A New Orleans-style, second-line funeral/parade will be held Monday, April 1, in the East Village for Brian Butterick, who went by the drag name Hattie Hathaway. He died of lung cancer Jan. 30.
Nightlife impresarios Chi Chi Valenti and Johnny Dynell, who spend a month in New Orleans each year, are organizing the “giant send-off” for the drag performer, their “longtime collaborator, friend and inspirator.”
The marchers, accompanied by a 17-piece brass band, will gather in Tompkins Square Park at 6:30 p.m. and march to La MaMa’s Ellen Stewart Theatre on East Fourth Street.
Valenti told me the paraders, mostly in drag, will bring parasols, drums or tambourines. “This is a night for memories, performance and dancing.”