As a young kid, Jade Esteban Estrada ran away from his San Antonio

home to New York City. Though he didn't stay long the first time, he knew he would return.

     It didn't take him long. A few years later, he auditioned to attend New York's American Musical and Dramatic Academy.

     "Things just magically fell into place," Estrada said. "... I got a scholarship to go to school. It was the best time in my life."

     Just a month after arriving in NYC, he called home to his grandmother.

     "I said, 'Mom' - that's what I call her - 'Mom, I'm never coming home.' Once I said it and once she heard it, we both realized I was really gone," Estrada said.

     Some years later - last August, to be exact - Estrada did return to San Antonio, to perform at the Miss Latina America 2000 competition.

     "A week later, my grandmother said, 'When I saw you on stage, it was the first time I realized you belonged to the public.' I don't belong to her anymore, she meant. I belong to the people. ... I feel like I'm there to serve them. It's not me up there. It's like I'm a channel, my voice and body being used for a purpose," he said.

     He'll bring that voice and body for a specific purpose when he comes to Amarillo on Saturday as one of several headliners at Ribbonfest 2001. The all-day event, co-sponsored by KWTS-FM and West Texas A&M University, is a benefit concert for the Panhandle AIDS Support Organization. Other headliners include Cooder Graw, The Groobees, Mike Fuller and Teri Hendrix; also performing are Fuse, Yuma, Last Exit and Hubris.

     Estrada, an openly gay singer, said he jumps at the opportunity to raise money for HIV awareness and prevention.

     "My best friend died of AIDS. I miss him dearly to this day, and every time something like this comes up, I don't think twice about it," he said.

     After school, Estrada worked as a stand-up comic, choreographer, singer, dancer, actor and writer. He toured Europe as a solo singer after a short gig with hip-hop group The Model Citizens.

     In 1998, he was choreographer and lead dancer for Charo before signing to Total Envision Records.

     He started his own label, Vicarious Records, and released "Angel" last year.

     Though Estrada is open about his sexuality, he says he doesn't dwell on it - in interviews, in his life, in his performances.

     "Quite frankly, discussing sexuality is boring. I like to move on to more important things in life," he said.

     Like he will at Ribbonfest.

     "I like to look and feel for the things that immediately make us the same, not different. ... For example, when I go on stage in Amarillo, we're all Texans. That's one thing. AIDS and HIV - most of us have been touched by that. ... We all have some kind of gift, everybody in the world, and there's something really powerful when we come together," he said.

     As an out Latino performer, Estrada finds himself pulled in several directions.

     "I can't please everyone, but I can please myself. The Latin people will chide me for singing half of my album in English. Mainstream audiences, their problem usually is that I'm out. Lesbians and gays say, 'You're not out enough,' " Estrada said.

     "I'm not a gay singer. I'm a singer who is gay, and there's the difference. Above all I'm an artist, a human being and a performer, which means I'm here to serve everybody, not just one particular group. That's the most human thing I can do for my culture in this era - just be myself."

     "My shiny outfits don't hurt either."