Austin just lost a little bit of its soul with the passing of Leslie Cochran. Our semi-official City motto is “Keep Austin Weird,” and Leslie was always at the forefront of true ATX Weirdness as our beloved cross-dressing, semi-homeless icon of pride, panache and protest. He prowled SOCO and 6th Street with better-looking legs than Cyd Charisse, ran for Mayor countless times (and nearly won), battled police brutality and oppression and generally reminded us that we should be kind and tolerant to one another despite our exterior differences. In this town, it was perfectly normal to see Leslie eating lunch with a State Senator while wearing a pink tutu and a thong.

I met Leslie many years ago while riding the bus. We use to sit together each morning and work on the NY Times crossword puzzle. Once, we got stuck on the name of some Russian author, and after some thought we simultaneously hollered “TOLSTOY!” so loud we scared half the people on the bus out of their wits. That became our greeting in the ensuing years. I’d pass him on the street and yell TOLSTOY! out the window - he’d see me at some festival and do the same.

In 2009, somebody beat the crap out of Leslie and left him on the side of the road to die. He didn’t - but he never really recovered from the head injuries he sustained and suffered several strokes as a result. Nonetheless, he still made his rounds, posing for pictures, signing autographs, and hawking his private line of dress-up refrigerator magnets. He’s on my freezer door now, dressed in a leopard-print mini, walking an armadillo. This town just won’t be the same without him.

TOLSTOY!

(Source: busterness)