10 GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE April 11, 2003

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Cleve. Hts. 1812 Coventry Rd. (216)371-8489 Lakewood 15112 Detroit Ave. (216) 226-2660

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Cleveland Hts. Lakewood • Akron Columbus

Join us for Holy Week:

Sunday, April 13

Palm Sunday Service at 10:30a.m.

Thursday, April 17

Maundy Thursday Seder meal at 6:30 p.m., Eucharist with communion bread and cup

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Friday, April 18

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Cincinnati • Hyde Park • Pittsburgh

ROI TAMKIN

An LGBT Lollapalooza

Songwriter Doria Roberts brings Queerstock to Columbus and Cincinnati

by Milla Rosenberg

Columbus-If rock is dead, someone forgot to tell Doria Roberts. Since 1998, the Atlanta guitarist has been rounding up out musicians and taking them on the road as part of Queerstock, an LGBT mini-Lollapalooza.

With a line-up that has included gay punk band Pansy Division, the Butchies, transgender songwriter Angela Motter, and hip-hopper

Doria Roberts

Queerstock

is

MC Cyryus, definitely a diverse showcase. The show rolls into Club 202 in Columbus at 8 p.m. on April 12 and Yadda in Covington, Kentucky on April 18.

Columbus' show features award-winning slam poet Alix Olson, Cincinnati songwriter Tracy Walker, rustic balladeer Alison Piptone and the Decline, a high-energy Cleveland band. The Cincinnati area show has Katie Reider, Blue Umbrellas, Girlyman, Antara, Ripley Caine and Alla.

From performing benefit shows to supporting youth in crisis, Roberts has been an advocate for queer youth. The Queerstock compilation CD, Queer Stock, Queer Soup, will be on sale at the show, with proceeds going to Kaleidoscope Youth Coalition.

Milla Rosenberg: Before Queerstock, how long had you been playing music?

Doria Roberts: Queerstock started in 1995 and I was playing out for about two years. Actually, I just celebrated my ten-year anniversary earlier this month in New York and Atlanta.

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What artists or bands were you listening to when you knew that you wanted to be a musician?

I was listening to everything honestly. I was a trained dancer for 11 years so probably anything with a great rhythm and classical music. I think my dancing influences my guitar playing and musical decisions more than anything. I've been writing and keeping journals since I was ten, so the words came naturally.

But, I guess I remember listening to a lot of Shriekback, Jimi Hendrix, Ricki Lee Jones, Rachmaninoff, PiL, k.d. lang, U2's Achtung Baby, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers' BloodSugarSexMagik had just come out. Am I dating myself yet?

How did Queerstock come about?

I didn't found Queerstock. That's something that I always try to be clear about but it doesn't always make it to print. Queerstock was started by Grassroots Queers, a Philly non-profit activist group. When they decided not to have Queerstock [in 1996], I took it over, brought it to Atlanta and eventually turned it into a tour in 1998. I've been producing it ever since. The first Queerstock CD compilation just came out in November.

So, the first Queerstock happened because there wasn't a Pride in Philadelphia during Pride month. It had been scheduled in May. So, we illegally took over a park (the Judy Garland Park, no less!) and had a pride celebration of sorts. There was a “drag” race, poetry readings, music, personal testimonies really organic, radical stuff. Five hundred people showed up by just word of mouth and handmade flyers.

It was one of the first times that I performed as an out artist, and it left an impression. It was the most honest performance I had ever given. I was still in the process of coming out at that point (to distant relatives and long lost friends) so it sort of put it all the way out there. No turning back. Truly a defining moment. The community that was created, with no money and little planning, was like nothing I had ever experienced. And I wanted to always be there, so I kept it going in the spirit of that day. It was enough to have the desire to do it.

I know that you have done a lot of activism, both inside and outside the GLBT community.How significant is it for you to do advocacy that is not just queer-focused? Doing activist work that is multi-issue is incredibly important. There is a great quote by Angela Davis: "The roots of sexism and homophobia are found in the same economic and political institutions that serve as the foundation of racism in this country."

She proposes that we open our eyes to these similarities and attack all forms of oppression with those similarities in mind. I can't separate being a person of color from being a lesbian and so forth, so why should my political or ethical positions be separated? Multi-issue politics and activism are what we should be striving for especially now.

What are you most excited about regardthis tour?

ing the to see old friends and will be making

new ones I'm sure. Some of the Queerstock artists have become life-long friends, some even like family, you know? Also, the challenge of producing these little gatherings is always satisfying whether five or 500 people show up. We were passionate, and we did something constructive with that passion. That's all I can hope for.

Serving the Lesbian & Gay Community for Over a Decade

Edele Passalacqua

Attorney at Law

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