Queens, Kings, and More Events to Help You Celebrate This Weekend

Body Liberation Hiking Club ATX

Thursday 13, Barton Springs

Warm up those limbs with a jaunt through the beauty of Barton Springs. Led by the Austin-area chapter of national size-inclusive Body Liberation Outdoor Club, the hike will be followed by a BYO picnic. Post-picnic, join the folks of Queer Swim ATX for a Pride splash – so yeah, pack swim shoes and a towel. They don’t call it the Gay Outdoors for nothing.   – James Scott

The Watermelon Woman and Irma Vep

Thursday 13, Paramount Theatre

Celebrate sapphic season with one of the best-programmed double features from Paramount’s Summer Classic Film Series. The Watermelon Woman, a wry, cerebral romp from pioneering Black lesbian filmmaker Cheryl Dunye, follows Dunye as an indie filmmaker on a quest to biographize a Black actress from the 1930s and Forties who made a career playing “mammy” characters. Outside of that arc, Dunye dates an insufferable white lady she meets at her video store day job; racial politics and funny hijinks abound. Next up is Irma Vep, Olivier Assayas’ ode to the magnetism of Maggie Cheung, who plays a Hong Kong action star on a melodramatic movie set. If you’re into “blasts of silent cinema, martial arts flicks, and the music of Sonic Youth and Ali Farka Touré” – or Nineties Maggie Cheung – treat yourself to a “hallucinatory swirl of postmodern cool,” as the Paramount puts it. All in all, a crazysexycool time at the mooovies.   – Lina Fisher

Pride on the East Side

Thursday 13, Tamale House

Hosts and sexual health clinic du jour for the queer & kinky, ASHwell brings a big ol’ Pride party to Austin’s Eastside neighborhood. All sickos, pervs, and kinksters are welcome and, in fact, encouraged to join ’em for performances by Los Alcos and drag by Estrella, Kylie Gorgeous, and Munster Mash. Hit the horny piñata; put cards down for high-stakes loteria; sup from the margarita machine; and say “Oo” and “Aw” at ASHwell’s new Pride campaign, photographed by the one and only Erica Nix. Plus: a preview of the clinic’s fresh set of wheels.   – James Scott

Challengers Rave

Friday 14, Cheer Up Charlies

Finally: A rave you can take your two gay boyfriends to. Featuring DJ Boyfriend, Lavender Thug, and Ruby Knight behind the decks, they’re “serving hardball hits on the dance floor from 90’s rave music to 2000’s pop to today’s bops for all the bisexual throuples, gays, theys, and Zendaya enthusiasts in between,” as says the Insta post. Dress code is Phil’s Tire Town chic: athleisure, tennis shorts, sweatbands, etc. Enjoy a throuple shot or free churro with your three-way situationship – all for the low, low price of $10 at the door.   – James Scott

Black Land Matters: The Symposium

Friday 14, Austin Energy Headquarters

They promised us 40 acres and a mule for a reason. Alongside KXAN anchor Jennifer Sanders, city of Austin homeless strategy officer David Gray and community displacement prevention officer Nefertitti Jackmon, and Black Austin Tours founder Javier Wallace, this Housing Department-sponsored, free-to-the-public roundtable welcomes Shirley Sherrod – who co-founded the Georgia land trust nonprofit New Communities – and Queen Sugar author Natalie Baszile to discuss the interplay between racial and economic equity, and how land ownership is crucial Black self-determination.   – Carys Anderson

Pet Sematary

Friday 14 – Wednesday 19, Alamo Slaughter Lane & Lakeline

As the firstborn, it was my responsibility to watch all the horror movies and take on the burden of lost sleep and extreme paranoia – or at least that’s how I interpreted my father sitting me down alone in a dark bedroom to watch A Nightmare on Elm Street ... at 13 years old. Thus started my decades-long obsession with the genre. One of my earliest horror film experiences was watching the 1989 film adaptation of Stephen King’s novel Pet Sematary. Listen, the original funeral scene is actually a form of sleep paralysis demon. So when I sat in the fourth row at the Paramount Theatre for the SXSW premiere of the 2019 remake of this film I loved so much, I whispered in disgust, “They pussied out.”   – Cy White

