As a young child in Oakland she would wait for her parents to leave before she would select one of the men’s suits in her collection and perform to Harry Connick Jr. songs. It wasn’t until she went to Sacramento that she realize it had a name, Now that girl, who now goes by Tommy Paul, performs drag weekly.

“We all wear costumes to get into a certain mind-set,” Paul says about why she likes to perform drag. “Ours is just for a rocking good time. I can’t imagine not doing it.”

Drag kings are not women trying to be a man but they are women who dress masculine and performed. Although drag kings are very popular in lesbian culture not all are lesbians.

Drag queens have become more popular then drag kings in the United States. Even more male celebrities have dress in drag then female celebrities. Tyler Perry, Jim Carrey and Jaime Foxx have dressed in drag. While it is becoming more common for female celebrities to dress in drag, Ciara’s “Like a Boy” video and Amanda Bryne’s “What a Girl Wants”, the rise of drag kings’ popularity has just started and is still not as mainstream as drag queens. The East Bay Kings hope to change that.

“It depends on where you are,” says Zoey Zotish, who performed with the East Bay Kings one night when three members were sick. “Here Drag queens are more popular because they have been in the Tenderloin since before Stonewall.” The Stonewall Riot occurred in 1966 in New York City after police raided the Stonewall Inn looking for gay, lesbian and transgendered people.

Tommy Paul, who goes by Tommy Salami when performing, is the president of the East Bay Kings Club. In June Paul along with Jack Strap, formed the group because they noticed unlike San Diego, where they previously lived, there weren’t many drag king shows in the East Bay.

“Clubs don’t put on more shows because they think there aren’t enough lesbians that want to go,” says Paul, while deciding the order of the show’s performances, “but we put on a weekly show. Imagine if you actually put on events lesbians want to attend they will come.”

The White Horse Inn slowly begins to fill the closer it gets to the time for the contest to begin. It’s a Wednesday night which means there’s going to be a karaoke show. Not your typical karaoke show featuring a collection of voices ranging from talented singers and tone deaf singers but the East Bay Kings’ “Quest for the Crown”.

After lip-syncing singing the first number “Sunglasses at Night” by Cory Hart one of tonight’s emcees introduces himself as Tommy. He is wearing dark sunglasses, blue jeans with black chaps and a white T-shirt. His short blond hair is slicked back. After telling a few jokes, he then asks for a volunteer from the audience to, after each performance, collect the tips thrown on the floor.

He surveys the crowd before selecting a young, brunette who calls herself Pixie. Tommy jokes with the girl about not giving her real name before saying, “That’s ok it doesn’t say Tommy on my birth certificate either.”

The East Bay Kings Club had their first show at Mills College a year and a half ago and have been performing at the White horse Inn for about 10 weeks and they already have a loyal audience.

An short African-American drag king with a Mohawk with light brown tips debates on if she should wear a leather jacket over a stripe shirt and brown tie while performing. Kurtis Blowme, who prefers to go by her stage name because when performing she is not herself, says she loves performing drag because it’s a form of acting, doing drag gives her a chance to perform.

“When I’m doing a show I’m not really me,“ say Blowme, “Kurtis Blowme is my alter ego. That’s what is so cool about drag.”

Sometimes the show has themes like the show the Wednesday before St. Patrick’s Day the theme was “Kiss me I’m Packing”. The performance also includes a contest for amateurs if three or more than contestants want to perform. There is a $50 cash prize. Newcomers only have to pick a song and have an outfit the East Bay Kings Club will help with hair, make-up and concealing breasts.

Paul hopes there will be more drag king performances in the future but doesn’t think that will happen until the gay and lesbian community in the Bay Area will become more cohesive.

“We are over looking the larger issue and that is we all have one thing in common,” says Paul.