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

If you listened to my interview with artist John Lee Bird about his days working at Crash you might remember a few mentions of his flatmate, who was... shall we say... exposed to some salubrious shenanigans whilst hanging out with John. Well, I've been nagging for a while, and finally got John's flatmate, Ros, on the show to share some of her story! We started talking about different venues and nights in London in the early 00s, but the conversation really became about the importance of their relationship - a gay man and a straight woman - and also the importance of safe spaces and communities when you're on the journey of becoming who you are...

This week we are headed back in time to the early 80s and small(ish) town England, with the writer David Ledain, author of This Forbidden Fruit, Having Gay Sex and his most well-known work Gay Dad, a non-fiction book that compiles the stories of gay men who married women and started families. We talk about his experiences of dipping his toe in gay life at Granny's Nightspot in Portsmouth and The Bush Inn in Chichester, grappling with his sexuality, and then deciding to turn his back on it to marry a woman.  We also talk about all the heartthrobs he remembers from those days, so get ready for some lusting and reminiscing about men he hasn't seen for almost 40 years! You can follow David on Facebook and Twitter @davidledain, and also be sure to check out the Rainbow Dads podcast, of which David is a contributor.

This week we are catching up with Chris Hubley, a musician, artist and art historian who is also known by his drag alter-ego Crystal Mighty. We talk about a LOT of things this episode - language and how it evolves, strange, intense platonic relationships, and DIY culture... which were all the subjects that branched off of our original reason for meeting, which was F.A.G. Club, an event night held initially in Cardiff, but for the majority of its run in Bristol. F.A.G Club was an inclusive D.I.Y night for QuAGS (queers of all genders and sexualities), that Chris put on with a group of friends after meeting them at the Queeruption, which is an annual international queercore festival. Some of the terms discussed on the episode (I stole these definitions from https://gender.wikia.org/) Transtrender, a portmanteau of the words transgender and trend, is a derogatory term used to describe someone who is pretending to be transgender for attention or for pity. Transmedicalism / transmed is broadly defined as the belief that being transgender is contingent upon experiencing gender dysphoria or undergoing medical treatment in transitioning.[1][2][3] Transmedicalists, sometimes referred to as "truscum" by themselves or others,[3][4] believe that individuals who identify as transgender but who do not experience gender dysphoria or undergo a medical transition—through methods such as sex reassignment surgery or hormone replacement therapy—are not genuinely transgender. Transmasculine is a term used to describe transgender people who generally are assigned female at birth, but identify with a masculine gender identity to a greater extent than with a feminine gender identity. Usually transmasculine people try to appear stereotypically masculine in terms in their gender expression in order to create social recognition of their dominant male identity. AFAB - Assigned Female at Birth AMAB - Assigned Male at Birth Assigned Sex (also referred to as birth sex) refers to the sex you were interpreted as at birth, which usually corresponds to the gender identity you were raised as and/or assumed to have in childhood. As a phrase, this is a way to refer to the sex that was put on your birth certificate, without making assumptions about your actual/current sex, body or identity.

This week we are talking to Bernie Hodges, a voice artist, actor, and co-host of the 'What, That Old Queen?' podcast. Moving to Bristol in the early 90s with a few mates when he was just 21 years old he quickly built a life for himself, but struggled to find his tribe and that sense of belonging that comes with that. But, that all changed when he started to go to Horseplay, a club night that billed itself as an 'underground homo disco' which started in 2011. We caught up to talk about pleather harnesses, living it up as an A-Gay, and death by dildo...

I am so freaking excited that the guest for this week's episode is Ultra Nate, the dance music superstar best known for the 90s classic 'Free'.  A native of Baltimore, Maryland, Ultra fell in to club culture in her first year of university. From here she met the production group the Basement Boys, started writing songs with them and... well, the rest is history... Ultra and I discuss the Baltimore house sound, being famous in one country and unknown in another, and the etiquette of snogging on the dancefloor.... This is really an episode about a number of venues - Odell's, Club Fantasy, and The Paradox (so legendary that it has its own wikipedia page!), with the common thread being the pioneering owner Wayne Davis. Whilst none of these venues were queer, they did host specific nights promoted to this community, and, being dance venues, the audience they attracted was really diverse.

This week is our first visit to Wales, and we're going to the second largest city, Swansea (which has a population of around 250,000) to find out about the lost bar Champers. I caught up with Craig Law, Host of the #InTheMix show on Gaydio, the world's biggest LGBT radio station to find out why the bar has a special place in his heart. Craig gives me advice on what to do when your friend pulls and you're left standing on your own like an idiot, shares the impact of Section 28 on his coming out, and ponders what happened to Swansea's once vibrant queer scene (with special mentions for other queer bars Talk of the Town, Hush, and The Kings Arms). Go and give Craig some love at https://twitter.com/djcraiglaw and listen to his mixes at https://mixcloud.com/djcraiglaw

If you were queer in London in the naughties then you would no doubt have spent an evening or two at Popstarz, the alternative institution that is most well known for being held at Scala in King's Cross. I caught up with the host of the filthy, filthy Probably True podcast, Scott Flashheart, to talk all about his first days in London, nights out at Popstarz, vodka coughs, and the lost art of eye-banging... If you enjoy this episode make sure you go and give Scott some love on twitter - @ScottFlashheart - And, whilst you're at it, give the Probably True podcast a listen too!

Mrs. Kasha Davis came to international fame after appearing in Season 7 of Ru Paul's Drag Race. Before Drag Race, she was one of the main drag performers at Muthers, a bar in Rochester, New York. We caught up to talk about angry white poodles, the Ethel Merman disco album, and some of her memories from her early days in drag. This episode includes shout outs to many drag legends - Ambrosia Salad, Pandora Boxx, Darienne Lake, Aggy Dune, Annie Rexic, Miss Richfield 1981, and the club's owner, Naiomy Kane. Make sure you give Mrs. Davis some love on instagram - https://www.instagram.com/mrskashadavis/

For a while in the early 2010s XES Lounge was THE place to be on a Monday night, where drag queens Frostie Flakes and Bob the Drag Queen (who, at the time was going by the name Kitten Withawhip) hosted their show 'Sisters?', winning crowds over with their ramshackle charm. In the crowd every week was Honey La Bronx, vegan drag queen, LGBTQ rights activist, host of the Big Fat Vegan Radio podcast and Bob's drag daughter. We caught up to discuss the pull of Manhattan, why it's not a good idea to take your tap shoes to the club, and how XES Lounge provided a sense of community and home. Follow Honey on Instagram - @honeylabronx , and make sure to check out her website https://www.vegandragqueen.com/

And we're off to the northern English city of Sheffield, home of the world's oldest football club (who knew?), and the town responsible for legendary bands such as Pulp, Moloko, and The Human League. The lost space we are finding out about in this episode is The Cossack, a tiny pub in the city centre that was open for around 30 years from the early 70s to the early naughties. I caught up with drag artist, DJ, community worker and activist Heather Paterson to talk all about the anticlimax of coming out to friends and family, sneakily reading lesbian magazines at the newsagent, and finding friends for life at The Cossack. Make sure you follow Heather on twitter - her username is @heatherpaterson