Springfield's drag scene could rival West Hollywood’s, says LA-based singer

A singer-songwriter who headlined the main concert at Greater Ozarks Pridefest June 17 published an essay in Huffington Post Thursday that praised Springfield's drag performers and local culture.

Tom Goss, a 36-year-old Los Angeles-based musician whose songs often focus on LGBT topics, titled his HuffPost essay "The Most Unexpected (And Utterly Fabulous) Drag Scene You’ve Never Heard Of."

Springfield's LGBT community flipped out with joy.

"When I read that, I started crying," said Nick Johnson on Thursday night. He performs under the stage name Tania Carrington.

"It was tears of joy," Johnson added.

The organizers of the pride festival were pleased by Goss's comments, too.

"Greater Ozarks Pridefest and Springfield's drag performer community are honored and touched by such a glowing review from our headliner this year, Tom Goss," said organizer Amy Slavin in a statement provided to the News-Leader.

"Tom was a wonderful headliner who connected with our community in a magnificent way," she added. "We were so happy to host him."

Goss, who frequently performs in major metropolises, dubbed Springfield the "honey badger of cities: cute, quirky and scrappy."

Goss wrote that the night before he was scheduled to perform at the festival, he visited Mix Ultralounge, a gay bar located on East St. Louis Street.

Mix put on a special drag show for Pridefest weekend that evening that included performances by Johnson and two others.

"Had this show been in West Hollywood, it would have brought the house down," Goss wrote in the national news website, which racked up 57.4 million visitors per month last year, according to Business Insider.

"It would be in every tastemaker’s Snapchat Story and fancy gays would be emptying their wallets! But in Springfield, MO, these folks were used to it."

Goss singled out multiple performers by name. For example, when Johnson performed as Tania Carrington, he was "dancing like Tina Turner on hot coals."

"(Tania Carrington) turned a small town gay bar into something big city gays would be envious of," he wrote. "I was envious of it. I wanted more."

"It was just amazing," Goss told the News-Leader Friday as he was waiting to take a ferry to Anacapa Island, California. "I've probably listened to that gospel song Tania was performing 20 times since then."

Goss said the song, "Already Been to the Water" by Vickie Winans, resonated with him because it evoked both Springfield's drag scene and the city's Bible Belt aspects.

"It's like this intersection of really religious and conservative ideals, and gay drag," Goss said, "and hearing kind of like how — I can't even tell you how many times they said 'Jesus' in that song. She's just screaming 'Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus."

"I thought that was so interesting, owning your culture and heritage," he added.

Goss also praised Kelsey Johnson (no relation to Nick Johnson), a drag king (i.e., male impersonator) who performs as Phoenixx LaFaye, because Johnson came out on stage wearing roller skates.

"I saw more drag kings in Springfield than I probably have in my whole life," he told the News-Leader.

After Goss's concert Saturday, he attended his "third drag show in 24 hours" at Touché, a gay nightclub on Boonville Avenue, where he found "drag queens, drag kings, women in drag as women, and men in drag as men."

"I’ve never seen such drag diversity in one place," Goss wrote.

Goss also gushed about Hotel Vandivort, where he stayed during Pridefest weekend and was full of praise for Springfield in general.

"In just 48 hours, I fell in love with Springfield," he wrote. "It’s not big, or fancy, but it defies all expectations."

"I’m eternally grateful to this small town for teaching me how to be gay again."