Disco balls glimmer onto a large mural of Dolly Parton hanging over the bar. A “Steel Magnolias” armadillo cake rests nearby and big blonde wigs bounce through the room as tassels sway through the crowd.
The Dolly Parton 80th Birthday Blowout packs the room with nail and massage stations, cocktails, live country music, a baking contest, a lookalike competition and a drag performance by the “Dolly of ATX,” Brigitte Bandit, with a portion of proceeds benefitting Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. Married co-owners Michael and Tinita Harpel transformed their spa-slash-record store, VINYL Beauty Bar, into a live venue for VINYL’s first Dolly party, with less than a month to prepare.
“This is a great time for all of us to come together and celebrate and find some joy in the midst of all this craziness that’s going on in the world,” Tinita said. “We have to be proactive no matter what, and keep the spirit of Austin alive.”
Part of a larger weekend of Parton celebrations across Austin, the Blowout honors her enduring legacy as a musician, philanthropist and cultural icon. For Whitney Coulter, a contestant in the lookalike contest, Parton represents nothing short of a “national treasure.”
“(Parton) represents this sweet as sugar, but tough as nails,” Coulter said. “(She has a) don’t take any shit from anybody kind of attitude. At the end of the day, we all want some of that whimsy and magic and sparkle that Dolly has.”
Inside VINYL, that sparkle feels tangible. Patrons dance on the bar, contestants adjust wigs before stepping into the spotlight and every detail encourages participation. Coulter said she attended a few other Parton events, but this one was special because of the local talent it supported.
“(Past events) were more general country western and not specific to Dolly,” Coulter said. “This felt like it really captured her.”
The energy shifts when Brigitte Bandit enters in full glam, her presence echoing a long and playful history between Dolly Parton and drag. Parton once lost her own lookalike contest to a drag queen and later joked that if she were not a woman, she would be a drag queen. Her exaggerated femininity has made her both a camp icon and a subject of speculation online, with Parton being the subject of “transvestigating” videos.
“If you were to ask me, Dolly is a drag queen,” Bandit said. “She takes femininity to this extreme level.”
As drag faces mounting scrutiny and legislation across Texas, Bandit said performance becomes both celebration and resistance.
“As we see these attacks escalate, it’s not the time to hide — it’s the time to be even louder,” Bandit said. “Texas has the second largest population of LGBTQ+ people of any state, so we deserve to be seen, recognized, celebrated and (allowed) to make spaces for each other and to know (we) aren’t alone.”
