He regularly appears on Comedy Central’s "The Graham Norton Effect",

and has made appearances on PBS’s "In the Life". He has released two CDs, and his music can be heard on Golden Globe and Emmy award-winning police drama "The Shield". He has shared the stage with Cyndi Lauper, Sarah MacLachlan, and kd lang, as well as Madonna, Ricky Martin and Margaret Cho. He is “creative non-fiction performing artist” and Latin pop star Jade Esteban Estrada, and the next stop on his international whirlwind tour is right here in Jackson.

     In his one-man performance, "ICONS: The Lesbian and Gay History of the World, Volume 1," he portrays such historical figures as Sappho, Michelangelo, Oscar Wilde, Gertrude Stein, Sylvia Rivera and even Ellen DeGeneres, among others. Planet Weekly recently interviewed Mr. Estrada while he was on location filming in New Mexico, and Estrada proved to be provocative, candid, and insightful. He was personable and easy to talk to, and he’s a very funny individual. Estrada’s lively personality came through the phone lines even from 1000 miles away.

     PW: To start can you give us an overview of your show, "ICONS: The Lesbian and Gay History of the World, Volume 1?" What should the audience expect?

     JEE: It’s a solo musical comedy, first of a three part series. I am currently pregnant with part three.

     PW: Congratulations, Mr. Estrada.

     JEE: Thank you! It’s still in formation. (laughs) Basically, the show is a journey from the far past to the present day. Classrooms and books can be less than interesting. The only way I can get away with doing this is because I was trained to entertain. By the time Sappho starts, one forgets it’s a history lesson.

     PW: Why a show about gay history?

     JEE: I love history and I’m gay. The larger part of the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered) community doesn’t know their own history, as I didn’t know the history. It was lost and now, because of a variety of sources, the information is available. I am using my show as an educational means. I’m like a pied piper, getting the audience to see my vision – George Bush can do it, why can’t I? I hold a mirror to the faces of my audience. It’s their history, their story. I want to remind people of a stolen foundation; it’s why I do what I am doing.

     PW: It’s been said if you weren’t an entertainer you would be a history professor.

     JEE: Oh, yeah. I love it; it gets me going. I would like to see America going back to the library. A large majority of the public stays home and watches The Amazing Race. It breaks my heart that less people read for fun.

     PW: You’re from Texas, which like Mississippi is a very conservative state. What was your experience coming out there?

     JEE: I have had many different experiences. I was Grand Marshal at San Antonio Pride, and The San Antonio Express-News put such an emphasis on the fact that I was gay, and it’s about so much more than that. In doing "ICONS," I’m saying that we do not or will not live surreptitious lives. We are not glued to the barstool. There’s more to being gay than going to the club. We’re parents, doctors, artists, and we’re your next-door neighbors and it’s high time that people knew that. My hometown was indicative to me that there is so much work to be done. I’ve lived in New York, L.A., and London, but I’m concentrating my tour outside of the major cities. We need to be out there. They need us to come to them. I have to remember when I encounter opposition that the content of my work is controversial. This is where I am coming from, and if audience members can identify with just one aspect of my show, then I have done my job.

     PW: Who is your favorite character to portray and why?

     JEE: I get asked that every time. It’s like asking someone who their favorite child is in front of the children. The characters all represent different things and people. Michelangelo can’t be gay so he becomes a workaholic. Sappho is a lipstick lesbian. I don’t know, I usually say Sappho, but today I say Oscar Wilde; he’s full-proof.

     PW: Have you encountered audience members that didn’t know about the sexual orientation of some of the characters you portray?

     JEE: Oh yeah, I get it all the time, from gay and lesbian and straight alike. But most people are surprised that the show’s content has little to do with being lesbian or gay. It’s more about the recognizable human struggle. I am making a point there: we are all the same.

     PW: How did you come up with these characters? Was it hard to narrow it down?

     JEE: It was very hard to narrow it down. [The characters] moved into my apartment with Vol. 2. I had to become them all the time, and it was very challenging. I’m an actor from the old school – I become the characters I portray. I want to make sure I can groove with them.

