Dragapalooza – Our Biggest Year Yet!
Dragapalooza – Our Biggest Year Yet!
May 15th, 2013 by Nina with No Comments
Saturday night of Pride just got bigger!
CRYSTAL WATERS!
ROXXXY ANDREWS!
PENNY TRATION!
Hosted by Nina West & Virginia West
with Alexis Stevens, Anisa Love, Freesia Balls, Fancy Punasti, Akasha O’Hara Lords, Amaya Sexton, Cool Ethan, Pretty Punasti, Bianca Debonair, Chutney Sinclair, Kiley Dash-West, Selena T. West, Mathilda Longfellow, Vivian Von Brokenhymen, Cookie Crumbles, and introducing Plenty O’Smiles.
Tough Jobs
April 30th, 2013 by Nina with No Comments
Do you remember that show Dirty Jobs, with Mike Rowe? He would go into all of these crazy situations that people do day in and day out to earn a living, like a sanitation plant or roadkill taxidermists. Well, I am proud to say I have a tough, DIRTY job just like Mike Rowe. I know, I know…cue the strings…
From Saturday’s GLOW PARTY at Axis:
Please note the adorable GLOW panties I am sporting. 
CBUS Gives Back
April 26th, 2013 by Nina with No Comments
I can’t believe the experience that was NINA DOES CBUS. Truly, one of the most rewarding and challenging experiences I have had and I loved every second of it. The cast, crew, and crowds were some of the best ever.
Since 2003, when I did my first show, Nina Network News, the charity component has been one of the most important pieces of my shows. This component has come in many forms, from the XXXposed Strip Benefit to the closing number and it’s tips being dedicated to an organization. These shows have raised considerable funds for Columbus AIDS Task Force and now AIDS Resource Center Ohio, Project: Zero Ohio, The Susan G. Komen Foundation, Project Open Hand, Camp Sunrise, The Trevor Project, Broadway Cares:Equity Fights AIDS, The Columbus Stompers, The Human Rights Campaign, Stonewall Columbus, CLGSA, Freedom To Marry Ohio, among many others. Your countless hard-earned dollars have been crumpled, balled up, and thrown on the stage for amazing causes and charity. You sit there and laugh and drink long after the show is over to help us reach a goal of being able to make a difference. It is one of those things that make this city I proudly call home absolutely amazing.
With NINA DOES CBUS, I worked with so many different people and organizations who all were connected, in some fashion or another, to charity and this city. In the vision of the show, to really celebrate Columbus and finish this love letter, I wanted the organizations to represent some of the great things about this unique city and the people who said “YES!” to working with a 6’7″ drag queen and not batting a lash. To honor these individuals, an organization was chosen and a donation will be made to an organization on their behalf.
Jeni Britton Bauer, Local Matters, http://www.local-matters.org/
Elizabeth Lessner, Project: Zero Ohio, http://www.facebook.com/pages/Project-Zero-Ohio/194772307241509
Lesley James, CD102.5 For the Kids, http://cd1025.com/about/in-the-community/cd1025-for-the-kids
Joel Diaz, ARC-Ohio, http://www.arcohio.org/
Joshua Snyder Hill & Stephen Snyder Hill, Freedom To Marry Ohio, http://www.freedomtomarry.org/states/entry/c/ohio
Gabrielle Burton, Kings, Queens & In Betweens Kickstarter, http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/981223409/kings-queens-and-in-betweens-a-documentary-on-drag?ref=live
Karla Rothan, Stonewall Columbus, http://www.stonewallcolumbus.org/
The staff and board of COSI, COSI, http://www.cosi.org/
I am proud to announce the cast of NINA DOES CBUS, with the help of this incredible community, has raised over $6,000 for local charities.
Thank you to everyone who came out to this show, supported the love of this city and the entertainers that call it home. Thank you to everyone who pulled out $1′s, $5′s, $10′s, $20′s, wrote personal checks, and gave their money to these organizations. We are a better community because of you. THANK YOU.
April 19
April 2nd, 2013 by Nina with No Comments
Please, if you can, come out and support this incredible documentary.
February is gonna ROCK!
January 31st, 2013 by Nina with No Comments
And this is just a sampling of all the fun in store!
Million Dollar Quartet Showtunes! Feb 3!
The rock sensation concludes with 5 shows! February 7-10! Only at Axis Nightclub!
