Yesterday we lost an Austin treasure, the incomparable JoCarol Pierce. I feel so lucky, so incredibly blessed to have crossed paths with her in this life.  When I came to town in 1985 to work with Jaston Williams, he told about this group called Big State Productions. 

Couple minutes ago, I thought “oh, it’s Monday! Rachel Maddow night!” and then for a few seconds, I thought it might be fun to listen to that middle-aged lesbian superstar discuss the news and connect the dots and make it all make sense, and then I thought, nope, nope, actually it’s not any fun at all.

Instead I’m going to write about Barton Springs.

910 Baylor is one of the many places Janis Joplin is said to have lived, or slept, or maybe just passed out, in Austin. I lived there for a magical while with August Rothe, maybe the most beautiful gay man I’ve ever known, a guy who could change the oil on your car or bend a wig to his will with a can of Aquanet or whip up a coconut cream pie with the most perfect meringue you’ve ever seen.

I miss Las Manitas. Who doesn’t? It was about as Austin as Austin got. Cynthia and Lydia Perez ran a tight ship--everybody who worked there had to hustle. People who wanted to make a difference and have a fabulous Mexican breakfast at the same time, back when Texas had real human beings in state office, congregated there.

This weekend I am looking forward to seeing An Evening with Jaston Williams at the State. That man can sure tell a story, and some of them are true. Most people know him as the Greater Tuna guy—Vera (god………DAMMIT!) Carp has cult-like status—but to me he’s the one responsible for my moving to Austin 37 years ago.

What most of you don’t know is that Austin is home to the place that does more colonoscopies in a day than anywhere in the US of A.

I can remember Day One of the Gratitude Project back in 2020 started off with having to clean up dog pee from the carpet then somehow stepping in dog poo, getting it on my shirt, and on a manila folder that was on the kitchen counter which Emi thoughtfully disposed of for me. So it makes sense that my first post in this series is written on the night I’m prepping for my colonoscopy tomorrow morning.