Book Review - The Fabulous Sylvester

[Anonymous]

found here: http://www.boston.com/ae/books/articles/2005/03/07/

'Fabulous Sylvester' vividly revisits the high life of a gay icon
By Renée Graham, Globe Staff | March 7, 2005

Sylvester was fierce.

Not necessarily combative or mercurial, although the flashy performer could certainly be those things, but fierce in the singular way that an unabashedly saucy, openly gay black diva has to be, and can only be.

Best remembered for a handful of disco warhorses, including "Dance (Disco Heat)," "Do Ya Wanna Funk," and especially "You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)," Sylvester was a singer, drag performer, and a natural-born partyer.

Born Sylvester James Jr. in 1940s South Central Los Angeles, he was reborn in 1970s San Francisco, at the gaudy dawn of the modern gay rights movement. Dead more than 16 years, he remains one of that era's most enduring icons.

"The Fabulous Sylvester," Joshua Gamson's affectionate biography of the late entertainer, is almost as engaging as the times it so energetically resurrects. Filled with interviews from Sylvester's friends, family, fellow musicians, and admirers, Gamson vibrantly reconstructs pre-AIDS San Francisco -- the baths and bars, the dizzying sense of personal freedom, and the tragedies that followed when the drugs-and-discofueled bacchanal came crashing down.

Growing up, Sylvester always stood apart from other children. While his brothers played baseball and marbles, Sylvester preferred dressing up in his mother's jewels and shoes and his grandmother's furs and hats.

And, he could sing. By the time he was 6, folks at the Pentecostal church had him standing on a milk crate belting out songs in an impossibly high, clear voice that would leave the congregation shouting.

Still, as he neared his teenage years, "his effeminacy was now hard to write off as child's play, and Dooni [Sylvester's childhood nickname] wasn't working very hard to be like the other boys."

Unlike other biographies of notable gay figures, there's no handwringing, no teeth-gnashing about sexual identity. Sylvester's homosexuality may have been an issue for others, especially his mother, yet he was always matterof- fact about his attraction to men and affinity for women's clothing.

"When I was little I used to dress up, right? And my mother said, 'You can't dress up, you can't dress up,' " Sylvester once explained. " 'You've gotta wear these pants and these shoes, and you have to like, drink beer and play football.' And I said, 'No, I don't,' and she said, 'You're very strange,' and I said, 'That's okay.' "

He would find common ground with a group of black drag queens, the Disquotays, whom Gamson describes as "a cross between a sorority and a street gang," the "most fabulous girls around, and the toughest." (While looters were stealing groceries and televisions during the 1965 Watts riots, Sylvester and his friends scooped up hairspray, wigs, and lipstick.) Their ideology -- "be fabulous, be the party, look good" -- became Sylvester's mantra, and it would carry him to San Francisco and a starring spot in a lovably wacky gender-bending hippie troupe.

Because Sylvester was known for performing in drag, it was easier for his detractors to dismiss his talent, which was considerable. Unlike his fellow troupe members, Sylvester was more concerned with creating art than in simply creating a spectacle.

But he knew how to work a room. A critic once wrote that Sylvester made "David Bowie look like Lawrence Welk." Even though he left his church when he was a teen, he always kept some Sunday morning shout in him. He could thrash a crowd into a near-religious frenzy, and after an especially fiery show, Sylvester liked to proclaim, "We had service."

A University of San Francisco sociology professor, Gamson effi- ciently weaves, among what sometimes seems a never-ending party along Castro Street, the serious issues San Francisco also grappled with, including antigay crusades and the shocking assassinations of Mayor George Moscone and openly gay city supervisor Harvey Milk. Of course, as the book reaches its later chapters, the shadow of AIDS grows more ominous. Complications from the disease would claim Sylvester in 1988.

Yet, this isn't a dour book, and Gamson's descriptions of places and people crackle with humor and zest. Of Martha Wash, a member of Sylvester's full-figured backup singers Two Tons o' Fun, Gamson writes she "had a voice that could kill you dead right where you're standing."

