Happy 4th

A very happy Independence Day to all of you (Americans).

Just the other day, on our way out of town to Albany, Betty & I happened upon a Revolutionary War battle marker right on 9th Street & 4th Avenue here in Park Slope. I have to go back later this summer to see it closer, because I could barely read it from the car, but it was some evidence that American soldiers had died there (according to one account, probably by bayonet).

Also, a reminder: there is no meeting of the partners group at the Center tonight; it was moved to 7/11 so we could avoid today’s holiday.

Ch- Ch- Ch- Changes (to my Blog)

I’m sure that some people are unclear as to why I would have started Trans Group Blog, which is a separate, and group-oriented, blog about trans issues.

I did so because (1) I think it’s a resource that’s long been needed, so that authors on trans subjects can discuss various happenings and theories and resources, like a high-tech, low-budget trans magazine; and (2) because I’m aware I’ve been a useful resource on trans issues for people, which has been a privilege & a pleasure. But I’ve also realized that when I’m between books, I’d like to blog a little more about other things, & I assume other blog readers are something like me: they don’t want to wade through reports of concerts I’ve seen in order to get info/resources on trans stuff.

So in order to me to be more than a writer on trans issues, I started the new blog, where I will cross-post anything about trans stuff that I write for here. That way I can also write about other things here – writing projects, music, politics, what-have-you – so that people who read my stuff can read a ton more kinds of things, and people who are just looking for what I have to say on various trans subjects can read that.

Long, Loud Summer

The folks over at Wolfgang’s Vault just put up a ’78 Ramones gig that is so damned great – and very much what their live shows were like: practically no breaks, DeeDee’s “1-2-3-4!” about the only ‘between songs’ chatter, and adrendaline, speed, and power chords. The Palladium, where this show was taped, is now sadly gone; the last band I saw there was Los Fabulosos Cadillacs.

Damn. It makes my old, tired self exhausted just listening, but I can remember pogo-ing for the entire time they played at some shows I was at. My fondest memory – kind of my own ‘coming of age’ ritual, since I didn’t have a Sweet 16 – was going to see a Ramones show at Hofstra University: a bunch of us loaded into someone’s van. The energy was great, positive, aggro: when some Nazi punks showed up, the entire audience (& the Ramones) shamed them out of the room. But my coming of age ‘ritual’ was more specific than that: at some point during the show, I thought I was sweating obscenely because I’d rubbed my hands down my thighs and they were damp. So I went into the bathroom to splash some water on my face and neck and arms, but once I hit the bathroom area – which was better lit – I saw that my hands were actually bloody, not sweaty. I went into a stall and my thighs were streaked with blood, and finally I found a huge gash/hole that’d apparently been made by someone’s spike or safety pin or something. I wasn’t bleeding profusely by any means, but I hadn’t noticed and in all the jumping around had managed to get it all over me.

Ah, good times.

Do check out this show if you did or didn’t get to see the Ramones live. If you can only take a song or two, then I’d recommend the first two, “Rockaway Beach” / “Lobotomy” since that’ll give you the general idea, but they’re really on for the “Surfin’ Bird” / “Cretin Hop” bit of the show.

July: Us on In the Life

For the month of July, the LGBT magazine show In the Life will be showing an episode called “Gender Revolution” and our bit on “Heterosexual Privilege” (originally broadcast September 2004) will be shown with an update to our story. You can also order copies of the show now, & they’ve provided a guide explaining how to request that your local PBS station broadcast the show it if they don’t.

The really cool part is that Charles Busch is the host of this episode, who is a friend of a friend & a very, very talented artist whom we both admire.