Lost Spaces: Memories from Gay Bars, Lesbian Clubs, and LGBTQ+ Parties

* This episode is sponsored by Spaces, the new group chat app for queer communities - find out more at https://www.queerspaces.com/ (and, come join the Lost Queer Spaces Space after you've set up your profile! * Picture it. It's 1989.  Maud's, one of the only lesbian bars in San Francisco, is about to close down permanently.  And, in its last few days a plucky film crew sets up to document the final days of the bar, celebrate the women who went there, and mark the importance of such a space. I know this is a really naive thing to say, but it blows my mind that as a community we were having these conversations about the importance of queer spaces and their preservation of our culture over 30 years ago! And we're still having them!  The resulting documentary from these few days of filming, 'Last Call at Maud's' is a fascinating insight into not only the lesbian bar scene, but where we were culturally at that time. So, why am I telling you all of this? Well, i was lucky enough to sit down with the film-makers Paris Poirier and Karen Kiss, to talk about them making the film, the reaction to it, and..... what San Francisco life was like back in the 70s and 80s.... Do you have any memories of Maud's, or clubbing from your own queer scene that you want to share? Well, if you have please get in touch - I want to create the biggest online record of people's memories and stories - go to www.lostspacespodcast.com and find the section 'Share a Lost Space' and tell me what you got up to! Bonus points for embarrassing photos! You can also find me on Facebook (www.facebook.com/lostspacespod), Instagram (www.instagram.com/lostspacespod) and Twitter (www.twitter.com/lostspacespod) Find out more about Last Call at Maud's by visiting the website http://lastcallatmauds.com/

* This episode is sponsored by Spaces, the new group chat app for queer communities - find out more at https://www.queerspaces.com/ (and, come join the Lost Queer Spaces Space after you've set up your profile! *  You know how when you were a baby gay and you had to someone pluck up every single shred of courage within you in order to make that first visit to your local queer bar, and how you had to go through the emotional acrobats just to make that first step through the front door? Well.... my guest this week DIDN'T have that experience at all!  In fact, bucking all trends and being in a long-term relationship that started when he was 16... Which means he was introduced to clubbing by his boyfriend, and didn't have to do all of that awkward small talk and flirting with strangers that made the rest of us want to shrivel up and disappear in to the beer-soaked carpet...  So that means that this week's guest, Jonathan Marotto, from the Yaaas Bro podcast, has a really different perspective on his early days of clubbing and how they shaped him.  We caught up to talk about the Miami under-age club 'Diskotekka', and along the way we discuss how Lady Gaga helped with his coming out, breaking up, getting back together, and then breaking up again.... and I get some tips on how to convince your classmates that you're totally, totally 'masc'...  Do you have any memories of Diskoteka, or clubbing from your own queer scene that you want to share? Well, if you have please get in touch - I want to create the biggest online record of people's memories and stories - go to www.lostspacespodcast.com and find the section 'Share a Lost Space' and tell me what you got up to! Bonus points for embarrassing photos! You can also find me on Facebook (www.facebook.com/lostspacespod), Instagram (www.instagram.com/lostspacespod) and Twitter (www.twitter.com/lostspacespod) Find out more about Jonathan by visiting  his website https://www.yaaasbro.com/,  or follow him on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/yaaas.bro/

*Before we dive in to this week's episode - did you know that I also write a weekly newsletter? I'd love to spend a little time in your inbox! If you want some queer shit once a week sign up here - https://tinyurl.com/lostspacespod * One of the perverse things about doing this podcast is that when I'm talking to a potential guest and they say that all of the bars that were ever significant in their life are still open, instead of me responding 'Yay! That's great news! Queer spaces are thriving', I'm like 'Damn! Now we have nothing to talk about!'   Anyway, that's a long way of saying that that is exactly what happened when I first got in touch with this week's guest. J.P. Der Boghossian, the founder of Queer Armenian Library and the host of the podcast This Queer Book Saved My Life.  The bar that he first went to when he started going out, Sidetrack in Northern Michigan, is still open.  But, after a bit of back and forth we realised that one of the other spaces that he frequented at that time, the magical world of AOL chatrooms, no longer exist! So, we're taking a trip back to the late 90s, in the very early days of the internet, to talk to random strangers and take grainy pictures of ourselves with our shitty webcams!  Do you have any memories of AOL chat rooms, or clubbing from your own queer scene that you want to share? Well, if you have please get in touch - I want to create the biggest online record of people's memories and stories - go to www.lostspacespodcast.com and find the section 'Share a Lost Space' and tell me what you got up to! Bonus points for embarrassing photos! You can also find me on Facebook (www.facebook.com/lostspacespod), Instagram (www.instagram.com/lostspacespod) and Twitter (www.twitter.com/lostspacespod) Find out more about J.P. by visiting his website https://jpderboghossian.com/, the Queer Armenian Library https://queerarmenianlibrary.com/ website or the podcast This Queer Book Saved My Life https://thisqueerbook.com/

