Quiet Conversations The Upstairs Lounge Arson Attack
My name is Arthur Severio, and welcome to Quiet Conversations: The Upstairs Lounge Fire.
I left home with a suitcase filled with dreams, a pack of brand-new Fruit of the Loom underwear, two pairs of 501s, and some shirts that weren’t exactly made for a fat kid like me. My mama had stuffed a twenty-dollar bill in my pocket just in case I wanted a snack and a Diet Coke from the vending machine for my ride into the Crescent City.
My brother met me at the downtown Greyhound bus terminal to take a United Cab back to his French Quarter apartment. It was 1983, and I was only 17. I was so happy because I had finally reached the place that I had dreamed about to get me through those endless days of doing little more than surviving. Soon I met Marcy Marcelle who was scheduled to perform that night at the Upstairs Lounge.
In these Quiet Conversations, I talk to people whose lives were touched either in their personal experience or using their artistic talents to describe that night.
Quiet Conversations The Upstairs Lounge Arson Attack
Anita Bryant’s Pie in the Eye, how New Orleans shut her down, Stuart Butler and Regina Adams after the Upstairs Lounge Fire
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
