AUSTIN, TEXAS
Capital City NYE '98 Festivities
Explode into 1999
Merry New Year and here's hoping your Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa or Festivus holiday was just grand. In celebration of the coming year, area Gay and Lesbian businesses have slated many festivities. `Bout Time will host a New Year's Eve celebration with free party favors, a balloon drop and champagne toast at midnight. New Year's Day they open at 7am. At noon B. T.'s features black-eyed peas, cornbread, cabbage and football watching on the big screen. Down around Airport Blvd., Midtowne Spa is currently booking up fast and is still taking reservations for New Year's Eve for rooms and lockers. They will feature a midnight party with champagne and a free buffet. Over on Lavaca St., Charlie's Austin features their Thurs. dancers from 6pm till close. The Miss Nacha Type Drag Show starts at 11:30pm joining the New Year's Celebration with a free champagne toast at midnight along with a cash balloon drop. New Year's Day hosts Daddy Wayne's Cotton Bowl Party opening at noon for the big games and serving free black-eyed peas and cornbread. UT plays at 2pm. Dancers will be featured from 6pm till 9pm.
Rhythm House will feature Ginger Leigh on New Year's Eve with a champagne toast. The 1920's Club will be open New Year's Eve with drink specials and opens up at 6pm on New Year's Day. Chain Drive rings in the New Year with great drink specials till 11pm and a brisket buffet after midnight along with a champagne toast. A light show with the first baby of the year contest will be featured after midnight. Down on Brazos Street at Splash Video Bar they celebrate with the top 10-video countdown by DJ/VJ Joel. Splash climaxes the evening with the New Year's Ball Drop televised live from New York City starting at 10pm and then from across the country throughout the time zones to the Pacific Coast. A champagne toast rings in the New Year. On New Year's Day, they play host televising all the great football Bowl Games on their 40 plus TV monitors. The Forum rocks in the New Year with fabulous cash and prizes in their balloon drop midnight champagne toast. DJ Filthy Rich will spin the hot sounds till dawn. New Year's Day features the Forum's Pump Party with DJ Filthy Rich spinning the house again and great drink specials are offered from the sexy bartenders like Ryan C. all night long.
Oilcan Harry's will claim to celebrate the best party in town on New Year's Eve with no cover, party favors and their own cash balloon drop at midnight followed by a champagne toast. DJ's Dig'M, Licious and Miss H. spins the clock down all night and into after hours. On New Year's Day they open at 9am with free breakfast tacos served and big screen TV's brought in for the big games. Black-eyed peas and cornbread will be served. Over on San Jacinto St., Dick's Deja Disco hosts a free late night buffet at 10pm, Momma's Boyz Dancers at 10:30pm, party favors, a prize balloon drop at midnight followed by a champagne toast. On New Years' Day, they open at noon and offer happy hour till 9pm and a free buffet at 6pm. Momma's Boyz Dancers will be featured at 10pm with showers at 12:15am.
The Edge features their Purple and Gold 1999 Emancipation Party starting New Year's Eve with a cash balloon drop at midnight and champagne toast. The party continues on through Sat night - Jan. 2nd. Ask their Snowman at the Edge for a Lick! Rainbow Cattle Company have billed themselves as the NYE Party headquarters with party favors and a cash balloon drop at midnight. At 1am, they host a best costume contest for cash prizes. From 2am till 3am, RCC will serve up a free New Year's Brunch Buffet with coffee, juice, eggs, bacon, sausage, biscuits and deserts to help make 1999 a safer New Year. On New Year's Day, they open at noon for the big games. Lastly, don't forget about MCC's tickets sale of A Tuna Christmas Performance on Jan 3rd at 2pm at the Paramount Theatre. Tickets are $35 each. Proceeds go for their MCC Building Fund. Tickets may be purchased by calling 512.708.8002 or purchased after the Sat. Services at 7pm at the First Unitarian Universalist Church located at 4700 Grover. Merry New Year!
1998 Austin Ambush Reflections
WOW! It has been now over 1 year of Ambush in Austin and we now coast into our second year. All I can say is Wahoo and all I can think about is Whew! Thanks again Austin for all the support and readership. My editor has her whip out so let's get to the 1998 Austin reflections taking a step back in time. To explain a whole year in a single column is hard, so let me try to summarize my thoughts and highlight the year while adding in flavor with some good juicy morsels of gossip tea. To start with, my job as Mr. Austin Ambush has gone from fun to obsession to pride. In trying to be the diva of Austin and report, feature, advertise, market and photograph most everything related to our scene, I have realized it has been one big roller coaster ride. I had basically been thrust into the community and came out to everyone as a Gay public figure and this was a growing experience for myself to say the least. I mean, how much Gayer can one be? Good question, but with Christine Cheridon a.k.a. Sonny Cleveland (Ambush managing editor) as a role model these days, go figure. Not only was my presence and name known all over Austin as Gay but also so was my column, pictures and presence featured from Texas to the Florida Gulf Coast and everywhere in between. Hell, even most you readers of Gay and Lesbian Austin are featured on the World Wide Web. If you would like to recap the specifics with pictures from all this past year, please check out www.gayaustin.net for a review. The good about all this is that Austin has sure been introduced and digatized in awareness to the World. It's a good thing, really!
