(And if you wanna read my whole take on StoneWall – Click here)
0:00:01-0:01:10) Love Your Enemies by William S. Burroughs off of Dead City Radio
0:01:11-0:03:50) Homo Rainbow by Ween off of South Park: Chef Aid
0:03:51-0:05:30) (Rev.’s Story-time background music 1: To The Workers Of The Rock River Valley Region, I Have An Idea Concerning Your Predicament by Sufjan Stevens off of Come On Feel The Illinoise!)
Welcome dear listener to this exceptionally special episode of Aurally Fixated. I’m Rev. the guy the guy with too much free time and music on his hands (as if there’s any such thing) What makes this episode so notable, you wonder. Well, as I’m recording this, just before 1:30 in the morning, on the 28th day of June, it was at this time, in the wee small hours of the morning, on this date, the dog days of summer, and right here in Greenwich Village, in the city that never sleeps, 50 years ago, that a spark was struck, that turned to proverbial powder-keg of the time into countless flames, towering and dazzling, that burn brighter still to this day. I am of course talking about the Uprising at the Stonewall inn. And that is precisely why we started this episode off with Love Your Enemies by an indomitable writer with an unforgettable voice, William S. Burroughs, a man who spent much of his life conflicted by his own sexuality. And after that we heard Ween doing Rainbow off the South Park: Chef Aid album.
So consider this your warning, if you have a problem with “the gays” this isn’t the show for you. And I don’t mean that this isn’t the episode for you. I mean Aurally Fixated is never the show for you. Now with that out of the way…
If you don’t know much about Stonewall you’re missing out, and if you do I’m sure you won’t mind hearing it again. But before we get into the whole “anarchy in the streets thing” – Speaking of the many colors of the homo rainbow up next we have the band Placebo with Nancy Boy.
0:05:31-0:09:09) Nancy Boy by Placebo off of Placebo
0:09:10-0:12:45) Best Cock On The Block by Bitch And Animal off of Eternally Hard
0:12:46-0:14:19) (Rev.’s Story-time background music 2: The Magic Flute: Theme & Variations Op.9: II. Var.2 by Georgi Moravsky off of 66 Must-Have Spanish Guitar Masterpieces)
That insanely fun tune right there was Bitch And Animal bragging about how they’ve got the Best Cock On The Block off their aptly named album, Eternally Hard. Now, old man Rev. is going to tell you about the olden days, the late 1960s, and the night – the queers fought back. Ya see, the pressure that exploded that night at StoneWall was a generation in the making. Believe it or not, the homophobia that was all the rage back when I was growing up, didn’t really come into vogue until the late 1940s when McCarthyism somehow linked Communism and homosexuality kicking off both the Red and the Lavender scares. From then on it became illegal to be gay. Laws were passed, you could be fired and perhaps never work again, harassed and assaulted by the police, arrested and publicized in the newspapers, and institutionalized, all for who you found attractive. It was 20 years of bleak humiliation and oppression that bread the Stonewall Riots. For many of it’s participants it’s all they’d ever known, being driven underground and into places like the Stonewall Inn.
Ok, that’s the prologue, but before we continue, how about a little music. We’ll start off with an old one from the 1920s. The Savoy Havana Band throwing up their hands, like every generations does, about “The kids today and their Masculine Women, Feminine Men.
0:14:20-0:16:59) Masculine Women, Feminine Men by The Savoy Havana Band off of The Naughty 1920s: Red Hot & Risque Songs Of The Jazz Age Volume 1
0:17:00-0:22:10) Same Love (featuring Mary Lambert) by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis off of Heist
0:22:11-0:23:39) (Rev.’s Story-time background music 3: Magic Blood by Man Man off of The Man in a Blue Turban with Face)
Welcome back dear listener to this very special, story time addition of Aurally Fixated. That was just Macklemore & Ryan Lewis with the song Same Love featuring Mary Lambert. A song from a retro man calling out the homophobia that is still engrained in our culture. Speaking of which, where was I? Ah yes! Gay bars!
