1991. That is the year I traveled to San Francisco and met up with an old paramore, Jon Ginoli, who had just returned to Illinois to record his first Pansy Division demos. I was the first gay musician Ginoli knew- having been introduced to me as the lover of a DJ on staff at WPGU FM radio. Ginoli had been program director during a period when I had songs by my band, Talltrees in rotation at the station. During a rough patch in my relationship Jon and I met up at an Ultravox concert. (Jon reminded me of this detail when we met for a drink in 2008 at Twin Peaks, in the Castro. I forgot that detail. But more than that given Jon's taste in music, I just can't imagine him at an Ultravox concert.)
Jon and I only hooked up a couple of times. I was a Fundamentalist Christian at the time, as was my DJ boyfriend.I was wrapped up in self-hate, conflicted, and defensive about religion. Jon would have none of it and I believe thought me a hypocrite. Maybe I was? Maybe I was living a paradox.
Jon and I worked off and on together for years as managers in record stores. We worked at the same gay bar, and we even competed as DJs at local gay bars. I moved from Champaign to Chicago in 1987, and he moved to San Francisco shortly after that, I believe.
So, I met up with Jon again in 1991, while visiting the city on vacation. I made my way over to his apartment, and he played me songs on his six-string acoustic, and newly recorded demos. I feel out laughing. The songs were so funny, and political, and baldly straightforward. had never heard anything like them in my life. Jon didn't seem to take offense at my laughter. In fact, he laughed along. It was a hoot.
I traveled back to Chicago and almost immediately set to work on my first Boys' Entrance album. I felt spurred on by Jon. I felt empowered to drop the universal pronouns and become straight forward when addressing queer life. Even so, the first Boys' Entrance album, "Exit or Entrance?" is a transitory work. There are definitely songs that address gender like, "Fetching Dress"; the closet ("Overcome by Taste"); same-sex attraction ("Yellow Sun"; and AIDS ("Searching For a Thrill")- but the songs are not as straight forward as what Ginoli had achieved.
The album was completed in 1992. I made cassettes of it. (It has never been released on CD or digitally.)I am hoping one day to release it in its entirety, but for now a taste will be made available on, BE20, our new double CD compilation. "Yellow Sun", "Light In The Darkness", "Fetching Dress", and "The Ballad of Freddie Mercury" (from the eponymous E.P. recorded shortly after the first album was finished) will open disc one.
The remainder of disc one will highlight songs from the second Boys' Entrance CD, "In Through The Out Door". (The title was intentionally meant as a broadside to rockers who venerate their Led Zeppelin. Ho9 dare these queers appropriate a Zep title!)
The songs featured are, "The Happy Wanderer Goes Gay"- our most popular track in terms of downloads- this song is an instrumental. I am trying to not take the fact that the song is the most downloaded track and that I don't sing on it as a slight, but then again, I am the sole performer on the track. As on Exit, I like to include a couple of instrumentals on each B.E. album. This one is a bubbly slice of electronica.
"Baby Crawl" is the Boys' Entrance Declaration of Independence. It is an existential assertion, but it is about the first steps of political pride, hence, Baby Crawl.
"Daddy Do Go Down". I guess every baby needs a Daddy. As a "daddy" today, I view this song differently. These two songs are joined forever in my mind. Cie Fletcher drops the bomb as lead guitarist of Boys' Entrance on this song. Amazing!
"Richard Don't Think"- a song I wrote while at the record store with Ginoli, for Sylvester! Ginoli hated dance music, so one afternoon, I did a master class for him of Sylvester essentials, but it didn't leave a dent. While in New York, 1987, I had dinner with Sylvester- a neat bit of manifestation- and even told Sylvester about the song. The title is from my sainted grandmother who was fond of saying, "a stiff prick has no conscience". She did not approve of my song- even if she was the "genesis" of it. As for Sylvester, all he had to say about it was, Honey, if I want to say dick, I say DICK!"
"Soul In A Box"- This song was about fear of losing my own soul, but in retrospect it became about AIDS. I fought Fletcher to get him to play on this track. I could not understand why he didn't want to do it. He ultimately relented and laid down a terrifying slide guitar tour de force. I guess it was all too close to home for my friend. He died not long after of AIDS. But at the time, we had no idea he was even sick.
"Snowman"- This is just me on this track- and became my first "Rock Single of The Week" in Billboard Magazine. I submitted the CD, and out of the blue, I got a call from Larry Flick enthusiastic and excited to write a review. He asked me what the single from the CD was- something I had not even thought about. So I turned it around and asked him to choose. Larry selected one of the least commercial tracks on the CD, but I suppose that tells you something about Larry's idiosyncratic tastes. The song is about a relationship I was in where my partner had ceased to be my lover- had iced over, so to speak. He was the Snowman, but it is set somewhere cold like Colorado- the hate state that led the charge against gay unions.
My next blog will talk about Disc Two.
Love On Ya!
Tim Cain
