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Bunnies on the Bayou welcomes spring by spotlighting drag star turned DJ, Lady Bunny, at the group’s annual Easter afternoon party in downtown Houston. Founder of New York City’s exuberant but now-defunct Wigstock drag festival, the Lady Bunny dishes dirt and philosophizes on her blog, www.ladybunny.net.
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By JOEY GUERRA
APR. 15, 2006
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Lady on the bayou
First lady of drag brings spins and grins to Bunnies bash

MORE INFO:
MORE INFO

Lady Bunny
April 15, 9 and 11 p.m.
Guava Lamp
570 Waugh
Houston, Texas 77019
Free
713-524-3359
www.ladybunny.net

Bunnies on the Bayou,
with DJ Lady Bunny
April 16, 2 p.m.
Wortham Center Fish Plaza
501 Texas Ave.
Houston, Texas 77002
$25 advance; $100 VIP tickets online or at M2M Fashion
713-250-3600
www.bunnies.org


Woe to the soul who attempts to match wits — or wigs — with The Lady Bunny.

The New York-based performer and founder of the Wigstock drag festival has fashioned a comic career out of mocking and shocking, leaving a wake of delightful destruction in her bewigged path. Anyone and everyone is fair game.

In the course of a recent phone interview, however, La Bunny goes (relatively) easy on a trio of starlets who have crossed her path.

Britney Spears, whom she accompanied to various clubs for an MTV special: "Very sweet. I think she’s probably dumb."

Pamela Anderson, who got royally roasted by Bunny and others on Comedy Central: "She’s got a great sense of humor about herself."

And — in her words — Sarah "Horse-icca" Parker, who Bunny met briefly while shooting a "Sex and the City" cameo: "I do not think she’s a great beauty, but … I have never seen such radiant star power."

Bunny has little patience, however, for a certain hotel heiress, who unveiled her much-talked-about debut disc (yes, as in singing) at Miami’s recent Winter Music Conference. The Lady Bunny was not amused.

"Here’s this stupid Parasite Hilton … and she gets a major-label deal, when Martha Wash doesn’t have a record deal," Bunny says with a huff. "Deborah Cox does not have a record deal. Lady Bunny does not have a record deal!"

Indeed, the impossibly glamorous drag diva writes and records her own material — slinky dance-floor tracks such as Sneakin’, The Samba is Waiting and You Got Me (Bumpin’ Jumpin’). Samples are available at www.ladybunny.net.

She’ll likely work a few of those original tracks into her set at the 27th annual Bunnies on the Bayou, Sunday at the Wortham Center Fish Plaza in Houston. But instead of simply singing, Bunny will be spinning classic hits and new club tracks as the official event DJ.

"I had never heard of it. It should be a hoot," Bunny says of the yearly fundraiser. "I‘ve heard great things about it."

Bunnies on the Bayou started in 1979 as a small party among friends at an apartment complex. Word quickly spread, a sound system was set up and invitations were mailed. By the early ‘90s, attendance had grown so much that the hosts decided to move to the outdoor plaza at downtown’s Wortham Center on Buffalo Bayou.

Since its inception, Bunnies has raised more than $500,000 for local charities. This year’s beneficiaries include the AIDS Foundation Houston, Bering Omega, HATCH, the Houston GLBT Community Center, Lazarus House and Pride Houston.

The Lady Bunny began honing her DJ skills about eight years ago at parties thrown by the uber-chic Visionaire magazine. Since then, she has spun tunes at the Parisian opera house L’Opera Garnier, inside the Fendi showroom in Milan and at Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum in Times Square. There have also been gigs at Saks Fifth Ave. during the holidays and on the first floor of the Eiffel Tower.

Yes, the diva does it all. She’ll also bring her comedy act — and her new DVD, Rated X (for X-tra Retarded) — to Guava Lamp for two shows Saturday.

Bunny admits that her DJ career was born, in some respects, out of sheer nightlife boredom.

"I used to get hired by clubs to run around with a stack of drink tickets and be ‘fun.’ That is the hardest job, because you’ve got to hear the same songs, kiss the same cheeks and act as if you’re having a blast — and you’re on your period — which, um, usually I’m not," Bunny deadpans.

"You kind of keep alert, and it kept me from getting drunk. I had to do something … instead of blow guys in the bathroom and then go hit the dance floor and then go have a cocktail."

There were, however, more personal, passionate reasons behind the Lady Bunny’s rise as an in-demand party DJ.

"Bit by bit, the music on main dance floors became so hard and so tripped-out that I hated it. We (the gay crowd) used to lead the taste in music. Now the music is so tripped-out and horrible, with no vocals. It’s just dreadful," Bunny admits. "I have to keep up with what people like, but I’d be more likely to dance to a Mary J. Blige hip-hop track than I would to that 5 a.m., tribal-circuit mess.

"I’m certainly not the world’s greatest mixer, but I hope that I make up for it in song selection. I put on anything from I Will Survive to Cher’s Believe to CeCe Peniston’s Finally to some of the latest stuff. Stuff that people know and like to sing along to and bop to."

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