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by Eric A. Crabtree
AUSTIN, TEXAS

Lauren Taylor Wins Miss Gay U.S. of A. Crown

Austin's and now Houston's own drag diva extraordinare, Miss Lauren Taylor, was crowned Miss Gay U.S. of A. recently in Dallas. Lauren is no newcomer to pageants, since she had just won Miss Southwest Gay U.S. of A. in Houston this past Mar., qualifying her for the Dallas Pageant. She was crowned Miss Gay America back in Oct., 1997. Other crowns held are Miss Gay Texas America 1996, Miss Gay Austin America 1990 and Miss Gay Houston U.S. of A. Recently, Lauren attended the Miss Gay Austin Pageant where she watched Aspen Taylor crowned as the new Miss Gay Austin 1998. Lauren was honored that night with the Nicole Living Legend Award.

"God gave the Gay Community an angel, and that angel is Lauren Taylor," proclaimed Miss Gay Austin, 1996 & 1997, Scarlett Leigh, a diva friend of her own right and pageant attendee. According to Scarlett, Lauren competed in high fashion with her talent, interviews and evening gown competition during the Miss Gay U.S. of A. Pageant. Lauren also was awarded the highest score in talent in the preliminary performing as Mama Rose from the movie Gypsy (Bette Midler) and her final talent from For the Boys also from the divine Miss M. Lauren scored top in the interview portion of the pageant and scored high in her evening gown category in both the preliminary and finals.

Miss Taylor continues to perform many shows and charity events throughout the nation, and may be found almost weekly in Austin at Charlie's Austin during their Super Sunday Show at 11:30pm. Lauren can also be found at Top of the Marc performing Mon. nights for charity. Come out and congratulate our new queen, Miss Gay U.S. of A., Lauren Taylor. As Lauren has stated while in Austin, "It's nice to be back home."

Top Music Hits
As Spun by Austin DJs

The top ten music countdown spun in the Austin Clubs today has been compiled for your entertainment by DJ Michael Tank of Chain Drive and other club DJs. All of the top hits are compiled via a point rating system according to all the Austin DJs. For every chart each song made, it gets 5 points. Then it gets points for its position on each chart. (i.e. #1=10 points, #2=9 points, #10=1 point) This system gives the scores that one sees in the listing below and is quite accurate. Here are the top ten-rock/pop/roll/rave hits starting with the #1 hit: 1) Ray of Light, Madonna, score: 66; 2) Midnight, Robin S., score: 58; 3) I Don't Know What I'd Do, Indigo, score: 44; 4) History Repeating, Propellerheads, score: 34; 5) Heaven's What I Feel, Gloria Estefan; score: 33; 6) How Soon Is Now; Inner Sanctum, score: 27; 7) Carnaval De Paris, Dario G, score: 25; 8) Get Into The Rhythm, Jocelyn Enriquez, score: 24; 9) Beautiful Day, Hypertrophy, score: 21; and, 10) Sweet Freedom, Shawn Christopher, score: 20.

The top ten Circuit Party music hits as compiled by Julian Marsh from NYC is as follows: 1) To The World by O.R.G.A.N.; 2) You're Beautiful by Madagasgar; 3) Joy by Deni Hines; 4) Breathe by Vick Moore; 5) Love On And On (Theme from Studio 54) by Donna Summer (Demo Version); 6) Rainfall by Sunshine State; 7) Paradise by Miro; 8) Dreamweaver by Erin Hamilton; 9) Imagination by Sequential One; and, 10) I Wanna Be A Space Girl by Spacegirl.

Meltdown '98/Memorial Wknd.
Sonny & Festive

It was a festive and Sonny magical event during Austin's past Memorial Day/ Meltdown '98. Ambush's own Sonny Cleveland hit town from New Orleans and the city of Austin will never be the same again from his sizzling charm and delights.

Sonny Cleveland landed that Fri. weekend and friends, Michael, Michael and myself hit the road via A Family Limousine (Bill Ankenbauer - 512.926.6040) traveling from the airport up to ' Bout Time. There we discovered an impromptu drag show, sponsored by the United Court of Austin benefiting the Breast Cancer Research Center. After a small speech from Sonny, proclaiming how he loves our community's pride, Ambush donated $50 in matching funds raising over $500 that night. Sonny met with manager Corey Duckett, head bartender Chaz and bartenders Monte and Austin's oldest Lesbian, Ms. Paula, DJ Raul and Wayne Marion - TGRA. Others that swarmed were doorman Marshall, customer Peter, drag divas, Bibi Gunn, Mary K., Topaz, Augusta Blush and Miss Alix Courtnie, United Court Empress IV.

