Gay Place

HOMOMOMENTUM As much as we've noted the recent pop-pop-pop of new gay bars, hangouts, and specialty nights across Austin, we've quietly been impressed with some of the programming and events at the larger, more established clubs. Austin Fourth Street granddaddy Oilcan Harry's alone has hosted Derrick Barry, Jonny McGovern, Shirley Q. Liquor, Cazwell, Morgan McMichaels, and Lady Bunny this year. (We cringe to think we've probably missed a few in there.) Lipstick24 recently featured Julie Goldman and Nikki Click. Rusty's will be hosting Guns N' Roses' Dizzy Reed And all those RuPaul's Drag Race girls have been popping up here and there, mostly at Charlie's Austin. Relatedly/unrelatedly: This year, Austin Pride will be held on Saturday, Sept. 10, noon-6pm at Fiesta Gardens. The lineup of this year's entertainment is confoundingly interesting. Pardon our puzzlement, but last year's overblown yet somehow still lackluster block party roster hit our cliché sensors so hard that we're still as bristly as a drag queen's manscape. And yes, we know, this year's Pride is put on by different folks (kinda) with a different attitude (sorta), but really, the bottom line is that this array is pretty fine. We'd go so far as to say it's a little meta and a whole lot betta. Here's what we (and any of you who have been checking its website at www.austinpride.org) know: the Bluebonnets featuring Kathy Valentine of the Go-Go's, Leslie & the Lys, Yo Majesty, Oaktown's 3.5.7 (an all-girl rap group formed by MC Hammer), Ejector, Jacinta, Lola Cola, the French Inhales, DJs Realness and Mouthfeel, plus, as entertainment honcho Nathan James promises, "a bevy of drag beauties" shall glitterify our Pride. Whoa. A sense of humor? A splash of goofy? A buttload of fun? Seriously, what's gotten into Pride this year? Emoticons don't work in print, so we'll leave you with an implied smiley face and tell you that you may purchase advance tickets for Austin Pride, including the superlimited VIP access passes (so far, they tout air conditioning and sushi) which go off the market Friday, Aug. 5. (See our Pride Presale listing.)

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