Teacher, artist, producer, performer, Gaga stan… it‘s high time to get a sense of Nostalgia!
Thotyssey: Hi Nostalgia, thanks for chatting today! How is Pride Month treating you so far?
Nostalgia: Hey! It’s been sorta chaotic to be honest–with gearing up for shows while getting ready to move at the end of the month, and working my day job at a preschool where it’s graduation week! But ultimately I am excited for all that’s going on; it’s all good.
Wow, that is a lot! What neighborhood are you moving to/from?
Ditmas Park to Ditmas Park, lol. My partner and I have lived here for like four years, and just absolutely love it. After a bit of a bumpy ride (NY real estate is a nightmare!), we found a dream place we’re very excited about living not too far from where we are now. Just, the timing couldn’t be during a more busy season!
Truth! I know a few drag teachers… do your students know anything about Nostalgia?
No they don’t. They’re three or four years old, so I don’t think they even have a conception of it all. They just think I’m very fun, my sparkly nails are pretty, and it’s cool I know about Super Mario–all of which is correct! I’m a classroom aide, so all the teachers and other faculty are aware, though–super, super cool and lovely. I never hide any part of my life, really, from anyone. I do not know how to shut the fuck up, so I don’t think it ever occurs to me to hide parts of myself? I just love being this very positive and very Queer presence for these very little kids, who will hopefully go on to find Queer peers in their lives and meet them with joy and kindness.
Can you tell us a bit of your origin story: where are you from originally, and were art and performance parts of your life early on?
Well, I’m from South Brooklyn originally, which is very much something I’m obnoxiously proud of! Art has always been a part of my life, for sure. I’ve been drawing all my life, so a lot of my inspirations come from cartoons and video games–just as much as pop stars. I still illustrate and design stuff today, because that will just always be a part of me.
I didn’t really fall in love with the idea of performance until high school, when I became obsessed with Gaga! Once I got to college, I actually started to play with blending fine art and performance with a whole persona thing. It’s very funny in hindsight because I always sorta circled drag without really understanding what it was, and then once I did I was like, “OHHHHHH.” I remember explaining an idea I had in high school to my art teacher, and she was like, “that’s drag!” But I was young, and thought I just really liked Lady Gaga. I am even now remembering that I won an award in my senior year for conceptualizing / shooting / editing a video to “Born This Way” in my high school… and still told people I was straight!?
But I didn’t really consider myself a drag performer until like 23, when I was living on my own and doing shows and stuff. Nostalgia is just my sorta lifelong imaginary friend. She’s how I continue to make art the way I always have; it’s just that everything I love doing is combined into one discipline, to be all art school about it!
As Gaga sang, “Nostalgia’s for geeks!” Is that where your name came from?
OMG, honestly no… but I live for the fact that every instance the word is used they’re talking about me! The name comes from the fact that for all my adult life, my art has been about the feeling of nostalgia. My thesis work in college was all about my childhood, through making childlike memorials of dead family members… so like, I’ve always had this fascination with the emotion of nostalgia being so complex. To some people it’s the greatest thing, to others it’s the worst. I’m actually excited to be revisiting a portion of that work for Nancy NoGood’s “Prideshow At The Sideshow.”
So what’s it like being a Brooklyn based drag performer nowadays, as far as gigs, relations with venues and other performers, etc.?
How much time do you have? Lol, It’s interesting! I definitely feel like being a BK native could be valued and respected more. It’s part of why I love working with my partner Mac / Sissy Fist Productions. We really put treating performers like people first because of our own experiences with how transactional and toxic relationships can become in entertainment.
I absolutely have found people I trust and adore who I work with regularly like Nancy NoGood, David Puck, Zenobia and Reina NoBuena. Mac and I have been just having fun making our own lil’ world. That’s really what our festival “Sissy Fest” is about for us–making our own damn world! I’m just at this point of being excited about what we are doing, and what we are planning to do. It’s built a confidence in me to want to keep being on different stages… so all that said, I’m open to people booking me more, lol!
