She’s been MySpace Famous, she’s roomed with Bianca Del Rio, she was featured on a short-lived cult web show, and she’s notorious for throwing a shoe. But chances are, if you go out in New York–and especially if you frequent Fire Island–you know her because she is one of the fiercest and funniest drag warriors performing today. Her standards for drag are famously high, and her tolerance for your bullshit is infamously low. Let’s leave the filter at home and get to know Cherry Grove’s Homecoming Queen, Ms. Logan Hardcore!
Thotyssey: Hi Logan, thanks for making time for us during your busy season! How’s it going so far?
Hey doll! So far the season is going great. You know, for us out there it really seems that after the 4th of July, the next thing we know it’s over. So, now the countdown is on for Miss Fire Island!
Were you in town on the 4th for the Pines Invasion?
I was! I am actually the Homecoming Queen of Cherry Grove this year, which meant that I got to ride at the top front of the boat with a court of my good friends! We did a huge tribal theme, it was a blast!
Congrats on being named Homecoming Queen!
Thank you so much!
You’re a major presence on Fire Island with your long-running shows at the Ice Palace, in good company with veteran performers like Porsche, Ariel Sinclair & Ginger Snap. What do you think the key to Fire Island success and longevity is?
I think the reason we are all doing so well for so many years (next year is my 10th season) is because we all do something different. If you don’t like one of us, you are going to like the next one. We all are very good at our craft, and I know I can speak for myself when I say Fire Island is my favorite place to perform. The crowd wants to see you; it’s not like they came for happy hour, and surprise. It brings a whole different energy, which in turn makes us turn it out that much harder!
Wow, 10 years? You must’ve been a fetus when you started.
I was 17 when I started out there. I hope we can’t get in trouble now that I’m legal [laughs].
Have you noticed a big difference in the atmosphere of the Ice Palace shows since the Grove Hotel burned down?
When the hotel burned down, I was the first one to be like, “Oh girls, we will pull it together.” I tried to be Little Miss Cheerleader. I think last year I didn’t notice the difference as much as I am this year. It brings an entire different mood to the pool show, especially. People are staring at a sandlot when they used to have a hotel there. The girls that did the pool shows could climb on the hotel, harass people. I was well-known for just banging on doors till someone let me in… I’d eat peoples’ food, make a drink and then continue my number.
That must’ve been a trip! Where does the Palace put you up with the hotel gone?
I actually live on the island with my fiancé and his mother and our other friend who works at the Palace. We get the house for the summer. Its nice to have a place to escape everyone.
But that’s kinda the Catch-22 with Fire Island, isn’t it? You can’t really escape! It’s not like Vegas, you see most of these damn people again when you’re back in Manhattan!
Yes! My favorite thing–without being too bitchy–is when you hang out and kiki with people on the Island, and they are trying on your wigs and shoes, and then in the city they pretend they don’t know you. I’m like, Girl bye. Go be masc4masc somewhere else!
So, what’s been happening out there with the police patrolling the beaches, arresting that poor photographer who had the wardrobe malfunction and dragging him naked across the beach? Are you noticing a much larger police presence this year?
The police presence is much heavier this year. It doesn’t bother me, because I’m working too much to go to the beach, But I’m sure it is bothersome to some people.
Do you think the residents really care that much about nudity on the beach?
The nudity on the beach is a huge topic out there. Cherry Grove has become much more….how do I say this…. family friendly. It’s not the same place it was 10 years ago. Now it’s like the UES at times: strollers everywhere. So, I can understand people not wanting nakedness on the beach. I also understand, and believe, that we are adults who have the right to swim naked. Another Catch-22!
Does any of this new type of family-friendly Fire Island presence creep into your shows? Meaning, have you noticed a growing number of people responding with shock to your more colorful jokes and bits?
With my shows, there’s always going to be a shocked face or two. I always state at the beginning of the show that I have my own brand of humor, and if you don’t like it, come back for the next girl’s show. Also, that my opinions are not the opinions of the Ice Palace or Grove Hotel {laughs}. For the most part 98% of people have a great time at my shows, and as Bianca Del Rio taught me when I was first starting to do my solo shows “You are a man in a wig and a dress, don’t take it too seriously!”
Let’s talk about your shows there at the Ice Palace this summer: first, it’s The Logan Hardcore Experience, Friday nights at 9pm. I’m curious, do you really own a pizza slice dress like you do in the show poster?
Absolutely! Yes I do! That was a little gem I found at a thrift store in Astoria. Best 3 dollars I ever spent.
I love it! That one’s your only solo show there. Is it easier or harder to work alone onstage, as opposed to with a partner?
I truly love doing both. I love working alone because I can only rely on myself. If the joke flops, its on me and I have to fix it and fix it quick. I can’t rely on someone else to come out and turn dance numbers out. It’s fun, to mix my comedy and high dance numbers all into one show.
