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
WITH A FRIEND LIKE REBA RAMBO
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
