On the Road with Rocking the Closet: Going public, answering burning questions, giving advice, and finding inspiration

I remember watching the “Plus One is the Loneliest Number” episode in season five of Sex & the City when Carrie Bradshaw’s compilation of columns is released at a splashy book party and thinking “One of these days that could be me.” While I never quite imagined that level of fanfare for my book Rocking the Closet, I’m grateful for the responses I’ve received since its publication in October 2019.

The journey from getting my manuscript approved by my publisher to sharing the published book with various constituencies has been a pretty surreal adventure so far. While the rise of new media has raised many questions about the relevance of books for contemporary audiences, consumers have embraced a range of formats for consuming books (e.g., Audible, Kindle) suitable for their lifestyles. Further, people seem as compelled as ever to explore topics that interest them.

In the mid-2000s when I began working on what would become my doctoral dissertation, I was interested in how figures we now know to have been gay, bisexual and/or queer were able to excel in the commercial mainstream of the 1950s. Though the 1969 Stonewall Riots are the most common way of demarcating the gay past and gay liberation popular culture appeared as a unique space where audiences willingly embraced gender non-conforming, sexually ambiguous figures ranging from the placid (Johnny Mathis) to the rococo (Liberace). My analysis of artists’ personae, celebrity interviews, fan magazines, concert and recording reviews, album covers, and close readings of music and fashion revealed how complex audience taste was in the post-world war two era. The same audiences willing to purchase lesbian pulp novels in drugstores and scan the pages of Confidential magazine were excited by the emotiveness of Johnnie Ray, the theatricality of Little Richard, the trashy glamour of Liberace, and the sexually ambiguous sensuality of Johnny Mathis. The book examines discernible patterns in their careers to frame how they navigated the gender norms of their time.

Photo by Sarah Lee, The Daily Orange, Syracuse University.

Academic books are often library and/or classroom fare primarily. As such I have been very pleasantly surprised by the interest in Rocking the Closet from different audiences. I have had the honor of presenting the book for the Women’s Gender & Sexuality Studies and Women’s Gender Resource Center Faculty Research Lunch series at Dickinson College; the Waidner-Spahr Library FaculTea series at Dickinson College; the book series hosted by the Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Center in Allentown, PA; and the Syracuse Symposium at hosted by the Syracuse University Humanities Center. The book has also been reviewed in various sites and I have participated in some web and radio interviews. I want the book to have a long shelf life and look forward to additional opportunities to discuss my work with audiences.

Photo by Adrian Shanker, Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Center.

Thus far three of the most interesting questions related to the book include questions regarding the basis of the Shy Baldwin character on Amazon Prime’s The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel; if post-liberation LGBTQ culture has lost its uniqueness; and whether contemporary artists feel the need to be ambiguous in the manner of 1950s popular figures. The Baldwin character (played by Leroy McClain) is both a crowd pleasing dynamo in the vein of Jackie Wilson, and a crooner in the manner of a Sam Cooke. Some have suggested his character derives from Harry Belafonte and Johnny Mathis. Regardless, the show captures the tension between his highly public image as a lady’s man with strong appeal to female audiences and the private reality of his desires during a complicated era of changing racial and sexual expectations.

Because Rocking the Closet describes various clandestine patterns evident in the careers of Liberace, Little Richard, Mathis, and Ray it fits in with other discourse about cultural codes and veiled symbols in pre-Liberation gay culture. The increased public profile of queer cultures has generated the sense that a unique insider culture has lost some of its distinctiveness in favor of mass culture acceptance. The codes and symbols were tools for building connections among queer people, and protecting oneself from social stigmas. A sense of a shared culture is one of the ways queer people bonded prior to a formal political movement, a notion David Halperin captures well in 2014’s How to Be Gay.

Regarding current artists, one of Rocking’s critical threads is the fact that many of the personal doubts and insecurities that concerns queer performers in the pre-Liberation era endure today. If homophobia, genderphobia, and heterosexism persist figures will continue to struggle with how to translate their sexuality and/or gender expression comfortably and authentically.

Photo by Bryan McGeary, Waidner-Spahr Library, Dickinson College.

