Thursday, February 08, 2018

Song of the Day: 'Max's Kansas City' by Wayne County and the Backstreet Boys (aka Jayne County)


 I wonder if the trans kids of today even know who Jayne County is. While Holly Woodlawn and Candy Darling seem to have gotten a fair amount of recognition over the years -- Holly’s immortalized in “Walk on the Wild Side,” and the documentary "Beautiful Darling" was one of my favorite films of 2011 -- you hear very little about Jayne (as she later chose to call herself). She was a Warhol Factory darling — she appeared in his film "Femme Fatale" and then wrote and starred in the play "Birth of a Nation: The Castration of Man,” playing both Florence and sister Ethel Nitingale! — as well as an influential force in the early punk days with Wayne County and the Backstreet Boys (her first, short-lived band) and then Wayne County and the Electric Chairs. (She's been called the "John Waters of rock" because of her silly, offensive, angry and campy songs that include "Are You Man Enough to Be a Woman," "Stuck on You" and "Fuck Off"!) Fortunately, rock's first openly transgender singer is finally getting a moment, with her first career retrospective going on now at Participant INC through March 11. Listen to this ode to the coolest club ever and tell me Loud Reed's got anything on Ms. County ...



Learn more HERE.

2 comments:

JimmyD said...

I met Jayne when her book was first published. She's fantastic! It's about time she gets some attention!!

B said...

I think I've watched Beautiful Darling at least 8 times. Such a great doc! I think the most attention Jayne has gotten recently is due to Sharon Needles who has spoken highly and often of her and her influence.