Different Strokes for Different Virgo Folks

A late-summer hootenanny:

 John A. Lomax (folk music archivist) (September 23, 1867)

 Jimmie Rodgers (September 8, 1897)

 Milton Brown (September 8, 1903)

 Roy Acuff (September 15, 1903)

 Hank Williams, Sr. (September 17, 1923)

 Jimmie Rodgers (September 18, 1933)

 Leonard Cohen (September 21, 1934)

 Sylvia Tyson (September 19, 1940)

 "Mama" Cass Elliott (September 19, 1941)

 Maria Muldaur (September 12, 1943)

 Loudon Wainwright III (September 5, 1945)

 Ron "Pigpen" McKernan (September 8, 1945)

 Terrance Simien (September 3, 1965)

 Tegan and Sara Quin (September 19, 1980)

 Taylor Mitchell (August 27, 1990)

Virgos Rock! And These Ones Roll ...

And the hits keep on coming:

Keith Moon (August 23, 1946)

Roger Waters (September 6, 1943)

Signe Anderson (September 15, 1941)

Danny Hutton (September 10, 1942)

Maureen Tucker (August 26, 1944)

Valdy (September 1, 1945)

Gene Simmons (August 25, 1949)

Freddie Mercury (September 5, 1946)

Elvis Costello (August 25, 1954)

Chrissie Hynde (September 7, 1951)

Shirley Manson (August 26, 1966)

Debbie Gibson (August 31, 1970)

Neko Case (September 8, 1970)

Fiona Apple (September 13, 1977)

P!ink (September 8, 1979)

 Kate Jackson (September 16, 1979)

Celebrate Labour Day ... But, Remember!

In Canada, Labour Day celebrations are rooted in the December 1872 parade organized by the Toronto Trades Assembly in support of the Toronto Typographical Union's strike for a 58-hour work-week. Somewhat behind the times even then, Canada still had laws against unions and strikes. 24 union leaders were arrested and more marches and parades were held. Eventually, Prime Minister John A. MacDonald's government passed the Trade Union Act in 1873, thereby making unions legal. By the 1880s, labour festivals were being held annually in the spring. In the summer of 1882, Peter J. McGuire of the American Federation of Labor was invited to speak at an event in Toronto. He returned to New York City to organize a parade on September 5 that year.

In 1894, based on the American parade, Canadian Prime Minister John Thompson's government made Labour Day a statutory holiday on the first Monday in September. In turn, President Grover Cleveland made Labor Day an official holiday in the United States that same year, on the same first Monday of September. International Worker's Day (May Day) of course was held every spring. New Zealand made the fourth Monday in October Labour Day beginning in 1900. Many other countries have varying Labour Days.

For most of us this is the last breath of fresh summer air before autumn (meaning work and school schedules, not seasonally which begins on September 23 with equinox). But with the decline of living standards, the political right's attack on unions, the cutting of public services, the demonization of public employees and the destabilzation of employment over the past few decades, we should remember the roots of this celebration and that our society and its communities were built (are built) by the work of countless workers of all kinds, by human beings with dreams, passions and stories.

Virgo Soul: R&B Artists Born Under the Sign

And now with my DJ V hat on, from the world of soul:

Sam Gooden (of the Impressions) (September 1, 1939)

Joe Simon (September 1, 1943)

Otis Redding (September 9, 1941)

Barry White (September 12, 1944)

Billy Preston (September 2, 1946)

Van Morrison (August 31, 1945)

G.C. Cameron (of the Spinners, until 1971) (September 21, 1945)

Susaye Greene (of the Supremes, 1972-76) (September 13, 1949)

Valerie Simpson (August 26, 1946)

Jennifer Hudson (September 12, 1981)

Five Stars! Gun Hill Road

Finally! ... At long last, I got a chance to see this on the second night of the Vancouver Queer Film Festival. And, yes, it was awesome! Gun Hill Road hit home in so many ways, but in particular, as I prepare to come out to my own family, with the dynamics between the father and his pre-transition daughter. One scene in particular, and I don't want to give anything away here, had me in tears. This film definitely deserves any and all awards it gets as do the stellar cast. And as it was transgender actress Harmony Santana's breakout role (as a character with my namesake), I'm looking forward to more in the future from her.

Roll 'Em!

Mid-to-late summer means one thing to me ... It's film season! Although there are film festivals all year round in Vancouver, between now and the end of September are the ones I look forward to every year: the Queer Film Festival, the Pacific Cinematheque's Film Noir Festival and, at the end of September, the Vancouver International Film Festival. Popcorn and licorice candy abounds!!!

Of all the awesome offerings at the Queer Film Festival (August 11-21) this years, there are a number of transgender and intersex related films and documentaries. So far, I have tix for Gun Hill Road (I'm so excited ... four more sleeps!!!) this Friday and Trans-Generational and Orchids: My Intersex Adventure on Wednesday, August 17. I will post after I have seen each of them, although I sense that these will all be fantastic!

Also, I have always loved the dark, foreboding, existential atmosphere of classic film noir films of the 1940s and 1950s: they say so much about a post-war world where people have lost their moral compass, feel trapped by fate itself and are subject to apathy, angst and a desperation for truth. These films have a lot to show us n'est pas. And such stark, dramatic cinematography influenced by the German expressionist film makers. And the dialogue ... blunt assessments, poignant philosophical credos, innuendo laden one-liners. Anyway, I think I have made my case.

The Film Noir Festival runs, with the exception of a few days in between, from August 4 to August 24 this year (a little earlier than usual). Although the big catch at this festival this year, is the never-been released on DVD Whistler series of B-movie noirs from Columbia Pictures in the 1940s starring Richard Dix. I may get to see at least one of these, but so far I'm down for The Phantom Lady (1944). Again, I will post after I have seen any of these.

 

This Day in History: August 5 - 6, 1966, The Compton's Cafeteria Riot

Today, and tomorrow, mark the 45th anniversary of one of the key pre-Stonewall events in TLBG history. It had happened in the low income San Francisco district known as the Tenderloin. The neighbourhood's outlet of the Compton's cafeteria chain, at 101 Taylor Street, was the scene of a revolt of mostly transgender teenagers, along with street youth and a few residents of the burgeoning hippie neighbourhood in the nearby Haight-Ashbury district, against the discriminatory policies of, and treatment by, the cafeteria's management and staff.

On the night of August 5, the restaurant was packed. Management felt the mostly young crowd was rowdy and called the police. When they arrived and began to rough up some of the customers, a trans girl threw coffee at one of the officers and in the ensuing melee, the main window was smashed as were those of a police car outside and a newsstand was burned down.

The following night, members of the Vanguard, the first TLBG youth group in United States history, picketed Compton's along with others, including a lesbian organization called the Street Orphans. Once again, the police arrived, and once again the participants asserted themselves: they revolted. Public reaction to the police force's treatment of the demonstrated was negative. It was the beginning of the transgender community's assertion of itself politically (the same had happened at Dewey's Restaurant in Philadelphia the previous year) and also the beginning of a general public awareness of the experiences of transgender people. It has been a long, hard struggle on all fronts since, and there is much further to go.

Today a plaque commemorates both the site of the cafeteria and the 1966 riot. In 2005, Transgender activist and historian Susan Stryker produced a public television documentary on the revolt called Screaming Queens: The Riots at Compton's Cafeteria (I own a copy on DVD). The video later won an Emmy award for best TV documentary.