Dan Fishback

Last updated
Dan Fishback
Bornborn November 4, 1981
Washington D.C.

Dan Fishback (born November 4, 1981, in Washington, D.C.) is an American performance artist, playwright and singer-songwriter who is heavily associated with that city's anti-folk movement. [1]

Contents

Life and work

Since 2003, Fishback has been performing and writing in New York City. His work includes overt, radical politics and humor as well as experimental and musical theater, punk rock, twee-pop, and solo performances based on monologues. Fishback is the Helix Queer Performance Network's director. [2]

Theatre

In 2011, he performed a multimedia solo piece called thirtynothing which combines biographical information and content about gay artists who have died. [3] According to Time Out New York, The Material World is about "socialist Jews in the 1920s who share a house with Madonna, Britney Spears and a modern gay slacktivist." [4] The Village Voice compared the historical complexity of You Will Experience Silence to the plays of Tony Kushner. [5]

Music

As a performing songwriter, Fishback started in the East Village's anti-folk scene. His band, Cheese On Bread, released two full-length albums, "Maybe Maybe Maybe Baby" (2004) and "The Search for Colonel Mustard" (2007), the latter of which was re-issued in Japan in 2010 on Moor Works Records. As a solo artist, Fishback has released several recordings, including "Sweet Chastity" (2005, produced by César Alvarez of The Lisps), "Strange Little Faggots" (2006), Calendar Boys (2008), and "The Mammal Years" (2012, produced by Casey Holford). [6] It featured contributions from Cheese on Bread guitarist Dibson T. Hoffweiler and Pansy Division Drummer Luis Illades. Fishback also fronted a hard rock band, The Faggots, which prompted controversy in the press. [7] [8]

Fishback released a full-length solo album, Sweet Chastity (Luv-a-Lot Records), in 2005, followed by an EP of cover songs, Strange Little Faggots, in 2006, and Calendar Boys (Off-Stage Fright Productions, 2008).

In 2007 Fishback recorded an audio performance-art piece called Faggotssaywhat? for the anti-folk compilation album Anticomp Folkilation.

In September 2006, Fishback was the subject of a piece on the PBS newsmagazine program In The Life .

Other work

Fishback was part of the punk dance troupe Underthrust, which collaborated with singer-songwriter Kimya Dawson on several performances and videos. His essay "Times Are Changing, Reb Tevye" appeared in the anthology Mentsh: On Being Jewish & Queer (Alyson Books, 2004), and was followed by several self-produced zines, including A Very Small Hole (2005) and What Have They Done To You? (2008). His visual installation, "Pen Pals," was featured in the 2011 Soho exhibition of the Pop-Up Museum of Queer History, for which he later served on the Selection Committee. [6] His essay, Times Are Changing, Reb Tevye, was published in Mentsh: On Being Jewish and Queer (Alyson Books, 2004).

Related Research Articles

<i>Fiddler on the Roof</i> 1964 musical

Fiddler on the Roof is a musical with music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and book by Joseph Stein, set in the Pale of Settlement of Imperial Russia in or around 1905. It is based on Tevye and his Daughters and other tales by Sholem Aleichem. The story centers on Tevye, a milkman in the village of Anatevka, who attempts to maintain his Jewish religious and cultural traditions as outside influences encroach upon his family's lives. He must cope with the strong-willed actions of his three older daughters who wish to marry for love; their choices of husbands are successively less palatable for Tevye. An edict of the tsar eventually evicts the Jews from their village.

Anti-folk is a music genre that emerged in the 1980s in New York City, founded by the musician, author and comedian Lach, as a reaction to the commercialization of folk music. It is characterized by its DIY ethos, unconventional songwriting, and often humorous or satirical lyrics. Antifolk music was made to mock the perceived seriousness of the era's mainstream music scene, and artists aim to protest with their mocking and clever lyrics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Open sandwich</span> Single slice of bread with food items on top

An open sandwich, also known as an open-face/open-faced sandwich, bread baser, bread platter or tartine, consists of a slice of bread or toast with one or more food items on top. It has half the number of slices of bread compared to a typical closed sandwich.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Donald Fagen</span> American musician (born 1948)

Donald Jay Fagen is an American musician who was the co-founder, lead singer, co-songwriter, and keyboardist of the band Steely Dan, formed in the early 1970s with musical partner Walter Becker. In addition to his work with Steely Dan, Fagen has released four solo albums, beginning with The Nightfly in 1982, which was nominated for seven Grammys.

Faggot, often shortened to fag, is a derogatory slur used to refer to gay men but expanded to other members of the queer community. In American youth culture around the turn of the 21st century, its meaning extended as a broader reaching insult more related to masculinity and group power structure.

This is a summary of 1999 in music in the United Kingdom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alyson Books</span> American publishing house

Alyson Books, formerly known as Alyson Publications, was a book publishing house which specialized in LGBT fiction and non-fiction. Former publisher Don Weise described it as "the world's oldest and largest publisher of LGBT literature" and "the home of award-winning books in the areas of memoir, history, humor, commercial fiction, mystery, and erotica, among many others".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mimi Fariña</span> American musician

Margarita Mimi Baez Fariña was an American singer-songwriter and activist, the youngest of three daughters of mother Joan Chandos Bridge and Mexican-American physicist Albert Baez. She was the younger sister of the singer and activist Joan Baez.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Seth Lakeman</span> Musical artist

Seth Bernard Lakeman is an English singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, who is most often associated with the fiddle and tenor guitar, but also plays the viola and banjo. Nominated for the 2005 Mercury Music Prize, Lakeman has belonged to several musical ensembles, including one with his two brothers, fellow folk musicians Sam Lakeman and Sean Lakeman, but has most recently established himself as a solo act.

