Labor Day weekend,brings on Southern Decadence, New Orleans paean to gay debauchery and craziness.  One of the acts that has been a Decadence staple, Charles Knipp a/k/a Shirley Q. Liquor, will be a no show and neither Decadence organizers nor Ms. Shirley are saying why.

For those not in the know Liquor is Knipp’s drag stage name and her life is interesting to say the least. She has 19 “chirren” (children), fathers unknown. The names of her children are Bucket, Gonorrhea, Bubblelicious, Cheeto, Orangello, Chlamydia, and Kmartina,  etc., etc. She sings songs wondering about the parentage of her brood, the United Negro Scholarship Fund, and the joys of a toke or two. For Knipp, a white gay man in his 40’s,  to perform as Shirley he dons black-face.

Knipp is convinced his act, a 21st century minstrel show, is about racial healing.

“There are so many pent-up things that black people want to say to white people and vice versa, but we’re all scared to death of offending each other,” Knipp told Rolling Stone a few years back. “I think God’s plan for me is to get right in the middle of all the tension and just make them laugh and say, ‘Oh, my God, I’ve thought that, but nobody’s ever said it out loud.’ There’s gotta be some healing that comes from that. And I truly think that’s why God put me here: to be a healer.”

Racial reconciliation through darky humor?! That is as kooky as saving a village by burning it down. Dear Mr. Knipp: drop me a note and explain how this racial love happens with your face corked up.

It should not be surprising that Knipp’s act has few supporters who are black and gay (although RuPaul is a fan and thinks anyone who calls Knipp’s act racist is not paying attention). Journalist Jasmyne Cannick has written some biting commentary about the man and his act (for some reason Knipp thought it would be precious to superimpose Cannick’s face on the body of a black porn star with huge breasts).

“A man who out of one side of his mouth tells the media that you love you some Black people and was raised by a Black woman and you have nothing but the utmost respect for us, all the while you make a living by degrading us and our race,” Cannick wrote in a letter to RuPaul and Knipp.

I’m no betting man and have no inside information, but this silence from the Knipp camp means he’s planning a big to-do. Because Knipp is convinced he is a healer (I laugh every time I think about that) here is what he will do this year: Shirley Q will be transformed into the “real Michelle Obama” (shrewish and disdainful of J. Crew clothes) and RuPaul will play President Obama as he really is when the lights are off–thuggish with a love for dog fighting. Like I said, I have no inside scoop, but when it happens at Decadence remember where you heard it first. Let the mending begin!

Headliner Frank Marino and the rest of the cast were informed after Monday’s performance that the show was closing immediately, ending a nearly 24-year run.

Producer Norbert Aleman says that he is negotiating for a TV show and hopes to reopen the show that features Marino as Joan Rivers.

Riviera Hotel & Casino President Robert Vannucci says he “understands the economic pressures forcing the situation” and says the hotel hopes to announce a new show soon.

“La Cage” opened in September 1985 and became the fourth longest-running show on the Las Vegas Strip.

The Tropicana’s topless revue, “Les Folies Bergere” announced last month that it was closing March 28 after 49 years to make room for an undisclosed new production.

Arkansas City Mayor Mel Kuhn won the fundraiser, in which he appeared in dark makeup and used a vulgar reference to female genitalia as his character name. The fundraiser was for Court Appointed Special Advocates, which supports foster children.

Kuhn’s apology, posted on the Web site of the Wichita branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, came after a meeting Wednesday night with officials from the organization.

“I am sincerely sorry and I sincerely apologize for the offensive nature of my actions,” Kuhn said in the statement. “I take full responsibility for my actions. The buck absolutely stops here.”

Kuhn, mayor of the city of about 11,000 people near the Oklahoma border, did not return a call from The Associated Press seeking comment Thursday. According to census figures from 2000, the city is about 87 percent white and nearly 5 percent black.

Kevin Myles, president of the Wichita NAACP, said in an e-mail Thursday that he and two other members met with Kuhn after learning about the performance.

The mayor told The Arkansas City Traveler newspaper before meeting with the NAACP that he got the idea for the character from the movies “Norbit” and “Big Momma’s House,” which feature black men portraying black women.

Kuhn told the newspaper that his makeup didn’t constitute blackface and that he did not really manage to carry out the character as a black woman; he said it ended up being more like a gypsy.

“I can’t do a black accent,” he said.

He admitted the character’s name was meant to be slang. The mayor also told the paper he informed CASA officials of his plans before the skit.

The Linda Groth, director of Court Appointed Special Advocates, said she noticed Kuhn’s face was darker but didn’t think he was trying to portray a different race.

“It wasn’t black, black. It was all really just tan,” she told the Traveler.

Groth said she was unaware of what the character’s name meant until a reporter explained it.

“I never heard that word,” Groth said. “But I understand exactly what you’re saying, and I’m mortified of it.”

(Yuma, Arizona) The mother of Amancio Corrales broke down in tears as the man accused of stabbing him in 2005 pleaded guilty to aggravated manslaughter in a deal with prosecutors.

“He didn’t kill a person but a whole family. I don’t agree [with this plea],” Maribel Corrales told the court through an interpreter. “It is not fair.”

Solorio Valenzuela originally was charged with second-degree murder, but a grand jury later indicted him on a charges of manslaughter and abandoning a body.

If the plea deal is accepted by Judge Andrew Gould, Valenzuela would be sentenced to less than nine years in prison. He would be required to serve 85 percent of his sentence before being eligible for release.

Valenzuela also could be ordered to pay restitution of $150,000.

The body of Amancio Corrales, 23, was found in the Colorado River on May 6, 2005. He had been stabbed numerous times.

Corrales was a well known drag performer in Yuma and in Mexico, performing under the name Delilah. He was was born in Sinaloa, Mexico, and worked as a cosmetologist in Yuma.

Corrales was seen the night of his slaying at several bars in Yuma in drag.

In agreeing to the plea deal prosecutor Levi Gunderson told the court that Valenzuela had not planned to murder Corrales, but acted in the “heat of passion” out of “rage and humiliation” when he discovered Corrales was a male.

If Judge Gould accepts the plea bargain, Valenzuela will be sentenced on Aug. 21.

The killing sent shockwaves through Yuma’s relatively small and close knit gay community and became a rallying cause for gay-rights advocates throughout Arizona.

Many believed that Corrales was the victim of a hate crime, although investigators refused to label it as such.