New drag venue to open in Five Points South
The Opulence Drag Lounge and Taqueria will bring Birmingham’s Five Points South neighborhood both dine-and-go taco cuisine and performance this summer. The new business is planned for the former Hush Lounge location which closed after a mass shooting last year.
At Opulence, tacos come first.
“For part of the day, part of the restaurant, we’re just a taco place,” Co-owner Scott Charby said. “My partner is from Texas so he loves himself a taco.”
Then comes drag. Opulence will host drag performances four nights a week and drag brunches on the weekends. Charby and his partner, Wade Brooks, were inspired to combine taco and performance concepts after moving to Birmingham from Las Vegas six months ago. Charby said most drag venues offer meals along with the show.
“It is very different here,” Charby noted.
Not only does Birmingham have fewer established places for drag, Charby said he and Brooks noticed that queer spaces in Birmingham, like the Quest Club and the Our Place Lounge, were closing down.
“There’s just less and less queer spaces available for folks in Birmingham,” Charby said.
With Opulence, they hope to fill that gap. Charby said shows will feature Birmingham-based queens and maybe even burlesque shows.
“As long as it works and it’s respectful, we’re 100 percent going to make a space for them,” Charby said.
Supporting drag artists is the priority for Charby and Brooks.
“The art of drag is coming under attack,” Charby said. “As long as we can pay the bills, I don’t even particularly care if we’re really super successful. It’s more about the safe space for everybody.”
Charby and his partner feel like this is a good time to open a business in Five Points South and added that other businesses have responded in kind. Some have even reached out offering to volunteer to help get the place up and running.
“I’m like ;Oh my gosh, like that’s insane to me,’” Charby said. “I love it. The city has reached out with both arms and I couldn’t have asked for more.”
Charby hopes Opulence will open in June, just in time for Pride month.
Hurricane Erin update: Forecast sees huge storm moving closer to U.S.
Forecasts nudge Erin's likely path to the west, increasing the risks at U.S. beaches. Experts say the storm's massive size, rather than its windspeeds, is what makes it a threat.
In 2025, musicians keep making music for their inner child
Lately, artists are reaching back in time to revisit and retain the spirit of a younger self, opening a door to another world for both themselves and their listeners.
Publishing this week: A James Baldwin bio, the hope of solar, Snow White reimagined
Bill McKibben says solar is a "last chance for the climate." T. Kingfisher offers a dark retelling of Snow White. Nicholas Boggs tells James Baldwin's story. Plus new debut fiction.
Air Canada says flights will resume Tuesday night after flight attendants strike ends
Air Canada said it will gradually restart operations after reaching a deal with the flight attendants' union to end a strike that disrupted the travel plans of hundreds of thousands of travelers.
Spain battles record wildfires even as the end of a heat wave brings lower temperatures
The fires have ravaged small, sparsely populated towns in the country's northwest, forcing locals in many cases to act as firefighters. About 2,382 square miles have burned across Spain and Portugal.
Alabama sets October execution using nitrogen gas
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey on Monday set an Oct. 23 execution date for Anthony Boyd. Boyd is one of four men convicted in the 1993 killing of Gregory Huguley in Talladega.
