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Guest: Trans Activist, Writer, and Performer Skye Spectrum
31 Plays1 month ago
A transcript of this episode can be found here.
Skye Spectrum is a multi-talented artist and activist. Zi is proud to be part of the Ypsi / Ann Arbor Michigan LGBTQIA+ community. Where you can see either Kevin or Skye on The Trans Narrative Podcast or locally around town associated with The Neighborhood Theatre Group. Active with two choirs, the Chalice Singers from the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Ann Arbor and Measure for Measure, a men’s choral group out of drag as Kevin. To see all that Skye Spectrum (or Kevin Skye Werner) is showcasing, check out skyerainbow.com or the YouTube channel Skye Rainbow Productions.
This week, we talk trans rights and trans wrongs. The fash takeover of America, Disney's bad call, Stonewall the musical, and Skye describes their visit from Homeland Security.
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Transcript
Introduction and Podcast Focus
00:00:02
Speaker
You are listening to The Mentally Oddcast, where we talk with creatives about neurodivergence, trauma, addiction, and all the other things that impact and inform our art. Our goal is to show everyone that no matter what you're going through, you are not alone and you can make art about it.
00:00:34
Speaker
You are listening to The Mentally Oddcast.
Host Introduction and Sponsorship
00:00:36
Speaker
My name is Wednesday Leaf Friday, and we are brought to you by Sometimes Hilarious Horror Magazine. Find us on Ko-Fi slash sometimes hilarious horror. We are finishing up a series of special episodes dealing with vulnerable populations and big issues during the, well, we'll just call it what it is, during the fascist takeover of America.
Guest Introduction: Sky Spectrum
00:01:01
Speaker
um And this week we have with us Sky Spectrum, who is a multi-talented artist and activist. ah Z is proud to be part of the Ipsy Ann Arbor LGBTQIA plus community. And they're also known as Kevin, actually. And you can see Kevin or Sky on the Trans Narrative podcast, or locally, if you're an Ann Arbor type, you'll see them around town in the neighborhood theater group and in two different choirs, the chalice singers,
00:01:31
Speaker
from the Unitarian Universalist kind Congregation and a Measure for Measure, which is a men's choral group. So out of drag as Kevin. and And now we'll have links in the description. Okay. Hi, hi, hi. Thanks for being here. Thank you, Winston, for having me on. This is an awesome topic to be talking about, especially right now, because we need to be out and proud and not cower as much as we possibly can because yeah man civil disobedience i'm here for it and the thing is that for so many people now simply liking yourself and treating yourself well and finding any modicum of happiness in the world is a revolutionary act because boy they sure don't want us to yeah i um
00:02:24
Speaker
I am fairly privileged in my life that I have reached the ripe old age of
First Horror Movie Experiences
00:02:31
Speaker
44 and I am still out here. I am still queer and I am not going anywhere.
00:02:40
Speaker
yeah Well, it is typical on our show for us to go a little. Well, it'd be a little off topic for us, but we like to ask guests about the first horror movie that they ever remember seeing. And that's just for fun. and So we can not start out on an incredibly heavy topic. So let's let's have it. Let's hear your story. So the first horror movie that I can remember seeing. Was probably
00:03:11
Speaker
ah
00:03:14
Speaker
Like the original Nosferatu, my parents took me to the historic Redford Theater in Michigan, and there was the organ plane, and that, I will say, was my first experience with horror. How old were you? um Probably like somewhere in the age of 10 or below, from what I remember. It's a long time ago. So did you get it? Did you get that it was horror?
00:03:44
Speaker
But that was what that was, yeah, from what I was remembering, that was probably it, yeah. That's really interesting. Cause that's, uh, I mean, it's super arty to take a kid to see that movie, especially with the, the, the live music and everything, but that's, wow, that's really interesting.
Pronouns and Challenges
00:04:04
Speaker
So I was, uh, when I looked at your bio, I actually learned some new pronouns. What I'm seeing here is Z, which is Z I. And, uh, here, is that how we pronoun pronounce that? h i r Back actually, when I was in college, um, I had a linguistics professor tell me. that these would never make it into the lexicon, no matter how noble the cause would be. And unfortunately, and unfortunately, it was kind of right. But at the same time, I can say now that in big mouth, I saw these words in displayed of different pronouns.
00:04:48
Speaker
that one could use for being gender neutral, which I think- Well, like the the MX in the in the formal is is something I've been trying to use more. The MX, yes. That's another good one too. So I do only know one other person in my current, in my actual life that does use Znier. Most of the people that are gender neutral do use they-them, however,
00:05:16
Speaker
I feel that Z in here are more fitting as an individual singular pronoun than they, even though it does have a historical reference as being a single pronoun back from like the medieval times. Now, how ah do people respond that are not part of the LGBTQ community um when you introduce a ah new pronoun like that? What kind of responses do you get from people? Well, so that's the interesting part of it is that I really don't. When I introduce myself, I just introduce myself with my name. um Depending on the circumstances and circles that I'm in, that's when I will throw in the pronouns. And for me,
00:06:09
Speaker
as a trans male, I worked hard to find the he him with Kevin. And so I look at Z here as like extra toppings.
00:06:26
Speaker
That makes any sense. guys Yeah, it totally does. Um, I know a lot of people are resistive to not just using the correct pronouns, but like people are flipping out and about pronouns in general. And it always makes me laugh because first of all, they can't seem to tell me how upset they are about pronouns without using pronouns because, uh, well, you know, MAGA people in particular are not exactly known for their good grammar, which is another reason why it's so funny.
00:06:56
Speaker
the idea that they get irrationally angry about grammar given the the state of their, because you know I'm a language person. I've been writing my whole life with with an eye toward just being a popular writer and and being read.
00:07:12
Speaker
And I love seeing language change, but I also have ADD and I don't remember things very well. I'm on the spectrum and all that there. So, um, I, I'm not always Johnny on the spot when it comes to remembering people's pronouns, if they change during my, my knowing of them. And what I find is that I have never had a trans or, or NB person.
00:07:40
Speaker
get angry with me because I have said the the wrong pronouns. They either say nothing or they'll gently correct me. um Oftentimes I'll be like, oh fuck, I'm sorry, I i did that wrong, i'm I'm sorry. And then they'll end up consoling me, oh no, it's okay, it's okay. like No, you don't have to console me because I'm a fuckup and can't remember that you know you told me a year ago that you were doing this thing and I you know, because ah obviously, decent people want to be respectful to each other. um I have, on the other hand, seen lots of people get angry when they're asked to respect someone's pronouns.
Family Background and Upbringing
00:08:20
Speaker
Yeah. um So here's the interesting part of my life is that I i have two trans nibblings now. And, um,
00:08:33
Speaker
my mom has problems. And my mom has seen me go through my life and been there for me. Well, your family is like Christian religious, right? No. Oh, they're not. Okay. So this is part of my interesting childhood.
00:08:51
Speaker
um
00:08:53
Speaker
My mom which is Reformed Jew and my dad was raised Episcopalian but is more agnostic. So I didn't actually have a religious upbringing except for my grandparents. And it was choosing to go with them to church to find sense of spirituality and and belonging And my friend from college used to joke, my brother and I would happen when Dharma and Greg got married and had kids. um And it was very much the choose your own adventure kind of thing. My parents in the 70s got married by a Unitarian Universalist rap ah unit unitarian universalists minister.
00:09:53
Speaker
and and openly gay rabbi. Oh, wow. So, yeah, um that is my upbringing.
00:10:04
Speaker
So, I think, like wow, OK, religious just dogma as much. And the only person who really gave me any of a hard time was my dad's mom.
00:10:19
Speaker
um who was really vicious, both when I came out and is is like lesbian and then as trans equally,
00:10:35
Speaker
um irony would have it that she fell and died after attending my college graduation. So make of that what you will. um Wow.
00:10:51
Speaker
So yeah. um So it sounds like overall, ah
Support from Maternal Figures
00:10:55
Speaker
with the exception of you know the greatest generation, um you you got the kind of support that you needed from the people and in your circle. Yes. I was also very grateful because i from a very, very early age, even wait, of course, before I knew anything about queer identity, LGBT community or anything like that.
