Transgiving in August

Transgiving is always quite an event. Today's show was all about inclusivity. The whole evening was translated by two great sign language interpreters, Jon Wolfe Nelson and Kevin Williams, who were friendly and quite fun. They made a valiant effort to translate some very fast talking and to perform along with some wacky things, and at one point it looked like one of them was doing interpretive dance as much as translating. ryka aoki de la cruz was a friendly and graceful mistress of ceremonies sheparding in each performer and promoting those too modest to advertise the more commercial aspects of their artwork.

Eva Sweeney of Queers on Wheels talked to us (with the help of her aid, Dan) about including the queer physically disabled. She was quite engaging and wonderfully explicit about dating, her sex drive, and how to be considerate about her disability.

"f*cking all the words that will fit in my mouth"
Evan Kail (previously performing under the name Amanda Kail) came all the way from Atlanta to read his poetry and perform at this event, and I for one am glad he made the trip. He was one of the founders of Cliterati, a bi-monthly spoken word/open mic event in Atlanta, and is currently working on a series of events called Art Amok at 7 Stages theater in Atlanta, which sounds supercool. Good things are happening it Atlanta, it seems. He was great, and personally I missed the title but I liked the piece about gender and the Wicked Witch. But the crowd favorite was an adorable piece called "Ranger Debbie or Raylene," which you can read here. It's a hilarious piece about a park ranger fetish. And Evan was adorable, as well; he wore leather pants and then tried to convince us that he was all natural and granola. He also wore swimming goggles on his forehead, which I think is the ultimate in gender-ambiguous fashion accessories because anyone who wears them ends up looking like a space alien. He has a wonderful onstage personality, and I ended up buying a CD, so I'll probably have more opinions on his work in the future.

zeo scott performed three spoken word pieces that were wonderfully open and straightforward and well done. He definitely had me confused when he first appeared in a wig and a dress, not to mention shoes that added several inches to his height. Though I must say he looks good in drag.

The highlight of the evening for me was Thea Hillman. She performed several pieces I had seen her perform before, but she seemed different somehow tonight. She seemed sweet and quieter and perhaps more reflective somehow than she has when I've seen her before. She always seems friendly and approachable, but before I've also felt like she's been very strong and kickass when she's performed. There was something more vulnerable about her tonight, and for some reason I wanted to pair her off with someone in my head. I wanted her to be travelling with and working with someone as cool as she was. I wanted her to be part of an amazing queer couple like Michelle Tea and Katastrophe. The last piece she read, which I hadn't heard before, was created for Transforming Community curated by Michelle Tea in San Francisco earlier this summer. It was intense, and daring. She said a lot of things that could piss people off, and I have to wonder how people originally responded. I was very impressed; the piece was quite beautiful. Each time I see Thea read, I like her more and more both in terms of her work and in terms of identifying with her. After seeing her perform at least four times, I've finally managed to buy Thea's book, Depending on the Light, though I totally failed to have her sign it. Sigh.

After various and sundry announcements, the evening concluded with Klezmer music performed by BCC Gay Gezunt Klezmer band, from BCC, a local queer synagogue. They were quite fun and a good portion of the audience danced along. It was a great way to end an evening of some very strong performances.

The event was also accompanied by an impressive visual arts display with works by zeo scott, s.g. reichen, dandy, and Naomi Likonen.

Logistically, the show was a bit of a mess, but somehow that's OK for this event. Because it's about community as much as it's about the quality of the show, somehow, it's part of the fun that the show began half an hour late and intermission was 45 minutes long. Most people seemed to know each other and have plenty of catching up to do anyway. The whole event ended up lasting nearly four hours, despite the fact that a few artists were notably missng. There wasn't a program, which makes me worried that I will have messed up someone's bio or pronouns or have left someone out. I apologize for any inaccuracies.

Turner Schofield, who was supposed to be in LA this month and to perform tonight at Transgiving, wasn't there. We were assured that he would perform in November instead, which gives me something to look forward to, though they didn't tell us the date. I wonder what's up and whether he didn't make it out to LA at all or if he got too wrappped up in other things to come perform or what. I hope everything's alright.