Behind-the-Scenes on the Wells Fargo stage at Charlotte Pride [Partner]
[Editor’s Note: This is the first installment in a five-part series written by three-year Charlotte Pride emcee veteran Joanne Spataro on what to expect at Charlotte Pride.]
“Project your voice.” That’s what drag queen Delighted Tobehere told me to do.
As she always likes to queue up a story, let me set the scene as Sophia would have on Golden Girls. Picture it: Charlotte. 2014. I’d never hosted anything larger than a pool party, and yet I was a co-emcee on the Wells Fargo stage for one of the biggest Pride festivals between Washington DC and Atlanta. There, in my red jumpsuit and rainbow cape, I waved at thousands of people on Saturday morning, a number that would grow to 100,000 by Sunday afternoon. My co-emcee, Delighted, was a pro at handling the microphone, yelling, “Hallloooo Charlotte!”
We were supposed to introduce Miami Vice, a band featuring local CTCH shop owner and Shiprocked DJ Scott Weaver. But my voice was less than electric. It sounded like I was reading the deli specials into the Harris Teeter intercom. Or to put it in drag queen terms, I was flatter than a tube of matte lipstick.
After we went back to the trailer, Delighted gently gave me a lesson I would hold tightly for the rest of the festival, into the next year and now this year as a returning co-emcee of the Charlotte Pride festival.
“Honey,” she said, “You need to project your voice.” And then she talked as I did onstage, exaggerating my monotone. I laughed and told her there’s a name for the voice that came out when I was petrified of people, be it one or thousands: The Heather Tesch Voice.
Tesch was a meteorologist on The Weather Channel when I was a kid and her soft, one-note tone and demeanor became the anti-blueprint in my house. My mom and dad would say, “Don’t be Heather!” when I was starting to fold into myself.
Later, Delighted used The Heather Tesch voice for a gag onstage, an alternate character in her already packed arsenal of impersonations. It wasn’t my voice anymore, but a bit, and it made me feel easier on myself. The next time I went onstage, I gave a rip-roaring, “Halllooo Charlotte!”
A post shared by Joanne Spataro (@lookitsjoanne) on Aug 16, 2014 at 3:12pm PDT
In this special Charlotte Pride 2016 series, I’ll be giving you these and other behind-the-scenes secrets of Pride so you’ll know what to expect at this year’s festival. Come see me and our other illustrious emcees on the Wells Fargo Stage on August 20 and 21! Stay updated on upcoming announcements about added entertainers and festival events.
This story was originally published August 1, 2016 at 12:14 PM.