00:11:17
Speaker
um I'd always reached out to other maternal figures, figures you know like teachers, um who were there to be able to have support um for me through the the challenging times. And you know thankfully, that's that's how I was able to survive, even my mom's mentally unstable
00:11:49
Speaker
you know, parts of her life and dealing with the chaos of having, you know, you know, a queer child in the 90s, you know, had its own challenges. I also am grateful that I share a connection with our current Attorney General in the fact that I grew up in her childhood home and share an openly lesbian teacher that went to, that taught at the high school that we both went to. Oh, wow. Cool. Neat. ah Okay, so um I've been told from people who feel very confident that the word cis is a slur. Is the word cis a slur? In my opinion,
00:12:46
Speaker
It isn't because it's it's again. I not being a cis gendered person.
00:12:56
Speaker
I don't know if I'm the right person to speak about this, but from my experience, if you're going to say trans and that's acceptable, why is cis not? Well, and I think that that is the rub, sir, that that the people who think that cis is a slur are using the word trans as a slur. And that's how they came to feel that way about it. Oh, okay. So it yeah but that's my guess. i Because again, I don't want to speak for transphobes because I am not i amm not authorized by transphobes to speak for them. Thank goodness. um Yeah. And the thing is that like any word
00:13:44
Speaker
can be a slur if that's how you're using it. And certain words can be used by certain populations not as a slur because of a, you know, they're either reclaiming the word or they use it differently.
00:13:59
Speaker
I can tell you a while back, there was a fashion designer who was specializing in swimsuits for large women, and they designed something called a fatkini, which was a generously designed bathing suit with a bare midriff. And I thought it was amazing, and I really wanted one. And I posted about it online, and I was told that I should not use the word fat-kini and that that was horrible and it was mocking and that the word fat is a slur and no one should use it. And, uh...
00:14:32
Speaker
I did not agree with that because I am, ah you know, i I certainly dabble in body acceptance. I'm not especially good at accepting my body as as it is, but I i recognize that as ah a goal for a lot of people and I think it's a valid one. And that's the thing that I think once a word has hurt someone,
00:14:57
Speaker
It's reasonable to say, hey, don't use that word toward me. I don't like it. I think that's a reasonable thing, but I think when we make the leap to you use that word, you're hateful. You're a bad person now because the word itself isn't what makes someone a bad person. It's the intent whether or not, yes, exactly.
00:15:19
Speaker
So and that's no I don't have a fat Keeney yet, by the way, donate to our coffee store so I can get one. Not you, the listeners. um um So, so listen, America is about to get a whole lot worse for trans folks. It's already starting. People are getting thrown out of their jobs.
00:15:39
Speaker
ah protections are just evaporating. um and but we thought Actually, when I wrote these questions for you a couple weeks ago, it looked like the oppression was going to be on a state-by-state basis. That already doesn't seem to be the case. There are some some federal crackdowns. I've heard about people trying to leave the country and not being able to because of passport problems, because passports uh, you know, require a gender, um, that, that, yeah. And, and be people are not like, like, so and what are your thoughts on all that? So it was actually just, um,
00:16:20
Speaker
on the trans narrative podcast, uh, with Sasha rent. I'm going to, I'm going to mangle that name. Um, but she's a lawyer for the Lambda legal.
00:16:35
Speaker
Okay. And that so organizers are organizing people are doing what they can. However, I have heard of ah folks who from what I understand are US citizens born in the US that are getting their documents taken away. Now, yeah, I've heard that as well. I, I don't, I would like, I wish I could say that that was not happening and that I just, I'm gonna brush it off, but at the same time I'm going, no, no, no, I can't because
00:17:27
Speaker
Unfortunately, history is repeating itself. And as someone born in the Jewish community, I of course, look to this and say, haven't we been here before? Why are we here again? Oh, because we didn't learn from history. And so of course, we are doomed to repeat it.
Political Activism and Anxiety
00:17:51
Speaker
So I actually had ah a friend, a local, you know, um activist who's known me for many years um come to me in Meijer during the election and almost like it was out of the 1930s Germany say, do you have your passport? You need to get your passport now. He's going to win and he's going to come after trans people.
00:18:22
Speaker
Yeah. And it shook me to my core to be there shopping for whatever I was shopping for and then be shook with the fact of, oh, no, this is this is serious. It's real.
00:18:36
Speaker
um So then. Well, it really didn't seem like he could win again. I mean, here's here's where I started to think because My mom said he was going to, my cousin, one of my other cousins said he was going, like, there are people who, um and my mom is not a Trump supporter. I just want to make sure that is abundantly clear like Dennis, not the the the way that we're in. I was volunteering for the Harris campaign. I was like, I am on the ground. I am doing, I make, I'm phone banking. I am doing their tech IT help for their phone banking folks were like, um and I was doing what I could and I attended the rally.
00:19:19
Speaker
in Ann Arbor, it was the only rally I could attend. I hopped off the phone banking and I said, all right, folks, I'm gonna go to the Harris rally. And I left and I was able to get one of my bucket list dreams achieved, which was be on camera for a rally. Nice.
00:19:48
Speaker
There I was with my sunglasses, because that's part of the reason I was there with my my fabulous glasses that I got from the dollar store. And someone's like, can you do me a favor and be on TV and step behind the podium? I go, yes. yeah Can I? And so there I was. I came up to about Kamala Harris's shoulder um halfway there.
00:20:19
Speaker
And I only saw myself because I, after the election, because I didn't want to jinx it. I didn't want to look for myself and somehow jinx the election. Um, and so I ended up finding myself on a Randy rainbow video, having around five times to see it.
00:20:39
Speaker
oh awesome at So, but in the rally,
00:20:48
Speaker
there was energy, there was awesome, you know, however. Yeah, a couple of friends of mine went, I i don't, you know, do stuff like that anymore. Yeah, but the hard part for me was i was right where the I could see the teleprompter and trans rights was in the teleprompter. However, nobody that ever made it on stage, not um Governor Walz, not um Debbie Dingell, not um Kamala Harris herself. Nobody mentioned trans rights. So we were fighting like cowards, and so we lost as cowards.
00:21:46
Speaker
Wow. So that's rough. And then to talk at all. I mean, so so you think that not mentioning, see, I have a hard time thinking that, like, I agree that it is wrong to not mention trans rights because they're a vulnerable population and they're under attack. Of course we should be talking about that. I can't imagine that a lot of trans people were so offended by that that they voted for Trump. No, no, no. and And like, here's the thing. i And there are people who that when we'd call them, they'd be like, if you call me one more time, I'm not voting for Kamala Harris. I would like to believe that you didn't. Yes, that logically follows, not. you know I would hate to think that democracy wavered on an extra phone call.
00:22:35
Speaker
Yeah. Well, I mean, I was a voting ambassador, so I talked to a lot of people and I mostly, I focused a lot on like decent people that went to the same poor high school as me, because I went to two different high schools and I was trying to talk to the people that, you know, people who were legitimately on the fence instead of just calling my buddies and agreeing with them.
00:22:56
Speaker
and it I had a very difficult time not getting upset at how much, not just misinformation, but very blatant Nazi-style propaganda. yeah you know ah ah Particularly about trans people. Because if you are willing to believe that there's an entire demographic whose entire lifestyle is predicated around grooming children, i that's you have to already
00:23:27
Speaker
hate those people to believe something like that so easily. If you told me that about any demographic, whether it's you know Catholics or policemen or i mean even priests, I know most people who become priests don't become priests for that reason. yeah you know And yet people seem very willing to believe even something super simple that they haven't thought through. Like if someone says, Kamala slept her way to the top.
00:23:56
Speaker
They don't even seem to understand what they're saying. and i i'll you know Because I would respond to that with, okay, wait, what men do you accuse of being so desperate to have their weighing touched that they hired or promoted someone who was not fit for the job? Which men did that? And why are they still in power? And you never get to that. You never get to that part. Nobody wants to admit, that you know no one wants to call those dudes out.
00:24:24
Speaker
Honestly, and and I'll go on the record as saying this, I think it's perfectly fine to enjoy the Harry Potter things that you already have. who i like I deal with that by making sure that any way that I consume that content, I do in a way that does not send money to that person. um Additionally, i have I no longer shop at the Noble Collection because that was always such a big deal for me. Like, oh, it's tax time. I have a hundred dollars. Oh my gosh.