Because at the time any bar that served gay people ran the risk of being shut down it was only the seediest places that allowed them in. Places that knew how to work around, or pay off, the cops – Mafia run places. Now before you start to think “Oh that nice of those gangsters to give the disenfranchised a place to congregate” you should know that they just saw an untapped market to exploit. A place they didn’t have to keep clean, or even up to code. Where they could sell their stolen or substandard liquor, run drugs and prostitution, and blackmail the clientele. What were they going to do, call the cops? And because the Stonewall was such a dive, it became the hangout for the most outcast. Drag-queens “flamers” “Dykes” homeless kids and junkies, and this who couldn’t afford anyplace else. But, it might’ve been a shit-hole, but at least inside those walls they didn’t have to pretend, and could meet others just being themselves. That is, until the Department of Public Morals tried to raid the place.
0:23:40-0:26:19) Chicks With Dicks by Impotent Sea Snakes off of God Save The Queens
0:26:20-0:28:59) Faggot by Mindless Self Indulgence off of Frankenstein Girls Will Seem Strangeley Sexy
0:29:00-0:31:24) Gay Rude Boys by Leftover Crack off of Mediocre Gererica
0:31:25-0:33:59) (Rev.’s Story-time background music 4: Odessa Freylekhs by Steven Greenman off of The Rough Guide To Klezmer Revival)
Well now, those were some fun and riots songs, weren’t they? First we heard the Impotent Sea Snakes with a ridiculous song bout hey became Chicks With Dicks, off their God Save The Queens album. Then we heard Mindless Self Indulgence with a pretty little ditty called Faggot. And finally what you just heard was Leftover Crack doing Gay Rude Boys. Now, naturally I’d like to spend more time talking about the bands, and music, and whatnot, but tonight is about Stonewall. So back to it.
The Department of Public Morals tried to raid the StoneWall Inn. (Yeah, the Department of Public Morals was really a thing, and yeah, I’m glad it’s not anymore.) Anyway, depending on the type of person you are, it was either late Friday night or early Saturday morning. The busiest time for a bar. The Stonewall had about 200 patrons inside when a handful of the officers busted in. Now, you might already see the flaw in their logic here. But remember, in the cops minds they were just a bunch of docile queers. They’d never fought back, and besides, any red-blooded American man could take 50 of them one handed. That night though the people began to resist. Refusing to show IDs. Refusing to prove they were wearing the clothes of their birth gender. Refusing to go quietly. Even those that were cut loose didn’t automatically just run home, they loitered out front. And since nothing draws a crowd like a crowd, the people outside grew into an audience. Sn naturally some of the more ostentatious started posing and preforming for the masses. Making fun of the police – marching and saluting flamboyantly, and the laughter and cheers drew still more people. The hoard cheered as member of the Mafia were put into the backs of parole-cars. Still half-joking they started shouting “Gay Power!” And singing protest songs like “We Shall Overcome.” But when the cops started to get rough with some of the Stonewall’s regulars, things got tense. As shitty a home as it was, the Stonewall was still la home. And so they fought for it. And to give you a clue as to what happened next here are The Magnetic Field with their song ’69: Judy Garland. And just to be clear, 69 refers to the year 1969. The year of the Stonewall insurrection, and also the year of Judy Garland’s death which only happened days apart. And with his usual dry voice and sense of humor Stephin Marrit suggests that perhaps the two are intwined.
0:34:00-0:37:05) ’69: Judy Garland by The Magnetic Fields off of 50 Song Memoir
0:37:06-0:41:40) Squealer by Genitorturers off of Sin City
0:41:41-0:43:39 (Rev.’s Story-time background music 5: Tatarisher Longa by Veretski Pass off of The Rough Guide To Klezmer Revival)
Perhapse you recognized that as a cover off the old Ac/Dc song Squealer, but did you know that was the Genitorturers take on it? Off their Sin City record? If you didn’t, well, you do now. And I know I’m giving the music the short-shrift today, so I’ll just say that it’s all great, and go check out the artists that spoke to you. After I’m done story-ing, of course.
