- previous
- 1
- 2
- | single page
E-mail
Print
In most beauty pageants, the talent portion is dreaded. Not this one. Whatever hesitancy the contestants had as they started to lip-sync, recite, dance or sing melted inside a room filled with supporters cheering, whistling and eagerly singing along.
"Whoa-oa-oa!" Vizcarra screamed into the microphone on the karaoke machine as she launched into her rendition of James Brown: "I feel good, I knew that I would, now; I feel good, I knew that I would, now. So good, so good, I got you . . ."
The audience howled its approval.
When Nancy Sherman took the mike to sing the Billie Holiday standard "Good Morning, Heartache" (a flower pinned in her hair, à la Holiday), there was stunned silence. Her voice, assured and mellow, wafted through the room, leaving her audience mesmerized.
And then there was Anna Gonzalez's poem, "Invisible Mail," about waiting for a letter that never arrives:
The strangest thing happened today.
An invisible man came my way.
He brought me something that wasn't
quite there.
To receive invisible mail is extremely
rare.
So I opened this nothing. Opened it
wide.
Only to find less than nothing inside.
For the dressy part of the competition, the audience members moved their chairs to create a narrow center aisle. With her Bettie Page bangs and pale skin, Angelina Tassone flounced down the "runway" in a short, strapless print dress, her head bobbing coquettishly from side to side.
"Something you might wear to the Ivy," pageant organizer Jaren Francis intoned into the microphone, offering commentary on each contestant's outfit.
"I figure I've got to put my all in it," said Tassone, 33, who has been at Walden House two weeks. She was in Chowchilla for petty theft related to her drug abuse, she explained. "I stole a steak from a grocery store," she said.
After a break for snacks, the judges returned with the results. Second runner-up: Angelina Tassone. First runner-up: Nancy Sherman, the would-be Billie Holiday. She blew kisses to the audience.
And the winner?
Darlene Escalante.
She clapped her hands to her face, eyes teary in true beauty queen fashion, as a tiara was placed on her head. Her slinky maroon evening gown revealed a tattoo of praying hands on the left side of her upper chest. A fur stole was draped around her shoulders like a cape.
"I want to thank Tracy, my roommate, because it was her idea," she said as she launched into several thank-yous, including one to her cousin, who was also in the show. "I'm so shocked!"
Half an hour later, the stole was returned and the borrowed gown had been peeled off. Escalante was back in her casual clothes. Swinging from a long cord around her neck was the plastic I.D. card identifying her as a California Department of Corrections inmate on drug treatment furlough.
Initially, Escalante said, "I didn't have a dress, a talent, a skit, nothing." She seemed surprised she got organized enough to compete, let alone win. She chuckled at the thought.
carla.hall@latimes.com
"Whoa-oa-oa!" Vizcarra screamed into the microphone on the karaoke machine as she launched into her rendition of James Brown: "I feel good, I knew that I would, now; I feel good, I knew that I would, now. So good, so good, I got you . . ."
The audience howled its approval.
When Nancy Sherman took the mike to sing the Billie Holiday standard "Good Morning, Heartache" (a flower pinned in her hair, à la Holiday), there was stunned silence. Her voice, assured and mellow, wafted through the room, leaving her audience mesmerized.
And then there was Anna Gonzalez's poem, "Invisible Mail," about waiting for a letter that never arrives:
The strangest thing happened today.
An invisible man came my way.
He brought me something that wasn't
quite there.
To receive invisible mail is extremely
rare.
So I opened this nothing. Opened it
wide.
Only to find less than nothing inside.
For the dressy part of the competition, the audience members moved their chairs to create a narrow center aisle. With her Bettie Page bangs and pale skin, Angelina Tassone flounced down the "runway" in a short, strapless print dress, her head bobbing coquettishly from side to side.
"Something you might wear to the Ivy," pageant organizer Jaren Francis intoned into the microphone, offering commentary on each contestant's outfit.
"I figure I've got to put my all in it," said Tassone, 33, who has been at Walden House two weeks. She was in Chowchilla for petty theft related to her drug abuse, she explained. "I stole a steak from a grocery store," she said.
After a break for snacks, the judges returned with the results. Second runner-up: Angelina Tassone. First runner-up: Nancy Sherman, the would-be Billie Holiday. She blew kisses to the audience.
And the winner?
Darlene Escalante.
She clapped her hands to her face, eyes teary in true beauty queen fashion, as a tiara was placed on her head. Her slinky maroon evening gown revealed a tattoo of praying hands on the left side of her upper chest. A fur stole was draped around her shoulders like a cape.
"I want to thank Tracy, my roommate, because it was her idea," she said as she launched into several thank-yous, including one to her cousin, who was also in the show. "I'm so shocked!"
Half an hour later, the stole was returned and the borrowed gown had been peeled off. Escalante was back in her casual clothes. Swinging from a long cord around her neck was the plastic I.D. card identifying her as a California Department of Corrections inmate on drug treatment furlough.
Initially, Escalante said, "I didn't have a dress, a talent, a skit, nothing." She seemed surprised she got organized enough to compete, let alone win. She chuckled at the thought.
carla.hall@latimes.com
Digg
Twitter
Facebook
StumbleUpon
Save more than