00:24:53
Speaker
I'm going to pick out some cool nerdy thing. ah you know I had a friend for a while, I got her all the the different Hogwarts houses, pens, because they, I mean, those were cool. Noble Collection had so much cool stuff, but long after it became clear that Rowling was not a person who deserved support, they chose the money and instead of of decency. so and And that's like another thing that this election had me kind of reeling from because You know, I used to work, I worked 12 years um and I was the token trans person at my store for a fair amount of time. And okay I wrote to the because they were there for a transgender day of
00:25:52
Speaker
remembrance virtually that we all had during shutdown. And I thought, well, they're an open lesbian. they'rere you know um They showed up for the community. And I had heard of a really, really disturbing thing that happened um that I wanted some follow up on as a trans activist.
00:26:22
Speaker
Are you going to relate what that is? Or is that something we shouldn't talk publicly about? I'm kind of nervous to say anything right now. It'll be in my book. and Make it to Broadway if the world doesn't end. So I was emailing her about not only that, but also um about Is the helping dreamers become doers part of the credo bullshit or is it real? Because here's where I'm gonna call you out and ask you. I am a creator and we had my my friend and business partner Chris had this amazing show concept that people loved. They looked forward to this when we presented this and I thought it had a shot
00:27:18
Speaker
And I instead got a shut up and sell by one of their underlings. And that was the beginning of the end. There has now been, I will say, documented um transphobia within the community.
00:27:41
Speaker
um Um, I'm just going to stop you. Are you equating them not taking on your project as transphobia? That's not, that's not what I'm hearing. Right. And, um, no, it wasn't just about the project. I mean, that that's neither here nor there. Um, I mainly was using that as ah is a ago means to say I reached out to them also too, but then to see openly gay CEO.
00:28:13
Speaker
at the Trumpler takeover. Well, that yeah, I mean, yeah, I think we're all pretty disappointed in some of the people that have gone fast lately. So I just am. I mean, that motherfucker ruined McDonald's for me as a fat stoner. I take personal effect. My first job was at McDonald's like my first time clock where a uniform show up on time job was was that and You know, like some people are not surprising. Nobody's like, oh no, Bezos went fast. Oh, no, not Zuckerberg. But like decent people too. You know, I don't I mean, I guess they can't be decent if they're doing that. But fuck you Snoop Dogg. Just fuck you. I mean, again, I would like to believe I would like to believe that
00:29:05
Speaker
Snoop Dogg did it for the money and he's just going to, I mean, i well, my understanding is that he needed some friends pardoned and I don't know. I didn't verify that, but I've been told that by several sources that he played the inauguration so that Trump would pardon his friends, which is, I mean, that that's a tough call. Honestly, um we do what we need to survive. So in that vein,
00:29:35
Speaker
I do not look I don't look at Snoop Dogg performing at the inauguration as a statement as his political. Oh, I disagree. He is a performer who then like you said, he wanted to get his friends pardoned. Well,
00:30:00
Speaker
I don't know about you, but I do what I can to help myself and my people that I care about. I think that's fair. I do. um But i I definitely disagree that playing the inaugural is not a political statement. Of course it is. And that's why Trump wanted him to do it. Right. no I'm not saying that it isn't a political statement. All I'm saying is that the reason behind it isn't that he is a fascist and he's a bigot, but this was his, as someone who is in power, he used his power and connection to help his friends.
00:30:48
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, and that's I get it. And that's what I'm trying to do myself. I'm trying to use any platform that I have, to advocate and to be as vocal as I can for those that cannot. um And to spread the word to those who want to hear. Because I know I'll never like, I'm never going to be in that position. No matter how famous I get, I would never do that.
00:31:27
Speaker
Now, do I have friends in jail? No. So my circumstances are a little different than Snoop Dog's. And I don't know what that amount of power and affluenza that they all came down with does.
00:31:51
Speaker
Because when you're that well off, When you don't have to think about anything financially, I think your brain is corrupted. like You can be really corrupted by the fact that you can just, without a thought, buy a yacht.
00:32:16
Speaker
you know
00:32:19
Speaker
Yeah, i i that's one of the things that I asked, actually, all these people that go fascist and and do fascist things for fascists. And I think, is there a specific dollar amount that you just stop thinking about other people? I don't know that that's true because plenty of Democrats are greedy and rich and they still care about other people. Right. That's what I'm saying, is that I think that um
00:32:48
Speaker
There are unfortunately a lot of people that are um fucking ill with affluenza and they have no regard for anybody that does not have what they have. And like is seeing evidence of like the California wildfires. We have people from all over stepping up because they've seen how our government reacts.
00:33:20
Speaker
They're like, oh no, not on my watch. I'm going to do what I can, use what power I have and influence that I do to
Impact of New Laws on Trans Community
00:33:33
Speaker
be a force for good, be a force for change.
00:33:40
Speaker
I mean, that's like all you can do. I don't know. um So if ah for for people that are in danger of some of the new laws, people that have just lost their jobs, um what ah what what do we do for those people? what are Are there resources available? like if there I mean, it is it is technically still illegal to fire someone for being gay or trans, right? Like technically? It depends also where you are.
00:34:10
Speaker
It really does depend on where you are, okay? ah I have a friend, Caroline Penny, who is creator of the Trans Narrative Podcast, who unfortunately lives in Indiana and works at a small Christian college.
00:34:31
Speaker
oh whoop um So i tomorrow I'm gonna start a GoFundMe for her because She got kicked out of her parents' house twice.
00:34:46
Speaker
Twice. The first time I said, you come here, I have a blow-up mattress, you can stay with me. We'll spend the new year together. The second time, it was after um the new year, and she had a place lined up, but who she got sick and was sent home from work, and her shithead stepdad,
00:35:11
Speaker
kicked her out in the freezing cold weather. And I said, there's no way that I'm going to let you freeze to death in your car. So my unemployed ass spent 80 bucks on a hotel room in Indiana. So she didn't have to die because her parents were neglectful and hurtful. Oh, well, homelessness, man, that shit can be instantly fatal, depending on where you are and what's happening.
00:35:39
Speaker
I mean, the weather alone can kill you, but you know ah particularly for trans people who are, you know I don't need to tell you, but I'm telling listeners that the the risks of um hate crimes are just insane. yeah i mean Like not even people that are like domestic terrorists and they plan hate crimes but I mean just casual like You know things being thrown at them out of cars and just ridiculous like Because bullying is very much back in fashion yeah in the United States Among certain stripes of people just grown-ass adults acting like playground bullies like they just never got over fifth grade and
00:36:22
Speaker
Uh, and so also the other thing I can, um, share, I can share it in the, um, you know, send it to you and attach it to the link in the bio is resources for trans folks. Um, because I am, I'm fairly well connected in the community. Um, and I have access and resources that people who aren't as connected as I do.
00:36:52
Speaker
Um, so I can share that as well for folks that are are legitimately concerned rightfully so about where to go, how to do what we, what, how do I survive? And unfortunately, I have bad news that we are in a situation much like 1930s Germany, where people are going into hiding. And that does mean the transition.
00:37:23
Speaker
What a shame. What an awful thing. yes i no
00:37:31
Speaker
We've had a couple of these episodes about specific issues. We had a show on gun ownership. We talked about education and local ah organizing. And we talked about sobriety. And also, I think this is a kind of an issue that touches on all of those, but but suicide prevention.
00:37:52
Speaker
um And the thing is that I am occasionally suicidal. I had a big bout of that. My last one was in 2022 because COVID actually will cause suicidal depression depending on how long you get to have it. um And and the the key in all of those things is connection and community, that the more isolated you feel the more likely you are to hurt yourself, the less likely you are to stand up for yourself or to to take the steps that that you need to. And that's that's exactly what they want. like That's the basis of stochastic terrorism, you know this idea. And that's why like they're fucking up all the social media networks, because social media networks are such a powerful way for marginalized and vulnerable people
00:38:43
Speaker
to get together and organize and share information like they want so much to keep us from supporting each other but here's the thing that they may have the so the right is using the playbooks from the past but so is the left and i was just at the rally in lansing and the amount of trans resistance and joy was the medicine that I needed. And now the the ah incredible incredible thing about this is that not only was this a rally in Lansing, Michigan,
00:39:40
Speaker
but this was coordinated across nine states in the country, all at the same time on Thursday, January 30th, at noon to three, people stood in solidarity with us, for us, and there will be one at the,
00:40:09
Speaker
capital in D.C. And I am going to that. Now, here's my question. My concern, I mean, obviously we have lots and lots and lots of concerns, but one of them is that eventually Trump is going to send the military to clear out protesters. And then a bunch of 18 year olds who were trying to afford college are going to have to decide whether or not it's a lawful order to open fire on civilians.
00:40:39
Speaker
thoughts?