Then for the weekends you co-host the Pool Show there. You’re paired with Nice Queens on both of these days, Brenda Dharling on Saturdays and Ariel Sinclair on Sundays (both at 3pm!). Is it like a Good Cop, Bad Cop dynamic when you mix it up with them?
With Brenda we called our show “Beauty and The Beast.” I have never enjoyed working with anyone like I have working with her. It came at a point where I was like, I don’t need to dance any more. That bitch keeps me on my toes and keeps me dancing. From the moment we start painting in the dressing room till the moment the show is over, we are cackling and having a great time.
The same goes for Ariel Sinclair. No one on this earth can make me laugh the way she does. She has that Alyssa Edwards quality where she doesn’t realize how hysterical the things she does or says are. I find myself crying belly-over laughing when I am in the same room with her. With Ariel and I, it’s a bit more Good Cop, Bad Cop. We end the show with a big modeling competition, and I take the roll of the Reading Rainbow and just let those poor contestants have it.
Speaking of Alyssa, you’re in the Haus of Edwards! Did you get to mix it up with her when she came down for this past Invasion?
I’m the Lil’ Orphan Annie of the Haus Of Edwards. I am kept in the closet like Harry Potter under the stairs. Any time Alyssa is in NYC we try to catch up. I saw her for, like, 24 seconds at the Invasion. Between her and the millions of gays wanting photos with her, and me trying to control my “tribe,” it was a lot going on.
Who should win Rupaul’s Drag Race All-Stars Season 2?
So, let’s go back in the time machine with you to Prescott, Arizona. How was life different there than from what we might expect?
I grew up in a very small town. It wasn’t a trailer park but it wasn’t far off. It’s exactly what you would imagine a town called “Prescott” to be like: white-washed, Christian, and if you step out of that you are an automatic target.
I never, ever allowed myself to be sheltered from who I knew I was. I went to high school in a full beat every day, with a Louis Vuitton tote bag as a backpack. I didn’t care. You can call me Faggot all day, every day. I also got out and did something with my life, while those people are still there working at Wal-Mart trying to pay for their 5 kids and 2 babies’ mothers.
Were you just born fierce like that?
I was born who I am. I found a passion with playing with makeup. I performed musical theatre my entire life, and I was lucky enough to have two amazing parents who, when push came to shove, decided to stand with me on my journey.
You were only 17 when you came to New York to pursue the stage. Wasn’t that terrifying?
I moved here at 17, yes! I just knew I had to get out of my town or something was going to go down bad. Someone was gonna hurt me or I was going to hurt someone. So with my family’s support I moved here. Dreams of Broadway….well, we all saw how that turned out, but I don’t regret a thing. I have lived a really amazing life thus far.
You sure have! You became MySpace famous, for starters! That was not an easy thing to accomplish in those days, how did you do it?
Who knows? I just babbled a lot, wrote a lot of blogs, took a lot of weird photos. And really made up a world. I was constantly at “photoshoots,” which consisted of me and a digital camera, or me and my best friends taking each others’ photos.
Were you friends with Tila Tequila? I mean, I guess technically everyone was friends with her…
Friends on MySpace, yes. We spoke a few times, same with people like Forbidden (Christina Dolce) Jeffree Star and Raquel Reed.Those people also had tons more friends than I did. I somehow just made an impact enough where people recognized me when I moved to NY.
People such as Epiphany, who was also MySpace famous, and whom you dated for a bit.
Dated for like…5 months, seriously. I think we both knew off the bat it was never going to be anything serious. We were both young and living in NYC, and being able to split bills was a huge advantage to both of us back then.
And of course, you famously roomed with Bianca for a number of years.
Five years with that clown!
How did you two become friends?
We had to work together at HK Lounge. I had never met her, only heard terrifying things. So when I walked in, she was standing where me and Chandilier used to always hang out, and I was like…Goddammit. So I walked over and introduced myself, and she was like “Hi, I’m Bianca,” and I said, “That’s it? you aren’t going to read me or something?!” And It was just an instant friendship.
Then I needed a roommate, and I moved up to Harlem with her before convincing her we were too uppity for that, and we moved to Hell’s Kitchen. She’s been a huge, huge, huge part of my growth in this industry.
I love the story you tell regarding how stealthy she was about getting on Drag Race, that she didn’t tell anyone she got accepted, not even you. And you literally turned your head for a second while you were out together one night to see that she had vanished, and didn’t reappear for six weeks!
It was a legit magic trick. We did a show at Therapy together, and we always did shots after the show. That night she said “No thanks”. I turned to do mine and when I turned around she was gone. Phone off. I was like, This Bitch.
Amazing! She’s been a big influence on your comedy, like you said. So, when you’re onstage and shooting jokes and insults… what’s the secret? Do write material and save it, or is everything spur of the moment and improvised?