      PW: When you portray Gertrude Stein you say, “It’s not a gay thing, it’s a human thing.” What does that mean?

      JEE: We’re all in this together. Gertrude Stein was the first to be about the bigger picture, that we all have to get along. Who cares about the gay and lesbian thing? It’s the same concept as Susan B. Anthony being for African-American rights. The women’s suffrage movement didn’t want to touch it. It would have been easier for them without that added group. Kind of like the way the gay movement can be with transgender people. Humanists are the ones who keep it real. Without them we cannot survive.

     PW: What’s this about the show being interactive?

     JEE: Very interactive! I learned that from Jerry Springer. I was on Jerry Springer lip-synching “It’s Raining Men” with the most homophobic audience you could imagine. And when I was doing it, I went around and sat in the guys’ laps – and they loved it. It excites the audience when you get off stage.

     PW: The show seems to encompass a lot of personalities; what aspects of you are in each character?

     JEE: I’m in every character. There is a saying in Spanish, cada cabeza es un mundo, meaning everyone is a different universe; everyone is different. These are all parts of me.

     PW: "ICONS 1," the show you are doing at Hal and Mal’s in Jackson, is becoming a movie. How do you feel about that?

     JEE: It’s very, very challenging to translate what I’ve created in live theater to a form of portable media. It’s a very different art form; it’s reconstructing it from the ground up.

     PW: The show encompasses some very diverse talents and takes a lot of versatility. What’s your background?

     JEE: Stand-up comic, tap-dancer, mariachi, opera, singing in Spanish, nothing you ever do in life is wasted. I am the poster boy for that. I could learn how to carve wood, and I guarantee you it would become a part of my show somehow. It’s all part of my bag of tricks.

     PW: And you went to school with Jennifer Lopez?

     JEE: Yes, we went to school together at Broadway Dance Center. She was that crazy hip-hop girl. We just called her “Jen.”

     PW: Your show at Hal & Mal’s is a benefit for an HIV transitional living facility here in Jackson, Grace House. Can you talk about how HIV and AIDS have affected your life?

     JEE: In 1997 my best friend died of AIDS. I remember shortly before that he showed me an entire huge tray of medicines. He was about to take them and he said, “The next time you want to have sex without a condom, remember this, three times a day.” Sex is a beautiful part of human existence; we’re just going through a bad time right now. I want to take this opportunity to say this to the young people: people think AIDS is gone and it’s not. I echo [playwright and AIDS activist] Larry Kramer in reminding the public that the AIDS epidemic is only getting worse. Please protect yourself and the ones you love.

     PW: What is your take on the Latino community’s response to HIV/AIDS?

     JEE: Information is not being translated to these communities, where talking about HIV and AIDS is still taboo. In the Hispanic community, even coming out can be a huge scandal. People are totally disowned from their families. Some religious members of the Hispanic community view having the virus as a punishment, which is ridiculous, but it’s a different culture, and the solutions need to be composed with the traditions, religion and culture in mind.

     PW: What about your new album, due out this year? Tell us about that.

     JEE: Well, I have a new album so I’m really happy. (laughs) Every time I’m onstage I ask myself, “How did I get this lucky?” I get to do what I love – to have it well received, and ride on my Latin pop stardom. "ICONS" was something no one expected, and it’s kind of nice. With my first album the press compared me to Ricky Martin, and then later to John Leguizamo, when I started doing the solo theatre thing. The press doesn’t compare me to others now.

     PW: You worked with Charo and did choreography with her. What was that like?

     JEE: Yeah, she’s my show biz mom. She taught me that after you learn to be a performer, and after you learn to be a celebrity, the next level to be tackled is actually being good onstage. She taught me a lot.

     PW: I’ve read that there is one question that irritates you and the press asked you over and over …

     JEE: I think I know what you’re going to ask …

     PW: Is Ricky Martin gay?

     JEE: I knew it. There is a line in "ICONS 1," when I am portraying Ellen DeGeneres and she says, “… and I don’t believe in outing anyone who isn’t ready, and by the way I’m dating Anne Heche.” I mean that’s a joke but the message behind it is that people need to do what they need to do on their own. I’m not the type to out anyone.
 

©2005 Planet Weekly