give it up for this very sexy mermaid
she loves going first
Laguna has helped David feel beautiful
every day he the first time that I put
makeup on I was just like you know so hi
there my name is David Brumfield
but I'm otherwise known as the
incredible gorgeous talented beautiful
Laguna blue Laguna blue is a mermaid
from the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico so
she's super fishy a little trashy and
she has taken over New York City
she is a live singing drag queen she's a
pop star she is a comedian she's a host
she is everything that you've ever
wanted in a drag queen ever she is my
best friend my girlfriend and I hate her
sometimes
I worked Tuesday to Thursday have Friday
offs and then have a then Saturday
Sunday I'm usually working as well so on
a typical day I'll probably wake up
around 11:30 noon which sounds glamorous
but it's not because I'm going to bed at
3:30 4 o'clock in the morning so I'm
still getting my 6 or 7 hours it should
be 8 my face wishes that it was 8 but
it's 6 to 7 let's be real I wake up I
make myself a pot of coffee and then I
you know do whatever I have to do if
that's running errands if that's going
to the rehearsal going to a voice lesson
going to the gym I need to go to the gym
water ok and then I'm usually home up by
6 o'clock to have you know cook myself
dinner or usually eat Chipotle
so I'm usually starting to get ready
around 7 8 o'clock and then I'm at the
venue for 10:00 or 11:00 and then I am
I'm like rocking the house down boots
you know I'm saying until about 2:00 in
the morning and then I'm home around
3:00 I grew up in Prairie Village and I
was born and raised in the south in the
Bible Belt
so I actually had a really hard time
being myself I turned to food as soon as
I started realizing that I was different
from other people and so I gained a lot
of weight in high school I was very very
heavy and when I finally got to college
is when I came out to my friends and as
soon as I came out I lost 60 pounds in
like three months and I remember coming
out to my mom and my mom was like no
you're you can't be gay
we're gonna pray about it and we're
gonna fix it and I remember literally
repeating that to her and I was like
I've been praying for it to go away
since I was six 12 I had a very rough go
I was always picked on I was just
different and I was relentlessly myself
and trying to defend that always when I
originally came out to my mom when I was
about 20 years old and my mom absolutely
did not accept it and then my mom was
diagnosed with cancer a year later stage
4 colon cancer the prognosis was very
short we would I would just sit by the
side of her bed and we would talk you
know and finally she said to me I'm so
sorry that I tried to make you something
that you weren't the last thing she told
me before she left she said David my
dream is for all your dreams to come
true she left me in March of 2014 and in
September of 2014 I moved to New York
City and have never looked back oh my
god
yes when I first put on Laguna oh my god
I looked into that mirror and I was like
I thought I was beautiful honestly it
was the first time I like really looked
into a miracle a miracle is that first
time it was a miracle I felt beautiful I
listen I have always dealt with like
body image issues Laguna was like this
key to opening a door of like self-love
and acceptance the worst part of drag is
putting on body because I'm clearly a
man and so the thing the thing that
makes me shaped like a woman is padding
four or five layers of tights a layer of
fishnets and of course it my friends
make fun of me because my padding is
atrocious this is just like the couch
cushion
that has been cut down to look like a
hip and in a tight it's like pressed
against your body and my friends make
fun of me because look I mean help me
tell me I need know I'm Joe yeah wearing
that for upwards of six seven eight you
know I think the longest I've been in
drag is like probably 17 or 18 hours and
also like frankly I have to make my junk
go away
so that being tucked up and out is a
little uncomfortable after a while but
yeah it's just the body's just being
being in this shape when you look like
this I'm very lucky because I get to do
what I love for a living it gets a
little difficult when it's like day 17
and drag you know and my skin wants to
like rip off of my face and you know I'm
exhausted
but as soon as I'm on stage it like all
goes away before I started doing drag I
was an actor I was also supplementing as
a waiter just like every other actor in
New York and I was also a Manny I was
taking care of kids as well which was
fantastic money what really led me to
quit my day jobs were my friends Rosie
and Jan and they really encouraged me
they said the guna like as soon as you
