After A Fashion

Proud Austinites: (l-r) Hill Country Ride Executive Director David C. Smith, aGLIFF Executive Director Skot Tulk, and Austin Pride Grand Marshals Libby Sykora and Oliver Everette (Photos by Seabrook Jones/www.juicythis.com)

'SEX' AND THE THEATRE I would not have gone to see Sex and the City 2 unless I'd been forced to go. Not that I was actually "forced," per se. Carla McDonald invited me to be her guest at the new Gold Class Cinema at the Domain. Carla said that someone from Tribeza would be picking me up and taking me home. What? They're sending a driver? Hell, yes I'll go! But then again, I'd go anywhere Carla McDonald asked me. Ordered to wear my tallest high heels (in the spirit of the movie), I did dress up – my purple pimp suit, white satin shirt, my black-and-white shoes, a straw fedora, and my pearl-handled cane (my most frequent accessory). The driver, Carolyn Harrold, a lovely, poised woman with an enormous Mercedes, arrived on time, and we made our way through rush-hour traffic from Manchaca Road to the Domain. It wasn't as nightmarish as we expected, and we stopped at Tribeza's office on Riverside to pick up the publisher, George Elliman. I hadn't met George before. My friend Karen Landa and her fiancé, Dale Dewey, had worked with George, all of them running Tribeza together after original publisher Zarghun Dean sold it. The magazine was flourishing, but things hadn't gone the way any of them expected. There was litigation with the previous publisher about circulation and revenue, but primarily, things didn't seem to go so well between Karen, Dale, and George. Soon it was announced that Karen and Dale were leaving, so George became the remaining owner. I tried not to let any of what I'd heard affect me when I found out we were picking him up, too. Turned out that it was his car we were riding in. I was flattered and knew I'd soon be meeting Carla, my real date for the evening. Carla is now the arts columnist for Tribeza. She also does the Arts Minute on News 8 in addition to running her own PR firm, Dynabrand. Her recent clients include Deep Eddy Sweet Tea Vodka, which just launched and was founded by (as Carla says) two of Austin's cutest and smartest: Clayton Christopher of Sweet Leaf Tea and Chad Auler of Savvy Vodka. We'll chat more about that next week. I had not been to the Gold Class Cinema before, and as we arrived, my first thought was, "Omigod, their signage is awful!" The building was marked with big plastic letters that made it seem more like Gold's Gym than an expensive theatre experience. Tickets are $29 and do not include food, a variety of which is readily available. Of course I didn't have to pay, but if I had, that's what it would have cost. There are two cocktail lounges; one was reserved for our group. We were all in our best SATC outfits and then went on into the theatre. A good-sized room with a very large screen, it seated only 40 people. Each seat is so oversized and luxurious that they take up all that room – really nice seats with dual controls to raise the feet or lower the back (practically into a sleeping position). Between each pair of seats is an oval table with a button to call for whatever you'd like from the uniformed waitstaff – a glass of water, crème brûlée, a blanket, a beer, or a pillow. Pretty swank, all told. The movie, however, does not receive any kudos from me. I loathe the SATC franchise and think that all of those women are way too old to be acting like they do. Yes, especially you, Kim Cattrall. The clothes weren't even that fabulous. I prefer the other names that SATC2 has been called: Sucks and the City, Too, and my favorite, Bitchtar. The movie was a fairly bland experience, but the entire evening, including the driver, publisher, and theatre, was very memorable. Now I just have to figure out how to get picked up for everything I do.

PHOTO OP I am not writing about Gay Pride this week because I didn't attend any of the Gay Pride festivities (but I will show you some photos). I was profoundly disturbed about the warring factions at odds over how the gay community should be portrayed during Pride. This kind of dissent shows that we are hardly a "community"; on the other hand, it shows that we are just like everyone else, warts and all.