I was saddened to hear that legendary Houston drag performer and emcee Cookie LaCook, AKA 'The Mouth of the South', passed away on July 27.
The Louisiana born Cookie moved to Houston and became an icon in the Houston SGL community. She was a former 1987 Miss Gay Texas USofA at Large who was always happy to do a benefit show, host an event, visit the sick or attend a funeral for someone whose loved ones had disowned them. She even hosted a Juneteenth event in Dallas. And she always loved her f*****g great audiences.
I got to chat with her numerous times over the years whenever I visited Studio 13/Rascals or happened to occasionally bump into her when I was downtown. The one conversation I had with Cookie that's the most memorable one happened at a short lived GLBT club called Uptown/Downtown in the early 90s. She introduced me to her favorite drink, the amaretto sour while we had a long free ranging conversation over a wide range of subjects. (y'all know how much I love intelligent conversation). After that night anytime I showed up at Rascals and she spotted me in the crowd I was incorporated into her monologue as 'Soul Sister Number 1'.
As someone noted on the Houston Splash website, a f*****g great audience has a f*****g great host. Cookie was all that and three bags of chips. Best of all, she was a first class human being as well.It's gonna be strange next May if I'm lucky enough to attend Houston Splash and not see Cookie's regal presence keeping things moving and making us laugh.
Rest in peace, Cookie. You've earned it.
Not only was Cookie a great entertainer. She was the "BEST Godparent to my son "Rodney". She is missed.
ReplyDeleteShe was a great friend to me as well.
ReplyDeleteI had not been out on "the scene",
ReplyDeletefor awhile, when I learned of Cookie's death. It sort of outraged me, because even though I was not "out there", I would get
the various magazines/papers about
Gay life in Houston. I didn't recall ONE of them doing any kind of story on Cookie. Otherwise I would not have been so shocked when I found out Cookie was gone.
I could not believe it, and it just shows how racism within the gay community is the same, if not worse, as outside of it. Had
it been a performer who reigned over the crowds at JR's, etc., there would have been multiple reportings.