Welcome to Campustown on Thursday night. Around here, we’ve got a bunch of bars, the gyro stand, a coffee shop, a movie theater and a drag show.

What? A drag show in Ames? That’s men dressed up as women, lip-syncing to pop songs?

It is, and it’s been around for years. Up on stage right now is Vanessa Taylor herself, named “Miss Gay Iowa US of A 2005,” decked out in a feathery orange outfit. She’s between songs and bantering with the enthusiastic crowd.

“It takes a lot of money to look this cheap,” she said, referring to the amount of clothing, makeup and equipment required to effect her style, which combines a pin-up look with a healthy dose of sleaze. The combination works – every other drag queen at this Sept. 14 show has a kitschy, sleazy, sexy series of outfits. And the crowd eats it up.

Vanessa Taylor, as one might expect, is a gay man, and looks very different out of costume. In fact, the fact that Vanessa is in public and not in drag is unusual.

“I have more fun when I’m out as Vanessa than as [myself],” Taylor said. “It’s the attention, honestly. It’s not all positive, but all attention is good attention.”

For Taylor, drag is more than a monthly show – it’s a lifestyle. Almost every time she goes out, she does her makeup, straps on her silicone-filled fake breasts, and struts out in style.

Even when Taylor does encounter someone who doesn’t approve of her lifestyle, she can deal with it – she has a very intimidating presence.

“How many people are gonna say something to me when I’ve got my tits on, I’ve got big hair on?” she asked. “‘Cause I’m probably gonna beat your ass.”

Taylor has become a minor celebrity after five years of being the face of Ames drag and running almost every drag show in town – she attracts attention doing something as mundane as grocery shopping.

“Ames has been very, very good to me – I’ve had some very loyal fans,” she said.

Taylor’s show evolved over the years. Originally, they were all ad hoc affairs, put on by herself and the friends she could get hold of. Living in Davenport, she would travel to Ames once a month. Able to make $150 in tips for just three songs, she figured out there was a market here and made more permanent arrangements.

For a time, Boheme Bistro, 2900 West St., hosted Taylor’s show on the second Wednesday of every month, drawing triple-digit crowds. Concerned over building capacity, venue owner Pete Sherman reduced the show’s frequency to once a semester. This wasn’t enough for Taylor, who sought another venue, finding one in Bali Satay House, 2424 Lincoln Way, in fall 2005.

Here, the show was a weekly Tuesday night fixture, drawing sizeable crowds on what had been the venue’s slowest night. However, in the spring of this year, the frequency of the shows was cut back to one Thursday a month by owner Iwan Muljadi out of his fear that Bali Satay would be perceived as a gay bar, driving off more mainstream customers. Muljadi will continue to offer Bali Satay once a month.

“I just want him to be able to make something,” Muljadi said. “I want him to be successful.”

For her part, Taylor plans to do everything she can to keep a show around.

“We need drag in Ames. People like it,” she said. “It’s a completely different experience from what they’ve ever seen. I can practically guarantee that if you come to one show, you’ll want to come to more.”

He or she?

The issue of gender with drag queens can be a bit confusing – they’re men adopting the looks and personae of women. Additionally, some drag queens are transgendered, providing legitimate gender issues. So what do you call a drag queen?

“When drag queens are out together, we call each other ‘she,'” Taylor said.

Even so, Taylor doesn’t see it as a big deal. She doesn’t really care which people call her.

So, to be polite, you should address a drag queen as ‘she’ – after all, she’s taking the trouble to effect a whole new look and personality – the least you can do is acknowledge that.

What is a drag show?

A drag show is the height of glam and kitsch. Decked out in costumes that are variously flashy, slutty and slightly cheesy, the queens lip-sync to the music of their choice. Songs are almost always female-fronted, and are usually either glammy, sexually charged pop or old-fashioned torch songs.

“Any song can be a drag song – you just have to feel it,” Taylor said.

A good drag queen gets fully involved with her music, using the whole stage to work her dance routine. Queens usually make it into the crowd, where they are greeted by enthusiastic patrons waving dollar bills – there’s a passing resemblance to a strip show.

So the performers are gay, as is a significant portion of the audience. Do you need to be gay to enjoy a drag show, then?

Absolutely not.

“It’s funny because most of the audience is straight,” Taylor said. “The best advertising we have is girls – straight girls.”

Girls tend to be more interested in seeing the show on its own merits, and they get their friends involved, Taylor said.

And in a town like Ames where people complain there isn’t much to do but drink, a drag show is a welcome break from routine.

“It’s a chance for you to get away from the ordinary,” Taylor said. “The overall theme that people need to understand about drag is fun. If it wasn’t fun, it wouldn’t be as successful as it is.”