The Denver Cycle Sluts began when Kenneth Maurice traveled from Denver out to Los Angeles in 1978 and caught the act of a professional theater group called The Cycle Sluts. The Cycle Sluts in Los Angeles began one Halloween in the 1970s when a group of 12 gay men put on big bouffant wigs and women’s lingerie. They arrived at the club, Studio One, not in a limo, but a garbage truck. The truck pulled up, The Cycle Sluts climbed out, and Slut history was made.
The Cycle Sluts went on to perform at the Whiskey-A-Go-Go nightclub in LA. They became so famous that stars like Florence Henderson and Liberace came to see their show. They toured across the country including Chicago, San Francisco and New York. The group sang with their own voices, had their own choreographer and a professional costume designer. Thom Frey, who would later be part of the future Denver Cycle Sluts, was living in Los Angeles during this time and was dating one of The Cycle Sluts named Kenny.
Kenneth Maurice was so inspired by what he saw in 1978, that he brought the idea back to Denver and formed his own group in 1979, which he named The Cycle Sluts. The Cycle Sluts in LA did not take kindly to the Denver group using their name, so Kenneth changed the name to The Denver Cycle Sluts.
Kenneth gave himself the drag name, Helen Bed. Helen was joined by by Bonita Bulge (Fred Valdez), Mona Lott (Greg Lowe), Donna Drag (Thom Frey), Constance Hardon (Buddy Cressey), Lucinda West (Michael West) and Venetia Blind (Vince Kline) to form the original Denver Cycle Sluts.
The Denver Cycle Sluts, however, were not very well received. The performances they put on were considered vulgar and crude. Simulated sex acts and dildos on stage were not what the audiences in Denver wanted to see in their drag shows. The group fizzled out.
In 1989, Kenneth Maurice decided to run for Empress XVIII of the Imperial Court of the Rocky Mountain Empire. For his campaign, he thought it would be fun to bring back the idea for The Denver Cycle Sluts to help raise money for charity. This time the group he formed put on a classier act and the Denver Cycle Sluts became a big hit in the gay community. Kenneth Maurice was successful in his campaign and became Empress XVIII, Kinsey Rapport.
After becoming Empress, Kenneth turned the leadership of the group over to Donna Drag and Constance Hard-On. The group only had three members with the third being Lucinda West. Venetia Blind returned and brought a new member, Rita My Lips.
The five Denver Cycle Sluts performed only a few times a year, and their performances were much anticipated by the community. They wowed audiences at the anniversary parties of the gay bars, Bricks and The Den. They were invited by the Emperor Glen Emery of the San Fernando Valley Imperial Court to be Command Performers. The group was in high demand and the owner of the gay bar Mike’s, Tim Timmons, would cancel other acts at his bar, just to get them at his club.
The group had a few ground rules to be a Denver Cycle Slut. They only wore big hair and women’s lingerie. They could have no painted fingernails and no tucking was allowed. They had to have body and facial hair. High heels were optional. All the money to put on the shows, makeup and hair came out of the pockets of the performers.
And 100 percent of the money they raised went to charity.
The five performers decided they needed 1 or 2 more sluts in the group so in 1991, they held the first Slut Search, a contest to see who could do their best to be a Denver Cycle Slut. Eight contestants competed and two were chosen, Ivanna Lay-ya (Dennis), and the first female slut, Fish Pate (Sandra Graves).
It was at this time that the group also designed a t-shirt which featured a graphic image of “That Girl” with a cigarette dangling out the side of her mouth.
Glen Emery, who was still living in California, came to Denver and performed a spoof drag number as a Cycle Slut. He gave himself the name, Holly Would!, and began flying to Denver to perform as a “Guest Slut” with the Denver group. Holly later moved to Denver to become an official member of the group.
Jim Nash, the partner of Lucinda West, jumped into the Slut 3-ring circus as Holly Davidson. The group obtained a Winnebago and started traveling around Colorado performing shows and raising money for charity. They held Slut Search every year to attract new performing members but most that joined faded away and left the group. One show of the Denver Cycle Sluts became famous and ran for 4 years - the Beauty Pageant Contest. Each Slut would choose a new identity and compete for the Pageant Crown. The winner would always get beat up by the first runner up and sometimes the audience would jump into the foray as well.
Each Slut had their area of expertise. Donna Drag was in charge of all the costuming for the group. Everyone else was too embarrassed to go into women’s clothing stores to buy the necessary lingerie, so Donna did it for them. Donna also did all the big hair and makeup for every member. Before a show, Donna would paint everyone until finally, Constance Hard-On and Rita My Lips also learned to help. Venetia Blind was in charge of props for the shows.
Holly Would was appointed the Queen Mother Director in 1994 by Donna Drag, with Donna staying on as a consultant. Holly Would hosted a Slut Search in an effort to bring new members into the group. Three contestants competed: Ilene Dover, Lotta Ho and Cherry Hills. Ilene and Lotta were selected to join the group. Cherry Hills was disqualified for using a dildo in her number but was later inducted into the group.
Holly Would served as Queen Mother Director for 4 1/2 years and during her reign brought into the group the performers Tina Turnover (Mark Schmidt) , Sandi Fran Crisco (Kent Epperson), Ivanna B. Astar (John Carroll), Sheneeda Bleach (Bill Wright), Gabbriella But’zin (Tim Fischer), and Molotovia Cocktail (Steven Moore). During this time, Slut Search was held only when needed to bring in new members. The group put on 3 major shows a year and made appearances in other shows around Denver.
Holly stepped down as Queen Mother Director in 1998. The first permanent titles were given out to the original founding members of the group. Tina Turnover stepped down along with Holly, both receiving permanent titles. Holly purchased a crown and began the Queen Mother’s Jewels collection. Each Queen Mother Director since has added some type of jewelry to the collection that is now passed down to each new Queen Mother Director.
Sheneeda Bleach was crowned Queen Mother Director of the Denver Cycle Sluts in 1998 serving until 2001. During her reign, the Denver Cycle Sluts were named “Entertainers to Their Majesties” by the Imperial Court of the Rocky Mountain Empire in 1999 and 2000. Under Sheneeda’s reign the following members joined the group: Tillie Screams (Arthur Gilkison), Sharon Cousins (Dustin Gallo), Polka Hole (Michael Graczyk) and Nuclia Waste (David Westman).
In 1999, the Denver Cycle Sluts celebrated their 20th Anniversary with a very large show and fund raiser at the Gothic Theater on Sunday, August 8. Many of the past retired Denver Cycle Sluts performed and attended the event. Sandi Fran Crisco officially retired from the group to run for Emperor XXVII of the Imperial Court of the Rocky Mountain Empire, which he accomplished in the following year.
Soon after, Thom Frey, Michael Graczyk, Glen Emery and Tim Fisher began meeting to incorporate the Denver Cycle Sluts. The four served as the first Board of Directors. They wrote the first bylaws for the group and filed documents to incorporate the group as DCS, Inc. with the state of CO.