House of Dozal

When the cat's away, the mice will play. The mice being awesomely cute hipster friends of Rob Dozal. With his parents' house all to himself, he gathered DJs from Late Night Social Club together to spin in his dad's painting studio.


With the crisp November night air snapping outdoors, the close gathering of warm bodies, warm beats, in a warm converted garage was pleasantly chill. I stuck to Apples and Derek the whole evening. Apples writes and photographs for EP Culture Beat, a sweet blog where writers, photogs, and artists cover cool mainstream and underground events in El Paso. Derek is a sweet, chill guy who's always a pleasure to talk to. He has great stories that would make a great web comic. They're the kind of couple that makes you want to get together with them to get drunk and write. I love those kind of couples.

Apples, Rob, and Derek.

Brew Ha-ha at Ruli's International Kitchen

As a pre-Thanksgiving dinner celebration, our crew got together at Ruli's International Kitchen. 10 bucks got you 4 premium beers and Cigarettes After Sex. Dinner was before the sex and cost extra. J/k, y'all. Cigarettes After Sex, the band.

Frontman Greg Gonzalez warms up.

Known for it's "seasonal menu of international foods", Ruli's offers entrees that skimp on serving size but load up on flavor, along with a cosmopolitan beer list. There's potential for RIK as a music venue if they would at least turn down the lights during the performance.

The evening was casually classy. Well, not so much towards the end. I chugged all my brews, plus three of my friend's beers. Next thing I knew, my entire upper body was sticking out of an ex-boyfriend's car window as I puked my guts out on the drive home.

Our English muffin, Lauren, with her friend Raul, owner of Ruli's.

*COOL-O* magazine Steampunk edition

Steampunk is the nostalgia for a time that never was. It's picturing a world where Victorian culture is the aesthetic context of present and future space-age technology. Picture us in waistcoats, cravats, spats, vests, and bowlers. Women with corsets, underbusts, parasols, and tabby boots. We would present call cards and tip our hats but also carry copper-plated MP3 players and bronze-encased telecommunicators. There would be no viable electrical grid so gas/oil lamps and candles cast a soft, balmy glow on our world at night. We ride horses and buggies and take commercial steam air ships for long trips. And our law enforcement officers, military and criminals possess ray gun technology.

As 2010 starts to rolls near, I'd like to reset El Paso's timeline to 1910 and redraw its history. One in which the Republic of Texas is a protectionist, independant country. Flanked on one side by an expansionist United States and on the other by a powerful Mexico that is fueling its means of production with the gold struck in its state of California.

What would a strategically situated border city like El Paso look like culturally and socio-politically in this fantastical, speculative cold war situation? Let's find out shall we? Unfortunately, no alternate history books describing these events have survived. Nah. Just a random little Tijuana Bible fag rag published off a steam printing press is all that's left to offer us a glimpse into the way life wasn't back then.

Daniel Marin Wants to Get Known

Daniel is the kind of guy who likes to mold a family out of a workplace; a home-away-from-home out of a watering hole. According to him, the staff and management of a gay bar should make you feel welcome, appreciated, and remembered. Not intimidated, ignored, scrutinized, or taken for granted.

Here at *COOL-O*, we couldn't agree more.

Daniel also can't get enough of the previously discontinued Polaroid film. He's obsessed with the nostalgia and warmth of it. His self-portraits and art exhibitions rely heavily on the iconic instant film.


Daniel is fresh from New York and he has that new-boy-in-class-who-used-to-rule-his-old-school look about him. It's a combination of desiring new friends and a desire to retain his mystique that makes him endearing. His passion for El Paso and creativity are infectious.


Catch his interview in the upcoming issue.

Late Night Social Club

On Thursdays, Dominic's Italian restaurant on Montana features local DJs. The space doesn't get packed. Just enough for the dance floor to fill. It's set up for casual lounging with a sound level conducive to conversation. Cheap vodka drinks and a headlining Chicago DJ will eventually get you out yo' seat to groove and get down.

Last week, Ruben Zavala of the Ruben Zavala Show featuring Ruben Zavala invited us out to catch a spin crew who visited his radio program.

Fun music. Fun people. Fun times.

Girl, Uninterrupted.

John Geiger lives with roommates who have lovingly nicknamed him "Girl". And what a classy, handsome lady she is! *COOL-O* was struck by her warm and masculine fashion style. She studies art, design, and Miley Cyrus. In this upcoming edition, Girl gives us her thoughts on photography, pop-culture fetishes, and wardrobe essentials.

David Quintanilla Party

David Quintanilla is an artist/photographer who recently showed at an industrial gallery space by the OP downtown. His show David's Goliath subverted Renaissance religious imagery with homo/sexual overtones. It was bold and sexy. An interview and photo spread of David will be featured in the upcoming edition of *COOL-O*.

On All Hallows Eve eve, though, David threw a dope costume party.

That's David in his Kali incarnation and his boyfriend the fertility goat-god fellow. By the end of the night I became convinced these are their true forms. They wear mortal disguises the rest of the year.

When you make out with a guy in the bathroom at a party, you're just asking to randomly spot him a few days later in an awkward location. Like the showers at your gym. Or at a restaurant while he's on a date with his boyfriend. Or at a Wal-Mart portrait studio taking picture with his wife and kids. Just sayin'.

Check out the killer Adonis belt on Adam. And the beer goggles on whoever took those pics. They can't hold the damn camera straight.

Cigarettes After Sex

After the fundraiser, we headed over to the Mining after a texted rumor the Dozal Bros were having a show there. Sadly, the rumor proved false. Instead, we found Cigarettes After Sex getting ready to perform. So the trick turned out to be a treat after all. Their poppy synth riffs are suh-weet.



You like 80's new wave? You like sexed-up lyrics? Then you'll love to run into Cigarettes After Sex at a gay bar at 1 am.

Fundraiser at La Catrina

Baby Sister is raising money to get her and her crew to Chicago in the spring for a major interior design convention. They decided to raise money like the Necronomicon raises zombies. Drink specials, candy, bar food, and mashed up top 40 made for a chill, loungey time at the Day of the Dead themed restaurant/bar. Good turn out and good kick off to Halloweekend.


Mi hermanita looks alot like a young version of our grandma in this get-up. (Our grandma used to fight crime as a pin-up themed superhero, you see.)






*COOL-O* magazine provided the security detail.

Nico Vega show at Bombardier's

This band kicks ass. You may have caught Nico Vega on Late Night w/ Carson Daley.


Lead singer Aja Volkman has a trippy-hippy neo-crunchy voodoo vibe in her voice that put all the ladies in the bar under a spell that night. I'm serious. She stood on a chair as all the women at Bombardier's danced around her. It was like they were worshipping Hecate or some other deity of witches/night or something. It was awesome. All the boys were hypnotized still. I guess my gay boy fairy powers shielded me from her Janis Joplin/Circe-style spellbinding. My free will was left in tact to grab a beer and rock out.

If I was charmed at all that night, it was by this guy. I love dudes in bands in general but I particularly like guitarist Rich Koehler for his silk cravat. He also wore a satin waistcoat before the show. Very steampunk. I like, I like.

Also, speaking of witch-y rock power, we met up with Cassie and Ruby of the late outfit Esperanto for this show. They have a band in the oven. This time, all chicks. Be on the look out.