After a Fashion
Half a century of Stephen: a veritable feast of brooch and sunglasses
By Stephen MacMillan Moser, Fri., Oct. 26, 2007
AND NOW WE ARE 50 We could start with a list of the things we'd never do again for our 50th birthday: Turning 50 itself is one of those things. But, hell, we never thought we'd ever see 50 in the first place, so a celebration was indeed in order. Gathering 350 of our best friends together in party clothes to gorge themselves on hors d'oeuvres, swill cocktails, and relive our Eighties musical history, we were truly honored when Mayor Will Wynn read a proclamation declaring our real birth date, Oct. 25, as Stephen MacMillan Moser Day in Austin. We, of course, prefer to think of it as St. Stephen's Day and intend to turn Oct. 25 into Accessories Day, in which all Austin citizens will be required to wear jewelry, sunglasses, and other accoutrement while engaging in cocktail chatter. As delightful as that idea sounds, when Chronicle cronies Anne Harris, Kate Messer, and Cindy Widner showed up in full Style Avatar drag, wearing brooches and sunglasses, we knew trouble was afoot, so we simply had security eject them.
QUILTED MEMORIES By 1987, shortly after the AIDS Memorial Quilt made its debut, there were already panels with names of several friends on it – panels that we helped make to honor them. Worse yet, in 1987, friends were still dropping like flies from the plague that had descended upon us. Twenty years later, the plague is still with us, but so is the quilt – lest we forget – the 54-ton, evocative, and deeply emotional relic that commemorates more than 90,000 individuals who lost their lives to AIDS. If you've never seen the quilt, sections of it will be on display on Sunday, Oct. 28, 9am-1pm at Waterloo Park in conjunction with AIDS Services of Austin's annual AIDS Walk.
GEE-TAR TOWN We've loved the GuitarTown project from Gibson Guitars that has decorated the city since last November. What a perfect symbol for the live music capital of the world. What was even cooler was the GuitarTown Auction Gala, which raised $693,000. Evan Voyles' neon Live Wire guitar set an early record at $19,000 but was eclipsed by several others, including a personal favorite, the silver-mirrored Reflections of Austin, which raised $66,000. The best part is that 10 of the guitars were purchased to be donated back to the city of Austin. Now that's music to our ears.
WHITE TRASH 1987 was also notable for being the last time that Dino Lee & the White Trash Revue, featuring the bodacious Jam & Jelly Girls, performed. Yes, that would include our illustrious Sister Margaret. See the inimitable Mr. Fabulous revert back to the King of White Trash with this over-the-top celebration of all things trashy this Friday, Oct. 26, 10pm at Antone's. Tickets at www.antones.net. To read more about Dino Lee & the White Trash Revue, see "General Lee & Me."
WAGGING OUR TAILS We modeled in the Wags to Rags pet fashion show, along with Sara Hickman, Abra Moore, Will Sexton, Olga Campos, Jennifer Kim, and our affable, charming, and funny Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo, among others. Acevedo promised to reveal the details of the new redesign of the Austin Police Department uniforms to us when the time is right, saying only that: "The stripe down the leg of the pants has to go. I feel like I'm in a marching band every time I get dressed."
SUBMIT! Have you completed your entry for The Austin Chronicle's Bacheloser contest? Are you ready to declare your inner hotness? There's still time to submit to the Chronicle's least-eligible-bachelor search at austinchronicle.com/bacheloser. The winner will receive a South by Southwest wristband, and runners-up could take home prizes from Waterloo Records, Birds Barbershop, and the Alamo Drafthouse. Submit, submit, submit! Deadline for submissions is Oct. 31. Voting starts Nov. 1.on that day.on that day.
