Beginning in January of 2022, five local drag queens have been selling out shows each month at the Marijuana Mansion, located off Grant Street in Downtown Denver. Chronic High on Heelz is an energetic, intimate, and hilarious event, perfect for local or traveling drag fans. For February’s show, Lala Queen, Coco Bardot, Lulu Alnite, and host Samora Kash dazzled their audience with a show no one’s likely to soon forget. The queens lip-synced to iconic songs played by DJ Brian X. while dawning cannabis-adorned corsets and campy costumes.
Lala Queen (she/her) has been doing drag for 10 years, making her the show’s longest performing queen. February’s show was her first time appearing in Chronic High on Heelz, but Lala was right at home in the MJ Mansion. Lala Queen describes her drag as “a mix of old and new,” adding trendy twists to classic Hollywood glamour.
“I love the big hair and 301 lashes stacked to the high heavens, but I still like to keep it fresh and funky and me,” she tells OFM.
Coco Bardot (she/her) has been in the Denver drag scene for nine years and celebrates her drag debut on Halloween. Bardot is a resident producer at Hamburger Mary’s and can be seen there every Sunday for So You Think You Can Drag. Bardot’s performances were easily the sexiest of the night as she incorporated burlesque elements and an audience-assisted strip tease which left her in a deep green corset and matching nipple pasties.
“My drag is Lizzo meets Rachel Berry, but it is so much more broad than that. I wanna be a showgirl, an entertainer, cunty, sexy, mommy milkers, MILF, in drag,” Coco says.
Lulu Alnite (all pronouns) has been doing drag in Denver for six years and got her start at Hamburger Mary’s. Lulu describes her style as “glam stupid.”
“I like to be as stupid as possible. Like if glam fell down a tree, and hit every branch,” Lulu tells OFM.
Lulu’s performance combined early 2000s nostalgia tracks with comedic movie quotes from fellow blonde babes such as Anna Faris and Amanda Seyfried. Her second look for the evening was giving straight camp, Thorgy Thor vibes, but much funnier. (Sorry, Thorgy fans.)
Lulu Alnite has graced the Chronic High on Heelz stages for both of its showings at the MJ Mansion. She can also be found at Illegal Pete’s Park Hill every other Thursday for trivia nights.
Show host and producer, Samora Kash (she/her, out of drag he/him), has been doing drag for just over two years.
“My drag is high-energy; outside of drag I like to promote positive energy, like love and light, that’s just who I am, I think bringing that to my drag and making it fun for everyone is a major theme for me,” Samora tells OFM. “Ultimately we’re all coming to shows to feel something, and I wanna make sure that what I’m doing as a host or show producer brings that to life.”
Samora Kash proved to be a powerful host with show-stopping performances of her own and entertaining competitions with the audience. Throughout the show, audience members were asked to volunteer for lip-sync performances and twerk-offs, which were almost as entertaining as the queen’s performances themselves.
For biracial show producer, Samora Kash, having a cast with BIPOC representation was an important part of putting Chronic High on Heelz together. Cannabis prohibition has affected communities of color in disproportionate ways, despite statistics suggesting white people are just as likely to use the plant recreationally as people of color.
“Black drag needs to be listened to in Denver,” Coco tells OFM. “Listen to the disadvantaged in Denver, we might have the quietest voices but we’re the most demanding and the most present in the community.”
Photos courtesy of Ray Manzari
