Big wigs and skinny dresses
Now when I was a small child in the sixties the one thing that really made me happy was music. And all of my memories are attached to it. I remember watching the Ed Sullivan Show and The Hollywood Palace and Shindig! and Hullabaloo and American Bandstand every chance I got. Now my family and I would always spend a month of our summers in Texas with Memaw and Grand(Pa), (My grand parents, its a southern thing).
My Memaw had a restaurant which also offered live entertainment and it was on the "chitlin" circut. That was where all of the black performers would play as they were not often welcomed at other venues. There were allot of well known black performers who came through there like BB King, Albert King, Little Milton and Bobby Blue Bland to name a few.
It was a rockin place on Friday and Saturday night and it was the only show in town. There was a juke box that had all of the top songs of the time. My cousins and I would go hang out there during the day with Memaw while she was setting up for the night. She would give us each a dime and you could get 2 songs. She would unlock the change box on the back of the juke box so we could get our dimes back and then she would take us to the store so we could spend that dime on penny candy. We would play the junk box all day long and dance on the stage.
Now we all thought we were stars and we would sing and dance on the stage and Memaw would lie to us and say we were good. Now Martha Reeves and the Vandellas had a song called No where to run and I would always perform that and I was Martha Reeves. I had a very happy childhood, there were some bumps in the road but for the most part it was great. Now I did not know what gay was at the time but I knew I was different.
The beautiful thing is all of my family loved me and it was pretty obvious that I was gay even at that early age. They have the home movies to prove it. I was so swishy back than but I was also a scrappy little rough and tumble boy and I loved to go to the farm and feed the animals. I never wanted to be a girl I just wanted to be fabulous. I was always dancing and singing and to this day I still am, just not as swishy but ever so fabulous. And they all still love me. I have been blessed with great friends and a truly loving family.
I was over on you tube and just browsing through all of the content over there and they have a huge collection of old Television performances to look through and I found this video of Nowhere to run and I had a flashback. So I thought that I would share a memory with you all. What is funny is that Drag queens are still working that look. The sixties were ripe with over the top fashion. Those big wigs and skinny dresses still make me happy.
My Memaw had a restaurant which also offered live entertainment and it was on the "chitlin" circut. That was where all of the black performers would play as they were not often welcomed at other venues. There were allot of well known black performers who came through there like BB King, Albert King, Little Milton and Bobby Blue Bland to name a few.
It was a rockin place on Friday and Saturday night and it was the only show in town. There was a juke box that had all of the top songs of the time. My cousins and I would go hang out there during the day with Memaw while she was setting up for the night. She would give us each a dime and you could get 2 songs. She would unlock the change box on the back of the juke box so we could get our dimes back and then she would take us to the store so we could spend that dime on penny candy. We would play the junk box all day long and dance on the stage.
Now we all thought we were stars and we would sing and dance on the stage and Memaw would lie to us and say we were good. Now Martha Reeves and the Vandellas had a song called No where to run and I would always perform that and I was Martha Reeves. I had a very happy childhood, there were some bumps in the road but for the most part it was great. Now I did not know what gay was at the time but I knew I was different.
The beautiful thing is all of my family loved me and it was pretty obvious that I was gay even at that early age. They have the home movies to prove it. I was so swishy back than but I was also a scrappy little rough and tumble boy and I loved to go to the farm and feed the animals. I never wanted to be a girl I just wanted to be fabulous. I was always dancing and singing and to this day I still am, just not as swishy but ever so fabulous. And they all still love me. I have been blessed with great friends and a truly loving family.
I was over on you tube and just browsing through all of the content over there and they have a huge collection of old Television performances to look through and I found this video of Nowhere to run and I had a flashback. So I thought that I would share a memory with you all. What is funny is that Drag queens are still working that look. The sixties were ripe with over the top fashion. Those big wigs and skinny dresses still make me happy.
Martha and the Vandellas introduced by Dusty Springfield
This is Elmysterio and I’m out
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