SOMETHING SHIFTED
This semester marked the second year anniversary of Silk Club’s founding as well as another incredibly transformative chapter for the Silk team. At the beginning of the fall semester, we had undergone a change of leadership--new directors in art, editing, and diversity & inclusion --in addition to an unprecedented growth in membership. The excitement could be felt as the Silk Babes came together at Cheer Up Charlie’s to celebrate the launch of QUIET! 04. The crisp night of December 17th was filled with tremendous energy and a deep sense of community that Silk is so grateful to be part of. Local vendor participation and performances by drag queens, dance groups, and an a capella group helped to highlight the diverse mosaic of talent.
HIGHLIGHTING ASIAN BUSINESSES
To start the night, Shahi Cafe, an Austin-based Bengali restaurant, catered with delicious, savory, filling samosas and biryani. Vegetarian-friendly options were graciously included! Additionally, there were a variety of both vendors and booths that attendees could enjoy. These included a stick and poke and henna tattoo station, tarot card readings, and a Silk-themed photo booth.
Allgo, an Austin-based queer people of color organization, attended and tabled to share their resources to attendees. They provide a great number of services to Austin’s queer community through the cultural arts, health and wellness festivals, and social justice programming. It is always a pleasure to have them in attendance every year in support of Silk Club.
STRIKE A POSE
The night started with the captivating and refreshing vocals of UT’s social acapella group, Absolute Pitch. The nine person group performed stylized renditions of Top 20 Billboard songs, giving each song a new and unique sound. As the first performance of the night, they warmed up the crowd with their riveting and entertaining vocals.
Following Absolute Pitch’s performance, we got transported to a K-pop awards show with UT Austin’s Korean Dance Crew (UT KDC). The group of dancers did a performance medley of top K-pop songs, including BTS’s “Fire” and TWICE’s “Feel Special (a personal Silk favorite!).” The crowd’s cheers and screams of excitement rivaling that of the most inconspicuous Netizens set the tone for the rest of the performances that followed.
The main event of the night was the line-up of drag performances from Austin’s best! The first performer to step onto the stage was Queen MaiHo with her fiery set to Rina Sawayama’s “STFU!,” whipping around her curly gray hair in anger to the music. She gave us tenacity, fury, and command all while strutting in her thigh-high latex boots and matching bodysuit. She truly brought out the head banging.
Next, we had Queen Belladonna, who was giving us Valley Girl realness with her performance to a remix of Ashlee Simpson’s “Outta My Head.” She was not only death dropping to every beat in between sensually swanking across the stage--she brought the ta-ta’s out for a show. Screams of amazement erupted from the crowd. They did not hesitate to begin throwing money or tucking it into her blouse among other places.
To calm things down after that tease show, the stunning Queen Dust Bunny astonished the crowd with her strong vocal performance of Barbara Streisand’s “Memory.” The crowd was stunned in awe and erupted in applause as she belted out every word. Where else can you see such talent? Queen.
As our final drag performer, Anita Hug came through to bless us with her presence as a fruity dessert with her lip sync to MARINA’s “Froot.” Her colorful and eclectic costume definitely stole the show that night as a rainbow-caped, grape superhero. She concluded her performance, revealing the message of her rainbow cape--”PRO BLACK PRO BROWN PRO TRANS PRO QUEER.”
For the finale of our night, UT’s FSA Dance Team. The overwhelming dance crew took to the stage with a mix ranging every genre. The versatility! The talent! They gave a proper, sound conclusion of the performances for the night. We can't wait for our next release party. Thank you to everyone in our community who has continually supported us. As always, stay silky <3