Archive for the ‘Blues’ Category
“Musical Community”
Little Red and the Dukes of Rhythms from the late 1940s Lovey Lovejoy, Little Red, Big Dad, Owen Felder, Count Otis Matthews (From the Personal Collection of Clarence "Little Red" Tenpenny)
My work on the interrelationship between art and community began with research on the blues nightclub district that existed in North Richmond, California from the mid-1940s until the late 1960s. My MA thesis looked at the wide-ranging effects the development and subsequent loss of a thriving nightclub district had on communal life. In the next few months, I will be revisiting this work but for now I’m posting a copy of my thesis ( Musical Community: The “Blues Scene” in North Richmond, California. UC Santa Barbara, Dept. of Music. 2001) and looking forward to any feedback I might receive.
Writings on Transgendered Musical Entertainers
I had a female impersonator for years named Jean LaRue. I didn’t tell you about that. She was out of Oakland. I don’t know if she is living or dead. She was with me for years. Name was Jean LaRue. (August 14, 1998 Interview of Clarence ‘Little Red’ Tenpenny).
“Little Red” was one of my richest sources of information (and knowledge) when I was doing research for my Master’s thesis on the blues nightclub district that existed in North Richmond, California from the mid-40s to early ’70s. Red mentioned Jean LaRue in our first interview but didn’t mention that she was a female impersonator until a later conversation. That remark sparked my interest and led to later research, which resulted in my writing “Gender Crossings: A Neglected History in African American Music”*, an analysis of the exclusion of female and male impersonators from the history of African American music. I’ve also written an encylcopedia entry for the long-delayed but forthcoming Encyclopedia of African American Music: “Transgendered Experience in African American Music” (a terrible title — not my choice). {Digital copies of this entry and/or my MA thesis Musical Community: The “Blues Scene” in North Richmond, California available on request
Also, check out Sherrie Tucker’s excellent article “When Did Jazz Go Straight? A Queer Question for Jazz Studies” in Critical Studies in Improvisation (2008). An insightful article that asks the right questions (and kindly cites my article “Gender Crossings”). I haven’t checked it out yet but Sherrie is one of the editors of Big Ears: Listening for Gender in Jazz Studies that was published in October, 2008.
* published in Queering the Popular Pitch in 2006 (Sheila Whiteley & Jennifer Rycenga, eds. – New York & London: Routledge). 2006.
Deciphering Culture
Deciphering Culture 