Quiet Conversations

In this special Christmas episode, Reba and I have a quiet "let's get real conversation talking about our lives and where we are today as artists, and the evolution of our friendship.  Her writing is up there with the greats for me and is much an inspiration.
Reba talks about the changes in her life and how she deals with it as it comes.  As an artist and a woman, what do changes like divorce and being a mother mean.   As a vocalist of "seventy years young" what do you do when you have to Patti LaBelle it?

Historian Frank Perez explains the mission of the LGBT+ Archives of Louisiana and a welcome to Quiet Conversations.

with Rio Riggen

In our fourteenth and final episode of Season 1:
How did the city of New Orleans treat the survivors of the arson at the Upstairs  Lounge?  
There were a lot of social and political changes happening in the @lgbti community regarding organizing and social awareness. 
Regina became the woman of her creation or as she said "started living in drag."  
Listen and find out about who Fury was and what it was like hustling in the seventies.
How did the Advocate magazine did to help the victims of the arson at Upstairs Lounge and how it would set the precedent for what was about to come?

Historian Frank Perez explains the mission of the LGBT+ Archives of Louisiana and a welcome to Quiet Conversations.

Art Span NOLA’s mission is to do just that. It is a non-profit 501 c3 designed especially for contemporary artists just like You and me. Art span Nola extends across the globe, sponsoring programs like creative mentorship, exposure visibility, and project development through collaboration and community. 

Please visit Artspannola.org to make your contribution. 

with Rio Riggen

A transwoman and a writer’s unique experience of the Vietnam War. Civil rights in New Orleans.  The Please U restaurant. What happened to Eartha Kitt when she stood up to Lady Bird Johnson about the war in Vietnam? How does Viet Name veteran identify and feel about hormonal replacement therapy?   Lady Bird Johnson takes a stand about Walter Jenkins being arrested for tea room behavior.

Historian Frank Perez explains the mission of the LGBT+ Archives of Louisiana and a welcome to Quiet Conversations.

with Rio Riggen

Amy Daley Williams, along with Frank Perez, Katheleen Conlon and the LGBT plus Archives produces the 50the anniversary of the fire.
Kathleen Conlon, organizes multi eventsongtime admirer of the New Orleans LGBT plus community brings a creatvie panel together to share their stories for the fiftieth anniversary of the fire.
Max Vernon writes a musical and brings the story around the world.
Monica Ordonez inspires her dance troupe to experience the art that has been made around the Upstairs arson and inspires her troupe.
Hunter Burke's reading of his screenplay with his main character Regina in the audience.

Historian Frank Perez explains the mission of the LGBT+ Archives of Louisiana and a welcome to Quiet Conversations.

with Rio Riggen

What happened when Charlene Schneider didn't quite make it to the Upstairs Lounge. 
Troy Perry and his activisim beginnings.
Charlene's dedication to her activism to change things
Father Tony from St. Jude's on Rampart Street speaks on his congregation and the Pope's rulling on the LGBT pluse coomunity.

Historian Frank Perez explains the mission of the LGBT+ Archives of Louisiana and a welcome to Quiet Conversations.

with Rio Riggen

What happened to Regina Adams in the aftermath of the fire at the Upstairs Lounge Fire?  What happened to the kids of Luther Boggs and Jean Gosnell?
Then there were Mitch Mitchell's two sons that we will learn about.
Troy Perry and Paul Britton come to New Orleans to offer comfort to those in need.
Frank Perez talks about Ferris LeBlanc and the plight to find his body.

Historian Frank Perez explains the mission of the LGBT+ Archives of Louisiana and a welcome to Quiet Conversations.

with Rio Riggen

People who are in a lot of mental anguish and pain don't always crumble and give up.  Instead, they reach out to help their community.  After being ostracized by his mother his whole life, Bill Larson left home to create himself as the head pastor of the New Orleans chapter of the MCC moving the church from the backroom of the Upstairs Lounge to its new home in the New Orleans Uptown Garden District.
What happened that night at the Upstairs Lounge Fire?
 "It went from people celebrating to those same people screaming in pain.  
Stephanie and her friend arrived in the French Quarter to live the Bohemian lifestyle.  On the first night of being in the French Quarter, they heard the news of a fire at a gay bar.  Stephanie has lived with memories of what those two young kids saw fresh off the bus.


Bubba Copeland lived a private life with his kids and wife.  Bubba was a school teacher, mayor, and a member of the Lee County Board of Education until a conservative newspaper routed him.

Bill Larson and Bubba Copeland both died martyrs.   

Let their living not be in vain.

Historian Frank Perez explains the mission of the LGBT+ Archives of Louisiana and a welcome to Quiet Conversations.

with Rio Riggen

Gay boys celebrate every Sunday in the French Quarter with what's called, "Tea Dance."   Regina and Reggie, a young interracial couple went out to celebrate Gay Pride at a bar called the Upstairs Lounge on June 24, 1973.
Stuart and his lover Alfred were also there with their new playmate in their lover's triad.
Regina left the bar to take Adam Fontenot to dinner. 
Find out what happened to change the lives of these four people and so many o their friends forever.