After many farewells, it was off to Dick's Deja Disco where Sonny encountered the hot shower dancers from Momma's Boyz, Dale Jordan. Pulling Sonny away from soaping up those dancers was not easy. I managed for him to meet manager Warren Mills, bartender Carl, DJ Kevin and owner Warren Dronebarger. Next stop was Charlie's Austin. Amongst the decorations of tiny boats, American flags and hot cruising men, Sonny met with manager/owner, David Green and partner Mac. Our bartender was Carl at the back bar serving us shots with the Ambush banner on display from behind. Sonny also met bartender Millsey and drag diva, Miss Nacha Type, a.k.a., bartender Jesse. We ended our visit with each of us taking a souvenir boat. Thank you David and Charlie's.

Our next stop was pouncing on The Edge where we met up with owner Warren again, and praised the talents of DJ Don Engle whose cassette tape of great mixes we listened to throughout the night. We partied with bartenders Carl, Kevin and Kristie, and DJ Bang. By this time, we stumbled over next door to Oilcan Harry's, past doorman Steve and drank down with head bartender Steve Higgenbotham, and bartenders Matthews, Bill, Scotty, Josh, Matt and the many customers such as Dave Cody and partner David. Last, but not least, Sonny ran into dancer Karl Thomas with whom he used to dance years ago at MRB's in New Orleans.

We could not forget, since we were in Guytown, to two-step over to Rainbow, but somehow, by this time it was more of a wobble. There at Rainbow, we met owners Bill Bailey and Mike Strope, bartenders Gary, Doug, Sammy, Michael, Austin's oldest bartender Larry Medders, Anthony and Matt. We wanted to dance, but we admit it, we were full and could not. By the way, congratulations, Sonny, on your new Atlanta man who can CW Dance.

Our last stop for the night that we barely remembered was over to the Forum were we stumbled through the door, kissing doormen Jessie and Chris. We next ran into party master and owner Mark Haworth, manager Greg Butler, and bartenders Garold, Gil, Chris and Scott at the front bar. Ryan and Noah were at the back bar; and upstairs on the patio were Bobby and Clayton. Somewhere throughout the club, we met DJs Roland, Zach, Filthy and drag diva Paris Chanel. We finally made it home that morning via the limousine. Thanks, Bill, for the safe ride home to start another day in Austin.

Sat. morning came way too early. It was the day for Ben Parsley and Splash Production's Margarita's Lake Lounge Party. We arrived at Lake Travis and boarded a bargeful of hot men shirtless and already dancing. Wahoo! What a wake up. The barge pulled away to Hippie Hollow. There we met up with photographer, Scotty Elzner, some guy we named Whoopi, and a host of others, including the Nellie Sheriff Tim from Kentucky. We arrived at the cove and next thing we knew all three barges full of food, drink and hot men came together as one big party island. Picture it all on the water, 6 decks, 3 below and 3 above, all full of Circuit and Hollow queens dancing to the beats with Chain Drive's DJ Michael Tank spinning the hits.

We partied with Meow King, Craig Edwards and his crew of Rueben, Bobby, David, Oilcan's Terrance, and also with partners Doug and Jeff, Row Team Austin's Dan Lyons and others. Somewhere around 4:30pm, we left and cruised back to the dock dancing and drinking and then boarded a bus back to Austin. After arriving, we walked over that afternoon to the elegant 1920's Martini and Jazz Club where we had some great quesadillas, and rapped with cutie bartender, Christopher. We finally headed home to take our catnap before the night began but not before Sonny marveled as he saw our great state capital.

That Sat. night it was the Meltdown Circuit Party with music by DJ Buc from Atlanta hosted at the La Zona Rosa. There we met thousands of yummy hot men! Throughout dancing the night away, Sonny met Randy Cunniff, owner of the upcoming Splash Video Bar and new Austin Tavern Guild President as well as his bar manager Eddie, Benjamin and partner Jason from Ben Parsley and Splash productions, as well as Cody and partner, Alzimar from N8. We even ran into that drag diva, Scarlett Leigh, who informed us that Lauren Taylor had just won Miss Gay U.S. of A.