*Before we dive in to this week's episode - did you know that I also write a weekly newsletter? I'd love to spend a little time in your inbox! If you want some queer shit once a week sign up here - https://tinyurl.com/lostspacespod * So, you're new to a city... You know no-one... The job you moved for has since disappeared, and you've got to start from scratch... Where do you go to meet people? How do you make new friends? Well, how about... Facebook? (You thought i was going to say your local gay bar, didn't you?) For this week's guest, Maurice Smith from Category Is... Podcast, it was Facebook where he first made connections after he moved to Philadelphia in the late 00s. But, when it was time to meet them in real life? That's where Bump came in to play. We chat all about renaming the gaybourhood, learning to overcome shyness, and, I learn a new word - meetcute! Wanna know what it means? Well, you'll have to listen to the episode to find out.... Do you have any memories of Bump?, or clubbing from your own queer scene that you want to share? Well, if you have please get in touch - I want to create the biggest online record of people's memories and stories - go to www.lostspacespodcast.com and find the section 'Share a Lost Space' and tell me what you got up to! Bonus points for embarrassing photos! You can also find me on Facebook (www.facebook.com/lostspacespod), Instagram (www.instagram.com/lostspacespod) and Twitter (www.twitter.com/lostspacespod) Find out more about Maurice by following Category Is... on twitter (https://twitter.com/CategoryIsPod), or listen to the show wherever you stream podcasts!

*Before we dive in to this week's episode - did you know that I also write a weekly newsletter? I'd love to spend a little time in your inbox! If you want some queer shit once a week sign up here - https://tinyurl.com/lostspacespod * It's no secret that there's an addiction issue in the queer community, with those identifying as LGBTQ+ more likely to experience an addiction.  And there are different theories about why this is - LGBTQ+ people are more likely to experience early emotional trauma, which means they're more likely to experience a mental health problem, and there can also be additional barriers to accessing support. But, one of the big reasons, and one of the things I'm sure you've heard before, is that our community spaces are often centred on drinking and drug-taking, which means there's an added exposure and, some would say, pressure.  Which brings us to today's guest - Dillan Gay (yes, that is his actual surname!), is the co-host of The Sober Gay, a podcast about being sober in the LGBTQIA+ community. In our chat we talk a lot about his alcohol addiction, how queer spaces intersected with that, and his experiences with recovery...  But, that makes it sound like this is a really heavy episode - it's not! Although we cover a lot of serious topics in our chat there are giggles aplenty! I promise! Do you have any memories of Stonewall?, or clubbing from your own queer scene that you want to share? Well, if you have please get in touch - I want to create the biggest online record of people's memories and stories - go to www.lostspacespodcast.com and find the section 'Share a Lost Space' and tell me what you got up to! Bonus points for embarrassing photos! You can also find me on Facebook (www.facebook.com/lostspacespod), Instagram (www.instagram.com/lostspacespod) and Twitter (www.twitter.com/lostspacespod) Find out more about The Sober Gay podcast by visiting the website https://www.thesobergay.com/, following him on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/thesobergaypodcast/), or, of course, listen to the show wherever you stream podcasts! 

*Before we dive in to this week's episode - did you know that I also write a weekly newsletter? I'd love to spend a little time in your inbox! If you want some queer shit once a week sign up here - https://tinyurl.com/lostspacespod * This week we're doing something a little different - we're not going to a bar, a club, or even a community group. We're embracing summer and headed to a lost queer beach!  The Belmont Rocks were large limestone rocks on the lakefront of Lake Michigan, Chicago, that served as a gathering place for the LGBTQ+ community for decades, but were removed in 2003 due to erosion.  I caught up with the writer Owen Keehnen, who runs 'A Place for Us', a facebook page that gathers people's memories of Belmont Rocks, to discuss his early days in Chicago in the 80s (when his dream job was to work at Ripley's Believe It or Not), coming out during the AIDS crisis, and why it was so important to him to have access to this space. Do you have any memories of The Belmont Rocks?, or clubbing from your own queer scene that you want to share? Well, if you have please get in touch - I want to create the biggest online record of people's memories and stories - go to www.lostspacespodcast.com and find the section 'Share a Lost Space' and tell me what you got up to! Bonus points for embarrassing photos! You can also find me on Facebook (www.facebook.com/lostspacespod), Instagram (www.instagram.com/lostspacespod) and Twitter (www.twitter.com/lostspacespod) Find out more about Owen by visiting his website www.owenkeehnen.com, following him on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/owenkeehnen), or follow the facebook page 'A Place for Us' - https://www.facebook.com/A-Place-for-Us-LGBTQ-Life-at-the-Belmont-Rocks-1962452347335386/