Pride Sock Hop

Saturday 15, Independence Brewing

This Saturday evening from 5-9pm, Independence Brewing transforms into a wholesome school dance at their blast-from-the-past Pride Sock Hop. Bring the kiddies for screenings of Grease 1 and 2, swing dance to old school tunes by DJ Boi Orbison, and check out vendors including Lonestar Queer and Pride Socks. Celia Light hosts a Sixties girl group drag act with local queens Salem Purchase and Harlot, while drag king Solovino serves Danny Zuko Fifties rock & roll realness. Beer floats included for the adults, and a portion of sales of those made with Convict Hill Oatmeal Stout go to support Kind Clinic. Which Sandy will you come as? Vampy black leather or white sundress girl next door?   – Lina Fisher

Patrick and the Not So Perfect Party Launch

Saturday 15, Black Pearl Books

Sometimes you just want your party to be perfect, and sometimes Karter arrives dressed as a foot. (You’ll have to read the book to figure that one out.) Local children’s author Anne Wynter offers a trip into the mind of Patrick, who learns to find enjoyment in the imperfections of his friends, family, and food. Bring your picky offspring to the Burnet Road bookstore, meet the author, and maybe they’ll leave a little more open to the chaos that life can sometimes be.   – James Renovitch

North Austin Writers Meetup

Saturday 15, milk+tea

Every writer needs feedback, but where can you get honest, experienced voices to help make you a better author, to encourage you when you are your worst critic, and to help you turn the page to the next chapter of your literary ambitions? The North Austin Writers group is open to everyone, regardless of experience, to help foster the next generation of aspirational authors.   – Richard Whittaker

Radio Coffee & Beer’s 10th Anniversary

Saturday 15, Radio Coffee & Beer

Though the 2023-launched offshoot Radio/East has quickly become a destination music venue, the Menchaca OG assembles a pretty killer bill to celebrate its 10th anniversary. Repping all sides of our bustling music scene, the beer garden enlists longtime Radio residents the Bluegrass Outfit and Scrapelli, the 25-plus-piece “renegade circus brass band” Minor Mishap Marching Band, and Grace Rowland (without her bandmates from the Deer). Elsewhere, the lineup includes breezy indie rockers the Stacks, jazz-fusion group Mockjaw, R&B singer Motenko, dreamy psychedelic outfit Redbud, and, curiously, Arizona-born pop star Vaishalini.   – Carys Anderson

Disney’s Frozen

Through Sunday 16, Bass Concert Hall

Think you know Frozen? Well, if you’ve only seen the movie version of the adventures of Anna and Elsa, then you only know half the story – and half the songs. Prepare to be enchanted once again in this touring version of the Broadway musical (and don’t miss our online interview with Caroline Bowman, the singer who has made “Let It Go” all her own). Let’s just hope they can bring some of Arendelle’s Scandinavian weather with them to take the edge off this summery heat.   – Richard Whittaker

Glass Half Full Theatre Presents: La Maleta de Maebelle

Through June 29, the Vortex

There’s not a single situation on Earth that can’t be made better by puppets. Avenue Q and Team America: World Police prove my point. For some more family-friendly puppet improvements, check out the all-ages production of La Maleta de Maebelle, Glass Half Full’s creative telling of Tricia Tusa’s picture book Maebelle’s Suitcase. It tells the story of a young girl and her bird friend, both of whom yearn to return home to Colombia. With Colombian music by Kiko Villamizar and incredible puppets, made and handled by master puppeteers, Glass Half Full offers a perfect production for all.   – Cat McCarrey

Saturday Studio Sessions: Printing Nature

Saturday 15, Elisabet Ney Museum

Workshops on the beautiful grounds of the Elisabet Ney Museum are available this summer for participants looking to explore new art mediums and creative projects. At this week’s Printing Nature class, students learn to press flowers and leaves with special art supplies and techniques including collagraphs and cyanotypes. The educational staff will provide materials and lead demonstrations.   – Jasmine Iman Wright

