Gene: Ken, here you are at last. On the couch where you belong. Now, I want you to just lie down and make yourself comfortable and just say the first thing that comes to mind. What do you think of when I say, “Artists giving their art to fundraisers and musicians playing for free at…
The World According to Karlos
Karlos Anzoategui’s Closet Is Wide Open When you pass the whitewashed stucco walls, go through the gate on Queen Anne Court, and head into Villa Sol, Karlos Anzoategui’s work-and- life HQ, you leave earthly concerns behind. Like Gloria Swanson’s Sunset Boulevard manse, or, say, the Vatican, you’ve entered a self-contained world where, if the walls…
San Antonio AIDS Foundation Hosts Screening of ‘Desert Migration’
This year marks the 35th anniversary of the first reported cases of AIDS. On Thursday June 23, the San Antonio AIDS Foundation will host the first Texas community screening of Desert Migration at the Bijou Cinema Bistro in the Wonderland of the Americas mall. Directed by Daniel F. Cardone, the film tells the stories of…
Cornyation Raises $200,000 for Charities, Scholarships
The board of directors of Fiesta Cornyation announced today that for the second year in a row they raised a record-breaking $200,000 which they will distribute to local charities and college students on June 12. Celebrating its 50th anniversary, Fiesta Cornyation raises funds through ticket sales for six shows performed at the Charlene McCombs Empire…
Hot Glue & Duct Tape: John McBurney’s Rasquache Aesthetic
“We had the courage and the tenacity to be flamboyant and to be ourselves.” “I’m an old showgirl,” John McBurney says, as he shows me a faded photo of himself in partial drag backstage at Cornyation in 1998. McBurney is 61. “I am 6’ 4’’ and almost 300 pounds. I have to be very couture.…
Ray Chavez Recalls Cornyation Antics Through the Ages
“Ray is the heart and soul of Cornyation … it wouldn’t be here without him.” The house was packed and Cornyation was in full swing. The music was blaring, the stage lights glaring, and a group of actors and dancers were performing in another outlandish skit to thunderous roars, when, suddenly, a dancer took an unscripted nosedive…
San Antonio Aids Foundation (SAAF) Offers Free HIV Testing on National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day
Since 1999, National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day has been observed on February 7 to educate and bring awareness to members of the community who may currently be living with HIV, and those who are most at risk of contracting the virus. This year’s theme is “I Am My Brother’s and Sister’s Keeper, Fight HIV/AIDS!” According to…
Registration Now Open for 25th Annual Run & Walk for AIDS
Launched in 1991 and now established as the city’s most significant HIV/AIDS fundraiser, the Run & Walk for AIDS celebrates the lives of those affected by HIV/AIDS while raising much-needed funds for the San Antonio AIDS Foundation (SAAF). This year, organizers have set a goal to raise $100,000 to help SAAF continue providing its many services to the community, including…
Moving Forward: Cynthia Nelson’s Vision for SAAF
“I’m happy to be out there and say that SAAF is alive and well.” As the San Antonio AIDS Foundation prepares for its 30th anniversary in 2016, the organization announced in October the appointment of its new president, Cynthia Nelson. Founded in the back of a gay bar by Robert “Papa Bear” Edwards in 1986,…
San Antonio AIDS Foundation at a Crossroads
Nearly 30 years ago, Robert “Papa Bear” Edwards started the San Antonio AIDS Foundation (SAAF) in the back of a gay bar. From those humble beginnings, the organization has flourished, and now appears to be ready for another growth spurt under newly hired president Cynthia Nelson. However, for Edwards and some supporters, that growth has…