The pilgrimage to all things rainbow began with a screaming sign that Messer was close by (click gallery link above photo to see!). Those damn glasses are like the bat signal!
I arrived at this past weekend’s Pride Festival ready to shake my booty to local and very spicy Latin sensation, Los Bad Apples, but after the first few numbers, the sweltering heat brought me to my knees, and I ran to find sanctuary under The Austin Chronicle‘s Gay Place tent…
Unfortunately, we missed Me’shell Ndegeocello in order to line up under the South First bridge with all the parade divas and stars. I have never been in a parade folks: DANG-A-RANG!!! I think i want to quit my job and jump in on the national parade circuit! I busted out my best pageant waves and hurled Starbursts and beads to the most beautiful and happy group of people EVER! Pinch me… no really. It was BANANAS!!
I most likely would have just sat on the back of that cherry red Mercedes gawking like a little kid, had I not had the honor of sitting next to the world’s most savvy parade master, Kate X [oh, stop. –ed]. She imparted all of her float-riding wisdom in a crash course of bead untangling and heaving: “Don’t blow your wad!” she commanded. It was so hard to resist the demands of all those lovely ladies, though. “If it’s beads they want, beads they’ll get, Kate!” So… uh, yeah… I didn’t have anything to offer the masses for the last block of the parade… awkward.
Alas! It was over too soon. The rush of rounding that corner onto Fourth Street will live on in my starry-eyes forever. It was like riding a flying unicorn that was shooting rainbows out of its touchas. Unforgettable. Unbelievable! Yay, Ga
This article appears in June 13 • 2008.