Historian Frank Perez explains the mission of the LGBT+ Archives of Louisiana and a welcome to Quiet Conversations.

with Rio Riggen

In this episode, we meet my new best friend, Lila who once worked as an emcee on Bourbon Stree at the Gunga Den.  She tells us about how she needs adventure in her life and as the universe says, "Ask and it shall be given.."
Trucker Patti tells us about working at the Midship and dealing with some of the rowdy trans-women when they drank too much.
And finally, we call my friend Mary, Marcy Marcelle's sister continuing the legacy we started with their sister, Sylvia.

Historian Frank Perez explains the mission of the LGBT+ Archives of Louisiana and a welcome to Quiet Conversations.

with Rio Riggen

In this episode, we meet Penny, who, grew up in the Mississippi Delta in a time where there were lines that couldn’t be crossed.  At a young age, she was aware of not crossing  lines drawn by society including her parents.  After growing up and becoming awakened, she’s  made a difference,
She tells us of meeting and photographing Ernest Cole who came to Mississippi to photograph the differences between people of color and caucasians.
Then we later hear how the shifts in civil rights in New Orleans began to happen with the RaultCenter and Howard Johnson fires. And what happened in Southern University in 1972.
My guests this week are Penny, Regina, Royd and Frank
.https://www.magnumphotos.com/arts-culture/society-arts-culture/ernest-cole-rediscovered-archive-apartheid-black-history/?fbclid=IwAR1Mc_K_h8xaDcR7-5u9LbgHY6F3kOYbiU7fbO7qj7ZtUee_0kBjCd3h3Ls

Historian Frank Perez explains the mission of the LGBT+ Archives of Louisiana and a welcome to Quiet Conversations.

with Rio Riggen

In this episode, we hear from someone who grew up in a showbiz life around the exotic Kalantan.  Kalantan, famous for her burlesques show danced on the world famous Borubon Street in the 1950’s.  In a couple with a non gender identifying lesbian named Lenny, she travelled all of the nightclub circuit.
In the second half we meet my friend Marcy. who was the inspiration for this podcast.  Born in the 50’s Marcy grew up in a town called Chalmette and came out in the French Quarter.  The story has began.

Historian Frank Perez explains the mission of the LGBT+ Archives of Louisiana and a welcome to Quiet Conversations.

with Rio Riggen

 "If people want to see it, then they are going to have to pay." Christene Jorgensen  said returning to America after having sexual reassignment surgery.  We will also hear Charlotte Mcleod story as  the second woman who had sexual reasiugnmenr surgery and both ladies working  on Bourbon Street.
My friend Lisa tells their story and we have a conversation about hormone replacement therapy.
We also get a visit from Regina about growing up and coming out.=
.

Historian Frank Perez explains the mission of the LGBT+ Archives of Louisiana and a welcome to Quiet Conversations.

with Rio Riggen

In this episode, we discover  the culture of  the French Quarter in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s.  We first hear from historians and authors Johnny Townsend, ” “Let the Faggots Burn,”    Frank Perez, a"Ambush Magazine "and "French Quarter Journal’.  and Robert Fiesler “Tinderbox: the Untold Story of the Up Stairs Lounge Fire and the Rise of Gay Liberation.”
We also meet Regina Adams, French Quarter legend Regina Adams who grew up in a mormon, upper suburban middle class neighborhood in New Orleans.  As Regina was discovering her sexuality, she discovered her sexual identity.  She also met the “love of her life,” a man of color and a Jesuit preist, Reggie Adams.

Historian Frank Perez explains the mission of the LGBT+ Archives of Louisiana and a welcome to Quiet Conversations.

Art Span NOLA’s mission is to do just that. It is a non-profit 501 c3 designed especially for contemporary artists just like You and me. Art span Nola extends across the globe, sponsoring programs like creative mentorship, exposure visibility, and project development through collaboration and community. 

Please visit Artspannola.org to make your contribution. 

with Rio Riggen

In this epospde, I speak with Tree Sequoia about the night that the Stonewall riots started.  Was Marsha P. Johnson the heroine?  Whe initiated the crowd in a riot?
Is homosexuality cureable? A doctor from New Orleans sure thought he had the magicc cure to turn one man into a heterosexual normal man.Bethany Bultman intorduces me to this part of history that Tilda Swinton has just done a documentary about. 
My final guest for this episode is Jim Meadows who knew someone who had been through “the treatment’ and shares abut his career working with the senior  LGBT commiunity.

I was only seventeen when I moved to the French Quarter.  My brother lived betwen the Bourbon Pub and Lafitte’s.  It was 1984 and AIDS hadn’t quite made it’s mark on the gay community.
I’ve met so many great people along my journey and wanted to share their stories as I’ve understood them and how they touched my life.
Welcome to Quiet Conversations.

Quiet Conversations is written, read, and hosted by me, Arthur Severio.  It’s producer is Johnny Maybank, and theme song “Shine,” by Rio Riggen.

On our first episode,you’ll get to meet me your host Arthur Severio and  hear from author, Professor Alecia P. Long  as we  discuss what it was like to be a part of a community that was not only different but harassed for being themselves. She and I  will discuss her book “Cruising For Conspirators:  How a New Orleans D.A. Prosecuted the Kennedy Assassination as a Hate Crime.” and meet Tamara Chang of  the documentary,“Screaming Queens: The Riot at Compton’s Cafeteria.” 
Lots of great guests with fantastic stories. 
So plug in your ear buds and enjoy.