Now, the officers were struggling to stuff the rowdy people into the backs of their cruisers when someone shouted that the raid was payback because the Mafia wouldn’t cut them into their blackmail money. So people started throwing Pennys and loose change at them. And sense people only have so much of that, then came the beer cans and bottles. Then of course the cops tried taking-out the mail rabble-rousers, but this didn’t have the desired effect on the rest of the rabble. When those detained in the backs of the cars broke free the crowed surged and swallowed them – then tried to overturn the vehicles. Then, some of the Moral Police, ran, and the rest, ironically enough, found refuge inside the walls of the Stonewall Inn. Bottles, trash, rocks, and bricks from a nearby construction site rained down on the Stonewall. The front window was smashed, and a parking-meeter was uprooted to use as a batterin-ram to split the doors. Garbage was lit on fire and thrown in through the new openings. Finally, the makeshift barrier collapsed. The officers drew their weapons. And in – danced – a chorus-line of can-can kicking queers – all dressed to the nines for a Friday night out on the town. Now that’s not some flowery description of mine, the rioters literally advanced on the police by kick-like. The cops had no idea how to deal with something like this, but fortunately for them, it wasn’t long after that, their backup finally arrived.
But, before that, Music!
0:43:40-0:37:10) Doreen by Devil Doll off of The Return of Eve
0:37:11-0:49:48) CowBoy Love by Reverend Horton Heat off of It’s Martini Time
0:49:49-0:52:06 (Rev.’s Story-time background music 6: pool next door (instrumental) by cars & trains off of we are all storms)
Welcome back ladies and gentlemen, and all points in-between. You are you, I am Rev., this is Aurally Fixated, and that was two twangy tunes that started with Devil Doll and a departure from their usual smoky sound and a song to Doreen. And what you just got done listing to was CowBoy Love by the very good-Reverend, Horton Heat. And speaking of homo-love.
The crowd of protesters outside the Stonewall because may of them had been calling their friends and inviting them to the party. So you may wonder why the Moral Police didn’t try that sooner. Well, they had been trying the nearest precinct, but coincidently enough, the local boys, who didn’t appreciate the outsiders coming in and messing up their kickback deal with the Mafia, where having problems with their radio that night. Just that night – and with them. Eventually though they must’ve got enough random calls about a disturbance in the West-Village that they thought they should go check it out. But by the time they arrived the collection of mis-fits out front of the Stonewall had grown to somewhere between 600 and 1000. The Calvary that was there to save the day, then also had to call in reinforcements. The Tactical Police Force. New York’s proto-SWAT team. And they weren’t there to fuck around – but fuckery happened none-the-less. As they tried to clear the streets the protesters just mocked and laughed at them, and cheered as new, bigger chorus-lines formed singing silly songs. Well, you can guess how that went down, a wall of men in tactical gear wit shields and clubs against kick-lines spoofing their machismo. You can guess, but you’d only be partially right. In addition to the occasional blunt-force-drauma the Tactical Police would divide the masses and chase them down the crooked streets of the Village, only to have the protesters come back around from side-streets and wind up behind their pursuers – chasing them. Which only make sense to all those who’ve ever been lost that far below Uptown’s grid.
The shenanigans persisted like that until the sky started to turn blue, at which point the streets were cleared – though many still congregated on stoops, and roofs, and in the park. Still too excited to be exhausted. And that was just the first night.
0:52:07-0:54:24) Gay Bar by Electric Six off of Fire
0:54:25-0:58:52) Homosapien by Pete Shelley off of Homosapien
0:58:53-1:01:15 (Rev.’s Story-time background music 7: Rumble by Link Wray off of Rockin’ Bones: 1950s Punk & Rockabilly)
That, believe it or not, right there, was Pete Shelley, the lead singer of the punk band Buzzcocks venturing out on his own with Homosapien, a song that was banned from the UK airwaves in the early 1980s for being too gay. And of course we kicked that block off with Electric Six and their hit Gay Bar that went all the way to number 5 on the UK charts just about 20 years later. My how times have changed. Because of things Stonewall set in motion. Where were we? Ah!
