'We Ain't Here to Make Everyone in This World Like Everybody Else'

Photo by Jana Birchum

Austin Chronicle: Hello, Miss Havemeyer!

Rebecca Havemeyer: Ohhhh! Ha ha! Don't stand up, please, lemme bend over. How you doin' Ms. Messer?

AC: I'm doing very well, darling; it's such an honor to be able to interview you. You're such a fixture on the scene. Tell us about your film series curating.

RH: Kayla Williams and Chivonn Anderson [of the Alamo Drafthouse] approached me and said that they wanted someone who could kinda curate, kinda speak for tha homosexual crowd, cinema and all, and I said, "Of course!" Basically, I go in there and showcase movies woven into the fabric of a homosexual lifestyle. We wanna show you ya' history. We wanna show ya' why ya' here! Why ya' dress the way ya' do! Act the way you do! It's a learnin' experience. It's a bubble of education for the homos an' cinemistas.

AC: So what are you doing while Paul is putting so many of his career eggs in that Christeene basket?

RH: Ya' know honey ... I love to represent talent. I love to showcase. I'm an ol' broken mule myself; my days are over! They ain't gonna be puttin' me on the cover of the big-time booya magazines! My callin' is to make people in the world aware of very special people. Now, I don't mean "bus" special – I mean talent, honey. And this is the kind of a town where there's a lot of that! And if if if ... if if if Paul recognizes somethin' within a little girl like Christeene, then I'm gonna help for sure! The girl's got talent, she may not .... She doesn't wash, she doesn't wash like a young lady should, but she's talented.

AC: Do you think you could help her with her etiquette and ....

RH: Hygiene? You know, honey, when a chicken's born that way, out of an egg, you let the chicken run. We ain't here to make everyone in this world like everybody else.

AC: Oh, that is such a beautiful and forward-thinking sentiment.

RH: I wish I remembered what I just said. I'd use it again!

AC: Have you been approached to be in any films in Austin?

RH: I haven't  been approached, per se – that's French for "kind of" – in a movie. I have, well ... no! I have not been approached to be in a movie. But I have been asked to maybe appear in small photographs. I've been in photographs many times.

AC: What kind of photographs?

RH: Michael Thad Carter has been a wonderful friend of mine. He's a talented young man. We've done many photo shoots togetha' and uhhh, what was I talkin' about? Being in pictures! We did a photo shoot at the Saint Cecilia togetha' at Liz Lambert's new establishment.

AC: How do you know Liz? She's a bon vivant.

RH: Oh, very nice French! It means "big liver," like not in your body, but "she lives!"

AC: I think the way Liz lives, she needs a big liver.

RH: We all need a big liver in this town! Liz is like a bulldozer of entertainment and style. She showed up at a Trivia Travesty that I do with Silky Shoemaker. We do a lot, me and Silky. We are nasty girls! I love that little child! Liz showed up, and we got to know each other. Every now and then we bump shoulders as girlfriends do. Then I did a photo shoot at her place, and she was kind enough to let me know that she approves of what I do. Kind of.

AC: She seems to be supportive of what Paul does as well.

RH: She's very kind to the homosexuals, and she's very kind to the city. I don't see her as a bulldozer that gets rid a' things. I thinks she's a person who builds things. She's a smart cookie, without crumbles.

AC: What's next for you, Miss Rebecca?

RH: Ya' know, I've been doin' a lot of emceein' lately. The talkin' for others. And I think it's time that I sit down, lock myself up – I have a strong punch in my gut to put togetha' an entertainin' show that really speaks about parts of life that we know with my own philosophy injected. Kind of like when you take a turkey baster and put it up the turkey's yee-yon and put all that flavor in there, well, I'm ready to do that with Austin and the world. I think my next big baby is gonna be a very nice theatrical show, more than a one-run. Where I really get to give you a healthy sit-down with ol' 'Becca, with music and song and music. And philosophies. And I believe it's gonna involve pigeons. Pigeons.

AC: Thank you.

RH: Thank you. Uhhhhhh good-bye. – K.X.M.