But the star is always the music and madness of Sylvester. He once told his audience, "Sometimes folks make us feel strange, but those folks, they'll just have to catch up." All sequined and sassy outrageousness, Sylvester, with his unshakable confidence in the glory of being different, was as mighty as his gospel-cured falsetto. Even today, the world is still trying to catch up.

The Fabulous Sylvester : The Legend, the Music, the 70s in San Francisco (Book Details)

[dvdjamm]

damn....i wasn't logged in when i posted the sylvester book review..... :oops:

[SandraDee]

I've posted here before as Steely Dan that Sylvester was a major influence on me as a naive 14 year old gay lad struggling to live with the knowledge that I wasn't 'as other men'. When I saw that promo for 'You Make Me Feel' (shot in the Embassy Club, London) on TV in '78 my life changed there & then. A defining moment in my life.

[keefelc]

Originally Posted by dvdjamm

damn....i wasn't logged in when i posted the sylvester book review..... :oops:

Hey DVD, did you go to the book's release party at the GLBT Center last Friday (March 11th)? We were there and we had a chance to chat with Jeannie Tracey and Tip Wirrick. Totally delightful people! Also, I want to know who put together the Sylvester documentary. They need to release that on DVD!

[dvdjamm]

i missed out on that,keefec...i am curious about the sylvester biography...i actually wish that someone would would do a 2 hour documentary about the san francisco dance music scene in the mid 70's on up...does anyone remember the book tribal rites written by david diebold? that would be the perfect book to make a movie about....i used to have a copy of the book,but i lost it and i haven't been able to find it....

[keefelc]

Hi DVD!
The biography is very nicely done (IMHO), but, as to be expected, the last section gets a bit depressing, especially if you lived in SF during that era. However, it's good to have some written record of that era.

It's funny you mentioned "Tribal Rites" - we were talking about Tribal Rites after the book release party (Marky has a copy, by the way, which he kindly let me check out a little while ago). One of my friends was commenting he found the book a bit inaccurate since Mr. Diebold did not frequent Trocadero until after it's heyday!

As for the Sylvester documentary that was shown at the party, I didn't get a chance to ask if it was going to be broadcast or released as DVD. :(

BTW, you might want to start resting up and keep Sunday, April 24th free on your schedule!!

[dvdjamm]

sorry for showing my ignorance,but what's going to happen on april 24th?

btw,if a movie is ever made about the s.f. disco era,there should be something in it about the cd record rack store...if any part of what i heard about the original owner is true,it would be a interesting story...

[keefelc]

Originally Posted by dvdjamm

sorry for showing my ignorance,but what's going to happen on april 24th?

btw,if a movie is ever made about the s.f. disco era,there should be something in it about the cd record rack store...if any part of what i heard about the original owner is true,it would be a interesting story...

Something that you'll want to put on your dancing shoes (hint, hint). I'll be able to give more details soon.

As for CD Record Rack, I've heard some stuff too. I didn't know until recently that Michael Garrett inherited the store (Wow! Just like Ralph inherited Butchwax Records from Brian's family.).

[dvdjamm]

Something that you'll want to put on your dancing shoes (hint, hint). I'll be able to give more details soon.

hmmm....a 3rd remember the party with robbie leslie at the troc?

As for CD Record Rack, I've heard some stuff too. I didn't know until recently that Michael Garrett inherited the store

wow....i didn't know that....i heard a lot of negative stuff about what happened to jake....i wonder what happened to that garage full of music.....

[keefelc]

[quote="dvdjamm"]

hmmm....a 3rd remember the party with robbie leslie at the troc?

wow....i didn't know that....i heard a lot of negative stuff about what happened to jake....i wonder what happened to that garage full of music.....

Hey DVD, if you haven't already, check out my post posting about "Remember the Party Soul Recharge" (under the category of Events) with Jerry Bonham spinning this time around! I think we'll all be pleasantly surprised how close Jerry duplicates the Trocadero on a Saturday night sound. Let's just say he paid attention to Bobby Viteritti's sound!

Plus, don't forget Jerry used to work at CD Record Rack when Michael Garrett owned the store. You'll have a chance to personally ask him what happened to the garage full of music!

Maybe see you there?