The Broken Spoke’s Terri White & More Featured on Queer Eye
Locally-filmed reality show picks three Austin music subjects
By Rachel Rascoe, 8:00AM, Sun. Jan. 2, 2022
The cast of Netflix’s Queer Eye made unexpectedly long stays in Austin after the pandemic interrupted local filming.
(Host and grooming guru Jonathan Van Ness even decided to move here permanently.)
Perhaps more interesting to Austin music fans, the sixth season features a number of subjects from the Capital music scene. The very first episode, which premiered on New Year’s Eve, revamps Terri White – known as the platinum blonde, tough-as-nails two-step instructor at the Broken Spoke. The Fab Five overhaul White’s home and style while exploring family dynamics within the honky-tonk dynasty.
A year after first filming, the show revisits the family following the momentous passing of Broken Spoke patriarch James White, who died on January 24, 2021 due to congestive heart failure.
Episode 8 (“Gimme Shelter”) focuses on Chris Baker, who assists Austin’s homeless community as executive director of the Other Ones Foundation. A singer-songwriter and guitarist himself, Baker worked music festivals before launching his foundation, named after a Grateful Dead song. A 2021 Chronicle feature lauded the organization’s successful “DIY approach to helping the unhoused.”
Chronicle writer Brant Bingamon perhaps predicted the Queer Eye make over, describing Baker as “a somewhat frumpy presence, but, people say, getting more polished by the week.”
The season finale (“The Mis-Inspiration of Reggie Devore”) takes on hip-hop artist Reggie Devore, aka BlackLight. The Austin producer and audio engineer, an alum of the Recording Conservatory of Austin and Matchbox Studios, discusses losing career momentum during COVID-19. The episode culminates in a filmed concert at Empire Control Room & Garage, where he’s booked to perform again on Feb. 19.
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Rachel Rascoe, Jan. 24, 2021
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Broken Spoke, Terri White, Queer Eye, James White
