Charles Ludlum's "The Ridiculous Theatrical Company"

Charles Ludlam (1943 - 1987), playwright, director, and actor, founded The Ridiculous Theatrical Company in NYC in 1967. He often appeared in his own plays, in female roles. As a writer he was prolific, but his most popular play by far was "The Mystery of Irma Vep." This 1992 CD honored the 25th anniversary of the company with songs from a selection of its shows.

Click to Hear

"Heterosexual Heidi"

"The Conqueror"

"Thank God, He Made Me a Drag Queen"

Charles Ludlum's lover, Everett Quinton, sings lead on "The Conqueror."
He took over the company after Ludlam's death.

 

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Is this THE most gay video?

From Denmark, Thomas Bickham created his gay diva identity in the early 2000’s, and in 2006 Tomboy was ready to be released, like Kracken, onto the unwary world. And over two million Youtube hits later, Tomboy’s “OK2GAY” was a video hit.

 Click to Watch the Video

A full-length CD was released in 2006, with other camp tracks, though nothing to match the gay-in-your-face energy of “OK2BGAY.” The CD booklet is deluxe, with a couple dozen pics of Tomboy in OUT-rageous costumes.

A new label re-released the CD in 2008, with a new title ("Step Into the Music,") and cover, but don't worry, the same camp-for-days tracks will be found.

Tribute to the band Rebecca Riots

The Rebecca Riots were a series of protests in Wales in the 1840’s by local farmers and workers against unfair taxation, and the rioters were often men dressed as women. But for this blog, the Rebecca Riots were a band, and they billed themselves as a “radical folk” trio. Band members Andrea Prichett, Lisa Zeiler and Eve Decker released five CDs between 1995 and 2004, and toured the country, mostly concentrating near their home town of Berkeley, California. On their CDs and in their stage act they dealt with a variety of social causes, like any good “radical folk” act should do.

As I produce a show called Queer Music Heritage, you might expect that I love to honor the work of artists & musicians who did great work, but just did not, in my opinion, get the credit or exposure they deserved. Rebecca Riots fit that description. They did excellent work but as there are only a handful of amateur videos on Youtube I decided to create my own. It covers their recording career, with one song from each CD and ending with a unreleased single from 2008, “A Thousand Hands (Wedding Song 08),” which was a response to California’s Proposition 8.

Click to View Video

They no longer have a dedicated website, but several recent songs can be heard on their MySpace Page, at http://www.myspace.com/rebeccariotsmusic. Some of their releases can be found on such sites as CDbaby and Amazon.

David Kelsey Gay Organ

I spotted that title in an ad for an LP, and its lack of commas made it a bit more enticing...:)

David Kelsey was a very popular entertainer in San Francisco for many years, beginning around the mid-1960’s, billed normally as “David Kelsey at the organ.” I noticed his name in a number of ads in the publication “Vector,” from the early 1970’s, but never thought about him having released recordings of his music until I spotted an LP on eBay. I remembered the name and immediately bought it, but gee, the cover sold itself. Could that LP jacket cover be any more gay?

Digging deeper I found that in addition to his bar appearances, he was Music Director for several well-known revues, such as Charles Pierce at Bimbo’s (1971) and several shows starring San Francisco drag institution Michelle (late 1960’s). His “Flights of Fancy” album was from 1979, and a second album “Top of the Heap” was released in 1983. That one was with a band and was billed as “Dave Kelsey & Pure Trash.”

While our “take” today on organ music may be different, all the comments I’ve read about him on other websites rave about how entertaining he was and the element of showmanship he brought to his performances, often playing an organ and piano at the same time. For example, at one bar the closing song was always “San Francisco,” during which the bartenders always made sure the chandeliers were swaying.

Click to Listen to

Star Trek / Fly Me to the Moon

The Man I Love

♪ ♫♪ ♫♪♪ ♫♪ ♫♪♪ ♫♪ ♫♪

Many more images can be found at
the David Kelsey page of my website

Veronica Klaus CD: Something Cool

And that’s the title of the new CD by Veronica Klaus, her first in seven years, and to me any CD by her is something cool and very special.

I first met Veronica in April of 1999 in NYC, at the GLAMA Awards, where my host Patrick Arena finagled that we be seated at the same table with her. She was a Presenter that year and was nominated in the Female Artist category. [Another future friend, Sonia, received that award]. And it was for Veronica’s debut CD that she earned the nomination. It was called “All I Want,” and that recording made me a devoted fan.

 Patrick and Andy won a GLAMA for their CD "Night Cap"

That CD gave us her signature song, the biographically-inspired “Black Diamond Days,” as it also displayed many of her own gems, along with her exquisite taste in material: “Ruler of My Heart” (Irma Thomas), “Remember Walking in the Sand” (Shangri-Las), “Bye Bye Blackbird,” and many more. It is an album that if I were to lose it, I would replace it immediately.

Click to hear “Black Diamond Days”

In 2005 she gave us “Live at the Lodge,” with more material to wrap your yen for sultry songs around: “Fever,” “Dark End of the Street,” “Way Over Yonder,” and a delicious duet with Mark Weigle on “Angel from Montgomery.” On that one she was returning the favor, as they shared another song, “Jo and Libby,” on Mark’s 2003 CD “Different and the Same.”

Not a lot of people have this next CD, from 2007, as it was only available directly from her. One of her very popular shows in San Francisco was “Family Jewels: The Making of Veronica Klaus,” which was her story in song and dialogue. I wish I could have seen that show, but grateful for a copy of the demo CD from it.

I finally got to see her sing live, in San Francisco, in June of 2010, where I visited for Pride, and she was holding court at Enrico’s.

Update: 6/9/12. So, the new CD is here, and I'm very pleased. I think you will be also.

Find Veronica Klaus:
Veronica Klaus . Net

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