University club gainesville gay thursday

In some ways, it was the same as every other Thursday night at the University Club. Music thumped on the dance university as men wearing layers of padding and thick makeup made last-minute adjustments to their costumes before the drag show at Gainesville's downtown gay club.

But one familiar face was conspicuously absent, though her name was on everyone's lips Thursday night: a towering redhead — or maybe a blonde, depending on her mood gainesville with a glittering gown and a booming Southern drawl. William Moorehead, better known as Lady Pearl, the sharp-tongued and beloved-by-all drag performer who ran Florida's longest-running drag show at the UC, died Wednesday at age 54, university weeks after being diagnosed with stage 4 liver cancer.

Friends, fellow performers and UC regulars came to the club Thursday to say goodbye to a local legend and a mentor. Faith Taylor, who hosted Thursday night's drag club in Pearl's stead, held a moment of silence in her honor. Miller and Pearl met in the late '80s, when the drag performer first adopted her stage persona.

The name Pearl came from the meaning of her mother's name, Margaret. She was a fixture after that, hosting and performing in the Thursday night drag show that was equal parts sass, comedy and Coty thursday powder. Pearl was a consummate professional in her craft, a producer who knew how to put on a successful show and draw an audience from all walks of life, Miller said.

It wasn't unusual to see her at a straight bar, or even a frat party, Gay said. It was the first time in Gainesville, he said, that frat boys and straight-lacers were standing in the front row of a gay club, waiting for Pearl to get up in their faces, which she did frequently.

As an emcee, she was ruthless, often bringing into the show the unsuspecting straight boy standing by the stairs, the one who'd been dragged there by his girlfriend, and making him part of her monologue. She could also tell who needed a little help getting comfortable with their identity.

The first time Justin Tyler met Pearl, he was standing outside the UC, a nervous year-old too young to get in, so he was club gay his boyfriend to come out. Another night, when he'd finally gone inside, she pulled him out from the corner during the show gainesville told him, in thursday of the crowd, that he should be proud of who he is.

For Tyler, and a lot of gay teenagers coming from small towns and wrestling with self-acceptance, Pearl's encouragement resonated deeply. Campbell and her brother Lewis Oatman were with their brother Brent when he died in hospice care Wednesday outside Fayetteville, N.

The drag performer had retired in and moved to North Carolina, performing in Gainesville from time to time. For the last two or three years, Lady Pearl had been making the drive to Gainesville every week to host the drag show. When her brother was diagnosed with terminal cancer in early August, Campbell said, his only wish was to return to Florida, to be close to his five remaining siblings and to be buried near his mother, who died in April.

Although he didn't make it back to Florida, Campbell said her brother died peacefully, loved and surrounded by family.

Friends, fans pay tribute to memory of Lady Pearl

Campbell said the love and support trumpeted by Lady Pearl's fans on Facebook and YouTube have been overwhelming. Campbell and Spangler are planning a blowout celebration of Lady Pearl's life at the University Club, to be held in a week or two. It will be a homecoming, of sorts. Lady Pearl's ashes will remain at the club, because that's where they should be, her family said.