, cool. If he has all the albums? Yeah, we’re gonna have some good ol’ kinky action. We’ll just put on Erotica and see what happens.

What’s the last book you read?

I don’t know the last book I read, but I can tell you the last drag queen I read.

What gives you the heebee-jeebees?

Rats. Living in NYC for such a long time, rats are gross to me.

If you could have a lifetime supply of any one item for the rest of your life, what would it be?

Money, bitch. That’d be pretty damn sickening. Trust a drag queen to find a loophole.

Since ‘to Helen Keller’ someone means you don’t see or hear them, I’m gonna give you some celebrity names, and you tell me what they translate to in verb form.

To Madonna someone is to… 

…be given the ultimate crown. Either that or you gave birth without having sex.

To Britney a ho is to… 

…give someone a lot of money for work that happened ten years ago.

To Lady Gaga that ass is to… 

…literally have everything put on top of you … a coffee-maker on your head, a pillowcase dress with a possible bloodstain on it …

To Betty White a bitch is to… 

…be a gangsta and outlive all the other Golden Girls. To Betty White is to win. And to get a discount on coffee at McDonald’s.

To Cazwell someone out the frame… 

…is to be sexy with a sickening vocabulary. He’s a sexy-ass boy.