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Chutin' Straight
Gay-Friendly Profit in Music City
Chute Nashville is the largest GLBTS (Gay, Lesbian,
Bisexual, Transgendered and Straight) entertainment/ nightclub in
Nashville, Tenn., and likely throughout the entire state.
Six nightclubs each with different themes housed within 13,000
square feet give Chute plenty of room for regulars and different social
and service groups that use Chute as a base for their fundraising and
socializing.
Dragging Them In
Nashville, of course, is known as Music City U.S.A., and Chute
Nashville capitalizes on that with its popular country music drag
shows, often led by the Smoky Mountain Rodeo Association at the Rainbow
Room.
“That always draws in a large crowd,” says Chute’s Owner Don Hartsfield.
The nightclub complex has been open 23 years and operates seven nights a week, from 5 p.m. to 3 a.m.
Hartfield’s bar always has been a refuge of sorts since its opening
in 1984, but after one New Orleans drag queen, Eva Las Vegas, found
herself displaced after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, her act found a home
on the Rainbow Room’s stage with other country music drag divas.
Eva, whose impersonations include Lee Ann Womack, Lorrie Morgan,
Anne Murray and Tammy Wynette, found her biggest crowd pleaser to be
her Lee Ann Womack imitation. It even got a good review from the star
herself, who once came to Chute to see Eva’s performance.
“She was sitting (in the audience), and I didn’t know it,” Eva says. “If I had known it, I’d have had a heart attack.”
Eva knows the success of her act largely depended on the Nashville country music scene.
“Those people love their country music, and they loved me doing their favorite stars.”
Before attempting her favorite impersonation, many people told Eva that
nobody else does the famous country music comedienne, Minnie Pearl.
Minnie Accolades
“Watch me set them on their heels,” Eva said. “I had people asking
me, ‘Why didn’t I think of that?’ Well, it was laying right out there
for anybody.”
Like many other evacuees, Eva has returned to her beloved New
Orleans, but she still has a fondness for Chute Nashville. Others
wanting to catch a drag show of some of their favorite ladies of
country music can check out the events calendar at Chute Nashville for
dates and showtimes at www.chutenashville.com.
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