Performance artist Alexander Kacala lives to sing. He's loaned his voice to a variety of local music theater productions, including Walnut Street Theatre's Fiddler on the Roof and several shows at New Candlelight in Delaware — but he didn't feel like he was tapping into the heart of his talent until he did it dressed as a woman. "I was singing and people weren't paying attention," he says, "and then I put on a dress and they were."

His alter ego, Tammy Faymous, is unlike most of the drag personalities you'll see around town. He models himself after more avant-garde types like Martha Graham Cracker and, instead of lip-syncing some run-of-the-mill pop tune, the reigning Mz. South Philly Fabulous belts songs by artists who don't typically get airtime in everyday drag performances, like Muse and Patti Smith. Also indicative of his out-of-the-box persona, he likes to spread the gay by performing in not-so-queer venues like the Barbary, where he's about to host the second installment of his monthly party, Qream. "It's important to do [gay] events all over the city," he says. "It's an excuse for someone who doesn't leave the Gayborhood to experience a younger, edgier, punkier crowd."

A monthly performance and dance party hybrid, Qream features opposite-sex impersonators who revel in jaw-dropping, sexuality-warping antics. This time around, Kacala's sharing the bill with Roxxy Glamour, Crocadill Dupree and drag king Oscar Wildchilde to celebrate the 57th birthday of Needles Jones, a self-proclaimed "drag pariah" who can take responsibility for paving the way for this new crop of gender-bending shit-stirrers. "On pussyfaggot.net, he's listed as performing with a needle still in his arm from shooting up backstage," laughs Kacala. Don't say we didn't warn you.

(josh.middleton@citypaper.net)

Tue., July 26, 11:30 p.m. (doors open at 9 p.m.), $3-$5, Barbary, 951 Frankford Ave., 215-634-7400, facebook.com/thebarbary.