Let’s get right into talking about your upcoming gigs, two of which you you’ve already mentioned a bit. First off, “Sissy Fest” this Saturday, June 8th at Rubulad! That’s a massive showcase produced by Sissy Fist Productions that you’re hosting with Nancy NoGood that features a large cast of Brooklyn luminaries, as well as Drag Race alum Yuhua Hamasaki and Dragula’s Koco Caine. What inspired the creation of this festival?
It was born out of a monthly we had pre-Covid that had a different kind of “-Fest” each month. Sissy Fest was just our favorite and the most special one, so Mac made the jump last year to make it a real festival! Rubulad have been the most incredible home and team–Mac and I are considering getting married there, lol!
“Sissy Fest” is a celebration of all things Sissy, from playing with dolls to getting fisted in a skirt! The world Mac and I envision for “Sissy Fest” is just all out faggotry–we encourage you to celebrate whatever makes you feel your most queer, whatever your identity. Our lineup is incredible because we prioritize our community. Every single performer receives a competitive rate, which we accomplish by keeping the focus on local performers and getting headliners involved with them. Koco was our headliner last time, and we invited her back because the weather was so bad–but she was so kind; I’m very exited to work with her again. I can say the same for Yuhua, who I got to work with through “Puck’s Playground” also at Rubulad, and also produced by Sissy Fist Productions with David Puck. So it’s all sort of this moment for our lil’ collective of performers to get together and do what we love to do! At the end of the day, the goal is to put money in Queer folks pockets and have a gay ol’ time.
Amazing! And that Nancy-hosted “Pride Show at the Sideshow” you mentioned earlier that you’re performing in is June 14 at Coney Island USA! Coney Island shows are kinda magic in their own weird, wonderful way, right?
One thousand percent! I am so stoked to be performing on one of the most legendary and historic stages in Brooklyn (and I mean, like, actually legendary–not just because Drag Race girls pump through there y’know?) The Freak Bar is legendary… Coney Island is literally where Queer Culture started in New York. I have so many memories of being on the boardwalk in the summer as a kid, and to be back there now walking the same steps that the earliest Queers in NY did? That makes me feel so cool, and like I’m doing what I am supposed to be doing. Nancy is such an incredible person and performer–always pushing herself, and so I am really pushing to give something I haven’t done before that’s more heartfelt. I’m very, very excited for that show. I’m actually working on some props for it now!
And on June 20th, Adra Quartz will be hosting another large cast show you’ll be a part of, this time at Mad Tropical in Brooklyn: “Rainbow Rager!”
Yeah! It should be a great way to close out the season! Adra and I met when we went head to head at the last “Mx. Nobody” bonus round smackdown thing. We had so much fun doing” Toxic” and just sort of have kept in touch since, so I’m excited for another chance to work with her… she’s really fuckin’ fierce. She’ll also be a part of “Sissy Fest!” It all goes back to “Sissy Fest,” lol.
What else is coming up for you?
Beyond the Pride season, I have my baby “Let’s Watch A Movie” returning to Nitewhawk Cinema Williamsburg! The show is really just my favorite thing in the world. I consider Elvira and Pee Wee to be my drag parents, so “LWAM” is very much my expression of that. It’s part lightly scripted, mostly improv-ed pre-show, part live movie commentary. I cannot wait for our second episode at the end of July! Desmond Thorne over at Nitehawk is really the tea–such a cool person getting some great Queer programming going for the theatres.
Looking forward to that! I’ll leave you with this: what’s a song or an artist that you’d probably never do in a show, for whatever reason?
Oh God! Someone like Taylor Swift or Jojo Siwa. It’s just, like… bad, lol! No shade I guess to people who love them, but I just… do not! Yeah, I guess that kind of stuff is def not a thing you’ll likely see from me!
Lol! Happy Pride, Nostalgia!
Check Thotyssey’s calendar for Nostalgia’s upcoming appearances, and follow her on Instagram and her website.
Thotyssey 