I moved to Houston in 1981, and in my early years here I often saw John Day perform, at clubs like EJ’s (then on Richmond, where I tended bar for the summer of 1982) and Baja’s (on Lovett Street). As a record collector, especially of the queer variety, he definitely caught my attention when he…

How many bands record two albums (1975 and 1976) and then do their follow-up 36 years later? I can only think of one, The Deadly Nightshade. The band was, and is, comprised of Pam Brandt, Helen Hooke and Anne Bowen. Some folks have said they were the first all-women band signed to a major label,…

My QMH show for April will be a four-hour visit to recent Country Music released by LGBT artists, but I just cannot wait to share this artist with you. I think the new album by Jenni Dale Lord is outstanding. She recently moved back to Lubbock, Texas, after ten years in Austin, which makes me…

The New York Times described this new group as “a buff, gay, pop-classical hybrid of juicy boy band and staid chamber group with a vocal component.” In short, they are four hot gay guys who sing and play well, and to hear a string quartet do cover songs of some of our catchiest hits, well,…

Reclaiming Lost History I now have Much More info on my website The Mustang Band started in Houston in the late 1970’s, as an offshoot of the social organization, The Mustang Club. They played all of the club’s functions and then started working at other clubs and bars in Texas. From that point they began…

Okay, can you name a female impersonator who had an ice cream flavor named after him? Nope, not RuPaulicious, not Divine Pink Flamingo…I’m not talking Ben & Jerry’s commemorative names. You have to go back, way back for the one I have in mind. And it happened in 1926. The flavor was called “Hanford’s Tommy…

Ah, as RuPaul is now in the fifth season of RuPaul’s Drag Race, let’s look back on a fabulous career, with scores of recordings, television and film appearances and success no one could have predicted. No, let’s look back to the beginning, to 1985, and to her very first 12″ EP release, called “Sex Freak.”…

The recording I am talking about today is the earliest in my collection by an artist who later transitioned, in this case, from man to woman. Yes, I have older ones, by Christine Jorgensen, Bambi, and others, but their singing efforts were all after they became known as transsexual. Danny O’Connor became Canary Conn, and…

It’s so nice to start the day totally enchanted by the music of an artist new to me, so I have to immediately do this blog entry to share that with you. You see, I have  music columnist friend in Australia, Sue Barrett, who keeps me informed on lesbian artists I may not of heard…

Last month I posted a video I created that was a tribute to the 40th Anniversary of Olivia Records, showing images of every LP, 45 and CD the label produced. And today, a friend who actually got to go on this dream cruise send me a link showing the musical finale. It’s the appropriate “Song…