Best Cable Access TV Show

El Chow de Faustina, ACTV

"Lenny" is an opera singer. He demonstrates his technique for the home viewing audience one evening: He takes a clear plastic tube and sticks it into his nose, pushing it down until one end comes out through his mouth. Then, tube hanging from his face, Lenny (in reality performance artist Linda Montano) commences to sing "That's Amore," gagging and drooling through chorus and verse. Watching Lenny and pouring tea for the two of them is Faustina, aka Fausto Fernós, reknowned Austin drag queen. Using what he calls "life-affirming images of transgendering," Fernós interviews local artists and reads letters from his fans and friends, combining original music with rants from his local stage and radio programs into a weekly bilingual talk show format that "takes the radical ideal of exploiting talk show guests to their advantage," he says.

Channel Austin
1143 Northwestern, 512/478-8600
www.channelaustin.org