We made the trek to Fort Worth this weekend for drag brunch at Urban Cowboy Saloon.
Overall, it was a fun experience and a great show.
Rocky Horror Picture Show-themed drag brunch at Urban Cowboy Saloon, Fort Worth, TX.
The drag brunch cast at Urban Cowboy Saloon, Fort Worth, TX.
The theme was purportedly “Rocky Horror Picture Show” but the drag queens performed at many non-Rocky Horror songs. This probably kept the show more interesting for people unfamiliar with the movie.
The parade and festival was held in downtown Fort Worth. It was smaller and less organized than Dallas Pride, but still a lot of fun.
There were also a ton of people from Dallas, so we ran into a lot of friends.
The past month whizzed by.
We had gay pride parades in Dallas and Fort Worth, long pool days, and trips to Six Flags Over Texas. I will cover everything in posts this month because I’ve promised myself to stop having a Truman Capote dilemma and finally start blogging again.
There were pool parties, new brunch places, drag shows, and even a trip to Fort Worth.
It was fun, yet exhausting. I was relieved when the weekend was over.
Perry Heights lined with American Flags for the 4th of July.
What a weekend! There were long dog walks on the Katy Trail, new restaurants, drag shows, and lots of new friends from all over the world.
There was John from Arkansas, Matt from Boston, Walter from Chicago, Carlos from Mexico, Victor, Geoffroy, and Kenneth – all from France… no one seems to be from Dallas, but so many people wind up here.
Well, except for Ty.
Ty is from Dallas. He’s the exception.
Most people are new and open to making new friends. It feels silly to point that out, but this is a huge contrast to Minnesota, where the saying was “A Minnesotan will give you directions to anywhere except their house.”
A full article about that is here, and my whining is here.
Pride flags hang over JR’s bar in Oak Lawn.
Having dinner at Ai Sushi in Oak Lawn (in the iLume building.)
We met one group of people at JR’s. Introductions were made, and people discussed where they came from and what they did for work.
Jack: “I am a Walmart manager.”
Me: “Oh that is so interesting! Our friend Jill works at Walmart too! I think she was Cedar Springs Taphouse. Let me text her.”
Jack: “Oh great…”
Jill arrives and Jack looks alarmed.
The bars in the gayborhood were packed on Monday night for the season finale of RuPaul’s Drag Race.
We watched the finale at Alexandre’s while sitting between an underweight boy who kept screaming “YASSS COME THROUGH!” and an overweight man who kept asking whether every drink he ordered “had carbs.” (The bartender lied to him, of course.)
After much anxiety, tweeting, and YAS!, we learned that Bob the Drag Queen won the title of America’s Next Drag Super Star.
Thank god!
The top 3 contestants were very similar to last year’s finalists – two younger Instagram-famous queens and a slightly older queen who prioritized comedy over glamour.
Finalists Bob the Drag Queen, Kim Chi, and Naomi Smalls.
This year, RuPaul made the right choice.
We started the week with a drag pageant, and we ended the week with one too!
Yesterday, the Rose Room hosted the Miss Dallas FFI drag pageant and it was… colorful.
A contestant for Miss Dallas FFI at Large.
A very yellow look for the Dallas FFI “creative” drag competition.
I have attended many gay bar employee drag shows, but this was by far the most entertaining. The event was hosted by Anesta Roches and one of our favorite bartender as “Peaches.”
There were inventive costumes, high-glamour, a bearded queen, and a lot of surprisingly good live singing by the employees who normally host the Round-Up’s karaoke nights.
All of the contestants at the 2016 Round-up Saloon employee drag pageant.
As a charity pageant, the expectations were very low – most employee pageants are half-assed comedy events featuring a lot of burly guys in Goodwill dresses. That is why we were pleasantly surprised by the effort that everyone put into their looks and acts.
There are certain stereotypes associated with Texas – and particularly Dallas – such as Instagram-famous cheerleaders, oil rigs, and cowboys everywhere.
I try really hard to dispel these stereotypes and convince my friends that Dallas is a modern, progressive, and huge city (instead of a country backwater).
…and then I spend my weekend cowboy boot shopping for a rodeo.
We went to the Texas Gay Rodeo Association‘s Rodeo & Music Festival last Saturday. It was held at Texas Horse Park, which I’ve never been to before.
It was my first time at the rodeo, which reminded me of that epic Pepsi scene from Mommie Dearest:
The rodeo and boot-shopping experience was a tad less dramatic than that, but still fun.
Some fancy baby blue cowboy boots at the Mesquite Boot Barn store.
Some pretty colorful green neon cowboy boots at Mesquite’s Boot Barn.
Neon cowboy boots at Boot Barn in Mesquite, Texas.
Opening ceremonies at the 2016 Dallas Gay Rodeo
Gay bingo at Station 4 is a fabulous event. It is basically a Texas-sized version of Minneapolis bar bingo.
Gay bingo events in Minneapolis and Dallas both support local HIV/AIDS resource centers, but the experience is dramatically different. In Minneapolis, bingo is informal, occasionally violent, and very frequent – you can play up to 4 times per week.
However in Dallas, bingo is a once-per-month extravaganza.
On Friday, Station 4 hosted a massive Mardi Gras themed party, and we got to see Willam from Rupaul’s Drag Race!
We were hesitant to drop $35/each on cover, but it was totally worth it – Willam sang live and performed on a hover board in heels.
Now that’s talent.
WIllam of RuPaul’s drag race performing live while on a hover board.
Willam performing on a hover board while singing live at Station 4.
Willam performing on a hover board.
All the typical things happened – there were drag queens, ridiculous outfits, sloppy messes, and brawling lesbians.
Unlike Minneapolis gay pride or Chicago gay pride, I got to experience this parade as a resident. My building is right in the heart of the metroplex’s gay district, so I didn’t have any of the typical logistics to worry about.
My building also threw a block party for residents with a drag stage and open bar. My neighbors and I spent most of our time watching from our gated-off VIP section on the parade route.
Dancing at the iLume Block Party at Dallas Pride.
In addition to the open bar, there were also these guys from a local HIV resource center walking around handing out jello shots. I think they overestimated the number of party attendees, so they ended up giving 10+ shots to each person.
This week’s show renewed the debate over ballads in drag shows between my friends. I think ballads are the riskiest thing for a drag queen to perform, especially at a place like the Townhouse Bar.
Winter is tardy to Minnesota. It’s December, 50 degrees and people are running around in flip flops. What is going on?
The past few months have been busy, hilarious and utterly exhausting. My social calendar is far busier than last year, but I’m slowly declining events in favor of sleep and time with the dogs.
Pictures!
We recently went to the Toast of the Townhouse 2012 drag pageant. The Townhouse has a reputation as a dive bar, but the drag can be surprisingly good. The roster at the Gay 90’s is more static, so the new talent tends to appear at the Townhouse first.
This year’s winner was Brandonna Dupri. Pictures!
It’s July 4th and I am on a dirt road in the middle of freaking nowhere.
This is on the tail end of a journey that started five hours earlier in Minneapolis.
Due to some hang-ups with my German passport, we spent Pride 2012 in Chicago.
I’ve been to Cologne, Amsterdam, New York, Philly, Vegas, etc. as a child, but this was my first time as an adult in a big city other than Miami.
Let’s just say that Minneapolis feels a lot smaller now.
Dates, friends, drag shows, quality time with the dogs, work, snow and unseasonably warm weather.
