National Queer Arts Festival Press Releases
Mr. Murray Hill & the Wau-Wau Sisters

The Wau-Wau Sisters and Murray Hill, two of New York City's reigning alternative acts, are heading to San Francisco to perform at this year's National Queer Arts Festival and make some money so they can pay off their vast hotel debt back in New York City.

Murray hosts this benefit show with a few cheesy songs, plenty of audience participation, and his irrepressible shtick, while the Wau-Wau Sisters rig up the trapeze, rock their electric guitars, and dress as Catholic school girls for an acrobatic floor routine-slash-striptease -- and that's just the first five minutes of the show.

It's also the story of how Murray came to meet the Sisters.

One night Murray gate-crashed their show and fell head over spiel for the sisters, marveling as they shimmied up a trapeze, crooned original ditties out of key, and quickly divested themselves of their school girl outfits, innocently misinterpreting Night Ranger's "Sister Christian" as musical biography. Witnessing the girls recharge their batteries by deftly mixing martinis and smoking Pall Malls --while in a handstand, no less -- Murray knew he had to turn on the charm and get in on the action.

Murray the master of mirth and a throwback to the old days when entertainers entertained, was eager to impress the girls. Moving in for the kill, he straightened his tie, cocked a suave eyebrow, and quickly produced his Xeroxed drinks tickets in order to look more V.I.P. than he really is. The girls, thirsty, and short on cash, were easily swayed with promises of free drinks and a night at the swank Ritz-Carlton. And damn, they painted the town like a bunch of Impressionists.

When they awoke the following afternoon, the girls were horrified at what they saw: dozens of half-eaten cheeseburgers, discarded lace bras that didn't even belong to them, a few bottles of Zima with lipstick on the rim, a "plus-sized" bellboy uniform -- and the bill. The evening was still a massive blur, but one thing was certain: It had sucked Murray dry of his entire life savings and his petty cash fund. With nothing left to lose, they decided then and there to skip town and hide out on the West Coast. Murray, ever the impresario, saw his future flash before his eyes and quickly booked their escape in the form of "The Tour".

Please help these showbiz derelicts pay off their debt -- buy tickets to this show now. Both shows are tax deductible. And of course, tell Murray and the Wau-Wau Sisters where the after-party is (if you think you can afford it).


MURRAY HILL

"Murray Hill just might be the future of comedy." - Gaywired.com

"A widely adored and magnetic comic performer" -- Citysearch

"Murray projects the unflagging optimism of Ralph Cramden and the inspired lunacy of Benny Hill." - Ocean Drive

Murray Hill, "the hardest-working middle-aged man in show business", is perhaps the world's best-loved drag king entertainer and funmeister extraordinaire. He has been delighting audiences with his irrepressible brand of slapstick antics, rampant mugging, outrageous zingers, out-of-tune crooning, zany pratfalls, and inspired send-ups of Ralph Cramden to Benny Hill (no relation).

Hill was recently honored in OUT magazine's OUT 100 list for performance, and "Best in New York" by New York Magazine, and Village Voice.

As a presenter and emcee, Murray is without peer. Casting a gimlet eye on the audience through his trademark tinted aviator glasses and squished into one of his vintage polyester 52-portly polyester suits, Murray can hurl a good-natured zinger and schmooze the dames with the best of them. He was honored to emcee a portion of Wigstock with Lady Bunny, two sold-out LeTigre shows at The Bowery Ballroom, and the mainstage at Village Voice's Siren Music Festival in Coney Island.

Recently hailed as "the most successful drag king" by The New York Post, Murray has been featured in books, TV, independent film, video, and reported on in leading mass market and entertainment newspapers and magazines all over the globe.

Last autumn, Murray produced and hosted New York’s first-ever drag king festival, "The Kings," which attracted sold-out audiences and garnered international media coverage. In 1997, he ran an ill-fated campaign to unseat the then-mortal Mayor Rudy Giuliani. Though he received just 334 votes, all of them write-in, Murray's race for the New York City's mayoralty was greeted by enthusiastic crowds at sporadic campaign stops and featured in the short film Murray for Mayor, which made its way through the independent film festival circuit.

He has been seen Off-Off-Broadway in Varla Jean Merman is The Bad Seedling, Caged! at Town Hall, and Caution! Curves Ahead! with the Glamazons. He produced, wrote, and starred in three sold-out runs of A Murray Little Christmas, The Murray Hill Star-Spangled Christmas Comedy Special and Caught in the Act at Fez, New York’s premiere downtown cabaret venue.

He writes a column for the NY BLADE, performs stand-up at Joe's Pub, Caroline's, Comedy Garden, and Gotham Comedy Club, and his short film Call Me Crazy is screening in festivals all over the United States. He is currently working on a new TV show, and booking a tour.


WAU-WAU SISTERS


"The most spectacularly diverse burlesque act ever to erupt" --BUST

The Wau-Wau sisters make mischief and mayhem everywhere they go. These two siblings share many memories of an early childhood in traveling shows and circuses. When other little girls were busy pouring tea from miniature tea sets, these poor sisters were already darning fishnets, pick-pocketing theatre goers, and swearing off bourbon -- for good. Again. But since their arrival in the Big Apple, the Wau-Wau Sisters have been seen shimmying up a trapeze, crooning original ditties out of key and disrobing to some of this century's best and worst music! Big on talent and tan lines, it is said that they can mix martinis in a handstand, while smoking Pall Malls and thinking impure thoughts!

They have most recently toured with post-punk electro band le tigre, and been seen in NYC at The Fez, Warsaw, the Mercury Lounge, CBGB's, the Hammerstein Ballroom and Joe's Pub. They've had feature articles in The Village Voice, Time Out New York, and been written up in The New York Times, The New York Post, and Jane Magazine, among many others. Other media exploits include Nipon TV's Good Morning Japan, the Isaac Mizrahi Show w/ Rosie Perez and NPR's "The Next Big Thing." They just came back from Tease-o-Rama 2002 in San Francisco and opened for the incredible cabaret drag duo, Kiki and Herb, at The Knitting Factory, in NYC and the feminist band Le Tigre.

Always on the run and dogged by a trail of incriminating Polaroid's, they take solace in their imagined celebrity, arriving in their pink Buick, matching disguises, and gin-soaked smiles, claiming to feats unmatched and unimaginable acts at every turn. There's no trick these sisters can't turn for the right price!