Post Pridematic Stress Syndrome

No stress here at the Gay Place at all. This year's post-Pride cigarette, unlike last year's – which, due to the Austin Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce's ridiculous public grandstanding of its inner turmoil, never got lit – is being enjoyed in the rapturous arms of lovers and friends on both sides of the QueerBomb and Austin Pride 2010 aisle for some post happy gayness glow. Austin, don't you beat all? You take a fracas and turn it into a fandango. Which is not to say that peace soaks in the valley like so much oil in the Gulf. No, there are still fissures to salve (or not) and dollars to count, so the story is not really over. But this week, we take a moment before posting full wrap-ups on the Gay Place Blog to reflect on an amazing weekend:

• Bishop Yvette Flunder's appearance at the Thursday Multifaith Pride Service delivered powerful testimony to the lineage between LGBTQI, etc., struggles and the Civil Rights movement, serving as keen validation to activists who so often take heat for daring to compare and shining some light on the hard work we have to do within our community to honor our diversity and learn to connect despite of it.

• The next evening's manifestation of the first ever QueerBomb Pride celebration energized a new slice of Austin that had avoided many previous Pride celebrations due to commercialization and lack of cultural outreach. We are still a bit speechless at the success and turnout and will visit this later in a full blog post. In the meantime, we can say that Council Member Randi Shade's welcoming gesture to deliver the mayor's official QueerBomb Day proclamation (June 4) was a big-hearted and courageous hug considering the environment and perceived divisions.

• I say perceived because, truly, AGLPV's kneejerk to the initial QueerB omb Facebook announcement (firing Nakia from the official Austin Pride 2010 bill, etc.) was so avoidably embarrassing. An action almost as embarrassing as its fueling the drama with goofy and comedic rhetoric. (Even Mario Cantone scissoring Sandra Bernhard would have been hard-pressed to come up with the fan-freaking hysterical "people who identify as nonheteronormative," that AGLPV uttered to our reporter for a Chronicle piece. Surely there is an honorary degree in Dada reserved somewhere in the universe for Mr. Peevy.)

• Enjoying the fruits of planting a megaphone in the hands of a 19-year-old – our intern Sara – at the official Pride vendor sweat-a-thon. (An open suggestion echoed by many to AGLPV: Really, guys, 2009's ditch down to later, fewer, and cooler hours for the vendor fair was greeted with relief. It's your history, too, please learn from it.) Darling Sara carnival-barked Chronicle luv to passers-by: "Are you gay? Do you read?"

• The Pride entertainers we caught outdoors at the Long Center, Mr. Leebot and Lisa Marshall were totally charming despite the crowd-shooing white-hot concrete that should have come with a skin cancer warning. (Cliff, let's take a field trip to Aramco in Galveston and get a proper awning for that porch – for realz, boo. I hear they sell homopolymer, perhaps they are gay-friendly?!)

• Lisa Marshall and her awesome band also played later that same night at Cheer Up Charlie's Queer Up Charlie's weekly queer dance, which for one weekend turned into a night of scene-melding, age-spanning, genre-blending gender skew (not unlike those heart-bursting parties at Gaby & Mo's and Chances, back in the day). She and her band joined an amazing supergay supergroup, LZ Love, Nakia, and Amy Cook, for an uplifting explosion and impromptu medley of the Staples Singers' "If You're Ready (Come Go With Me)"/"I'll Take You There." And if that were not enough, the Pansy Division guys came out to show their love with a surprise acoustic set. The evening warrants a full review, and when I catch my breath, I'll blog it.

• The next day, I got to spin vinyl at Kitty's Poodle Pants Picnic and had a blast (thanks to all who braved the heat).

• The big cap off to the entire weekend was that Sunday evening at Red 7, featuring Little Stolen Moments hot off of their QueerBomb gig and Gretchen Phillips' Disco Plague (It's Infectious!), with Gretchen sporting the same purple zebra bike shorts as she did on the latest cover of B Style T Style. This, too, warrants an entire blog post, so look for that soon.

For now, the Gay Place is not yet weighing in on the relative successes or failures of QueerBomb or Austin Pride just yet. See, last year, we were deprived our post-Pridal cig, and this year, we have rolled our own sweet juicy fatty and are taking our time reveling in every last suck and smoke ring. This story, however, is far from over. Stay tuned. The Gay Place Blog and next week's issue will shed some further illumination.

In the meantime, enjoy these links to the photo, video, and blog links from some friends of Gay Place. We invite you, dear readers, to share links and media with us as well:

[email protected], austinchronicle.com/gay.