The Royals

Buffalo's 18th Empress and Emperor, Vanity Vogue and Christopher Hempel.

After a long, hard year of fundraising, and tons of fun, the Imperial Court of Buffalo will be present the funds raised for AIDS charities by Empress and Emperor 18, Vanity Vogue and Christopher Hempel. The event will take place at the Underground Niteclub (274 Delaware Avenue) on Saturday, August 29, 7-10pm.

The Imperial Court was founded by its first empress, Mimi Larue, in 1990; next May’s annual coronation marks its 20th anniversary. The court was patterned, more or less, after the wonderful pomp and ceremony of British royalty. They played rather hard and fast with protocol but they were wildly successful. Each year the royal family of the Empress—it’s a matriarchy, of course—and Emperor, down to the lowly Ladies and Lords, presents an auspicious number of glittering drag shows and glamorous, um, balls. They also travel internationally to support other courts’, um, balls.

Everybody has a smashing (and sometimes smashed) time, and the money keeps rolling in. Ms. Larue certainly did know what she was doing when she plunked that foot-high crown on her head and proceeded to rule the world.

How else could the GLBT community do so many noble deeds and have such a hell of a good time doing them? Each new year they raise more megabucks and wear higher megacrowns. (As the saying goes, “The higher the crown, the closer to God.”) Their designer gowns have trains that would put Elizabeth to shame, and more glitz than a room full of disco balls. As a matter of fact, members of the court often wear disco balls (somewhat scaled down, of course) for earrings.

Hip hip hooray for the Imperial Court. Long may they reign.

—danny winter