Everything is in the moment. I mean, like anyone who does comedy, you have a few zingers that work every time and work for everyone. But when you really have to be quick and on point–that’s the rush and thrill I love.
When you see comedians get ripped apart for isolated jokes, especially people like Tracy Morgan who are more improv / riffing like you, it must be kinda disturbing, right? I mean, not all jokes will land, and some can sound really bad out of context.
It doesn’t disturb me, I know that I am not always going to go over well. I know that people are going to get rubbed the wrong way. But I would always rather go for it, get the big laugh, and have one person upset than not do it at all. You live once and you may never have that same audience again, go for it.
But YouTube is kind of the enemy when it comes to that style of performing, isn’t it?
YouTube is public enemy number one.
I think You have a very high standard for drag aesthetic, especially for pageants. I’m just remembering your brutally honest but fair commentary when watching the Miss’d America contestants compete this past year. Do you think a queen whose makeup/pads/wigs etc. aren’t perfect is being lazy or inept, particularly in pageants?
I think if you don’t come to a pageant 100% clean, you need to stay home and come next year. People say it’s a great learning experience; no, it’s not. It’s where the best of the best are competing for a title and a cash prize. Don’t show up with an uncombed wig and lumpy body not knowing your words.
I did Miss’d America one year; it wasn’t for me. I love pageants. I can watch them for days on end. I think if your package is not put together correctly, or you cut corners, it’s going to show, and if you have a qualified panel of judges, someone will be calling you out. Or you will be getting a few points deducted.
Let’s briefly review the shoe-throwing incident, because I’m sure you’re sick of talking about it at this point, but it’s such a legendary moment of NYC drag, and kind of a defining moment for you.
So, some ass in the audience of one of your venues–I think Vlada? heckled in the middle of your set that he hoped you get AIDS, and you lost your shit and threw a shoe at him. The shoe missed and hit the DJ instead, scratching his face, and that venue and a bunch of others parted ways with you for awhile. Was that one of those “I’d take that back if I could” moments, or more like an “I’d do it again if I could but maybe have better aim” moments?
It was definitely a moment that I would rethink, but with that moment came a lot of great things for me. I had to realize I can not do whatever I want to and get away with it. There’s going to be a reaction to my actions. I had to grow up.
I got to live on Fire Island for a full season. I met my fiancé that summer. Who knows if any of that would have happened without that horrible night?
Do I suggest throwing shoes? No. Do I suggest going into a bar and telling the performer you hope they get AIDS? No. It’s totally in the past, I have since made up with the DJ (hi TK!)
It’s crazy how one little moment can have so many consequences, good and bad, isn’t it? One bar that did stand by you during that time, though, was Stonewall. You still have a very popular weekly Thursday night show there, “Throwdown.” I kinda suspect that Stonewall is the best place to work in Manhattan… Mike Salinari and management there seem to treat the bar staff and talent there with respect. And with landmark status officially underway, everyone there seems twice as happy!
I have never in my life worked for more amazing people. Mike Salinari stood by me through everything–and even before my show was popular, he believed in me. Now, on Thursday nights you are lucky to get a seat at the show. It’s so strange to me. At 9:45, I go backstage to put on my nails and change my costume to go on at 10:15. It may be dead, but at 10:15 I come out and it’s slammed.
Now that it is a landmark, everyone wants to be there, and its just a blessing. From where I come from to working at such a legendary place which is now a landmark…I mean, it’s a full circle moment for me.
Side note: You’re a well-known Beyonce fanatic. How long did it take you to learn the whole Lemonade album, and where did you eventually perform the first singles post-release?
It released Saturday night at 9pm and I did “Freedom” the next day at brunch [laughs]. I usually can do her entire album two days after its release.
Speaking of brunch, another gig you do pretty regularly when you’re not on the Island is the Electrobrunches, most recently at La Carbonera. How do you like performing for the brunch crowd?
I love brunch. I love daytime drag. People seem to let loose at brunch. They are fun, they want to have fun, and when they have fun, their wallets open [laughs]!
Cheers to that! Also, you’ve been doing a bi-monthly show at Boots & Saddle for, I guess, over 6 months now on every other Wednesday night (10m). What drove you to finally pursue another Manhattan gig?
I just wanted to try something new. Don’t get me wrong, I get offered things, but I won’t do something if I’m not in it or behind it. I love Boots! It’s truly one of my favorite bars in NYC.
What the hell do you think is going on with all of these queens getting jumped and attacked in this city lately? Are you cautious about that stuff when you’re leaving a venue?
Try me. that’s what I say. I may look like Tina, but I fight like Ike. I took kickboxing for three years, I can sprint in heels, and you best believe you will get laid out if you try me.