00:40:42
Speaker
I mean, am I exaggerating? Do we think that's, oh no, that would never happen here? Or how likely is that? Unfortunately, I'm going to say we have been here before. Well, Occupy Wall Street was almost like that. And I think the only reason more people didn't die is because so many of the protesters were like middle class or above and of the right pigmentation. Yeah.
00:41:08
Speaker
and that
00:41:10
Speaker
partially why I am doing what I can because I know I have white privilege. I have passing privilege as a male. Nobody is going to look at my bald head and beard and go, hello, miss.
00:41:25
Speaker
Nobody. And that is partially why I am starting drag as Sky spectrum as an act of defiance of saying I refuse to blend in to hide for safety You know my grandpa Bernie helped liberate the camps Like that's the stock that I come from So there's I would Bring it on we are at war This is a war The war is not coming. It is here
00:42:08
Speaker
And unfortunately, it was declared on Americans' own people. Yeah, yeah. So this, I would call it the Second Civil War. Well, it it's interesting because it is very much the Southern strategy, but instead of it just being about Black people, it is also about, ah well, it it was gay and trans people, and now it's it's pretty much all liberals.
00:42:34
Speaker
You know, the Southern strategy for those who don't know is a ah conservative ah strategy to win voters by telling bigots in the South that no matter how poor you are, how bad things go for you, you're still better than a black person.
00:42:52
Speaker
And that was a strategy. It was a winning strategy, you know, for the South. And we're still dealing with the fallout from it because between that and the bigoted ass electrical, electrical, electrical. Damn those grids. I sound so smart.
00:43:08
Speaker
um But between, you know, those two things, Republicans have had kind of a stranglehold on this country. I mean, I realize that technically I'm told Trump got the most votes last time. But ah as we know, the last two Republican presidents before this did not have a mandate from the voters. well and And yet we were saddled with their bullshit anyway, and we still pay the price for it. Unfortunately, I have to say that I saw this coming in 20 in 2000, when
00:43:39
Speaker
I was bright and happy and like energetic and look at me. I'm, I'm, I'm 18. I was 19. I'm 19 years old. And cause at 18, I, there was no election. So and but when I was 18, um, but 19 and I am ready and I am like, okay, there is no way that the, the, the Gore is going to lose. There's no way there has like,
00:44:08
Speaker
Look at this guy W. He's a joke. He's like, did it it. And then, like, we all saw what happened. And and I saw that. And that's when I started to get pissed off. That's when I started to. That's when I saw this coming. And then when I saw the Simpsons episode, I go. Oh, damn, Simpsons predicting the future.
00:44:34
Speaker
We've inherited a large budget crisis from President Trump. yeah Back in the day when people said, oh, ho President Trump, how hilarious. Remember the first time he ran? Wapo ran all of the news about him in the humor section. my god Like, yeah, those were the days back when democracy died in darkness. Oh wait, that's what it's doing now. Um, okay. So there has been like, I, you know, we've had lots of trans guests on the show. Um, and, uh, there is some disagreement as to whether or not being trans or NB is inherently neurodivergent.
00:45:16
Speaker
Now, myself, just just from the reading, I think that it has to be because it's it's not an established norm. um But some people use the term neurodivergent specifically to refer to autism. i I don't think that that is accurate, either linguistically or colloquially. what What do you think? Well, first off, my drag name is Sky, spelled from the Isles of Sky in Scotland, not the sky up above us. Right. spectrum because we are all on one spectrum or another. And I think that it is complicated because you have the the language evolving out of necessity. And then you have people who hear the language and it doesn't work for them.
00:46:16
Speaker
So I think there's two things simultaneously happening with that because do I think that there's a correlation between trans people and autism? Yes. However, there sadly is also the same with i um sexual assault.
00:46:37
Speaker
Well, but I wouldn't say necessarily that being trans and being autistic are connected, but that the term neurodivergence, I mean, neuro, brain stuff, diversion, not the norm. So being trans would then be inherently neurodivergent, regardless of whether or not autism is present.
00:46:58
Speaker
see i don't believe that just because I have met so many trans people in my life where I would say that they have a more of I would say typical um brain function and they're not um
00:47:29
Speaker
They're not on the spectrum or they're not in the, you know, atypical community. So. But, but certainly being trans is atypical. Well, I mean, I don't know offhand the percentage of the population, but it's, you know, pretty low. It's less than 10%. Right. It is. So it is atypical in terms of, in terms of a population. Yes.
00:48:00
Speaker
In terms of the mental part of it, i that's where I tend to disagree. i say think there's There are lots of people who are neurotypical. And there are lots of people who are trans. And yes, do I know a lot more people who are trans that are neurotypical?
00:48:27
Speaker
Yes.
00:48:31
Speaker
Yeah, I think I could count on one hand the neurotypical people I know and then I, because there was, you know, my friend, well, I won't say their name, but my friend that was at H's birthday party with us. Yes.
00:48:43
Speaker
Um, I think of him as being neurotypical. And if I tell him that he's like, Oh, well, you know, I've got this going on and that going on. And I think neurotypical is based on what we know of people as opposed to what people actually are. Yeah. But, but here's the thing though, there are new meta guidelines. So all the meta platforms, Instagram threads, Facebook, uh,
00:49:08
Speaker
It is now okay under community guidelines and standards to tell trans and yeah any gender non-conforming people that they are mentally ill. That that is an acceptable thing to say. It is not considered bullying. Any thoughts? Of course. That's my first thought is of course. is um I mean, i you could say the same of bigotry and transphobia, right? that Those are mental illnesses.
00:49:38
Speaker
I mean, I would obviously have obviously say that bigotry is more of a mental illness than being trans is for sure. Right. Well, because a kid that has never heard of a trans person can still tell you that they're not the gender that, you know, and it's weird because I just want to tangent a little bit here because when I talk to bigots and and turfs and such online, one of the things they'll say is no kids are going up to their parents and saying, I want to be a girl. And that's true.
00:50:12
Speaker
They don't go up to their parents and say, I want to be a girl. They say, I am a girl. And then look at their parents like they're idiots for not seeing it. It's not, I want to change. I want to do this. It's like, no, this is what I am. Please treat me accordingly. Yeah.
00:50:31
Speaker
which I think is like a fundamental disconnect. Of course, these are people that believe that kids go to school and get sex change operations from the school nurse. You know, it's like you can't never happened. Never will.
00:50:43
Speaker
Well, and you tell that to a teacher and they're like, what the hell are you talking about? We don't even have enough books for anybody. You think they're given surgeries. You know, we we can't have art class anymore because it's not in the budget. And you think we're like, per four. Slice open a human being in the nurse's office in life.
00:51:02
Speaker
Right. Right. And and and you know it's like they believe the the litter boxes. And they're walking around saying, oh, it's so stupid that there are litter boxes. No, dumbass. It's stupid that you believe that there are litter boxes, which goes back to what we were saying before. If you're so willing to believe things like this, you're already you know, the propaganda machine saw you coming, if if they can convince you of something that stupid that easily. Well, and and that's what I want to just touch. I i mean, in terms of stupidity easily is my experience with Homeland Security. Do tell. um I on Snapchat and I
00:51:55
Speaker
um friends I was friends with a woman who I worked with it at Apple for several years. I'll say several years. And I thought she was cool. i you know we don't Neither of us work at Apple at this point in time. ah okay But I'm on her Snapchat and I see two Trump-ler related like um posts so i was like and my friend was like do you think she was trolling you i go maybe um and so i immediately responded all caps fuck trump and if i had a gun i would not hesitate keyword oh my if number one keyword if
00:52:55
Speaker
And then it reminds me and I said something about it. I'm thinking of the dream that I had where me and several other former two other Apple, former Apple employees were Donald Trump as I was Jason. Good Lord, dude. We're we're not going to use the the the the murder. word I mean,
00:53:24
Speaker
I you can say the F word all day long, but like I was like, so no, no, dude, no. So I did say in the next thing was she said, that's disturbing. You know, my immediate it is disturbing. I think the more disturbing thing is that this asshole's in power of what I said. So.
00:53:51
Speaker
Then, of course, this woman screenshots this and sends it to Homeland Security, who shows up within 24 hours at my door. Wow, that's quick. um I wasn't even there at first. You can't get a cable guy that quick. like I was not even there when they showed up the first time. I was watching my friend's dog. I was unaware. And so I showed up and I was about to return a car.
