RuPaul Halloween at Metropolis - By Tim Gaskin

RuPaul is making her way back to San Francisco over the Halloween holiday weekend to perform her greatest hits and songs from the new CD "RuPaul, Red Hot" live on stage at Gus' Metropolis and signing dolls and CD's at Tower Records. Ru describes her stage appearance as imperial and summons audiences to prepare to be in the presence of royalty.

It's been over a decade since the star has performed for a San Francisco audience, unless you're counting Ru's appearance at the private, invitation-only, Pottery Barn opening in 2002. Still, it has been my unfulfilled dream to see RuPaul perform live since the release of her 1993 debut album, "Supermodel of the World", which featured the ubiquitous cross-over dance hit "Supermodel".

Over the phone, and from her residence in New York , Ru shrieks in disbelief, "Oh my God! Where were you in the 90's?"

Reportedly, a world-renowned RuPaul club-concert can run almost an hour, but that depends on the fans. The cover girl confides, "What I realized early on in the biz, is you keep 'em wanting more." Then the star adds, "You don't want them to say, 'Geez! When is this queen gonna be done?'"

A memory of a Grace Jones performance, in the early 90's, when the disco singer took off her shoes and crawled around the stage on her hands and knees like a leopard, came to mind. Moments later Jones reached down into the crowd and pulled my face into her crotch and purred this poetic verse into her mic, "Here's Grace in your face!"

I jokingly ask, "You're not going to do that are you?" Ru laughingly answers, "No. I won't do that!"

RuPaul enjoys the four-hour make-up and mediation process that precedes her club concerts. "It takes that kind of oneness to prepare to be out there for a whole lot of people." The time includes a long bath, a full-body shave and playing the right music. "I'm getting ready to exude a lot of energy and to receive a lot of love!" explains the artist.

I probe the personality about her music choice.  "It's different each day," says Rupaul. "Today, I took the subway to the gym in Tribeca and I was listening to Rick James on my iPod; both ways."

RuPaul sees Halloween as a serious occasion, telling me it's a very spiritual time for her. "Something cosmically happens to me and I need to keep it on the DL (down-low)."

Still the singer has advice for those who like to dress up for the Halloween holiday. "If you're doing drag, the first thing you've got to decide is, if you're doing glamour or gender-fuck. Do you want to be a joke or if you really wanna serve them some pie."

If you're going for glamour, Ru says you've got to wear false eyelashes, a full wig and shave your entire body. "First and foremost, you cannot walk out of the house with just mascara and you cannot wear your own hair." she opines. "You have to wear a full wig and you've got to shave. If you want to go glamour, you have to do all of the above!"

Ru says real beauty comes from between your ears. "If you feel beautiful, if you feel like you're the one, then you'll look like you're the one!"

Audiences at Gus' Metropolis will be in the presence of royalty on Saturday, October 29th. RuPaul reasons, "We're talking almost a quarter-of-a-century in the business and all that I've gathered from the queens that came before me." Then without hesitation RuPaul guarantees, "It really is an historic event that cannot be missed!"