"BARBADOS..." A CONVERSATION WITH DIVA ALEXANDER 17

CG- When I was talking to you all the other day and I said "drag," Bianca
 said that this is not a word that you use.
DA- We call it "showgirls. We are showgirls. We do a show and we put on
 a show that is full of class. I've seen drag shows before and there is a
 difference to what we do. Drag shows are gaudy sometimes and
 everything is exaggerated. You find a lot of the queens go overboard.
 The attitude is nasty. They perform and they do some strange things.
 So we don't say "drag." We say "showgirls." That's the international
 word.
CG- Are you able to work exclusively at Ragamuffins and support
 yourself?
DA- No, that's a side thing. I work during the week. We don't only do
 Ragamuffins. We do the hotels. It's a circuit that we do. We've done
 Sandy Lane [the most exclusive and expensive hotel on the island]
 once or twice. They're a bit strange.
CG- Do you have to deal with a lot of obnoxious tourists?
DA- No, not really. I normally lay down the law very early. Holly is very
 passive and Bianca is very aggressive, and I am very firm.
CG- Do you chose your own music for the shows?
DA- I do songs that first of all when you listen to it had a kind of feeling.
 Neal, the owner [of Ragamuffins], likes a lot of techno stuff He is
 British. But you feel the music. There are some songs that I would do
 that I just didn't feel. It has to have something that can do, something
 dramatic. When I can burst out in flames. I do songs that are very
 strong women. I'm a disco freak.
 The karaoke bar next door is trying to drown us out. [Next door to
 Ragamuffins restaurant, where Diva's show is held each Sunday, there
 is a karaoke bar. The noise level competition between the people
 singing karaoke and Diva's show is indicative of some of the hostility
 her show generates.] When we first started doing the show, they did
 not have karaoke there. We started pulling crowds. They had karaoke
 on Saturday nights. Our show is on Sunday. He [Neal, the owner of the
 karaoke bar] went through the gap [Bajan term for street] and said
 well hey, "I'm having the show on Sunday." They saw the crowd coming
 and they decided to do it on Sunday too. After a while it was a
 competition between us two. We got loud. They got louder and it went
 out of hand. Then one night Neal called the police and they got offended
 and it was on from then. I would think that after four years they would
 get accustomed to what it is. We started in February 1998. So it's four
 years.