GAY HEAT, OUTLAW BLUES, AND CALIFORNIANS CLAIM THE ALAMO.
Also: Smugglers smuggle. That's what they do. How Huntsville got high.
LOVE THY NEIGHBOR?
A bomb threat, a rapid response, a cancelled brunch. The story came and went, noted by a couple local tv stations, ignored by the local paper. Part of an almost daily drumbeat documenting prejudice in our state.
Monday, the Dallas Morning News reported bags of anti-semitic and anti-LGBTQ+ flyers turned up in Flower Mound. Wednesday, KXAN covered the repeated theft in Cedar Park of a pride flag displayed by a church. The Texas Tribune landing page this week features stories about both a federal judge in Dallas blocking Title IX protections for LGBTQ+ students and Ken Paxton’s fight against gender transition care.
CAUSE AND EFFECT
Two years ago, the Texas Republican Party adopted a platform that defined homosexuality as “an abnormal lifestyle choice”, throwing in for good measure that it opposed “all efforts to validate transgender identity.” Equality Texas says in the following legislative session, conservative lawmakers introduced 141 bills impacting the LGBTQ+ community. The organization says only 12 such bills were filed in 2015.
When the targeting starts at the highest levels, every bigot feels empowered. Again, according to Equality Texas, Austin reported 51 hate crimes last year, up from just 12 cases in 2019. What really breaks our heart are stories like this one in Texas Monthly, about gay high school students living with fear.
“ Amber Tibbs said it’s a good day when they’re not called a slur. One day this year in math class, Tibbs remarked that it had been one of those good days. A classmate took it upon himself to change that. Turning to Tibbs, he said, “You should kill yourself, f—.” Just the day before, he’d asked Tibbs to do his homework.” Joelle DiPaolo, Texas Monthly, Dec 20, 2023.
The rhetoric recalls the angry 80s, when the religious right first trotted out this playbook at a huge convention in Dallas.
I am sick and tired of hearing about all of the radicals. And the perverts. And the liberals. And the leftists. And the communists coming out of the closet. It’s time for God’s people to come out of the closet, out of the churches and change America. James Robison, 1980 National Affairs Briefing Conference, Dallas.
GAY HEAT
Fellow Texan Gary Floyd decided to fight back. He fronted Austin punk band The Dicks, and described himself as a “300-pound gay cross-dressing communist.”
“It was 1980, I wanted to say something loud and I wanted it to be in your face. I didn’t give a damn about who I offended, as long as I did offend people.” Gary Floyd, The Dicks.
Floyd passed away in May. To honor the band’s legacy we asked Austin artist Sophia Rumbarger to design the Official Gay Heat t-shirt (available now for pre-order). Here’s what she came back with, and why:
The Dicks were explicitly queer and communist. The style of the drawing is lifted directly from the soviet visual in the top row (below) which uses the same pose. I also borrowed from the famous image of soviet politicians kissing at the Berlin Wall.
The grainy black and white look is a reference to the xeroxed aesthetic of punk visuals from the 80s, like in the photo below of Gary Floyd. The shirt’s text is done in a vaguely cyrillic style, using a font lifted directly from soviet propaganda. It’s a little obscure and not contemporary, but keeps with the theme.
I landed on red - the color of communism and the Republican party.
Reserve the limited-run T by joining us for Gay Heat, Road Trip #3 at Still Austin in The Yard on June 26th. Fifteen bucks gets you in the door along with a tasty frozen drink from Still Austin, whose Cask Strength Rye Whiskey just took home the Double Gold medal at the 2024 San Francisco World Spirits Competition. The proceeds will benefit Equality Texas.
Lord Friday the 13th will play, the band describes itself as “dollar store trash glam punk.“ Subpar Snatch and Vertarias also just joined the bill. Local drag performer and political activist Brigitte Bandit will host. You may recall her testimony at the Capitol last session. Time Magazine chose this as one of the 100 most iconic images of 2023.
Bandit testified twice during the session.
“The first time, I was so polite. I really wanted them to hear me—I’m, like, ‘Good afternoon to the chair’ and everything,” Bandit told me. “The second time, it was, like, I don’t even care if you’re listening to me, because everyone else is going to want to.” It was nearly midnight by the time she addressed the chamber; when she went over her allotted two minutes, the capitol police escorted her from the room. When she got home, weepy with exhaustion and frustration, photos of her were already ricocheting around the Internet.’ Rachel Moore, The New Yorker, Dec. 6, 2023.
Y’all — there are a whole lot of us that like living with each other in community and we are determined to stand our ground. Join us, celebrate the city Austin’s always been, the best of who we are, Gay Heat on June 26th at Still Austin.
