Publication is Fun

I let one of the surviving Cockettes, Rumi, know that THE GAY & LESBIAN REVIEW has just published a version of an essay he had seen (and passed along to Peaches Christ), although, since he read it, it has gone through changes, and was finally edited and given a certain slant by editor Richard Schneider Jr. It is a fragment of San Francisco history from the late 1960s. I wondered if Sebastian (AKA Milton Miron) would dislike being referred to, on page 4, in the editor's opening remarks, as "founder of the Cockettes." I know that Sebastian supported the Cockettes phenomenon once it was set loose, and he seemed to have a theatrical acumen and so he might have been more directly involved with their shows than I know. I hoped that Rumi would let Sebastian know about the essay, especially as the editor titled it, "Sebastian's Nocturnal Dream Shows."

With my article, Professor Schneider also published some of my photos of posters by Todd Trexler and Steve Arnold. I suppose I should eventually give the posters to the Gay and Lesbian Historical Society, while, on the other hand, I wonder if there is any person or place that would like to buy Cockettes posters. I told Rumi again that I feel a bit silly to have something published, written by someone like me, a peripheral witness to the Cockettes and Nocturnal Dreams Show, but I think it adds a valid little fragment to the whole picture -- the experience of the audience, as the actual performers and participants could not so often experience their work from "out front." In a month or so, elements of this May-June issue of the magazine should appear on their website, but not necessarily my article: http://www.GLReview.com