Terry Burris oral history interview 1, 2021 June 3
Description
Terry Burris, whose stage name is Tiffany Storm, discusses her life, and her career as a drag queen, nightclub manager and proprietor in Charlotte, North Carolina. [All times approximate]. Ms. Burris introduces herself as the third owner of Chasers [a gay bar in Charlotte North Carolina], a transwoman, and a keeper of Chasers' thirty year history [00:30]. Describes growing up in a racially mixed neighborhood close to Brown Mill (part of Cannon Mills) in Concord, North Carolina, where her father worked in the mill and her mother owned a cleaning business [02:12]. Talks about her awareness of her sexuality as a young person, her early interest in Charlotte as a more cosmopolitan space than Concord, and her first visit to Charlotte's Scorpio nightclub and Oleens bar, where she experienced a drag performance for the first time in 1991 [08:09]. Describes meeting performer Casey King at Oleens, how she and Casey became roommates and close friends, Ms. King's position as the show director of City Lights [formerly and latterly the Visulite Theatre on Elizabeth Ave. in Charlotte] [11:55]. Coming out in the era of HIV-AIDS in the mid-1990s, fears related to contracting HIV, and the tragic loss of life in the local gay community [13:36]. Picketing of gay bars by protesters in Charlotte during the AIDS crisis, working at Oleens bar on South Boulevard, and the atmosphere, high quality drag performances and clientele at Oleens [16:12]. Drag queens who worked at Oleens, including Shasha Tate, Veronica Lee, Gypsy Star, Great Britain, Tina Terrell, and Boom Boom Latour [18:50]. Oleen Love, the original proprietor of Oleens who was elderly by the 1990s and no longer running the bar, her glamorous clothes, and her occasional performances and popularity when she visited the bar [20:36]. Managers of Oleens including Lincoln Terrel, Vern Ellis, and Greg Brafford, who was also the manager of the gay bath house on South Blvd in Dilworth [Club South], travelling entertainers at Oleens who would earn $25 - $50 per night plus tips and a room for the weekend at the bath house [22:05]. The Carnival of Hope that was held at Oleens and organized by Greg Brafford to support the House of Mercy which was a nursing facility for AIDS sufferers run by the Sisters of Mercy in Belmont North Carolina [25:18]. Suicide of prominent Charlotte drag performer Tony Green whose stage name was Toni Lenoir and who lived on 36th St in NoDa [formerly North Charlotte] [27:47]. Other Charlotte drag performers including Grand Prix, Electra (aka Jim Buff, a famous Bette Miller impersonator), and Elgin Kenner (Cher impersonator) [28:30]. Changes in the bar and drag scene with increasingly mixed audiences, reflections on earlier drag performance and how it differed from current drag performance, the exciting anticipation of weekly acts, and contrasts and rivalry between Oleens and Scorpio [30:07]. Working at Scorpio from 1994, changing shows at Scorpio over time, and the sale of Scorpio to Rick Wilds around 1991 [34:00]. Personal experience with drag performance at Oleens, Sunday night bargain basement shows, developing personal style of drag directly through performing, and the choice of Tiffany Storm as a stage name [37:40]. Sharing apartments with Casey King on the East and South sides of Charlotte, Casey King's ability as a seamstress to create her own outfits, storing drag costumes, and working at Ivey's department store as a display designer [44:20]. Family outlook on Ms. Burris' work, her mother's positive reaction to her success winning Miss North Carolina in 1997, Ms. Burris' outlook on reassignment surgery, and her own sexual transition [50:45]. Meeting Rick Wilds and becoming a bartender and then general manager at Scorpio, being offered the opportunity to purchase Chasers by Mr. Wilds' partner Donald Oshields after the previous owners, Brian and Basil, decided to sell the business, financial arrangements to purchase the bar, and subsequent success of the business under Ms. Burris' ownership [59:40].