martin bates wrote:Tony Papard wrote:I'm afraid even in this day of gay marriages homophobia persists in certain circles, including sport and the rockin' scene.
it's human nature and can be found everywehere - no reason sport or rock n roll would be any different. Not just homophobia but all sorts of intollerance of different lifestyles. When Lee Lewis announced his girlfriend was expecting a baby, even you, Tony, made a comment to the effect that they should be married before having a child.
I'm curious in the other post - why they advertised the gig as 'Gay Rocin Tonite' - why not simply announce a rock n roll gig ?
If they're concerned a bunch of homophobic teds would find themselves in a gay pub - then don't have the gig there. Alternately, just advertsie it in house to your target audience.
However some rock'n'roll has actually been played on the gay scene, mainly at gay tea dances. I used to attend these, and they played music from the 1920s/1930s up to date, with all dances included from the Waltz and Quickstep thru jive to the more modern dances, with music from all the decades. Rock'n'roll was played in the 1950s section, and dear Jo Purvis, the lesbian DJ, played several of my requests over the weeks, including 'Tennessee Saturday Night' by Jerry Lee Lewis.
Martin.
My reply to this seems to have been lost, or perhaps I only previewed it instead of submitting it. I can't now remember what I wrote exactly, but to answer Martin's main question, it was not meant to be just another rock'n'roll gig. It was meant to a) provide some different music to that usually played in the gay clubs and pubs and b) provide a place where LGBT people on the rockin' scene can relax, be themselves, meet other LGBT rockers and enjoy the kind of music we love. This is why we wanted it in a gay pub.
Gay friendly straights would of course have been welcome, but in the event only a handful of gay rockers/rockabillies turned up because the advertising failed to reach the target audience, who by and large wouldn't have read the gay press where some ads were put if I recall correctly. Only Southern and Rockin' published the ad on the rockin' scene, and this just attracted the homophobic remarks and threats mentioned in a previous comment by me.
I don't remember ever saying Lee and his girlfriend ought to have been married before having a child, but may well have said not doing so would have raised many eyebrows and been condemned in the Bible Belt of the Deep South. My own view is that children need a stable environment ideally with role models of both sexes. That, in my personal view, rules out adoption by same-sex couples unless the child/children is/are given regular access to the biological father(s) in the case of two lesbians with children, or the birth mother(s) in the case of two gay men with children.
Marriage is not essential, and we probably wouldn't have opted for gay marriage had it been available when my partner was alive. We would definitely have gone for a civil partnership for all sorts of practical reasons: visiting rights if one of us ended up in intensive care, inheritance rights, rights of next-of-kin generally, etc.
I'm glad to say, although homophobia persists on the rockin' scene, it is slowly changing as a few LGBT people are now 'out' on the scene. Although the rockin' scene likes to present a macho image, possibly why lesbians are more accepted than gay men, there are some things which would strike as odd to an outsider to the rockin scene. For example: the way Teddy boys often preen themselves in front of mirrors for ages - and nearly every time they visit the Gents, the fact that at rock'n'roll/rockabilly Weekenders it is nearly all males on the dance floor when bopping, nearly all females when Strollers are being played, and only when Jivers are played to males and females (or two females) dance together. Two males jiving together is still seen as a joke, however. Another reason why a gay record hop in a gay pub would make this acceptable.
There's also the fact that Jerry Lee usually provoked an almost fanatical reaction from mainly males whereas acts like The Beatles had screaming girl fans in the main. In fact I read one report on the Granada TV special years ago which said the scenes of males clustered around Jerry Lee's piano reaching out to touch him, and up to him when he stood on top of the piano, looked very gay or words to that effect! This, of course, was the reaction of an outsider to the rockin' scene.
Although there is homophobia on the rockin' scene, there is also a hatred of rock'n'roll/rockabilly, etc. on the gay scene. I have personal experience of this too. At a famous London gay pub they were playing the usual disco/house stuff and I went up and half-jokingly asked the manager if we could have some Bill Haley for a change! He literally ran away across the dance floor screaming: 'I HATE rock'n'roll! I HATE rock'n'roll!'. My partner warned me that if we played all rock'n'roll/rockabilly at our parties, all the gays would leave. So he made up cassettes with a mixture of music, and only a few rock'n'roll tracks for my benefit.
His fears were confirmed long after he died when I had a joint birthday party in a straight pub with a straight Ted whose birthday it was too. We had Flying Saucers playing. Half of my gay friends left early because they hated the music. At a party in my flat after my partner died we had rock'n'roll in one room and the gay friends had their music in another room. The two lots of guests didn't mix at all, except to go in the kitchen and get drinks replenished.
A friend and myself did put on some rock'n'roll gigs in another gay pub, but in the back bar and the LGBT regulars all stayed in the front bar. Linda Gail Lewis played there twice - it was The Buzz Bar in Battersea High Street (now long gone). However a rather cute and presumably straight rockabilly spotted karaoke going on in the front bar, and went in and did an Elvis Presley song. He got a very good reception from the gay crowd, whether because of his singing or his looks of course is a matter of conjecture. He probably didn't even realize it was a gay pub.
It should also be remembered how many LGBT people were involved or associated with 1950s and early 1960s pop and rock'n'roll. Apart from some of the singers and musicians themselves, people like Britain's Joe Meek and Larry Parnes, and of course the idol of many rockers/rockabillies - film actor James Dean who was gay or bisexual. Without LGBT people the rockin' scene would have been lacking some great artists, and the early pop/rock scene in UK would have been very different.
Long ago in Ferriday down in Louisiana, They all watched Jerry play and pump that old piana
My blog: http://www.tonypapard.info/
My Jerry Lee Lewis page:
http://www.btinternet.com/~tony.papard/JERRYLEELEWIS.HTM
