GrooveOut

by Gregg Shapiro

KING OF QUEENS

Dance-music diva Kevin Aviance never fits the mold

Here is my favorite Kevin Aviance story: A few years ago, when I co-hosted the Friday night queer music show on LesBiGay Radio, I interviewed Aviance, whose album Box of Chocolates had just been released (he performs at Rich's Houston on November 9). The interview, which was done via telephone, live on the show, went off without a hitch, and my co-host, a lesbian with a bit of a Southern drawl, also asked him some good and pointed questions. As we were thanking him for being our guest on the show and saying goodbye to him, he thanked us in return, and then added, as his parting shot, "Stay cunty." This quip, of course, was in reference to his notorious dance-club hit. I think my co-host misunderstood, and said that she would do as he suggested. I turned to her, with our mics still on, and said, "Dear, I don't think he said, 'Stay country.'"

Gregg Shapiro: Yours is the first voice people hear in both the movie and on the soundtrack to the movie Circuit. How did it feel to be associated with both of those projects?

Kevin Aviance: To be honest with you, I didn't know the intensity of that project at all, because I had just signed with the label. They got the project right when I was signing to the label. When they were trying to find songs for the album, they said, "Do you want to do this intro for us?" I said I would do the intro and I went in and it was so much fun doing it, because I got to be me. It took me back to when I was doing bitch tracks. I live for that whole "read-y," that attitude, and all that. I don't get to do that much anymore.

On the subject of movies, have you done any acting work since Flawless and Punks?

I have a new movie coming out on DVD this month called Urban Massacre. It's with all these up-and-coming hip-hop artists. I play a transgendered psychic Jamaican named Miss Leo. I get killed in it.

Oh, no!

Some people might like it actually [laughs].

You recently had a number-one dance single on the Billboard charts with the song "Alive," which you co-wrote with Tony Moran and others. How did it feel to have yet another number-one dance single?

Blessed. At the time, I was going through some bad times with my last record label. For this song to come out of nowhere and for this whole group of people to cultivate this record and then 9/11 happened, I guess it's my message for the world.

I'm glad that you mentioned the new label, because you are currently working with Centaur Music and their Emerge label. Do you feel like you have a good working relationship with the folks at Centaur?

I feel like they can hit my market. The fact of the matter is that my audience is predominantly gay. A lot of times it was hard for them [previous label] to get the songs and the records unless they heard them in the stores and stuff.

The previous label had no idea how to market it?

They were basically a house label, and they really didn't have a gay direction. When you're someone like me, you need to penetrate the audience. That's what Centaur did. They penetrated the audience and got my audience the music. The fact is that I can work for the rest of my life because my gay audience loves me. That's more than what most artists have, so I need to embrace that and enjoy that.

You have a new CD, called Entity, which is scheduled for release early next year. What can you tell me about it?

With this album, I'm really taking a lot from our lifestyle as gay men, not trying to fit into a mold to where it goes pop. I have a story to tell. I've lost a lot of friends, and I've been through a lot of drama. I've also had a lot of fun. We lead glamorous lives. We're kings. That's what music is for-to make it into a universal language for everyone to understand.

How do you feel about the demise of Wigstock?

I don't think it should have ended. I really think they should have found a way to keep it. A lot of girls depended on that show to book themselves for the rest of the year. I think they could have maybe made it smaller, made it more of a closed-in event. It is a New York staple. There's always a new queen and a new promoter and a new act and a new something. That's the beautiful thing about it. It might take two or three years or 10 years, but there's always going to be another queen waiting to give it to the kids to allow them to perform again. The girls will never stop working here, honey.

Pop culture journalist Gregg Shapiro is also a published fiction writer and poet.