Naturally the police were mortified. They’d never been chased off before. Especially not the Tactical Police Force. And by a bunch of homos barring their nails, hitting them with their purses, and slapping them with limp wrists! And again, I’m not making that up. So the next night they were determined not to let that happen again. The sent out more than 100 men to nip any disturbances in the bud. But what they hadn’t counted on however, was that due to all the media coverage the rebellion got, the next evening the Village was flooded with newcomers. Hippies and not-so-innocent-bystanders. Black Panthers and tourists. And anyone else who wanted to support gay rights, or counterculture, or just had a bone to pick with the authorities. They all wanted to see the broken burned-out shell of the Stonewall Inn. When they got there they were greeted with a new ply-wood window already covered in graffiti. With phrases like, “Support Gay Power,” “They Invaded Our Rights,” “Legalize Gay Bars,” “Drag Power.” And the strangest of all, “We Are Open.” And sure enough, it really was open for business. Busted window, charred bar, smashed jukebox, looted cigarette-machine, “confiscated” liquor and all. And again that night Christopher Street became the nucleus of chaotic-energy and exuberant-confusion. Cop cruisers were smashed, fires were lit in garbage cans, chorus-lines went up against stormtroopers, police chases ebbed and flowed throughout the Village. And whenever the post caught someone the swarm surged and reclaimed them. It was de-ja-vous all over again.
By the third night though, the police began to outnumber the protesters. But still the next few nights were echos of the first. And it went like that, each night growing a little softer, until Wednesday, 6 days later, when the excitement just kinda died out. Sort of.
1:01:16-1:05:44) Olga’s Birthday by Rose Polenzani off of Anybody
1:05:45-1:08:47) I Wanna Be a Homosexual by Screeching Weasel off of Kill the Musicians
1:08:48-1:11:05 (Rev.’s Story-time background music 8: Með Blóðnasir by Sigur Rós off of Takk…)
Rev. Here to finish up my telling of the great Stonewall Uprising. And of course to tell you that was I Wanna Be a Homosexual by Screeching Weasel and that they toughing and heartbreaking number before that was called Olga’s Birthday by one heartbreaking and touching Rose Polenzani. But not it is time for me to wrap up the never-ending tale.
The Stonewall Riots awoke something inside the LGBTQ community. The demonstrators reported feeling for the first time that they weren’t alone, and actually part of a community. A big part of the protests were just people committing public displays of affection, somehitng unfathomable just days before when they were forced to hide in the backs of dark speakeasys. It was an empowerment that too many had never known, and didn’t want to let go. Almost immediately inspiring flyers and pamphlets telling of the rebellion we churned out wit titles like, “The hair pin drop heard round the world” and “Do you think homosexuals are revolting? You bet your sweet ass we are!”
StoneWall was the end of June 1969. By July 4th people were bussing to picket Independence Hall in Phillidelphia. Within 6 months activists started printing their own newspapers. And places around the city started hosting same-sex dances. Exactly 1 year later, on June 28th 1970, starting at Christopher Street and going all the way to the heart of Manhattan was the first Pride March. That day there were also marches in L.A. and Chicago. The year after that there were also marches in Boston, Dallas, and London, and Paris, and West Berlin, and Stockholm. The year after that, 1972, Atlanta, Buffalo, Detroit, DC, Miami, Minneapolis, San Fransisco, and Philly were added. By ’73 homosexuality was no longer considered a mental illness by the APA. And now, because of those 6 nights 50 years ago we can have songs like this, Mark Growden covering Dolly Parton’s Jolene.
1:11:06-1:17:22) Jolene by Mark Growden off of Live at the Odeon