00:54:14
Speaker
that I was renting to borrow my friend um my friend's dog to take care of my friend's dog. And they showed up and they said, okay. So I said, I know exactly why you're here. um I'm going to start with the fact that I have an overactive imagination.
00:54:38
Speaker
And that this, yes, it was a private message that I sent to someone who I know in real life, on Snapchat and then they said, you can say fuck Trump all you want, you just cannot threaten the life of a current or former president. And I said, okay, I understand, makes sense. um And they looked around my room and in my apartment and they started questioning me, do you have any any weapons? And they went through a bunch of weapons and I heard the word saber and I go, well, I have this lightsaber over there.
00:55:12
Speaker
yeah And I point to like this $4, you know, cheap knockoff lightsaber that's next to my like bro-goo Bluetooth speaker. And they look at my paintings and they're like, okay, so clearly you don't have a car. um You don't own a weapon. And I said, yeah, so the if was if the gun materialized out of thin air.
00:55:42
Speaker
And the same with Trump, yeah out of thin air. But seeing as how we're talking about science fiction, that's not gonna happen. And the dream that I had was in the style of only murderers in the building. And it all started because my ex and the dogs were sick.
00:56:09
Speaker
And in the dream, my ex starts to adopt sick birds.
00:56:15
Speaker
um So that's ah clearly a dream. and And I started to say, I'm like, oh, and then I go to this hotel room and there's. Okay. So what ultimately happened? You told them, I mean, they were convinced obviously that you weren't on your way to murder the president so then what? So then, um, I, I plugged my work and I was like, yeah, I'm writing stone, all the musical and I do podcasts about musicals and they're like, Oh cool. Where can we find this? And then they left.
00:56:52
Speaker
after saying, you will never see us again. And um I messaged the woman who who made me have this interaction on Snapchat and I said, all caps, fuck Trump, had a lovely chat with Homeland Security, fuck Trump again. And then she responded, don't fuck with me or my president, screenshotting everything at this point.
00:57:21
Speaker
No, for fuck's sake. And I then said, after that, I said, buy Biggett and then blocked her.
00:57:31
Speaker
Wow, how unpleasant. So, and then I joked with my friend, then my friend's like, only you would have Homeland Security come to your door and then end up plugging your musical.
00:57:45
Speaker
Too bad I didn't think to do that when the guys in black were here last week. Oh, man. Yikes. I don't actually know if they were ICE or not because they were not labeled. I li and need photos that I've seen of ICE. They have said ICE on their stuff, but it was people in all black. and like I shouldn't even have been up that day because you know I don't be getting up in the morning. I don't have to.
00:58:08
Speaker
But I was waiting for delivery, right? And so, you know, they dinged the buzzer and I'm like, hi, who is it? And I was expecting the guy with the the delivery and, uh, they like just sort of mumbled and I was like, I'm sorry, who is it? And, uh, then I went and looked out the window and it was two dudes in black, like all black and they're like, they had like, not like a mask mask, but they had like a hood sort of, and, uh,
00:58:38
Speaker
And i I was like, yeah, what but who who are you looking for? And they said they were looking for the family upstairs. oh and well And the thing is, they weren't dressed like they were coming to visit a family. yeah and then And then it like suddenly occurred to me and I was like,
00:58:58
Speaker
Yeah, I don't think this building has an upstairs. And then they asked me for my name and it did not get better from that point. So but it I mean, because I figured like, well, I'm not going to let them in. But if they ding everybody's buzzers, somebody might let them in. And I don't know if it was because it was during the day and people weren't here, whatever. But they they did not get into the building and they eventually left.
00:59:25
Speaker
And I don't, because my understanding is that even if ice does come for someone, they're supposed to have like a warrant with their name on it, you know? And if you don't have a warrant with my name on it, I'm not letting you into the building. You need to be like bringing a pizza or something for you to come into this building if I don't know you.
00:59:43
Speaker
Well, and that's the good thing about social media though, is that it is, I have seen a lot on Facebook about like, if you see ice, here's the, here's what you can do. Like people are getting the resources out to folks who are still on the main social media, which is unfortunately Facebook. There is no replacement yet from Facebook. So we are all tied to the unnecessary evils of Facebook and and Amazon for certain things that like you can't function without or you know buy them because they have monopolies.
01:00:26
Speaker
who yep and yep And so that's why one by one, seeing them all go fast is that much more disturbing. Because you can't share links on Facebook. They just won't show links of any kind. Whether you're trying to sell something or share news with someone, they just, you know, they they they kill links.
01:00:45
Speaker
And that used to be the main way that we like shared things and talked about things. i mean I would be fine, give and suck money, if he wasn't a fascist and if I had any sort of control over the content that I see. yeah Because now that he's flooding that place with AI users, i mean they need so much for these networks to be useless for organizing. like That is their goal. I am sure of it. yeah That and the money, obviously. but That's, you know, cause Zuckerberg gave Trump um a million dollars for his inaugural and Bezos gave him at least that much. And again, as a Jew, as it like, like they're like watching Zuckerberg, like, I'm like, fuck you. Fuck you. Asshole. Like I'm sure your great grandparents are fucking yelling at you from beyond the grave.
01:01:42
Speaker
I'm sure your ancestors are like, we did not survive the fucking camp so you could do this.
01:01:52
Speaker
Like, that's, I mean, I could be wrong. Maybe he comes from a long line of Nazis and this is just on brand for him.
01:02:04
Speaker
Well, yeah, there's that because that's the thing is a lot of this, ah you know, when I watch people go fascist and I think, oh, you cowards, you fucking cowards. But you know what? They might not be cowards. They might just be fascists. Yeah. And their they're not being cowardly at all. They're totally getting what they want. Just like that guy I keep writing books about. It occurred to me like, wait, maybe he's not a coward. Maybe he's just an ass.
01:02:31
Speaker
And boy, the evidence sure points that way. um So you know if we can get actually into Stonewall, yeah um for people that don't know, ah
Stonewall the Musical
01:02:41
Speaker
Stonewall refers to a specific event in gay history where um men took a stand against the police who used to go to their club and abuse them for fun.
01:02:53
Speaker
um It got pretty violent because that's what it means to fight back against fascists. It has to get violent. If asking nicely for your rights was all that it took, everyone would have them by now. So you are working on a musical. I guess it's it's finished now, but you're ah it's Stonewall the Musical. It's not finished yet. We're still in the writing process of it. um okay and But I have a few songs that I put on my website as like kind of teasers.
01:03:25
Speaker
And okay, it will have links for that. I also am just recently in talks with the author. um And I didn' talk, I mean, just in terms of just conversation, not any actionable movements, but one person removed from Steven Schwartz, who wrote Wicked,
01:03:55
Speaker
yeah um knows of my work. Nice. i And she and like she's like, oh, here, here's what you can do. Want to help your music go along? like here you know I have a feeling that things are going to happen pretty quickly once I get this done. Because i've now nice I have heard from the librettist from the New York City Opera of Stonewall the Opera who listened to my demo of How Will I Find the Courage, which is about finding the courage to be yourself and is sung across two different time spans in our history. It is
01:04:47
Speaker
2016 with Jason, who is freshly 21 years old and finding the the words to come out to his dad. And simultaneously in 1969, Johnny, who is an Italian mobster trying to figure out if he is really attracted to Sylvia, a stand-in for Sylvia Rivera, who was a real life trans activist.
01:05:16
Speaker
around during the Stonewall Uprising. okay And he we met at Lincoln Center at the top of Lincoln Center. There was this restaurant and I reached out to him and in 2019 for the 50th anniversary of Stonewall, he premiered this piece at Jazz at Lincoln Center and I had a drink and some food with him, who also, his name is Mark Campbell, who wrote the first transgender opera as one, as I was there in the exact same place that Gene Wilder was, when he realized, hey, this is what I want to do for the rest of my life. nice And as a kid, I thought we were related.
01:06:14
Speaker
I thought, hey, mom, you your last name, only to find out they were both fake for the same reason, antisemitism. Oh, wow. Yikes. So I was not related to Gene Wilder as much as I wanted to believe that I was. But to have that experience, and this was after he died, um of that shared kind of connection with an artist like that.
01:06:45
Speaker
with with Mark Campbell, who met Jonathan Larson, who was there um for Rent's premiere and but um told me about that. And and then there was there's a an opera singer who's local that I happened to meet while I was working at Apple. And she said,
01:07:14
Speaker
keep going. I want to see this happen." And she was the one who sang Ave Maria at Aretha Franklin's memorial. Oh, wow. Yeah, I saw that. so i And that impressed my dad. That finally was the one who impressed my dad. And he goes, wow, I've heard of her. That's awesome.
