Following up on my last post on drag balls in US and UK history (“An 18th century drag ball in London” @ History is made at night), here’s another repost from the always excellent History is made at night – Mona’s San Francisco: 1940s lesbian club Source: San Francisco Lesbian and Gay History Project ‘She Even Chewed [...]
“An 18th century drag ball in London” @ History is made at night
One of the most popular posts on Pop Culture Transgressions is Queering Pop Music Studies, which discusses my research and writing on the history of transgendered entertainers in African American music. Drag balls were a significant feature of that history that existed since at least the 1880s. (see, “Gender Crossings: A Neglected History in African American Music”). [...]
Blues Singer Petite Swanson — Crossing the Gender Line in 1940s Chicago
One of my research interests is the largely forgotten history of transgendered performers in American popular music. I thank Ray Astbury for bringing Petite Swanson to my attention, a blues singer in Chicago who recorded four sides for the Sunbeam record company in 1947 (Billboard reported her signing by Sunbeam in March 1947). At the time, Swanson [...]
Sissy Bounce — an anomaly or just another transgendered musical tradition
Unexpectedly, when I was doing research on the history of a former blues nightclub district in North Richmond, California, I stumbled upon a facet of that history I had not anticipated: the participant of cross-gendered performers and club-goers. And, in mainstream venues. It flew in the face of all my presumptions of the role of [...]
Musical Subversion: “Glee” version of Dr Dre’s “Bitches Ain’t Shit”
Reposted from Sociological Images FINDING GLEE IN DR. DRE’S BITCHES AIN’T SHIT Sociologist Michael Kimmel passed along a fantastic and entertaining example of resistance. In the video below, a Columbia University a cappella group sings Dr. Dre’s Bitches Ain’t Shit. The appropriation of the song works on so many levels: the all-white, all-female group, the [...]
Where are all the female writers and directors? (@GompArts)
Busy with a job search, a simultaneous search for new “revenue streams” and diving back into the book on Moroccan music (time to wrap up the second) draft, I haven’t had much time to write original posts but I will continue to post items from other blogs and websites that I find of interest. Here [...]
Transgressive Women from Myth and Fairy-tale: Tales from the Velvet Chamber
Guest Post by LA Slugocki I am the project editor/writer for Tales from the Velvet Chamber: An Anthology of Revisioned Fairy-tales and Myth, A Call for Writers. The inspiration for this book comes from many different places — I’ll start with The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley. For those who haven’t read the [...]
Spinning tunes for the sisterhood lands award for Australian women’s DJ collective
Guest Post by Dana Flannery When a Lady Fingers DJ spins a record, expect just about anything – from a mellow Reggae tune to South Asian beats, to swing and Soul. The Lady Fingers DJ Collective of Melbourne, Australia is all about music, diversity and sisterhood. Their message of equality through cross-cultural unity has just [...]
Queering Pop Music Studies
I had a female impersonator for years named Jean LaRue. I didn’t tell you about that. She was out of Oakland. I don’t know if she is living or dead. She was with me for years. Name was Jean LaRue. (August 14, 1998 Interview of Clarence ‘Little Red’ Tenpenny). “Little Red” was one of my [...]