I think if you can, travel with someone. I always try to, but I also will not be afraid to take the train, or get in a cab after my gig.
I wouldn’t cross you! Let’s get back to Cherry Grove for a bit. How long have you been involved with Miss Fire Island, as a contestant and a host?
Next year will be 10 years. I won Entertainer of the Year, and then handed down, then won Miss Fire Island, handed down, and I have been hosting for the past two years. This year will be my third, I believe.
Have you noticed the pageant changing a lot since you started, maybe as far as the level of talent or effort that the contestants put in?
The girls have been coming for blood. The girls are stepping their games up. I’m glad i won when I did! I look forward to it every year, because I know the girls. I know who puts what effort in, and it always shows.
But are you still seeing some of the same girls showing up that have been for years, doing the exact same thing they always do?
I think a lot of the girls come for the fun of it. You can tell who comes for the fun and the sisterhood for the weekend, and who is coming to win. The girls that have been coming for years are such fucking fun girls! They come out, they do the weekend, and they go back to their lives. Most of them don’t do it for a living, so for them it’s a fun release.
You were a cast member of Queens of Drag: NYC, a web series pilot from 2011 that unfortunately never made it past that stage (I am weirdly obsessed with it still, I wish it became a Thing!). One of the juiciest segments featured you and Dallas DuBois doing an Ice Palace Pool Show together and basically wanting to kill each other. I also saw your cameo at the curtain call of Dallas’ “last” show at Industry back in 2013, which was a cute moment. Was all of that animosity between you two real, or was it kinda built up for Queens of Drag and the masses?
There was a lot that was real. Sometimes two people just are not able to work in the same space. We have two very different work mentalities, and we had two different visions of the show. I don’t want to say too much because it’s neither here nor there, but I wish Danny the best in whatever he chooses to do in life.
Understood. Now I want to give you my sincere condolences on the passing of your mom recently. I read what you’ve said about her, and the heartfelt words of many other queens who knew her, and it sounds like she was an extraordinary person.
I have never in my life experienced anything like the loss of my mother. I wouldn’t wish the pain and the hurt on my worst enemy. There was no bond in this world like the one I shared with my mother.
What qualities do you think you inherited from her?
I got her zest for life. You only live one time, give it your best. She also taught me that no matter how bad things are currently, this moment will never be back, so don’t waste it being miserable and sad. My mother was sick for eight years, and I never once heard her complain about it. I never saw a tear go down her face because of it. I can’t imagine being that strong, and I can only hope that I am going to make her proud.
I have no doubt you already have. And this is such an emotional roller coaster time for you, because at the same time your are engaged to be married in October, congratulations! It’s so hard to find real love in nightlife, how did you do it?
We met on Fire Island. We had seen each other; he’s a bit arrogant, and so am I, so we never spoke to each other. One night, we did… and it just happened. I told my best friend Adam the next weekend that I knew this was the man i was going to marry.
So for that to be happening currently, with the passing of my mom, I have a lot of emotions. So, thanks to everyone that tips me at my show–it’s totally helping me pay for therapy.
I bet. How are you with wedding planning? Even for the most zen person at the best of times, it can make one go insane.
We are actually almost completely done. Just tying up the loose strings, finishing paying the vendors, and then it’s go time! We just want it to be done so we can fucking relax. It’s been so fun, though. My fiancé is great with shit like this; I’m like, “Give me two or three options and I’ll choose which one I like.”
And on top of everything else, it will be your birthday in August! Any big plans for that?
Not this year. We have too much going on. It’s not a big year–I’m gonna be low key till 30, then I want to have a huge event. People were shocked I made it to 21, then 25, so 30 will be the next big party.
I always do big [birthday] shows on the Island. I’m going to Atlantic City for two days to get away. So, just a low key weekend!
Enjoy it! Okay, lastly: it’s such a dark, violent time out there now, both for our community and the country / world at large. What do you think a drag queen’s role is during times like these?
I can’t speak for everyone else, but I know that its time to give the best shows ever. People need to laugh, people need to forget their worries for a couple of hours. Don’t phone it in, don’t be lazy. Do your job and give these people a reason to laugh and smile.
That’s definitely something we can always expect from you! Thanks so much, Logan!
Logan Hardcore performs at Boots & Saddle every other Wednesday night (10pm), and at Stonewall every Thursday night (10pm). At the Ice Palace on Fire Island, she hosts a solo show on Friday nights (9pm) and co-hosts the Pool Show on Saturday (with Brenda Dharling) and Sunday (with Ariel Sinclair) afternoons (both 3pm). Also at the Ice Palace, she’ll be hosting the Miss Fire Island pageant on September 10th, and in the fall she frequently hosts Electrobrunch at La Carbonera or Intermezzo. Logan can be followed on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube, and has her own website.
Thotyssey 
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