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Focuses on a gathering to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the New York City-based House of Ultra-Omni, one of the last of the original drag queen houses whose balls proliferated in the 1980s. Background on this bygone scene; Significance of Madonna's 1990 hit, "Vogue," and Jennie Livingston's 1991 documentary "Paris Is Burning"; Revival of the balls by a new generation that has exported them from the urban centers where they first flourished to the Sun Belt and the Midwest; How balls are now being staged almost every weekend in various cities nationwide; Comments of Brandon Harp, a member of the Atlanta House of Ultra-Omni; Ways that the houses have changed; Contributions that the ball world has made to culture.

The man in the red Elmo costume was back to work in Central Park on Tuesday, but under the mask, he was not smiling. He was behind in tips he earns by posing for photographs with tourists. He said he had gotten a late start because he was not released from a psychiatric evaluation at a nearby hospital until midmorning. ''The police asked me not to come here today,'' the man said Tuesday. ''I'm sort of sneaking back in.'' [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

oThe article reports that a drag performer, Kevin Aviance, has been beaten by a group yelling anti-gay slurs on June 10, 2006 in New York City. According to the report, Aviance has been dressed in boy drag at the time of the incident. Anviance has received injuries that include a broken jaw and fractured left knee.