Elondust Patrick Johnson is an American academic scholar and aritist best known as the creator of Quare Theory. He is Dean of the School of Communication and Annenberg University Professor of Performance Studies and African-American studies at Northwestern University. Johnson is the founding director of the Black Arts Consortium at Northwestern. His scholarly and artistic contributions focus on performance studies, African-American studies and women, gender and sexuality studies.

<i>Fiddler on the Roof</i> (film) 1971 film by Norman Jewison

Fiddler on the Roof is a 1971 American period musical film produced and directed by Norman Jewison from a screenplay written by Joseph Stein, based on the 1964 stage musical of the same name by Stein, Jerry Bock, and Sheldon Harnick. Set in early 20th-century Imperial Russia, the film centers on Tevye, a poor Jewish milkman who is faced with the challenge of marrying off his five daughters amidst the growing tension in his shtetl. The cast also features Norma Crane, Leonard Frey, Molly Picon, Paul Mann, Rosalind Harris, Michèle Marsh, Neva Small and Paul Michael Glaser. The musical score, composed by Bock with lyrics by Harnick, was adapted and conducted by John Williams.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Glen Meadmore</span> Canadian musician, actor

Glen Meadmore is a Canadian musician, actor, and performance artist currently residing in Los Angeles, United States. His music is often described as Cowpunk.

Major Matt Mason USA is the recording project of Matt Roth, an American musician and record producer active in the anti-folk and DIY music scene of New York's East Village.

Elastic No-No Band was a musical group based in New York City's anti-folk scene. Started in the mid-2000s, the band's name was initially just a pseudonym for its leader and main songwriter, Justin Remer. After 2005, Elastic No-No Band's line-up also included pianist Herb Scher and multi-instrumentalist Preston Spurlock. In 2005 and 2006, the band would perform sporadically with Clint Scheibner, who would play a bass drum attached to his chest, as though he were in a marching band. In 2007, the band added drummer Doug Johnson as a regular member. During the recording sessions for the band's 2010 album, Fustercluck!!!, electric guitarist John Mulcahy was also added.

LGBTQ representation in hip hop music has existed since the birth of the genre even while enduring blatant discrimination. Due to its adjacency to disco, the earliest days of hip hop had a close relation to LGBT subcultures, and multiple LGBT DJs have played a role in popularizing hip hop. Since the early 2000s there has been a flourishing community of LGBTQ+ hip hop artists, activists, and performers breaking barriers in the mainstream music industry. Despite this early involvement, hip hop has long been portrayed as one of the least LGBT-friendly genres of music, with a significant body of the genre containing homophobic views and anti-gay lyrics, with mainstream artists such as Eminem and Tyler, the Creator having used casual homophobia in their lyrics, including usages of the word faggot. Attitudes towards homosexuality in hip hop culture have historically been negative, with slang that uses homosexuality as a punchline such as "sus", "no homo", and "pause" being heard in hip hop lyrics from some of the industry's biggest artists.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore</span> American activist and author

Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore is an American author and activist. She is the author of two memoirs and three novels, and the editor of six nonfiction anthologies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Allison Russell</span> Canadian singer-songwriter, musician and activist

Allison Russell is a Canadian singer-songwriter, musician and activist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Milk Carton Kids</span> American musical group

The Milk Carton Kids are an American indie folk duo from Eagle Rock, California, United States, consisting of singer-guitarists Kenneth Pattengale and Joey Ryan. They began making music together in early 2011 and have recorded and released six albums. Their first two albums were released free of charge online. They were featured on the Peacock TV show Girls5Eva with their song, New York Lonely Boy. Their instrumental and vocal style has been likened to that of Simon and Garfunkel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indo cuisine</span> Fusion of Indonesian and European cuisine

Indo cuisine is a fusion cooking and cuisine tradition, mainly existing in Indonesia and the Netherlands, as well as Belgium, South Africa and Suriname. This cuisine characterized of fusion cuisine that consists of original Indonesian cuisine with Eurasian-influences—mainly Dutch, also Portuguese, Spanish, French and British—and vice versa. Nowaday, not only Indo people consume Indo cuisine, but also Indonesians and Dutch people.

Quare theory was created by E. Patrick Johnson in 2001. Quare theory was created to promote the voices of queer people of color.

References

  1. Davis, Mark (April 25, 2006). "Wordplay Ground: Sweet Chastity". The Advocate. Retrieved June 11, 2014.
  2. "Helix Queer Performance Network". Hemispheric Institute. Archived from the original on June 15, 2014. Retrieved June 11, 2014.
  3. Brandon Voss (October 7, 2011). "Hot Sheet Rosie Belli". The Advocate . Retrieved November 12, 2013.
  4. "Dan Fishback: The Material World". April 5, 2012.
  5. Eli Epstein-Deutsch (April 15, 2009). "You Will Experience Silence Sassier Than Angels in America – Page 1 – Theater – New York – Village Voice". The Village Voice . Archived from the original on November 12, 2013. Retrieved November 12, 2013.
  6. 1 2 "About : DAN FISHBACK". Archived from the original on November 11, 2013. Retrieved November 11, 2013.
  7. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on September 30, 2007. Retrieved December 22, 2006.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  8. "Brooklyn's '24/7' Newspaper Has No Love for the Faggots? - Gawker". Archived from the original on December 25, 2006. Retrieved December 22, 2006.