Halloween howls on in Houston
By Nancy Ford
It clearly takes way more than a little wind to keep gay Houstonians from celebrating its highest Holy Day. Despite pervasive power outages and damage to property brought by last month’s Hurricane Ike, many local Halloween festivities and releases are scheduled to proceed as previously planned. Our prediction for scariest costume among this year’s revelers: Sarah Palin look-alikes, because the few requirements for the costume are a pair of librarian glasses and a shotgun.
PLAY, BOY, WITH BUNNY She drags, she blogs, she does it all. WigStock founder and “southern transvestite showgirl,” The Lady Bunny, returns to Houston to scare up some Halloween laughs. Expect to hear all the dirt on MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow (“The dyke even put on a little makeup!”), “trout pout,” and more. October 30, 10 p.m. Guava Lamp, 570 Waugh Dr. Details: 713/524-3359 · www.ladybunny.net.
BOOTIFUL MUSIC Houston Pride Band kicks off its 2008-2009 season, titled “Beyond Fences: Music without Borders,” with a campy combined tribute to the King of Rock and Roll and the King of All Monsters. Their fall concert includes Eric Whitacre’s symphonic dramedy, “Godzilla Eats Las Vegas,” introduced by an army of Elvises. Houston PBS’ Ernie Manouse narrates. October 18, 7:30 p.m. Resurrection MCC, 2025 W. 11th St. Benefits Lesbian Health Initiative Houston. Details: 713/862-9491 · www.houstonprideband.org.
Following the fall concert, HPB retreats to the woods for its annual Campout and Campy Show at the Rockin’ R Campgrounds. This year’s theme is based on the popular Broadway show, Wicked . October 24-26. Details: 832/265-3346.
READ, MY PRETTY Speaking of Wicked, the author of the magical book offering a fantasy back story of what else went on in the Land of Oz has released a third volume perfect for curling up with on a dark and stormy Halloween night. Gregory Maguire’s A Lion Among Men, available October 14, tells the story of Brrr, the Cowardly Lion. Details: www.harpercollins.com.
DEAD DIVAS Singers Patti Rabaza and Julia Laskowski channel long-lost vocalists including Patsy Cline, Peggy Lee, Mae West, Judy Garland, Mama Cass Elliot, and others with a musical Halloween Séance. October 24 and 31, 8 p.m. Ovations, 2536 Times Blvd. Details: www.inchwormproductions.com.
MONTROSE MADNESS Most local nightclubs are hosting costume parties and special Halloween events, but Houston’s definitive do-not-miss Boo Bash is the Pacific Street Halloween Block Parties. The 800 Pacific Street block in front of Charles Armstrong’s JR’s Bar and Grill and Santa Fe Patio, Montrose Mining Company, and South Beach is closed to traffic on both October 25 and 31 beginning at 9 p.m., with Miss Kofi riding herd over the hundreds of costumed revelers. Costume parties at all three bars awarding trophies and cash for Best Couple or Group, Most Outrageous, and Best Overall Costume begin at 11 p.m., with Texas Renaissance Festival tickets awarded to anyone who enters the costume contests. New York City’s DJ Billy Carroll spins at South Beach on October 25 in conjunction with his farewell tour. Details: www.southbeachthenightclub.com.
AURORA STORY Under the moniker Potter-Belmar Labs, artists Leslie Raymond and Jason Jay Stevens are “conductors of cinema,” live-mixing audio and video, weaving sampled media and original work, cut-up and then stitched back together. Sounds scary to us. October 31, 8 p.m. Aurora Picture Show, 800 Aurora St. Tickets: $6. Details: www.aurorapictureshow.org · 713/868-2101.
Frightful Indoor Entertainment
AGE-OLD FEAR FACTOR Is there anything more frightening to many segments of the gay community than growing old? Based on an adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s Victorian horror novel about a man who stays eternally young while his portrait ages as the years pass, The Picture of Dorian Gray DVD is available October 7. Warner Home Video (www.warnerbros.com ).
Sinbad-ass Stop-motion animation pioneer Ray Harryhausen has informed and influenced everyone from special effects wizard Dick Smith to directors Tim Burton and Peter Jackson. Now one of his classic films, The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, is getting the deluxe treatment with a 50th anniversary edition disc on October 7. Why should you be wild about Harryhausen? Well, if you don’t remember the blade-wielding skeletons, you might remember the painfully beautiful (and gay) Kerwin Mathews who played the mythological muscleboy with smoldering sexuality–while swinging a really big broadsword. Do yourself a favor and see the classic that’ll make you see Pirates of The Caribbean for the bloated bore it really is. Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (www.sonypictures.com). — Steven Foster
Comments