The Heights, Houston's own mini-Austin, is filling up with fun beer gardens and low-key restaurants, and there are other scattered pockets of cool in Montrose, the Museum District and the East End. Fitzgerald's is back as a cutting-edge venue after years in lunk-core alt-rock purgatory. and it has sprouted a glitzy layer of B-list celeb scuzz on top it is now the kind of event that is apparently proud to allow the likes of Perez Hilton to host day parties."%0D %0D "Today's Houston finds more rising young rock bands choosing to stay here than at any time since the 1960s. The emphasis on regional and, to a lesser extent, unknown music is long gone, as some 2,000 bands from dozens and dozens of countries are spotlighted. Since its inception, SXSW's trend has been toward bigger, grander, louder and more. Its original goals were to fill up downtown bars while the UT kids were away on spring break and showcase local bands, and boy did it ever succeed, at least at the former. Some highlights -%0D %0D "In 1987, South By Southwest was launched. Good article about Austin in The Houston Press. Definitely always up for meeting quality, hangup-free guys (though I know everyone has at least a little baggage) who aren't afraid of settling down or being seen with a non-heterosexual male in public. (I kid.) I tend to appreciate individuals who don't have a problem grabbing life by the metaphorical balls and yanking. (That one has two meanings, kiddies.) Always up for meeting fun, smart, well-adjusted and extroverted residents of the greater Austin area who can a) provide hours of scintillating conversation b) help me further my radical political agenda and/or c) drink me under the table.
Drivers who respect the rules of the road but aren't afraid to go fast. Girls who are boys who like boys to be girls who do boys like they're girls who do girls like they're boys. Men with integrity women with scruples and vice-versa. Who do I want to meet? Raconteurs (no, not the band), philistines, scoundrels, daredevils, harlots, dames and someone who can get my golf swing back into whack. (Not that I don't have problems clearing up blocks of time for said excursions, but my schedule's more flexible than most.) I am thus always - and I do mean always - up for a trip, whether it's a weekend in Vegas or a trek through Patagonia. Although I've visited all seven continents, including Antarctica, I'm most interested in exploring places truly off the grid. Traveling is a passion of mine, and I've had the oftentimes-humbling privilege of doing a lot of it. My interests run a gamut incorporating everything from bungee jumping, Belgian beer and skiing to developing Internet strategies, exploring the back streets of Asia in search of quality original art, studying long-winded hotel operations and management texts, and driving well off the beaten path in pursuit of good barbecue, good-hearted people, empty country roads, white-sand beaches, quiet vistas and big skies. You could always go on a date with Kirker. Not these days they've mostly migrated to Rain and Kiss & Fly.
Oil Cans is the place to go for the college crowd Splash in NYC, The Abbey in WeHo, etc.)Īustin is a very youth oriented city. Or has it escaped your attention that the same thing applies in most cities, that many gay bars remain open for decades? (e.g. The fact that three gay bars that were open then remain open now is entirely irrelevant. MHB, you insufferable cunt, Austin is unrecognizable from what it looked like in the early '90s. Even the Chain Drive in the same old place. I lived in Austin in the 80s and early 90s, and that was just like time warp. very gay, with lots of parties and lots of fun out at Hippy Hollow out by the lake.Īgreed - those are easily the gayest weekends of the year here, but *very* cliquish if you're from out of town, traveling solo or with 1-2 other people, and/or haven't rented a boat. There's First Splash (coming up in May) and Last Splash (Labor Day weekend).
The owner of Peche next door, who also owns the former M2 building, is planning on turning it into a (straight) tiki bar. It only OPENED a few months ago, it seemes. Redecorated, and the Sunday BBQ-cookout is going on right now.