Julie
Vaughn a.k.a. Rick Barnett was a high spirited young man who was
employed at The Bar when I met him in the mid-1980's. He worked
at the coat check in the back and sold tickets to get upstairs, etc.
He was very well liked by all the regular bar patrons and really
knew how to party. He was a natural born leader. His
sense of humor was remarkable. He also loved to dance upstairs
in the disco. He had friends in almost every clique in the
club.
Rick
was an adopted child whose mother ran a store in the Fayette Mall.
Rick had done some drag as Julie Vaughn back in the late 1970's when
we had a small club open in Lexington that held the Miss Lexington
pageant. (I cannot remember the name of the club, located downtown,
but do see the previous owners from time to time in Louisville.)
Remember, in those days there were no drag shows, not even special
event productions in Lexington. It had been a number of years
since The Bar (formerly Johnny Angel's, formerly Montparnasse, formerly
The Living Room, formerly The Gilded Cage, formerly ad nauseaum .
. .) had allowed or planned any show of any sort involving drag.
I believe that some of the owners down through the years were less
than thrilled with the image that drag would give the club. They
wanted something more upscale.
I
attended this particular Miss Lexington pageant and remember Julie
Vaughn as a contestant. She was not particularly pretty in drag,
but had an aura about her. I specifically remember the pageant because
there were about 15 contestants! The girls were starving for stage
time! I even remember that one of the contestants was Eddie
Dee a.k.a. Ed Lewis of Louisville (the owner of The Connection, and
at that time the owner of The Downtowner). The winner was Simone
a.k.a. Billy Smith. She ruled and reigned as one of my best
friends.
When
I first approached Rick Barnett about helping me with the formation
of the Court in Kentucky he was immediately interested. He did
a lot of work getting people involved before he had even thought about
running for Empress. You couldn't enter The Bar from the back, check
your coat, or buy a ticket to get upstairs to the new New York-style
disco without going through Rick. He made each and every person promise
to be at Coronation. No ifs, anode's, or BTU's. Unfortunately,
there were no out-of-town Courts present at Coronation I. We
were organizing ourselves first. I appointed myself as Secretary
of the Privy Council and issued the invitations to Coronation I.
I continued to serve as Secretary of the Privy Council (essentially
President of the Board nowadays), during the first couple of reigns.
Rick
won the title of Empress I at the Coronation held at the Circus Disco
in Idle hour Shopping Center on Richmond Road. I will never
forget the event. I had meticulously planned the event--or so I thought.
I had, however, failed to realize the community's interest. When
I arrived to begin to open the location for the event, the line to
enter was four persons wide and ran from the back door completely
around the building and poured over into the front parking lot.
The line to enter was a crowd control problem in and of itself that
attracted the police and fire departments to the scene and made the
Circus staff very nervous. They had never experienced
anything like that before.
Because
the Circus was a private club, we had to have a list of the names
and addresses of all the members. (It was a BYOB bar during
the week.) Your invitation to the first Coronation had your name
inscribed and that same name and your address was added to a list of
members that we kept on a clipboard at The Bar. Yes, we had signed
up some 500 or more "members," because it became the thing to do--sign
up your sister, your brother, and all your friends--just in case
they wanted to go to the Circus some Sunday. You could not
sign up as a member at the door of the Circus on the day of the show,
you see. We sold tickets which you could then use to purchase
drinks at the bar at the Circus. Keith Fowler was the bartender
for Coronation I and Wayne Flynn was the DJ. The event was
attended by nearly every bar owner from both Louisville and Lexington.
Julie's
reign was highlighted by well-organized, well-attended events.
Lots of money was raised at Court functions. But, in the meantime,
I had formed Galore Productions and they made most of the money as
they took over responsibility for putting on Lexington's weekly, and
only, drag show at the Circus.
Julie
Vaughn hand-picked Ray Allen to serve as Emperor and I believe he
was appointed to the title. In fact, I now remember that we
held an investiture for him to be crowned. Ray and Julie were great
friends and worked well together.
Julie
spawned a number of "drag children," including Erica Vaughn, and
several others who have now faded into obscurity.
At
Coronation II held in the Sheraton at Athens-Boonesboro Road's ballroom,
and attended by several out of state monarchs, Julie Vaughn crowned
Jacqueline Parrish as Empress II. Rick continued to be active in
Court and community events for several years to come. I eventually
lost touch with Rick after I moved to Frankfort.
Rick
Barnett died from complications arising from AIDS. (I do not
have the year here.) [1991 per HMS Prince Royal XI of ALL Kentucky, Prince
of the Post Toasties, C. Micheal Rodgers]