A Celebration of Trans-Variant Performers
Walking in Greenwich Village in NYC, Chloe (best known as the TS lead singer for the rock group Trans-Sister) wondered, “What should I do for the summer to celebrate the new bill (which makes life for the TG community just a touch easier) that was passed by the NYC legislature?
“I said to friends, we all know life can be hard; let’s just pick a day and have some fun,” she told me in a phone interview about the inspiration behind the event.
Together with her friend, New York City events promoter Joe Birdsong (Mr. Joe, as he is known), they decided to host a music festival. Scheduled to take place in Tompkins Square Park, the event would be a day of entertainment and celebration. Through a benefit they arranged at Spa Nightclub, “donations were raised from the sale of artwork,” Chloe said.
At the last minute, with a great lineup of talent, they didn’t have enough money to hold the event at Tompkins Square Park, the site of the original Wigstock 18 years earlier. So, with a week to go, they moved the venue to Fez on the corner of Lafayette and Great Jones Sts.
The event started around 1 PM on a hazy, sunny, hot day. Fez was a great choice because they could use the cabaret, located under Time Café, for the first half of the performances, then move upstairs to complete the second half in the Fez lounge in the back of Time Café.
When I arrived, the room was packed, and I was lucky to run into Ed Mannix (director of communications at www.outmusic.com), who explained to me who some of the acts I didn’t know were. The event was billed as a celebration of Trans-Variant talent – and talented they were, featuring some of the area’s best-known and up-and-coming performers.
Though it is not said a lot, there is certainly a great deal of division amongst the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender communities at times. But today, there was nothing except unity. As I stepped back and looked around the room, I felt a profound togetherness among people. It was welcoming and friendly in a Woodstock kind of way.
The lineup of talent was arranged in such a way as to keep your interest – 6 hours or so of interest, which is a tremendous feat when you think about it. Flawless Sabrina, the queen mother of drag, presented a spoken-word rhyme so moving you could see tears forming behind the crowd’s eyes as they recognized the struggle of a life upstream. Every CD should read these words and understand the rough road of the warriors that preceded us and paved the way for our Saturday night’s romp. Many of us don’t really know what struggle means.
Derrick-In-A-Dress (who says “I’m Derrick in A Dress – a black, Irish, Native American, Asian, Hare Krishna, Cross-Dressing Lesbian, Catholic, Jew), performed a moving piece called All Humans Are Human, which closes like this: “Beginning to prove that rainbows may be formed after the lightning, thunder and torrential storms. Which forces this great young nation to redefine its norms. All humans are human – there is no human more human than another. All humans either breathe, or they smother.”
There was plenty of up-tempo entertainment by newcomer Lisa Jackson, who sounded the best I have heard her yet, the amazing presence of Kevin Aviance, and don’t forget Yolanda, who sings “I, I, I…… ‘m an alien love child”.
The show had a great mix of humor, such as Justin Bond, the beautiful MC Amanda LePore, who hammed it up, and the dazzle dancers – who closed their dance by stripping naked. There were some serious moments in the form of public announcements by Councilwoman Melissa Skalarz, Rose Royale – who challenged the gay community to be more inclusive of their tranny sisters- and a moment of silence for those sisters whom we lost over the years, such as TG activist Sylvia Rivera and the very beloved cabaret performer International Chrysis.
All in all, the day was a breath of fresh air and a great celebration of kindred spirits.