Looking Ahead

I'm not a huge fan of New Year's Resolutions or predictions or any of the other things that have tended to appear on blogs in the past two weeks. I did, however, very much appreciate Jacob Anderson-Minshall's "A Preview of the Trans Year to Come". Of course, there's so much more than he could fit in his column, so I'd like to offer my preview of the Trans Year To Come, focusing entirely on the "Art, Theater, and Performance" category, since that's what I do best, and probably a bit LA-centric, but I'd love to hear about things I've missed and things happening elsewhere if anyone has things to add. Not all of my events will be specifically trans, but most will be in the queer/trans/genderqueer arena.

The lovely and talented ryka aoki de la cruz will be performing at Ladyfest South in Atlanta on January 27th. (Katz of Athens Boys Choir will also be performing Jan. 26th - check out all of the Ladyfest South events).

Butch writer/performer S. Bear Bergman is touring with hir book, Butch is a Noun (which I highly recommend!); hir performance piece, "Monday Night in Westerbork"; and smut readings, which I would give my left fishnet stocking to hear. Seriously, Bear's writing and gentlepersonly charm make me swoon and I've never even seen hir in person. I'm not sure how I would survive a smut reading, but I would welcome the challenge. Those of you in San Francisco, where Bear will be performing from Jan. 20-28, must not miss this opportunity. Still no dates in LA. Grr.

Fabulous trans rapper Katastrophe will be touring the West Coast with Nicky Click, including shows in LA on Feb. 17 at the echo and Feb. 22 at club butchin at Mr. T's Bowl.

The Butchlalis de Panochtitlan will be performing their badass butch selves at Highways Feb. 23 and 24.

Southern gent Turner Schofield will premiere his new show, "Becoming a Man in 127 Easy Steps" at the Pat Graney Company in Seattle in May. This show has received multiple major grants and commissions, and features Turner's fabulous personality and brilliant timing with the addition of crazy arial acrobatics. Now I'm not one to travel much, but I think this one is worth a pilgrimage - I'm seriously determined to get to Seattle to see it.

Homo a Gogo will take place in Echo Park this year on July 19-21. They're currently accepting proposals for performances, events, etc, so get your submissions in now.

Missing but anticipated events: there are a few events which I expect willl be happening this year, but the dates and info aren't posted. There's no future date listed yet for transgiving, but I assume one will be coming up sometime this winter. Fresh Meat Productions generally does a great event of trans performances in San Francisco in the summer, plus, Fresh Meat's artistic director, Sean Dorsey, has a new full-length dance piece called "The Outsider Chronicles" that he is apparently touring soon. Katz of Athens Boys Choir is supposedly releasing a new CD in the spring, with an anticipated West Coast Tour that will hopefully bring him back to LA.

Bonus: Femme Rock. I hear good things about femme musicians Team Gina. They just released a CD and are currently touring. They'll be performing all over the country, sometimes with the other artists I mentioned earlier, such as Katastrophe, Katz of Athens Boys Choir, and Nicky Click. They'll be in LA on Jan. 28th, which I will try to check out.

So what have I missed? What cool queer events should I know about/advertise/attend? What sounds good to you?