01:07:39
Speaker
So yeah, it's always so fun when you start advancing in your field and then you meet like bigger and bigger people. So and I did reach out also. So in my, my activism in terms of my, my time, um, i'm unemployed, I might as well write out to people that, cause you never know what happens. I never know what can happen. I don't know how long I'm going to be here. Um, so I wrote to Gretchen Whitmer, Jocelyn Benson, Dana Nussle asking for trans rights and sanctuary states in Michigan. And I also wrote out to Stephen Colbert, Schwartz, and Spielberg because I wanted them to at least know my story.
01:08:27
Speaker
And have you gotten any responses? Of course not. The closest one is I did get um Carol, who wrote um and two Steven Schwartz books who was encouraging me to go on her website she created for musical theater writers. Okay. So I take that as a small win or a big win depending on how you look at it. So you've been working on this for a while. How long was like the research raise? Um, well,
01:09:05
Speaker
I'm still doing it, honestly. um Well, what are some things about Stonewall, the event that the average person would not know that you learned from your research? That it already had a song. It had a song. um And it was to the tune of Howdy Doody. And I learned this and I was like, wow, this thing is begging to be made into a musical.
01:09:36
Speaker
and And a bunch of people have told me, I'm surprised it hasn't been. But yeah, so originally when the um ah cops were coming in and there was this riot in the streets and the drag queens, the feminine gay men, because there weren't really drag queens back then, not like how we think of them today.
01:10:00
Speaker
um And they all formed a kick line. to kind of prevent, like, you know, okay, we're all gonna stand together. And they all sang, we are the Stonewall girls, we wear our hair recurls, we wear our dungarees, up to our Nellies. And then like, I forgot if there was more, but yeah that was that was it. Wow. And I saw the, there's a documentary called the Stonewall Uprising that also categorizes that, like in where I could actually hear the tune.
01:10:36
Speaker
um and go, oh, that's Howdy Doody. Now I've never seen an episode of Howdy Doody in my life because I am only 44. Yeah, I think everything I know about Howdy Doody comes from happy days talking about Howdy Doody. Yes, I would say the same thing.
01:10:59
Speaker
So yeah, and it just kind of captured me. And i in my my spark honestly was rent. was seen rent twice at the Fisher Theater in Detroit upon its brand, it's in the late 90s, 1997, it's 96, 97. And one of my teachers that was that took me goes, I don't like all the drug use.
01:11:32
Speaker
And-
01:11:35
Speaker
i thought about like I thought about that. i mean so I don't know who this teacher was at this point in time, I couldn't tell you, because it was in high school. But that's talk that statement stuck with me for forever. And I thought, yeah. And unfortunately, it did not age well. Rent did not age well. And the movie adaptation was horrendous, in my opinion.
01:12:03
Speaker
Was it worse than Cats? No. Cats was its own special. How dare you make an Idris Elba movie that's not good. I don't ever want to see a cat related to Idris Elba movie. God damn it. Are you serious? Well, you know, he did that other movie where he was like fighting a lion or something and it was terrible. I terrible i saw Cats.
01:12:30
Speaker
Um, cause I've seen this, I've seen the stage show when I was a kid, my parents took me to go see Cats. Um, and I remember watching the movie and going, I, why did they have to do this? Cause there's a staged film version. There was a, a, a film staged version of it. That was perfectly fine.
01:12:55
Speaker
I mean, the reason that Cats works on stage is because it's so interactive and there's, you know, so audience stuff going on and it's just this big, wonderful spectacle. And when you condense that to like, oh, look, it's a movie of of that and it's just this thing on a screen, you know, even ah in a theater, it's not going to come across that well. but you know i One of my pet peeves about media in general is when you get amazing talent and then you squander it. and and Cats is is one of those those quintessential examples of squandering talent. Even to the very end where you see Judy Dench's teeth.
01:13:36
Speaker
and it like Did she know this was happening? She looks terrible. Explain yourself, Dave. And then to have Jennifer Hudson's nose like drizzling with a snot. Well, ah Jennifer Hudson gets on my last nerve. I mean,
01:13:59
Speaker
but obviously not because of cats, I'm sure. Well, no, no, the thing about about Jennifer Hudson is that ah she became like just suddenly startlingly famous because of American Idol. And then she was cast in a movie as a major star and she was nominated for an Oscar. And then she was cast in the Sex and the City movie. Like all those things happen, like boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, right in a row. A few months after that, she was in a Weight Watchers commercial, which is already pretty sus for someone like me.
01:14:34
Speaker
because I worked that program and you know that that's another show. yeah But but the the first line of the commercial was, before I lost weight, my whole life was can't. Now that I've lost weight,
01:14:48
Speaker
My life is raring to go or you know something about how she was nobody when she was fat. It's like, bitch, you won American Idol and then you won an Oscar for a major motion picture. like That's not Kant. That's more than most people experience in a lifetime. Yeah. like so And you're pretending that it was nothing because you were a few pounds heavier than you are now. And it's just infuriating. It's a horrible, horrible lesson for younger people. And I will say, I agree with you with Jennifer Hudson, because I feel the same thing. I feel the same thing. It's very frustrating.
01:15:25
Speaker
um And then hairspray.
01:15:33
Speaker
no i mean No one can dispute her voice and her talent. Oh, sure. Absolutely. One of my dreams is to sing with that woman. Okay. But you have her in a role where the role was intended for a larger woman. That's the whole point of hairspray.
01:16:05
Speaker
and then you have Jennifer Hudson as she's skinny like there are certain things where representation really matters and yeah some exec somewhere probably was like oh yeah well let's get Jennifer Hudson she can sing and you know and she does an amazing job but like part of what made the original hairspray work was you had divine opposite ah of, um like for I forget her name, but a bigger African-American woman as um Mama Maybell, I forget my brain is flaking at the time, but anyways. No, no, we we know what you mean.
01:17:07
Speaker
But yeah, the representation matters. and Well, speaking of which, are you are you familiar with the the new Disney show, Win or Lose, that's coming up? No. Yeah, there's a new show coming up on Disney, and it's about a ah softball team. OK.
01:17:25
Speaker
And they cast a trans girl to play a trans character. ok And then decided that they did not want a trans character. oh So they did keep the actress. um Yeah, i was I wrote about it for Culturists, actually. that's That's how I heard about it. Somebody said, oh, have you heard this? And I was actually, I'm kind of new over at Culturists. And I've been testing limits to see like how political I can get.
01:17:52
Speaker
Because the title of the piece I wrote is Haters Appeased as Disney Cuts Transgender Storyline from New Show, thinking, oh, they're never going to let me get away with that. And then they did. And it's really quite awful because the whole point was that they understand that representation is important. And then they did that. And then because of backlash, um actually, I'll read here part of their statement.
01:18:19
Speaker
When it comes to animated content for a younger audience, we, we being Disney, recognize that many parents would prefer to discuss certain subjects with their children on their own terms and timeline.
01:18:35
Speaker
Now, that is some wishy-washy bullshit in my opinion, especially when it comes from people that make movies where parents die all the time. I mean, Simba's ah uncle was ah murdered by his, like, his constituents, basically. so kids Yeah, but I mean...
01:18:56
Speaker
Disney stuff is rife with like, you know, maybe people would not want to have their children see someone murdered by their stepmother, given how many blended families there are. But, you know, you get to see ah the evil queens and the huntsmen out to bring that girl's heart back in a box. and And somehow that's perfectly okay. But, oh, heaven for friend, we let kids know that trans people exist. And that's That's kind of another part of the narrative, which is that acknowledging that something exists is the same as aggressively trying to turn people into whatever that is. yeah you know and they're And they're just not the same thing. I can know that baseball exists without wanting to be a baseball player. And a good thing too, because I'm not very good at sporty things. yeah i actually I was invited to a Super Bowl party and I was like,
01:19:53
Speaker
Um, good. Thanks. Oh, no. The C no, no. When you go to a Super Bowl party, you go for the food and to watch men act very silly because it's always the kind of men that say women are too emotional that are getting up and punching walls because a ball didn't go far enough. So, so yes, definitely go to Super Bowl parties for the food and the people watching. and commercially and Oh yeah, that's true too.
