History is a particularly easy subject to get excited about. As time marches on, what once was around ends up only to disappear. When it comes to clubs around the Carolinas, many end up being short-lived. Between 2024 and 2025, Charlotte’s Scorpios, Raleigh’s Legends and Asheville’s Scandals either permanently closed or shut down temporarily, with their former buildings demolished. Artistic establishments don’t survive in our capitalistic society, so when something does, it’s to be applauded.
That’s one of the ongoing tricks that Jeff Reeves, the owner of Club Cabaret, knows how to do well. In addition to keeping Hickory’s LGBTQ+ haven alive, he’s lived a legendary life, achieving much of what he has wanted to. From traveling as a drag artist and performing as Nancy Newton, starting in the 1980s, to running the Royal Court Circuit and many established bars, Jeff is as appreciated by our community as his nightclub is. Here’s the conversation he shared with QNotes about his life’s journey.
Jonny Golian: When did you start Club Cabaret, and how long have you been with the business?
Jeff Reeves: Buddy and I, actually, started off with Tree Tops on 14th Avenue in 1977 [in Hickory], I believe it was. Buddy and I were lovers for 25 years, and I’d worked for Lowe’s companies forever. I’d worked for Lowe’s and dealt with the bar at the same time. And then I got into “doing dry” and I got real lucky. I ended up winning Ms. Gay USA in ’92 and then I traveled extensively across the country being Nancy Newton, and I had a whole lot of fun, met a lot of friends, and become friends to a lot of people through my travels. You know, now I’m older, if I live till July, I’ll be 71 and of course, I’m still doing drag. I’m supposed to do drag Saturday night this week, because it’s kind of the way the public wants me. I try to do what it does to help the business and to keep me going. I’m afraid, if I sit down, I’ll never get back up, and that’s what I’m really trying to do right now. I’ve been involved, and I actually bought Mr. Gay USA in 1992 from Jerry Bird, who originally started it, and have kept it even when we were sued by Donald Trump USA.
JG: You contended with Donald Trump?!
JR: Yeah, it was an absolute mess. That orange headed son of a bitch. He thought that he owned control of the name “USA.” And this was back, you know, in the ’90s, and his lawyers told me that I’m not allowed to use the name. And I said, Well, let me show you what I can do. So I changed it to “USA Unlimited,” and once I added the “Unlimited” to the name of my contest, he couldn’t touch me, and I still own it. If it hadn’t been for my health, I would have had my new Unlimited Cover Contest, but I had so much on my plate, losing my step mother in January and dealing with my 94-year-old daddy. I’m one of the major caregivers for my dad, and, you know, just very grateful and very blessed to be able to do [that].
JG: I read about that while doing research for this interview. Condolences to your family.
JR: It’s funny. I don’t say as much about Jeff as I do Nancy, but I’ve always tried to keep my personal stuff. It’s nobody’s business unless I want to tell them. But. as I was saying. I’ve helped stop-start Catawba Valley pride. I helped start Asheville Pride and the State Pride that went on in Durham, off the campus of NC State. You know, we’re talking about the late ‘70s and early ‘80s.
JG: Where else have you been involved in the Carolina communities? It really sounds like you’ve had your hand in a lot of happenings over the years.
JR: I helped start three different gay churches in Catawba County. We would use my bar, and on a Sunday morning or afternoon, whenever church met, we would cover up all the liquor so it wouldn’t be disrespectful to a higher power. And then I went to whichever Christian Fellowship Church established down in Newton, and I was the choir director for years, and this is after me being a choir director in my church just right up from my house where I was saved and I was raised. I was the choir director at the biggest Baptist Church in Wilkes County for 15 years. I majored in music in school. Band and Chorus in public school was what I taught in the early ’70s.
JG: When did you start drag? Tell me a little bit about Nancy Newton, and you said you’re performing at Club Cabaret?
JR: Yes. We have a big group of people coming from out of town, and we are doing a crowning with Saniya Chanel Iman. She was a former Miss North Carolina, and we’re crowning her as Miss Gay United States 2025, with Malayia Chanel Iman doing the crowning. I started drag in 1980 and went to Miss America in ‘82. You know, back in the day I could sing incredible. Not so much nowadays, but I’m blessed still. My partner plays a piano, and we’ve been so busy getting things done that we’ve not actually jumped into the music room [lately]. But you know, as we’re getting older, that’ll be something we will do. He’s good at what he does, and I’m good at what I do, and doing it together. It’s just amazing.
JG: So you are crowning someone soon. Are you a part of the royal court still?
JR: Yes, I was. I was the second emperor, and Charlie Brown and I, Charlie was my drag mother, and she was the empress and I was the emperor, and then, two years later, Nancy Newton was the empress, and Mark Madison, from Wisconsin ended up being my emperor.
JG: When did you start in the royal court?
JR: Melissa Montgomery, who just passed last year, and Raymond Ward were our first empress and emperor. And then, as I told you, me and Charlie Brown were the second emperor and empress. And then two years later than that, I ended up being the Empress with the guy from Wisconsin. Mark had family in Fayetteville, and he came into town just a whole lot, he was good for the contest. He was brilliant, actually, and he made a lot of people understand what we were doing. He was great at writing articles and doing things. I can talk pretty good most of the time, but I’m not somebody to sit down and write up a bunch of stuff.
JG: Our publisher told me a little bit about your involvement with the bear community, and he said you had been the president of a nearby chapter…
JR: Yeah. In 2003 and ’04, I was the president of the Carolina Bear Lodge, and then again in ‘09, because I was one of those that would start events. We had chapters in 10 cities over in North Carolina, and at the time that I was there, we had 285 members, including a den in Charlotte, which Tor Froland was involved there, he and I right now are not really, not on speaking terms. If I give you my love and my attention, and you show your ass to me, then I’m the kind that will walk away, and that’s what I’ve done with Tor, even though I know he’s a good soul.
JG: Last Question: For Club Cabaret, and all the other clubs you’ve managed over your life, what has been the greatest success in keeping it going? What would you attribute the long years to? I mean, 35 years is a feat, an extreme one.
JR: And if I live ’til Nov. 7, I have been in the bar business for 50 years. And this is counting the bar in Hickory, the bar in Asheville and Delusions in Myrtle Beach. The biggest thing I can tell you? Be good to your community. Do that, and your community will be good right back.