I don’t assume any of us have been prepared for the ceiling to open up and witness a celestial being descend upon the group in a bathe of neon rainbow lights and pulsing bass drum kicks,” I wrote in 2016 for the Present’s LGBTQ+ sister publication, Out in SA.
“I’m at a Wayne Holtz present at Paper Tiger, and a single thought has established itself the chief of all different ideas firing by means of my consciousness: ‘This motherfucker is jump-roping on stage.’”
Now, 9 years later, that stellar performer is gone. Late final month, information trickled in that Holtz, who’d since relocated to Saranac Lake, New York, had died unexpectedly on a West Coast journey to go to pals.
Many in San Antonio are nonetheless making an attempt to make sense of the loss. With a baritone croon that echoed Pleasure Division’s Ian Curtis’ Holtz commanded the stage as a solo performer, delivering full-throttle reveals irrespective of the scale of the venue. Every was accompanied by a whirlwind of costume adjustments that may rival your favourite drag queen, VMAs-ready choreography and an electronic-pop soundtrack that would teleport you straight to famed Berlin nightclub Berghain.
On the level I wrote my Out in SA piece on Holtz, I had solely met him as a choreographer and a photographer who documented town’s indie-rock panorama. That night time, nevertheless, I witnessed the sheer star energy he possessed as a performer.
That understanding grew deeper as I grew to become a part of an rising queer music scene in San Antonio that included not simply Holtz however singer Alyson Alonzo, electro outfit Pink Leche andvogue efficiency collective Home of Kenzo. We often collaborated and booked one another for occasions at venues such because the now-shuttered La Botanica, Brick at Blue Star and Paper Tiger.
No query, Holtz made a huge effect as we labored to construct that neighborhood.
“He did one thing that no one else was doing,” Alonzo stated of our late buddy. “I’ll at all times consider him as somebody who simply had it. Folks speak about [having] that factor, and he had it. He was such a star.”
Unabashed and androgynous, Holtz radiated brilliance wherever he was. Even when he wasn’t onstage, he boasted a wardrobe worthy of his live performance performances — clothes, elaborate headpieces, ensembles match for a Disney villainess. However it wasn’t simply his artwork and style that made an enduring and glittering imprint on San Antonio. Holtz’s allure, humility and dedication to raise up different artists made him somebody you can simply fall right into a friendship with.
“Wayne was such a sweetie, you understand? Humble,” stated Travis Buffkin, vocalist and guitarist for nation act The Texases and one-time music editor for the Present.
Buffkin befriended Holtz after writing an article about him for the Present and went on to function him in a music video for the tune “Doin’ Life.”
Buffkin likened Holtz’ larger-than-life stage persona to the self-discipline of drag artists, performers who’re anticipated to placed on a multifaceted present drawing on many abilities.
“You simply see these queens which are actually good and so they have all these abilities,” he stated. “They’re comedic geniuses and so they’re making their very own costumes and doing their very own make-up, you understand? They’re like popular culture polymaths. And that’s to me what Wayne was. Able to doing a fucking podcast, getting enormous stars on there, being compelling, doing pop and doing it rather well, you understand?”
Past that, Buffkin remembers his buddy as a “cheerleader for the entire San Antonio scene.”
“I’m like oh my God, we didn’t deserve him.”
San Antonio Poet Laureate 2020-2023 Andrea “Vocab” Sanderson remembers Holtz’ beneficiant spirit. Even amid the chaos of manufacturing his elaborate reveals, he hung onto an admirable calmness and was capable of provide encouragement to others.
“Someplace in between all of this, you’d discover him in a greenroom giving a pep speak to somebody having a minor meltdown or some seasoned life recommendation for an artist questioning their worth. Myself included,” she stated. “I used to be at a present with Wayne one time the place he danced so exhausting he cut up his pants proper on the crotch seam. He stored proper on working, cut up pants and all.”
Nevertheless, Holtz’s legacy extends past his charisma and pop-star prowess.
His function in queering Alamo Metropolis tradition calls for recognition and reverence. As an unapologetically queer Black man writing pop music in South Texas, Holtz used his music to inform tales of his intersecting layers of identification and marginalization. His performances and persona carved out area for others like him to reside freely and overtly.
“Going out trying glam in a superb costume / Boys pondering that I’m trying like a sizzling mess,” Holtz sang on his tune “Black Assault.” “They’re saying, ‘Hey isn’t he Black?’ / dressed up like a sissy, and isn’t that wack?”
“Watching him encourage and encourage folks to be themselves, particularly within the queer neighborhood has been an ongoing formative expertise,” stated Bobby Rivas, Holtz’s former guitar participant and present member of self-described “occasion punk” outfit HoneyBunny. “His life was one of many biggest issues I’ve ever witnessed, and I can’t imagine I used to be part of it.”
Lady in a Coma’s Nina Diaz instructed the Present that Holtz really helped choreograph the music video for her pop-leaning 2016 solo monitor “Trick Candle.” On the time, she was struggling
to seek out her footing with out a guitar in hand, and Holtz’s steering helped her really feel grounded and positive of herself.
“He helped me get in contact with my physique once more,” Diaz stated. “He simply made you are feeling you’re doing precisely what you’re imagined to be doing.”
Even after Holtz relocated to New York, he continued to be supportive of the San Antonio musicscene. After beginning up music gathering Fall Enjoyable Fest in his newly adopted city, he invited Diaz, Rivas, Alonzo and Nicky Diamonds of Lonely Horse to play the festivals’ 2024 and 2025 installments.
“He was on a mission to do what he does finest: to convey the neighborhood collectively,” Holtz’s cousin Alex Jefferson Daring stated. “[Fall Fun Fest] was only one instance of this.”
Cultural architect, style maven and beloved buddy to so many, Holtz’s reminiscence will stay with these whose lives he touched. That features not simply family and friends however anybody fortunate sufficient to witness the extraordinary spectacle of a reside efficiency.
Diaz remembers watching Holtz’s set on the inaugural Fall Enjoyable Fest and being struck once more by simply how extraordinary he was, particularly in opposition to the attractive pure backdrop of the stage.
“The forest and fall leaves have been behind him,” she stated. “The solar was stunning and he’s dancing, and there’s little kids round and it’s like, ‘That is Wayne! He’s a magical creatureand he’s right here in his ingredient simply being wonderful and out of this world.’”
A public memorial celebrating Holtz’s life will happen at 8 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 22, at Brick on the Blue Star. The gathering will embody reside music and shows of Holtz’s artwork along with food and drinks. For extra info, contact Alexandra Jefferson Darring at alexjdarring@gmail.com or Kat Trujillo at music@kattrujillo.com.
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