MARIJUANA BLUES
In 2022, a whopping 85% of our city’s voters approved the Austin Freedom Act, which deprioritizes law enforcement for small amounts of marijuana. Attorney General Ken Paxton sued, asking this week for an injunction, claiming the city doesn’t have the right to meddle with state laws. Travis County District Judge Jan Soifer heard arguments Monday, and on Tuesday granted the city’s plea to dismiss Paxton’s case.
Of course, Austin has a long history with the devil’s lettuce. We sat down last week with Armadillo World Headquarters legend Cleve Hattersley, who fronted the house band Greezy Wheels, and talked a bit about his side hustle as a smuggler in the ‘70s.
The weed market in Austin was cornered by my friends. But I had friends in New York, a LOT of friends who wanted it. It was much more difficult to get. I’m going back and forth working the Fillmore East, so I could take it up and deal right out of the theater and never be hassled by rip offs or anything.
My partner and I checked in separately. He had half the load and I had half the load. So we're sitting on the plane a seat apart. He looks out, leans over and says ‘they got our bags.’ Then suddenly the captain of the vice squad — Harvey Gann was his name — is coming down the aisle with the Braniff guy, who points at me and says ‘him.’ Gann pulls back his jacket to show his gun. Then he says “YOU’RE UNDER ARREST FOR POSSESSION OF MARIJUANA.” Shouts it! The whole plane just goes nuts, and I get handcuffed and taken away to the jail.
I managed to secure safety in prison by, first of all, smuggling pot. There was a group of trustees that were training to be telephone linemen, and it was near a Texas A&M campus. And at that campus was an overturned phone booth. The band would bring it over from Austin and put it in big bags, pack everything in there, and stick it under that phone booth. Of course, I would only end up with like 2 or 3 joints, but the whole prison would have 2 or 3 joints. Everybody. That gave me status. I had three nicknames!
The prison trip was a year — 11 months, actually, and 18 days. The day I got out, my ex came to get me and we were smoking joints on the way home, you know, because that's our style. That's our lifestyle.
Happens be the name of a low budget 1977 Peter Fonda movie shot in Austin. Cleve and Greezy Wheels briefly appear — check them out backing up Fonda at the Soap Creek Saloon, around the 59-minute mark.
Fonda plays a country singer done wrong, and the Austin Chronicle’s Margaret Moser was an extra in a scene where the cops are chasing him down.
“Greezy Wheels mimed playing but Fonda didn't mime singing, it was truly boring and anticlimactic. We sat there for hours as first this angle and then that one was shot, but finally the big moment came and the cameras were turned on the crowd as the cops came busting in. We were instructed to look around and point every which way to confuse the cops. Fidgety, drinking, and stoned, we were more than happy to comply.” Margaret Moser, The Austin Chronicle, Jan 29, 1999.
LONG LIVE THE ALAMO?
Sony Pictures this week bought the Alamo Drafthouse, all 35 locations along with the chain’s Fantastic Fest. This is groundbreaking nationally because Sony’s the first traditional Hollywood studio to jump into theatre ownership since the Justice Department revised antitrust laws in 2020. It’s groundbreaking locally because…well…it’s kinda hard to envision a multinational conglomerate doing things like staging a giant food fight to celebrate an anniversary.
2014 Fantastic Fest Food Fight, produced by Arts+Labor for Fandango
Nevertheless, the sale’s hardly a surprise. The rumors have been flying for months, and last week the franchisee behind five locations in north Texas declared bankruptcy. In Austin itself, the original Alamo at 409 Colorado is now a skyscraper under construction. The other former downtown location, The Ritz, is now home to Joe Rogan’s comedy club.
The local touch still is on display at the 50-year-old Alamo Village, the oldest operating theater in town, where a recent remodel added a bar, outdoor patio and a Vulcan Video-curated rental kiosk. The south Lamar location got its own makeover a few years back. Sony says it will keep all the current locations open, that Alamo headquarters will remain in Austin, and that Tim League, who co-founded the chain with wife Karrie, will remain as an advisor.
HAPPYIN’ THIS WEEKEND
MISHIMA: A LIFE IN FOUR CHAPTERS BY HYPERREAL FILM CLUB, Saturday ft. local short film "Chicken Fingers" with filmmaker @zoedahmen.
JUNETEENTH PARADE AND FESTIVAL, Saturday 12-9 at Rosewood and Boggy Creek Park. Food, music, and a parade on the east side.
4th Annual Pride Party At Still Austin, Saturday Featuring DJ Jenny Hoyston, Colleen DeForrest & Friends & The Past Lives.
PRIDE Silent Disco with the Austin Public Library, Saturday A two-hour silent disco at the Spicewood Springs Branch location. Ages 13+, free.
Babestock Music Festival at Cheer Up Charlies, Saturday & Sunday
The first electronic music festival showcasing all women and gender-expansive artists. Suggested $20 donation.
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