When I first heard the announcement that the main stage at the Gay and Lesbian Bisexual Transgender Pride Parade and celebration was featuring The B52s, a voice from inside me said “I’m going”, which was a stark contrast to the acid dripping jaded gay rainbow colored sentiments I’d usually be hearing from those “voices” around this time of the year. In fact, I haven’t even vaguely acknowledged the intensely huge and commercial celebration for a few years running, having waved goodbye to it all the year that Jerry Garcia died and some hetero hippie dead head tried to sell me some stupid formerly grateful Dead I’m-tripping-on-acid bouncy antennae-like head gear that had been quickly modified with a rainbow flag paint job. I went off on this person hitting me with a sales pitch, not wanting to aid them in their career transition, no matter how many years they’d scraped out an existence selling bootlegs, tie-dyes and LSD to patchouli wearing non-bathers with dilated pupils. I was not going to be their new target market, especially not in front of the B of A mobile versateller vehicle parked like a queen bee in a hive, clusters of gay drones patiently waiting to touch the queen and have her dispense a reason to be, to go on, power, sustenance, energy, esteem, will. Ah yes, Cash=Pride, and at that moment, with the one story tall inflatable beer bottle looming like a Kubrik-esque monolith in the background, it was all too vivid a picture. Things had certainly changed a great deal for the Gay Parade over its nearly three decades in existence, and I had been present for about half of them. I’ve taken part as an innocent wide-eyed spectator, as a journalist, as an activist, as a voting member in attendance at parade planning committee meetings, and as a part of a parade contingent comprised of a flatbed truck full of drag queens and freaks on drugs and make-up, queers of a more alternative ilk, a neighborhood threat with a We’ve-come –for-your-children attitude. Sadly, many of those people are no longer having dilemmas over whether to attend Gay Pride Parades or not, and the tremendous loss of lives we all have experienced has a lot to do with an overall urge to just skip the largest single Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgender celebration in the world. Gay Pride Day is a magnificent highly anticipated celebration for hundreds of thousands of people who will have a great, empowering and important experience but it’s understandable why others have sworn off of it, feeling it represents a loss of certain ideals, blatant commercialization or even a painful reminder of those no longer with us to celebrate. Instead of attending I generally chose other things to do on Gay Day in recent years, like paint the bathroom or do laundry.
Now, isn’t it funny that the one thing that came up and prompted me to change my mind and level of enthusiasm, the added feature that turned my attitude completely around and made my pulse race with excitement again over the auspicious final Sunday of June was a tacky little dance band from Athens, GA. Called The B52s. I really can’t think of a better band to be featured for any gay day celebration past or present, aside from perhaps Sylvester but he had pretty much stopped performing by the time I attended my first parade and I most definitely had a genetic predisposition for rock and roll anyway. Why are the B52s so perfect for Gay Day? Lots of reasons as I see it. Think back to the first time many of us ever laid eyes on this group. It was likely their appearance as musical guest on Saturday Night Live and frankly it was one of the most unusual performances by a rock band many had ever seen. Many of my own friends were freaked out by them or found them unsettling enough to say they actually hated them for being weird. They failed to see the humor in it. The fun-loving statements made by their unusual retro campy clothes and twitchy sped up dance moves and the salute to the heavily engineered hair-style achievement known as the bee-hive were lost on most guys who didn’t secretly enjoy playing dress-up with their older sister on occasion. It was also sort of a given that any guy who danced around like Fred did, singing about trips to the beach with matching towels was probably a big fag. Beyond all that, there was one thing I found irresistible about this group, and that was their reckless destination plan for each song to go to one place and one place only—on a collision course with fun—BANG! Their abandon as they all fall to the floor during the “down, down, down “ part of “Rock Lobster” kind of sealed it all for me. They are not only fearless and unashamed to be looking different and acting in a way others might consider foolish, they’ll even fall down on the floor for you like children playing dead, and you knew they were having the most fun and the only way to keep up with them was to dance. Thus began a long relationship with a band no one could ever accuse of putting a damper on a good party mood.
However, nine years and three hit albums after forming in 1976, guitarist Ricky Wilson, brother of vocalist Cindy died of AIDS. It was hard to imagine the upbeat party band surviving this very real and very sad loss but they did, and eventually in 89 released Cosmic Thang, a fantastic strong and fresh release that yielded several hit singles and launched a big tour that touched down here in SF for five sold out nights at the Filmore. Those shows were unforgettably joyous, a testament to the survival of the bands original intent, to be a fun-seeking tacky little dance band from Athens GA, to turn whereever they play into a free for all dance party. That is what I anticipate from The B52s on Gay Day, a great band bent on turning the largest gay and lesbian celebration into a fun-filled colorful wig-dotted dance party, a sentiment and plan that in spite of daunting times has survived and is as Gay as the day is long. So check out the printed schedule of entertainers on the main stage and be there ready to dance, and when you hear “Down, down, down,” just do it!
Finally I wish you all the happiest of Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgender Pride Parade and Celebrations and I urge you all to score your drugs ahead of time and do them with discretion and care and in non-lethal combinations and away from the eyes of authority and never take them with you to the nightclubs, it does everyone a world of good in the long run. If you might be interested to see some of my old columns from Gay Days past you can find a few on my website at www.donbaird.com, and at some point during the weekend get away from the computer and try cruising the streets for tradition’s sake. Preserve an ancient gay ritual before the only trace of it ends up being on printed paper in files at the Gay and Lesbian Historical Society