We decided to hit it after being at the lake all day and now this circuit party. We drove down 4th St. between the Forum and Old Spaghetti Warehouse and there they were-messy drag queens! There were about 15 of them, looking for trouble with straight men coming from Poly Esthers. The mob ended up that evening in bottle fights outside the parking lots where we had stopped to talk with Forum's Bobby. It was rumored that the whole event ended up with 3 police cars and an ambulance. Needless to state, when those bottles came flying, Bobby ran away and I screeched my truck home faster than those Indy Cars racing up north that weekend.

Sun. afternoon, we drove up to the Rhythm House where we had the most delightful brunch with our sister hosts, Candice and Katie. Next we drove over to a friend of mine, Mark Lynch from Latent Images Photography. Check out his great web site full of hot men at: www.latentimages.com/privatecollection/.

It was back down to Guytown to see Oilcan Harry's manager, Freeman Hart where we ran into owners Fred Fine and Roy Ikeda who kept us both in stitches with their great jokes. We met up with DJ Miss H. and bartenders Tom, Terrance and JD. From there we went back to The Edge and socialized with bartender Kevin and then over to the Forum to cheer with bartender Kendall, (now serving at Dick's Happy Hours) manager Greg and owner, Mark. Then it was off to Charlie's. We feasted on some great chicken breasts that doorman/chef Richard made for us and met up with bartenders Garold of Team Austin at back bar, Mike on Patio and cutie Rob Leaf.

We went home to re-group and meltdown before that Sun. night. Finally, we made it over to the Chain Drive where we met up with DJ Michael (Tank) where he played Sonny's/Ambush latest unreleased copy of the X Files theme song never before played in Austin. The crowd really "leathered" it. Before we left, we met up with bartender/manhandler Mike and doorman Glen. We also met David of a Leather Chest inside the Chain Drive who opened it up for us for some quick window-shopping. Traveling back into Guytown, Sonny had the chance to see the UT Tower glow orange because we won some sport at UT! Alrighty then!

Next stop was back to Oilcan's where we caught Terrance hosting the Absolutely Fabulous Abs Contest. We envied some great chests and abs. Because of the popularity of the X Files theme music, we offered DJ Dig'M to play it for the crowd. He cued up the music and the crowd went wild dancing to the new beat. We met several other great customers and yes, cute bartenders Josh, Bill, Scotty again and Aaron and Scott at back patio bar. Tip these babies, they are great.

Finally it was time to catch the Dolly Country Ho Down Show hosted at Rainbow Cattle Company. There we saw a fabulous show, hosted by DeeDee Davis as Dolly Parton and met again with owner Bill. The show benefited Pediatric Aids League (PAL) raising over $626 that night. Way to go guys! Before we left, we ran into Jim Tennessen, TGRA Candidate 1999 from Austin. Good luck and good health Jim! Hope you are feeling better and we miss you.

Our last stop for the weekend was the AURORA Party hosted at Austin's own Circuit Party headquarters at the Forum and sponsored by Ben Parsley and Splash Productions. There, DJ Julian Marsh from NYC was spinning the hits before a packed crowd. We danced with all our new and old friends. Sonny was finally introduced to Jerry Florez, Austin's youngest bartender. All he could say was "yummy!" As a matter of fact, yummy was the word of the weekend as well as the word, OK! Ask Michael Tank about this one. Sonny even met up with Heather Thomas a.k.a. James of TWIT. (This Week in Texas) The night ended when Sonny had to melt. I took him back to my apt. and then I went back out dancing to close down the Forum. I would like to state that I did ace my finals, ok Sonny!

Monday came and it was time for Sonny to leave us. A quick breakfast was prepared by yours truly and then it was off to the airport in a mad dash by Sonny like OJ Simpson. I cried a tear as Sonny took off. The rays of sunshine he brought was very moving and I miss my dear friend already, my managing editor and my boss, Sonny Cleveland. I will now have to wait until Southern Decadence so that I can do the same to him in N'awlins. Thanks Austin and Ben Parsley for Memorial Day Weekend and Meltdown '98. Thank you Sonny Cleveland, and yes, Ambush Editors Rip and Marsha Naquin-Delain. Come back soon Sonny or we will all come visit you at once in NOLA.

Have a great and safe summer, Eric

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