Fat Tuesday! Feb 12!
AND MORE COMING?!?!?!
I love my job.
MARK YOUR CALENDARS
June 27th, 2012 by Nina with No Comments
A very special VIRGINIA’S TOP SHELF WEDNESDAY is coming July 18.
Hosted by the incomparable VIRGINIA WEST, with Miss Gay USofA 2012 LAWANDA JACKSON, Miss All American Goddess At Large WHITNEY PAIGE, former Miss Gay USofA At Large Kofi, and me!
Doors at 10 pm, show at 11 pm.
NEVER A COVER.
More KENYA! MORE KENYA!!
April 30th, 2012 by Nina with No Comments
Make sure to get there early to catch one of the brightest stars of RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 4, KENYA MICHAELS!! May 19! 10 pm, UNION CAFE with encore performance at Axis Nightclub for OZ!
Kenya Michaels
April 27th, 2012 by Nina with No Comments
The pint size princess from RuPaul’s Drag Race 4 will be in Columbus!!
That’s What – ‘He Said’
April 25th, 2012 by Nina with 1 Comment
This is blog entry #301. It is almost like an advanced Literature Class in college. Almost.
Two weekends ago, several of us shared this amazing moment where it all seemed to come together. Over the last year, a variety of us have been part of an amazing piece of film history, working on a documentary with Five Sisters Productions, roughly called Kings, Queen, and In-Betweens, that has a variety of through lines and subject matter within it, but has primarily been about 6 entertainers in Columbus. Sure, the film has political, social, and gender identity commentary, but what the film really seems to capture (or so I hope) is the willingness of these enterainers to want to work together on making our community a better place. I am proud to be one of those 6. Honored really.
I don’t want to lose sight of what I want to write about – the amazing experience that was HE SAID/SHE SAID.
We have been flirting with the idea of doing a show together for years. A lot of back and forth and conversations, sometimes whispers, to make sure that we could find any way to do a show together. I don’t think it is any secret that the Columbus community loves their kings and queens, but the audience has not had the chance to love them TOGETHER like this show.
Why now? I am not sure. I think there is a great respect from both parties for one another. Personally, we all have known each other for years and just never had the chance to work together. And with the documentary connecting us now for…well..forever…it seems right. We have been filming for over a year. And Gabrielle (our director and friend) was coming close to wanting to finish shooting. We had one show and one interview segment left to film collectively and it all just made sense to do it TOGETHER. It really just seemd like the perfect storm for a joint show.
I just want to thank this amazing troupe for holding us all to it and making this show happen. It honestly would not have happened without the drive of Cool Ethan and The Reverend Roy Rogers and their vision for a truly theatrical and hilarious collaboration. And if I can share anything with my readers, these kings are the real deal. They are hardcore and work so diligently to make sure that the audience is having fun. They are artists. They have a vision. They love the craft. They are sincerely our brothers in all of this.
I know this may seem a bit rambling, but I had the best time being part of this show. And when I got to thinking, i realized that there is so much to be learned from this moment that we shared. I think so many people thought it wouldn’t work. I think the thought was that lesbians and gay men are, at their core, so different in their asthetics, that that would actually transfer to the stage and the show and put up walls between the kings and queens. I know I had heard that from people before. “I don’t like kings because…” or “I hate queens because…” and either of those statements would settle back into something that would be offensive at deeper thought — maybe based on gender or sexual identity.
Well, we proved them wrong. Isn’t it about the show? Ultimately? I mean, when push comes to shove, you have to jump on that stage and entertain. And that is the main similarity. Renegades, Wests, and beyond – we want to make that stage our bitch. And in the process make our audiences laugh, cheer, and jump out of their seats for moments of happiness. We want to give them moments away from the serious things outside those bar doors. We want to help people forget about that awful day at the office, that fight with the boyfriend or girlfriend, the pressures of coming up with rent or mortgage payments – we want to provide an escape from reality. Because we are not reality.
People have to remember that. We are not reality. And that was one of those lessons I was reminded of – and that lesson is essential. Thank you, Renegades for giving us all something to hope for – a community that can come together and celebrate each other. I know we will be celebrating more together soon.
COMIC Committee Show! This Saturday!
April 24th, 2012 by Nina with No Comments
Time to get your Broadway on!