as soon as you make the leap it's gonna
happen and they were right Stephanie's
child is New York City's premier live
singing drag trio if not the best in the
world there is no one who can touch what
we do nobody especially in drag we
started singing together in 2017 and we
have never looked back that December we
performed on The Voice with Jessie J and
that was just like boom there's never
been a group that does what we do we
seen in three part harmony and we sing
very well because a lot of drag queens
in New York say they can sing and in
fact they cannot I would sit in my room
and practice all day long I would sit in
my room and just man
that was kind of when my career really
really just started snowballing into
what it is now it is a huge reason why
drag has been so lucrative for me and
why I've been able to be so successful I
I love them they are my best friends
[Music]
doing drag full-time has been the most
lucrative experience of my life I've
never made more money in my life I've
never spent more money in my life truly
all of the money that I make goes right
back into it it just comes with the
territory of being a great drag queen is
that you're constantly elevating
yourself to that means buying new wigs
buying new you know new drag having
things custom-made for you so you look
different than everybody else
I wore this garment on America's Got
Talent
Simon Cowell told me I was a horrible
vocalist in this I thought the vocals
were terrible this is a metallic mesh
covered in Swarovski crystals and this
went for about I think thirteen or
fourteen hundred dollars for this I you
know pull four to five thousand dollars
a month but I'm spending three thousand
of it on drag every single month whether
it be you know things are constantly
running out so like you I constantly
need to buy a new foundation new powder
new nails new you know new wigs if I
have to have a wig restyled I'll do that
when I first started doing drag I was
living in Brooklyn and I would travel to
the Upper West Side for $50 and I was
there for four hours and I hated my life
then I booked my first show and that was
125 so now typically my booking fee for
a bar is anywhere between 150 to 300
dollars depending on the night depending
on what I'm doing and then with tips
that's for me to know and for you to
never find out oh don't get me wrong
I love performing for New York audiences
there's something that's really
incredible about being in like a New
York City nightlife but it is not
necessarily something that I can be
doing when I'm
twenty years when I'm 50 a hidden
expense that a lot of people don't know
about for a successful drag queen is
like is a car I spend anywhere from like
I think the most I've ever spent a month
it's like two thousand dollars in travel
when I'm working every single day it's
like twenty five dollars their twenty
five dollars back fifty dollars a day
just to get to work it's very rare that
the the venue provides a really great
space for you to get ready so I
typically get ready at home and so
because of that it's a lot easier for me
to take a car than to take public
transportation just to be like not be
heckled or not be bothered now listen
I'm beautiful so I don't get heckled
that much but when it happens it's just
like God you know whatever make you
noticing all these you know the dreams
that I wanted of success in the arts has
become available to me because of drag
and I am able to use every single one of
my talents on myself I am the Barbie
doll that I was never allowed to play
with I am totally in charge of
everything that I put into the world and
that is the most amazing part for me my
life is is a million times better than
it what it used to be I used to be so
ashamed of myself I used to hate myself
and now I love myself more than ever
drag is has totally saved my life
[Music]
hey everyone is Lagoona Blue
David Brumfield here and I'm in my
lovely apartment looking out over a
quarantine world like a princess that I
am I've been in quarantine since March
12th and it has been a journey let me
tell you about it I went from performing
five to six nights a week to not doing
that at all luckily I have a talent to
fall back on and that is painting I have
been in my apartment like a Vincent van
Gogh and I have been painting and bliss
Lee it has been so soothing and so
relaxing for me I have sold about 60
paintings now I literally have been able
to pay my rent and put food on my table
because of these paintings now I don't
know if I can keep it up for you know
two two more months but and I will start
doing online shows soon but for now I'm
just sticking to the painting and it's
been very very I feel so grateful to
have it thank you for checking in on me
I send you love light and lots and lots
of health what