01:20:18
Speaker
And yeah but you can always catch those on YouTube, you know, it's like SNL. Yeah. Oh, yeah, that's true. Halftime shows and the controversies surrounding halftime shows is always good. Yeah, but it's not always because I mean, it's not. I think I honestly passed the.
01:20:36
Speaker
wardrobe malfunction with, I don't think there's been that big of a controversy in halftime shows. Oh, well, remember Trump's first term? There was a Super Bowl that like, I guess Mike Pence went to it or something. And Lady Gaga was the halftime show. And everybody was like, oh, it's so great that she wasn't political. I'm like, are you serious? Gaga singing Born This Way is basically giving Pence a middle finger. Oh, yeah. 100%. And I am here for it.
01:21:05
Speaker
him and mother will just have to deal. Yeah. Speaking of which, man, the MAGA boys are calling Trump daddy. yeah Have you heard this? Have you seen this? Have you heard about this? Daddy's back. That is so funny. Daddy's back. good like And it has Roseanne Barr in like a video of the two. Oh, do not get me started about Roseanne. My God. I know. I know.
01:21:30
Speaker
I'm a fat funny brunette. I cannot. I cannot with Roseanne. Seriously. I loved your show back in the day. I was such a fan. Of course. Well, because back then she was working class and presented herself accordingly. by um But I will say there there is a Disney show that I have come to love right now because it is what's getting me through this time right now. And it is called Dog with a Blog. What? It was from 2012. So in 2012, I was not watching Disney content. Okay. And I just happened upon the show and it's like this talking dog. And
01:22:21
Speaker
It has like two, there's only two names you'd like recognize in the show and everyone else is more of an unknown. But the the the premise of the show is the kids can, the kids know he does, he talks, but they of course have to keep it a secret. And he gives this blog for folks to like keep up with him. And I don't know whether the people who, because they haven't,
01:22:50
Speaker
It's 10th place in Pasadena, California. OK. But I just noticed, and I took a photo of this on my phone of the TV, the dad is a bride. Something Reagan. bread oh um I forgot the actor's name, but it's Beth Littleford as the mother. Oh, OK. Is it Brian Reagan? It was something like that.
01:23:19
Speaker
um But he went to Northern Michigan University, apparently. No need. And it it's like those Miller Boyette shows that we had growing up, um like Family Matters and Full House and all that. But it's better because it's been two. Yeah, I didn't I didn't watch ah sitcoms in that era. And it's just really well done with joke after joke after it was like,
01:23:50
Speaker
Thank you. And it has the first episode, I think has Harvey Guillen in it from like what we do in the shadows. Oh, no. no um And it's it's it's a brilliant show. So. All right. So Dog with a blog. Everybody got that lifting family show. You know.
01:24:11
Speaker
So you right now are in a couple of different choirs. Yes. Tell us about that. So I first for the longest time was in out loud chorus, which is an amazing LGBTQIA plus chorus. And then I was like, yeah, what else? What else can I do? So I am now part of the chalice singers, which is out of the Unitarian Universalist congregation of Ann Arbor.
01:24:47
Speaker
And how did the Unitarian Universalists differ from like Episcopalians? So Unitarian Universalists are the basic tenant is that we take a little bit of every religion and here we are.
01:25:10
Speaker
Okay, so it's not specific to Christianity. yeah It's literally anything. There are a lot, there are people who come from Christian backgrounds that enter into yeah know Unitarian Universalist spaces um that, you know, affirm their faith in that way. There are folks from the Jewish, Jewish faith that go to there. There's, um it's basically the majority is um based in Judeo-Christian faith with Islam and some pagan um spirituality as well. Okay. um So it is, and I first found out um from ma gro one of my ex-girlfriends in college, um her family, they call them Die Hard UUs.
01:26:10
Speaker
And I just, I was like, wow, that's pretty amazing. And they're actually the closest to, they're really close to Judaism in terms of their practice, in terms of like the way they function and the, you know, the called for social justice.
01:26:33
Speaker
Well, in a high degree of intellectualism as opposed to blind faith, like you're allowed to ask questions, you're allowed to discuss things. I mean, obviously Judaism is like that as well, but... Yeah, that's what my mom's friend who's a rabbi told me that too. She's like, yeah, the UUs are closest to Judaism, I feel. I was like, yeah, I can see that. So that's my...
01:27:01
Speaker
my faith um spirituality singing um and the music ministry is great the people are wonderful i actually sing with my my cousin on my dad's side of the family it was like 90 something years old i want to say maybe oh my goodness yeah she's she's up there um And a bunch of other people who are just amazing and wonderful.
01:27:35
Speaker
And well, musicians in general are such, but I think because music can be an individual pursuit, but also collaborative. I find that that musical communities, like when I had to be Catholic, my favorite part about Catholicism.
01:27:52
Speaker
after the incense and the fish fries was singing in the choir. Yeah. Because it's everybody together excited for a common purpose. Exactly. And but you also have a music history podcast and I am dying to know more about that.
Music History Podcast
01:28:10
Speaker
um That's been kind of unfortunately on a hiatus just because of life. um Right. But my my friend and business partner, Chris Anderson, and I started this podcast because, you know, he he read my Stonewall musical. He read the first draft of Stonewall the musical. And he's like, dude, you have something. This is going to be pop. This is going to be seen.
01:28:45
Speaker
And he and some other members of Allied Chorus were the first me for the first people who got a glimpse of this and were like, um, yeah, bring it out soon. Uh, so it was through him that we kind of started talking, you know, as, as, as stoners do, we talk and go and waves and,
01:29:10
Speaker
come up with amazing ideas, some of which are brilliant and some of which are just stoner crap that we just come up with and we move on. um But in one of our our our stoner conversations we had, we were talking about the history of musicals. And so we started a podcast where We would deep dive into various musicals. How far back do you go? um I mean, like all the way. So like ancient Greece? Well, no, like so, um to be clear. so Well, I mean, the the first theater were musicals. There was always a chorus. We did. oh We did an episode about that, yes.
01:30:03
Speaker
Um, I forget what the title is. It's Greece in beginning whenever it's on the website. There's a link to all the episodes that we have on Lissa Strata, HaChaCha.
01:30:16
Speaker
Is that what it's called? I don't know. Yeah. It's been a while. Actually, it's ah that's a joke that some some college friends of mine used to have. that it was yeah yeah Because we were radio dramas, not musicals, but but that that was always in the hopper and it never came to pass. yeah and remember And so what we do is we start each episode um with a musical, like we talk about the show in a musical tone, like so
01:30:56
Speaker
I think for Sweeney's having, you're talking musical history pod, you know, like that. And, and for Annie, we were like, I think we're on the something here. Yes. Yes. I think like from the newer Annie. And we do. Oh, I love that new Annie. That was so good. What's that girl, Quevensey? Oh my God. I like burst into tears. Spoiler alert, burst into tears when it turned out she couldn't read. That was such a gut punch. Yeah.
01:31:28
Speaker
Such a gut punch. So yeah. So so when when are you coming back with the Music History Podcast? Because Chris has been asking me to. So honestly, I don't know. I'd love to say a time, a date, but. um Yeah, but you don't want to disappoint people. All right. So stay tuned, right? We have everything everything up till the last show that we did was about West Side Story. Oh, nice.
01:31:56
Speaker
You know, because the the new Western story had just recently come out. Oh, did you like it? It was amazing. Oh, okay. I like the only thing, the only thing that I have that I thought could have been better because of accessibility was subtitles.
01:32:22
Speaker
Were they bad? I don't think I watched it with subtitles. There were not. Really? say So in and this is where I like understand um Spielberg's intention. I totally understand the intention. Where you don't want to other the language.
01:32:46
Speaker
So that's why they did not use any subtitles. Oh, for the Spanish. You mean that is crazy. i I did not know that. So I didn't I didn't see it and I saw it because I watch everything with subtitles. um So i I would not have noticed that when I watch at home and I didn't see it in the theater. So you're saying that the Spanish in the movie in theaters was not subtitled or at home. Huh. Either way, you are not going to know what the people who are speaking in Spanish are saying unless you speak Spanish. Wow. Like, see, I would like that personally because I have a little I have like high school Spanish. So it's fun to like kind of get it because I'm way typically American in that way in that I've had the chance to learn other languages and I just haven't taken the time.
01:33:40
Speaker
Honestly, I'm not finished with English yet. I've still got plenty more to do with it. Yes. But um yeah, but yeah that's that's surprising and and disappointing for her many reasons. so um like Because yes, that is very otherizing to just put people speaking and then American audiences don't know what they're saying. Right. So like I understand the intention that Spielberg was trying to do.
