Songs of a Lesbian Anarchist

That’s the subtitle of Kathy Fire’s 1978 LP “Songs of Fire.” And her album is filled with rage, including the closing track, “Mother Rage,” dealing with rape. 

Kathy Fire's activism began early and she founded a chapter of NOW in South New Jersey, which led to her meeting many feminists from Philadelphia, and she heard the call to move there. After that move she help found the group Dyketactics, which quickly caught attention when they staged a sit-in in 1975, taking over the City Council offices, and being forcibly ejected by the police. More protests followed and Fire began writing songs about these causes. She told an interviewer from the Philadelphia Gay News that she recorded a cassette and sent it to every single women’s record company. And the only company responding was a male-run company, Folkways, which had a policy of allowing artists free hand. By the end of the 1970’s, she and lover, poet Barbara Ruth, had moved to San Diego.

The song from the album of most interest to my queer website is “Crazy.”

Click to Listen to "Crazy"

See the QMH Kathy Fire page for Lyrics and More

It is fortunate for historians that Kathy Fire chose Folkways. Its founder, Moses Asch, built his label as the “voice of the people,” and that included gay & lesbian artists. The label released six albums of this genre:

Michael Cohen – What Did You Expect? (Folkways 8582, 1973)

Eric Bentley – Eric Bentley Sings the Queen of 42nd Street (Folkways 8581, 1974)

Michael Cohen – Some of Us Had to Live (Folkways 8583, 1976)

Kathy Fire – Songs of Fire (Folkways 8585, 1978)

Various Artists – Walls to Roses: Songs of Changing Men (Folkways 37587, 1979)

Various Artists -- Gay & Straight Together (Folkways 8580, 1980)

And from the Paredon Records label, also available is:
New Harmony Sisterhood Band - Ain't I A Woman? (Paredon 1038, 1977)

And in a wonderful endeavor, the Smithsonian Institute bought the entire Folkways catalog, and created the label Smithsonian Folkways, making all of it available for order online in CD or download format. 

See http://www.folkways.si.edu/

 If anyone has recent information about Kathy Fire, please contact me.

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.

 

Click for More Info on My Website

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