Since starting with Ambush back in Dec. 1997, I would like to think that I have enlightened, informed and entertained. Hitting the circuit, so to speak, has provided new friends, some enemies, has made Ambush competitive, and has put me in touch with knowing most, if not all, at any given time, of what is going on or is about to happen. It is overwhelming sometimes knowing this information, but knowledge is a good thing. Reporting and covering Austin's Gay and Lesbian community has been no easy task. Most people do not seem to understand that as a biweekly publication, I cover 2 weeks in advance the news, gossip, pre and post events and basically make sure it all times out right while being the fortune-story teller/town crier.
Ambush has featured and covered every major events over this past year. We have covered divas/pageants from Miss Universal to Miss Universal Thang. We have featured and interviewed and highlighted gym rats and leather daddies, commitments, unions, and anniversaries. We celebrated Team and Row Team Austin's victories. There were the bartenders, bar backs, DJs, music, laughter, good times and barrels of alcohol. There were also downsides in our community from friends with problems, suicide attempts, drugs, theft, hate crimes, break-ups, and yes, deaths. This list continues with the bar wars, club managers and staff turn-overs and club businesses and Gay community centers all failing due to lack of support. Ambush has been an active member of the Austin Tavern Guild and has also sponsored many events throughout the year. Events Ambush Austin sponsored were the Ambush Trivia Contest, First Splash, Meltdown '98, Pride '98, Fourth of July Picnic, AGLIFF, Last Splash, RIP'D '98, AIDS Walk, Texas Coming Out Day, Austin DJ Party, World AIDS Day and the Red and Green Party. Ambush reflections on 1998 include other events such as Chain Drive's Lunar Year of the Tiger celebration and new club openings and some closings around Austin to include, Splash Video Bar, 1920's Club, Rhythm House, Dick's, 404, Country Edge, and the Blue Flame.
Still more events Ambush featured included the Bean Awards, the Angels in America production, Parts I & II, Miss Universal Thang and Lesbolympics at "Bout Time, Sonnyfest '98, and the Austin performers and debuts along with the many CD, both circuit and DJ releases. There was Mr. Austin Leather, the showers at Dick's, Court elections and coronations, Capital City Men's Chorus (CCMC) and the 1920's roaring speakeasy. In addition, let's not forget the DJ's top 10 lists, Oilcan's best buns contests and their fabulous Studio 54, Rhythm House's Tapas sounds, and Splash's video projections. Other events included RCC's food, drag and dance, the Forum's circuit headquarters, the Edge's boyz and girls, Momma and her boyz, Col. Bob Collins, Top of the Marc follies, Midtowne's garage flashlight foam parties to Charlie's Austin super diva shows. Of course, let's not forget all the holidays in between. Many of these events this past year included fundraisers benefiting Texas Gay Rodeo Association (TGRA), United Court, Care, Project Transitions, Pediatric Aids League (PAL), Aids Services of Austin (ASA), Out Youth Austin, Metropolitan Community Center (MCC) and the Breast Cancer Research Center.
Ambush has featured excitement, enlightenment and information in most all these events. One area where we lacked in 1998 is the limited Lesbian coverage. I say limited because, although I love my Lesbian sisters, as a Gay man, I had the focus mainly on men. Attempts have been made through my column and pictures and will continue in 1999 to feature our sisters. After all, we are all family. Speaking of family members, one juicy year highlight that I know about is that Midtowne's own bathhouse diva herself, Bob Darling, finally got lucky this year. Way to go Bob! As for me, over the course of this year, I have been transformed. I became a circuit boy! My first ever circuit party was back in '95 in Florida but it did not last long for me because I fell out early. It was Meltdown '97 when I became hooked again. '97 turned into '98 and I have attended 7 since including Halloween in NOLA, and Meltdown and RIP'D '98 and yes, the great Red and Green Party all in Austin. Thanks Ben Parsley! You know you have become a circuit boy when you live for the tribe, the beat and the body beautiful, while discovering empty water bottles and used glow sticks lying around days later. Yes, being a circuit boy is fun. The circuit is the music, the dancing, the boys and yes, the water. It's in the water, ya know. Thank you all for my membership.
Many thanks to all the clubs and bars and our distribution points around Austin that have and continue to support Ambush. Thank you staff and management at 1920's Club, 'Bout Time, Chain Drive, Charlie's Austin, Dick's Deja Disco, The Edge, The Forum, Midtowne Spa, Oilcan Harry's, Rainbow Cattle Company, Rhythm House, Splash Video Bar, Top Of The Marc. Thank you also Bookwoman, N8 Wear, Outliners, Cornerstone, ASA, Waterloo and yes, Lobo Bookstore. Thank you Vincent Dudonis for your continued friendship and assistance. As always, thanks Rip, Sonny and Ambush Staff. Lastly, with this last issue of 1998 and continuing into 1999, Austin's very own Stephen Williams features biweekly Whor-o-scopes for all. Look for your individual astrological sign and fortune. There you go, Jaffa. Cheers to 1999 and to Austin. Here's wishing each and every one of you good health, great happiness and wealth and hot safe sex in 1999. Mr. Austin Ambush has left the building!
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