Tag Fantasy Follies

• Kyler Chittick
• October 24, 2024
• 0 Comments
• 9 minutes Read

Sex and Sin in the City of Champions: The Story of Chez Pierre

Pierre Cochard first hired two drag queens to perform at Pegasus in 1971, which was “a straight business” located on 106 Street North of Jasper Avenue. Millie (Paul Chisholm) and Chatty Cathy (Duane Shave) performed Edmonton’s first “public drag show.”

Cochard steadfastly defended queer people, believing that Chez Pierre should be a safe space for sexual dissidents. He famously said, “Strippers are God’s children too.” Thanks to Cochard’s “unfaltering acceptance,” Chez Pierre “remains a welcoming home for Edmonton’s drag scene to this day.”

• Ron Byers
• May 24, 2023
• 0 Comments
• 5 minutes Read

Partying with Ike & Tina in 1976

Seeing Tina Turner that night at the Edmonton Gardens in 1976 still remains one of the biggest highlights of my lifetime. I was a young 21 year old when I had a chance to “run away with the circus”. I was asked to join a traveling drag show called the Fantasy Follies as their sound and lighting technician. What a chance to go way past my shyness and fears and live in hotel rooms travelling across Canada with a group of amazing Drag performers. We often played in Edmonton at the Corona Hotel but travelled from Prince George, B.C…