*Before we dive in to this week's episode - did you know that I also write a weekly newsletter? I'd love to spend a little time in your inbox! If you want some queer shit once a week sign up here - https://tinyurl.com/lostspacespod * Coming out later in life brings a whole different set of challenges and questions about identity, community and where you fit in to all of that.  This week I was lucky enough to sit down and talk to writer and podcaster Nicholas McInerny, who is the host of Rainbow Dads, a podcast that shares the stories of gay and bisexual dads, most of whom have come out later in life.  But, we're not here to talk about them - we're here to find out about Nicholas, and his experiences navigating the gay scene after coming out.  We talk all about the magic of Burning Man festival, the iconic London club night XXL, and one of my favourite topics ever - embarrassing sexual encounters! Do you have any memories of XXL, or clubbing from your own queer scene that you want to share? Well, if you have please get in touch - I want to create the biggest online record of people's memories and stories - go to www.lostspacespodcast.com and find the section 'Share a Lost Space' and tell me what you got up to! Bonus points for embarrassing photos! You can also find me on Facebook (www.facebook.com/lostspacespod), Instagram (www.instagram.com/lostspacespod) and Twitter (www.twitter.com/lostspacespod) Find out more about Nicholas by following him on Twitter (https://www.twitter.com/NMcInerny), or listen to the Rainbow Dads podcast wherever you stream podcasts

*Before we dive in to this week's episode - did you know that I also write a weekly newsletter? I'd love to spend a little time in your inbox! If you want some queer shit once a week sign up here - https://tinyurl.com/lostspacespod * So, my American guests often talk about go-go dancing as though it's this super common thing, and I always feel a bit too dumb to ask too many follow up questions. But, this week I put all of that aside and asked EVERY. SINGLE. DUMB question there is to ask about the art of go-go. And I was in good hands because this week's guest, Steve V Rodriguez from the Talk About Gay Sex podcast, used to be a go-go dancer in the 90s. We caught up to talk about N Touch, the San Franciscan bar where he first shaked his booty. A,nd along the way we talk about jockstraps vs thongs, playing it straight in Hollywood, and having sex with your favourite porn star.... Do you have any memories of N Touch, or clubbing from your own queer scene that you want to share? Well, if you have please get in touch - I want to create the biggest online record of people's memories and stories - go to www.lostspacespodcast.com and find the section 'Share a Lost Space' and tell me what you got up to! Bonus points for embarrassing photos! You can also find me on Facebook (www.facebook.com/lostspacespod), Instagram (www.instagram.com/lostspacespod) and Twitter (www.twitter.com/lostspacespod) Find out more about Steve's podcast Talk About Gay Sex by listening to the show wherever you find podcasts, or following them on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/TAGSPODCAST) or Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/tagspodcast/)

Cast your mind back to the year 1999 - we were all worried about the Y2K bug, there's this new cartoon called Spongebob Squarepants, and the queer folk punk duo Bitch and Animal release their debut album 'What's That Smell?'. One of the songs on the album, 'Drag King Bar', documents the band's misadventures at a night called Club Casanova, which was a weekly drag king night held at Velvet in New York City. I was lucky enough to nab some time with Bitch, who is in the midst of touring her latest record 'Bitchcraft', to find out about that bar and the make out session with drag King Murray Hill that inspired the song. Along the way we talk about how Bitch and Animal were first discovered by legendary singer/songwriter Ani Difranco, a roommate from hell, and what it's like having a pretty much ungoogleable name... Do you have any memories of Club Casanova, or clubbing from your own queer scene that you want to share? Well, if you have please get in touch - I want to create the biggest online record of people's memories and stories - go to www.lostspacespodcast.com and find the section 'Share a Lost Space' and tell me what you got up to! Bonus points for embarrassing photos! You can also find me on Facebook (www.facebook.com/lostspacespod), Instagram (www.instagram.com/lostspacespod) and Twitter (www.twitter.com/lostspacespod) Find out more about Bitch by following her on Twitter (https://twitter.com/bitchmusic) or Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/bitchmusic/) of facebook (https://www.facebook.com/b.tchmusic)... AND, make sure you check our her most recent album, Bitchcraft, which I LOVE!

Sweet, sweet love....  Usually on this show when a guest brings up affairs of the heart i’m like ‘ugh, let’s move on…’, but this week I didn't. Maybe it’s the summer weather, maybe I’m mellowing in my old age, but this time i leant right in and learnt all about a significant relationship in social justice singer-songwriter Crys Matthew’s life. And, that relationship would not have happened were it not for the lesbian bar Phase 1 in Washington, DC. We talk all about the evolving nature of language (one of my favourite topics, as you know!), listening to your gut, and why lesbian bars are still important....  Do you have any memories of Phase 1, or clubbing from your own queer scene that you want to share? Well, if you have please get in touch - I want to create the biggest online record of people's memories and stories - go to www.lostspacespodcast.com and find the section 'Share a Lost Space' and tell me what you got up to! Bonus points for embarrassing photos! You can also find me on Facebook (www.facebook.com/lostspacespod), Instagram (www.instagram.com/lostspacespod) and Twitter (www.twitter.com/lostspacespod) Find out more about Crys by following her on Twitter (https://mobile.twitter.com/crysmatthews) or Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/crysmatthews/)... AND, make sure you check our her most recent album, Changemakers, which is OUT NOW!