Elaine Townsend
on her
“Heartbreaker Blues"
Tour

Unitarian Church
Main St., Montpelier
May 17, 1991
7:30 p.m.
$5 - $10 sliding scale

Album on Ladys1ipper's
Recommended List

"A versatile and dynamic gui-
tarist and an energetic per-
former. Be sure to catch her!"

-- Robin Flowers

10% of proceeds to VT Coalition of
Lesbians and Gay Men

April 1991

 
   

By Michelle Thomas

The Twenties and Thirties have for the
most part been characterized by the music
of Gershwin, Kern, and Berlin — music of
wit and sophistication that spoke to the
upper crust. One does not associate that
period with sexually explicit music, some
of it so explicit that it might even make Ma-
donna blush to sing it.

Sissy Man Blues: 25 Authentic
Straight and Gay Blues and Jazz Vocals
(J ass Records) is a collection of such songs
that is both fascinating and surprising in the
sense that gays and lesbians were given the
opportunity to sing the blues while straight
vocalists sang of gays and lesbians without
much ado in the same period.

Given that the audiences were often in
bars, speakeasies, and bordellos which
gays and lesbians were known to frequent,
a good number of the songs are specifically
aimed at such audiences. "If you can't send
me a woman, send me a sissy man," sings
Connie McLean in "Sissy Man Blues," a
song of thwarted sexual encounters that
leads him to make that particular request.

Some of the women featured here do
not have that problem of sexual ambiguity;
they know what they want. Ma Rainey
sings proudly in "Prove it on Me Blues:'' "1
go with women cuz I don't like no man."
She speaks of her woman after a fight:
"Where she went I don't know; I follow her
everywhere she goes."

Bessie Jackson sings of B.D. (bull
dyke) women in "B.D. Women Blues:"
"B.D. women need no man.../ They walk
like a natural man] lay their jive like a

Gay Blues and Jaz Released

A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A

natural man] They sure is rough/ and they
drink plenty of whiskey." In "Two Old
Maids in a Folding Bed," Monette Moores
sings of two women, one who says to the
other, "I admire your playful tactics."

Many references to gays and lesbians
are made in passing in other songs. George
Hannah mentions two women hand in hand
in "The Boy in the Boat" and says "Just look
‘em over and understand." In "Someone's
Been Using That Thing," the Hokum Boys
mention "men who powder their faces" and
women who "talked like men" as people
who have been using that "thing."

Obviously, these songs were not part
of the mainstream. They were certainly not
featured on the Paul Whiteman radio show
or covered by Bing Crosby. They were
recorded with primitive equipment and
released as "race" records by record com-
panies, believing that blues and jazz ap-
pealed to a limited audience. Because of
this attitude, many of these_ records lan-
guished in obscurity until recently.

Jass Records should be commended
for compiling many of these songs for
modern audiences. Not only is this signifi-
cant in terms of music history, it is a piece
of gay and lesbian history, bearing witness
to a time and place where gays and lesbians
were simply accepted as a part of the life
many of these blues and jazz artists lived.

(Sissy Man Blues can be obtained from
either Jass Records, 611 Broadway, Suite
41 1Q, New York, NY 10012 or Ladyslip-
per Inc., P.O. Box 3124-R, Durham, NC
277 15)

Partners in Recovery and Growth Inc., Therapists

Erica Marks, S.A.C., A.C.H., Director
Giita Clark, Associate
Sherry Hunt, B.A., A.C.H., Associate

Sexuality, Substance Abuse, Spirituality, Parenting, Gestalt, T.A.,
Hypnosis, Individuals, Couples, Families, Groups

182 Main St.
Burlington ; VT 0540 1
Sliding fee scale Phone: 865-2403

 
   

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