01:34:07
Speaker
But as someone who is watching the movie, who doesn't speak a lot of Spanish, it really like it gave an access gap.
01:34:22
Speaker
and like Literally everything else was amazing about the movie. I loved every minute of it. I thought it was brilliantly well done, but that is the only thing that I I'll say I'll say when I get to talk to Mr. Spielberg. Yeah, that's the only thing about it that I didn't like.
01:34:52
Speaker
Yeah, I hear that creators love it when strangers just walk up on them and start telling them what they don't like about their work. I emailed him and I didn't mention that obviously, but it was like, Hey, um have you ever thought of ET as musical?
01:35:08
Speaker
yeah nice uh because i could totally write one if you are able to because we're saving private ryan and definitely not that not everything well did you ever watch um the ben stiller show like the his comedy series no there was a sketch on there once that was um oliver stoneland and it was like an amusement park based on oliver stone movies it's It's worth YouTubing if if you ever get a minute for that. um so So with regard to music history, I'm curious to know if you saw the Yacht Rock documentary on HBO. The what? I'm going to say no. ah Yacht Rock. Yeah, because that just dropped over the last, I think, last month between like Christmas and now the Yacht Rock documentary yeah dropped. Yacht Rock. Yeah, yeah. let's um
01:36:08
Speaker
You know, like, uh, music that rich assholes listen to on their yachts. Oh, okay. That's, I was trying to understand what that was. I go yacht rock. Like, do they have a specific genre of music that's like. Well, you should probably watch the documentary and see one of the guys that made the the documentary is, uh, he was on our show as well. Um, yeah, my friend, uh, Hollywood Steve Huey.
01:36:35
Speaker
who, uh, he was in Pirates of the Caribbean. That's why he moved from Michigan to go out to California to be an actor. awesome And he was in, you know, he's done some commercials and stuff, but he was in Pirates of the Caribbean as one of the pirates. yeah So, so yeah. And he is a cool dude. And the, and yeah, they, they showed his, uh, his documentary on yacht rock on the HBO, which I am dead naming because shut up your HBO. um HBO doesn't need any more plot press.
01:37:02
Speaker
they good Well, but that's that whole thing of them. I mean, they they basically pulled an artist formerly known as Prince. Like, no, no, no. oh We're Max now. You had contracts with HBO. but Which honestly, I have to say I like Max better than HBO only because of my late friend Max. ah like Which obviously would have happened regardless. but You didn't have a friend called Homebox office.
01:37:34
Speaker
ah although in So so what the what what is coming up next for
Solo Drag Debut
01:37:40
Speaker
you? what What do you got going on? You're working on the musical. What else is happening? I am going to debut as Sky Spectrum in my drag solo act debut at the North Star Lounge, February 20th.
01:38:00
Speaker
where I will be talking about my life in between these songs and how they relate to me and starting with believe as the first number and the first one that's that set um and not surprisingly because I am recently divorced so right you know love after love life after love is yeah that's where i'm at So sort of ah like a one person show. Yeah, it's an hour long set. And okay so I'm working on that right now. And I'm also. Wow, an hour. That's rough.
01:38:46
Speaker
yeah I know I tried to get a tight 15 together wants to do some stand-up and I chickened out but in our man even with songs that that just seems like a whole lot yeah I'm timing it out now like i had i I had too many songs on the list and I wanted to talk more and I was like, okay I if I do like three-minute talks in between the songs then I can get to you know, um But yeah, I'm i'm excited for that because Numerous people over the years have told me that I have an amazing voice and I am just now starting to realize I do. yeah ah Well, I knew I had, I mean, but I found the courage. I finally found my courage to, you know, so to be who I was always meant to be, which is a performer.
01:39:45
Speaker
You know, I was dubbed Phantom of Briarwood.
01:39:50
Speaker
Because I would sing in the hallways and... Well, and I'm sorry, but Briarwood Mall, when it's closed and all the people are gone, it is a great place for singing. Man, the acoustics are dope in that place. That's why I kind of... Serenade that giant cough drop. I do kind of miss the, um like...
01:40:12
Speaker
the the mall emptiness because, yes, it was great. um Yeah, I worked there when there was a movie theater there at the Madstone, the independent film theater. So now. And so, of course, you're there till all hours, you know, you're there till the last movie ends and you sweep up all the popcorn. So it's like two in the morning. You'd be doing Dawn of the Dead stuff in that mall. Well, and then the funny part is, is that so now I am going to the Planet Fitness there at Briarwood Mall, which now makes the second movie theater turned gym that I'm going to. The first being in West Bloomfield. All right. So we do like to give guests an opportunity to ask me a question. If you have anything you want to ask me. Yeah. um How long have you been doing this podcast?
01:41:10
Speaker
Um, Oh gosh. Well, this is the third season technically, but we had two seasons in our first year. So, um, I think it's been about a year. Uh, I think we started in February of last year. ok So yeah.
Podcast and Magazine Anniversary
01:41:32
Speaker
Yeah. Cause we're finishing up the second year of the magazine and this is like the beginning of, of the second year of the podcast. Okay. So.
01:41:41
Speaker
Yeah. All right,
Mad Libs Activity
01:41:42
Speaker
dude. Well, then it is time for the Mad Lib. Okay. um All right. So the first one is... Oh, come on, you guys. So the first one is person in room female. So I'll put me for that. And um I did send ah the good people of Mad Libs a note about... The thing about Mad Libs is they don't really get updated. They just get rerun over and over and over again, but real binary vibe in the Mad Libs. Yeah. Real binary. um Okay, so I need, um ah let's see, one, two, three different plural nouns.
01:42:22
Speaker
Let's say lamps.
01:42:30
Speaker
Windows. Uh-huh. What was it? Pillows? Yeah. You're just looking around the room. I really am. Go ahead. One more. And um pianos. Now I'm jealous that you're in the room with a piano. All right, give me a singular noun.
01:42:54
Speaker
Window.
01:42:58
Speaker
All right, and another, okay, another noun. Batman.
01:43:10
Speaker
And one more. Homer. What is it, Homer? Yeah. All right, and I need a verb ending in ing. Actually, I need two of them. Oh.
01:43:27
Speaker
um
01:43:30
Speaker
Moving, singing. All right. And I need an adverb.
01:43:43
Speaker
I'm so sorry, my brain. I need an adverb is a verb that describes a noun. Oh, no, I'm sorry. Describes a verb. Describes like a Like an adjective but for a verb.
01:43:55
Speaker
ah
01:43:59
Speaker
Swimming sometimes they end with like what what is that swimmingly? Swimmingly. All right, and I need an adjective gold And a part of the body plural feet Okay, so this is called a bad nightmare One night when I slept over at my friend Wednes' house, ah I had a house, cool, um I had a gold nightmare that scared the living lamps out of me. I dreamed I was in school, standing in front of my English window, giving a report on Shakespeare's pillows.
01:44:46
Speaker
when I realized I wasn't wearing any pianos. Embarrassed beyond belief, I swimmingly put my hands over my feet and ran out of the classroom at breakneck Batman. Suddenly, I was being chased by a wild Homer. Just as the Homer was about to catch me, I woke up moving with fright. I spent the rest of the night singing with the light on.
Conclusion and Reflections
01:45:15
Speaker
Yeah. That's awesome. Irreverent. And with that, we conclude the interview. So Kevin, I want to ah excuse me, Skye, I want to thank you so much for being here. um It was great having you and I certainly learned some things. Thank you. It's been awesome having been on here. Cool, cool.
Promotion and Upcoming Content
01:45:39
Speaker
and I want to remind all our listeners that we are sponsored by Sometimes Hilarious Horror magazine. You can find us on ko-fi-sometimes-hilarious-horror. That is the best place to lend your monthly support or pick up an issue. Man, our current issues have been so, so good. Stories coming in from all over the world. We had ah a Polish author, somebody from Ukraine recently. wow ah Yeah, yeah, ah all over Africa. I don't even know how these people are finding out about us, but we are getting incredible submissions from all over the place. So that is just awesome. And we're going to be, as of next week, getting back to our regular format of one-on-one interviews, ah talking to creatives, which we we definitely did here.
01:46:29
Speaker
you know, a little less issue focused and more talking about the neurodivergence and the work. So hopefully we will see all of you back then. Bye bye.