One of my concerns is how the fragmentation of the digital era music industry might confine queer musicians to niches. Musicians of the 1950s saw their music as something of general interest. The notion of “gay music” or “gay audiences” was not on the discursive horizon.  Comparatively, contemporary artists seem comfortable targeting their music to specific audiences. This does not negate their desire to crossover potentially, nor does it excuse the narrow targeting record companies perform, but it certainly speaks to contemporary artists’ reconsiderations of the value or existence of a musical “mainstream.”

One book does not make me a publishing sage, but, if asked I would advise academic writers to consider the following based on my experience:

·       Decide who your audience is and write for them. If you are seeking an academic audience, you may feel more inclined to center theoretical ideas and employ jargon. If you want a broader audience issues of diction and tone are paramount. Readers appreciate on-ramps that help them place your work int eh contexts of their own lives. A work can be accessible without sacrificing rigor or depth.

·       While having a working idea is great for initial framing avoid imposing on your evidence. This is hard for academics who are often quite controlling. Let your evidence/archive speak to you and reveal itself in its own way in its own time.

·       The first voice your readers hear should be yours. Academic writing aspires to extend existing conversations which tempts us to subsume our voices to others. If you’ve completed a thorough lit review you can incorporate it effectively without downplaying your own voice.

·       Embrace the perspectives of other writers who have reflected on your subject with generosity and humility. Ask yourself what distinguishes your argument from other authors; you’re not in competition you’re in conversation.

·       Take comments from reviewers seriously. Even when you disagree or find a perspective frustrating it is usually intended to enrich your work. At the same time, you must own your project. If a reviewer asks you to do things askew of your project maintain your focus. Your editor gives you the greenlight not one person who may be advancing an agenda peripheral to your focus.

*************************************************************************************************************

The writings of a range of authors, including Phillip Brett, Michael Bronski, Nadine Hubbs, Heather Love, Christopher Nealon, Marlon Ross, and Susan Stryker, informed my writing and thought process. Having worked on Rocking the Closet for the last few years what excites me most are parallel projects expanding the discourse on LGBTQ history. Some of the books that have inspired me recently include Evidence of Being: The Black Gay Cultural Renaissance and the Politics of Violence (Darius Bost, University of Chicago Press); Buying Gay: How Physique Entrepreneurs Sparked a Movement (David K. Johnson, Columbia University Press); and When Brooklyn Was Queer (Hugh Ryan, St. Martin’s Press), to name a few. I appreciate the ways people have embraced Rocking the Closet and hope that it contributes something useful for current and future readers.

************************************************************************************************************

Want to know more? Please check out these links for books reviews and interviews related to Rocking the Closet

Rocking the Closet Book Reviews

“The Best Queer(ish) Non-Fiction Tomes We Read in 2019.” The Advocate. 28 December 2019. https://www.advocate.com/exclusives/2019/12/28/best-queerish-non-fiction-tomes-we-read-2019

Ellsworth, Adam. “Book Review: ‘Rocking the Closet’—Queering the Mainstream.” Review of Rocking the Closet: How Little Richard, Johnnie Ray, Liberace and Johnny Mathis Queered Pop Music. The Arts Fuse. 6 January 2020. https://artsfuse.org/192958/book-review-rocking-the-closet-queering-the-mainstream/

Holleran, Andrew. “In the Beginning Was Little Richard.” Review of Rocking the Closet: How Little Richard, Johnnie Ray, Liberace and Johnny Mathis Queered Pop Music. The Gay & Lesbian Review. Worldwide. January-February 2020: 15-17.

Slate, Ron S. “On Recent Books.” Review of Rocking the Closet: How Little Richard, Johnnie Ray, Liberace and Johnny Mathis Queered Pop Music. On the Seawall. 11 February 2020. http://www.ronslate.com/on-recent-books-on-music-queering-pop-music-abbey-road-and-johnny-hodges/

Media Appearances

Burns, Todd. “Vincent L. Stephens Interview.” Music Journalism Insider. 19 December 2019. https://musicjournalism.substack.com/p/montgomery-burns-features-editor

Interview with @ThatEricAlperShow hosted by Eric Alper (February 6, 2020): https://twitter.com/ThatEricAlper/status/1225283059634884610

COPYRIGHT © 202- VINCENT L. STEPHENS. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.