Stay Black & Live

Saturday 15, George Washington Carver Museum

A livestream launched in 2020 in solidarity against a global health crisis and race-related violence, Stay Black & Live now manifests as a barbecue, community carnival, and concert. Houston tag-teams Austin’s historic George Washington Carver Museum with its tours and screenings, via dual headliners in Tarriona “Tank” Ball’s New Orleans funk-hop crew Tank & the Bangas and Geto Boys rapper Scarface. The Greater East Austin Youth Association parades in honor of 159 years of slavery abolition in Texas starting at 10am, while local Afrobeat blowers Zoumountchi touch off the music at 4pm. Programming including films, slam poetry, and a Free Your Mind Symposium continues through Wednesday.   – Raoul Hernandez

Father’s Day: Field of Dreams

Saturday 15 - Sunday 16, Flix Brewhouse, Alamo Drafthouse

Is there a more dad movie than Field of Dreams? This 35-year-old classic blends comedy, fantasy, and America’s pastime, exploring father-son relationships in a story about a farmer inspired to construct a baseball diamond by the cornfields. Flix celebrates all weekend with screenings and in-theatre raffles, and Alamo shows the film at the Slaughter, Lakeline, and Mueller locations.   – Kat McNevins

Babestock Music Festival

Saturday 15 – Sunday 16, Cheer Up Charlies

I am a product of the house that Jack built (#IYKYK). Singing my heart out and dancing my baby knees weak to the likes of Robin S. and CeCe Peniston. Putting my lungs and my ankles in peril when Cajmere ominously proclaimed, “It’s time.” Then at a curious 12 years old, I started sneaking peeks at late-night video hours on MTV, where I was baptized in the church of Bjӧrk and her effervescent case of Big Time Sensuality. Some decades later, my knees are tried and true, my voice is obnoxious, and I have been introduced to Babestock, the first (and FREE, honey) electronica festival featuring only femme-identified and gender-expansive artists on the whole damn continent! For all the grown babes out there (21+, kiddos), Cheer Up Charlies will be the place to be starting on Saturday, June 15.   – Cy White

The Stepfather Screening/The Sweetest Taboo Booksigning

Sunday 16, We Luv Video

Now here’s an unconventional way to celebrate Father’s Day: a screening of 1987 creepy cult fave The Stepfather, introduced by Erica Shultz, who brings new book The Sweetest Taboo: An Unapologetic Guide to Child Kills in Film. The film follows a man (Terry O’Quinn, Lost) who kills his entire family then moves in on a widow with a teenage daughter. And for The Sweetest Taboo, Shultz (of Unsung Horrors podcast) combed through thousands of movies to find the best examples of “tiny human kills,” from the well known (Hereditary, The Blob) to deeper cuts from British public information films and Italian horror.   – Kat McNevins

Father’s Day

Sunday 16, Meanwhile Brewing

Daddy needs his medicine. Daddy’s medicine is beer. It’s Father’s Day. Daddy’s only day of the year. Don’t bother Daddy. Go play on the playground. The Thinkery is there, you like the Thinkery. All the other kids are over there. They’re playing games. They’re over there. Okay well just be quiet. Daddy’s taking his medicine.   – Brant Bingamon

Splash Dance! With Erica Nix

Sunday 16, Austin Motel

The host herself – Erica Nix, star of screen, sweating, and shows in MASS Gallery’s yard – warns that this pool party sells out quick. That means if you’re interested in getting wild and weird in the water, if you’re a real aqua aerobics all-star, if you love to get really really wet, then don’t spend another second reading this event listing! Jump on that wheezing ol’ laptop of yours and log on to Austin Motel dot com to claim your spot. If you’re too slow, well. Lucky you this is an every-Sunday type of deal.   – James Scott

WineFlare Texas

Sunday 16, The Violet Crown Wine & Coffee

Many ask: Why have an event that showcases LGBTQIA winemakers, arriving from all across the country to our humble city? Why have this event at the queer-owned and diversely well-stocked wine & coffee house the Violet Crown, where you can not only get three half-pours for $25 but also an appetizer that’s literally just amazing Texas French Bread sourdough and butter? Why attend this public wine-tasting that benefits, as Violet Crown says, “Texas nonprofits fighting on the frontlines for LGBT rights”? To all these questions, I say simply: Wine not?   – James Scott

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Want to see all of our listings broken down by day? Go to austinchronicle.com/calendar and see what's happening now or in the coming week.