[cat rumbles with full-body purr]
Brandon Rounds is a cat dad...
[cat's purr buzzes loudly, Siamese cat meows]
...an artist, and ambassador.
- Brandon Rounds: Originally from Boscobel, southwest Wisconsin.
If you hold up your hand, down here is where I'm from. [Brandon chuckles]
The goal is to be done by five.
[fan flutters]
[funk music]
[zipper rasps]
I had to move to realize what was outside of a small town.
- Angela: Outside of his rural upbringing,
Brandon found a new circle of friends,
and the spotlight.
[claps hands]
The end. - Bam!
You guys got the good makeup tonight.
- Angela: Brandon is also known as the drag artist
Bianca Lynn Breeze.
- Emcee: Madison, make some noise
for Bianca Lynn Breeze.
[audience cheering]
- Brandon: When people come to a drag queen Bingo,
they expect the high glamour,
and they wanna see something that's just over the top.
[synth-pop music]
["I Wanna Dance with Somebody (W? And when the night falls ?n]
- I want people to understand
that drag is nothing but an art form.
You remember when you're a kid, and you always played Bingo
in school or maybe at your church?
It's like that excitement but amplified by like a hundred.
All right, here we go.
First number: I-16.
["Sixteen Going on Seventeen"] ? I am 16 ? - Crowd: ? Going on 17 ?
- Brandon: Drag queen Bingo is just super fun.
- Angela: Bianca entertains sold-out crowds
in venue after venue,
greeting Bingo fans with humor and humility.
- My humor comes from sarcasm.
Is that rule okay with you guys?
[audience laughing]
And everyday life happenings to me.
But also, I'm a dude wearing heels.
I've been doing it for 12 years.
I still can't even walk on heels sometimes.
[lively techno music]
- Angela: Brandon uses his small-town experience
as a catalyst for change, in high heels and a wig.
[elevator chimes] - Brandon: A lot of my events and a lot of my Bingos
tend to be in the smaller communities
just outside of Madison.
Hello, Oshkosh, make some noise!
[cheering]
After a while, I started to realize
that the reason why I'm doing drag
is to help educate our communities.
When we're in drag, and there's all this glamour,
people are gonna notice you,
and they're gonna stop, and they're gonna listen
to what you have to say.
And that's what's beautiful about drag.
[techno]
- Angela: That approach could be even more important,
as drag performers find themselves
in the political crosshairs.
- Brandon: We have so much hatred against the LGBTQ community,
against drag queens in general,
and I want to be that resource for people,
to answer questions for them if they have questions.
[gentle piano chords]
Bianca's personality is somebody
that anybody can come up to her and ask her anything.
I don't care; I'm an open book.
Bingo going once, [crowd claps once]
Bingo going twice, [crowd claps twice]
Bingo going three times. [crowd claps three times]
- Angela: For some people, Bingo is that 'aha' moment.
- Brandon: A lot of people don't know what drag is
or have never met a drag queen in their life.
How many of y'all played Bingo here before with us?
[audience yells "Whoo!"]
- And then, after an event, people are like,
"You know, I had so much fun tonight.
Thank you for opening my eyes."
I can't even count the amount of times
I've had people say that to me.
Make some noise for our winner. [audience cheering]
- Brandon: We need to continue to be happy,
show people what happiness is,
what love is, what kindness is.
- Angela: Kindness is a trait
Brandon learned from his mother,
growing up in that small town.
- I lost my mom in 2008, 15 years ago.
She was always an uplifting person in our community.
Since then, I've just feel like
I have to be a positive person.
I have to be uplifting
because you never know when your last day is gonna come around.
- Angela: Inspired by his mother,
Brandon took her name as part of his drag persona.
- And I said, "Well, I don't wanna be just Bianca.
"I wanna be Bianca Lynn
'cause that was my mom's middle name."
- Angela: That tribute brought Brandon closer to his mom,
and a drag identity that taught him something else.
- Brandon: When I was younger, I was very reserved.
Bianca instills a little bit of confidence in Brandon.
Bianca is somebody that people come to see,
and all of the attention is on her,
and she gets to buy all the flashy costuming.
And she gets to do the fun makeup
and the glitter and the sparkle.
You'll have to come in further because there's more stuff.
I'm just waiting for these shelves just to break.
[lively music]
Brandon's a little bit more professional in life,
but Bianca's taught Brandon to do that
because Bianca makes some money,
so Brandon has to be able to know how to spend that wisely.
[lively music]
- Angela: Brandon has also transformed Bianca
into one of Wisconsin's premier drag Bingo entertainers.
- Literally, glitter, rhinestones, and a wig.
[laughs]
We're all trying to get through this thing
that we call life,
to find joy and passion in what we do.
It's made me feel like I've really found a place
to express who I am.
[smooth Electronica]