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|image = Maxine Feldman.jpg
|image = Maxine Feldman.jpg
|caption =
|caption =
|birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1945|12|26}}
|birth_date = {{Birth date|1945|12|26}}
|birth_place = [[Brooklyn]], [[New York City]]
|birth_place = [[Brooklyn]], New York City, U.S.
|death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|2007|8|17|1945|12|26}}
|death_date = {{Death date and age|2007|8|17|1945|12|26}}
|death_place = [[Albuquerque, New Mexico]]
|death_place = [[Albuquerque, New Mexico]], U.S.
|nationality = [[United States|American]]
|nationality =
|known_for = [[Women's music]]
|known_for = [[Women's music]]
|alma_mater = [[El Camino College]]
|alma_mater = [[El Camino College]]
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'''Maxine "Max" Adele Feldman''' (December 26, 1945 – August 17, 2007) was an American [[folk music|folk]] singer-songwriter, comedian and pioneer of [[women's music]].<ref name="zimmerman">{{cite book |editor-last= Zimmerman|editor-first= Bonnie|date= August 21, 2013|title= Encyclopedia of Lesbian Histories and Cultures|publisher= Routledge|page= 185}}</ref><ref name="keetley">{{cite book |last= Keetley|first= Dawn|date= February 22, 2005|title= Public Women, Public Words: A Documentary History of American Feminism, Volume 2|publisher= Rowman & Littlefield|page= 326}}</ref><ref name="mankiller">{{cite book |editor1-last= Mankiller|editor1-first= Wilma P.|editor2-last= Mink|editor2-first= Gwendolyn|editor3-last= Navarro|editor3-first= Marysa |editor-link3=Marysa Navarro|editor4-last= Smith|editor4-first= Barbara|editor4-link=Barbara Smith|editor5-last= Steinem|editor5-first= Gloria|editor1-link=Wilma Mankiller|editor5-link=Gloria Steinem|date= 1999|title= The Reader's Companion to U.S. Women's History|publisher= Houghton Mifflin Harcourt|page= 340}}</ref> Feldman's song "Angry Atthis," first performed in May 1969 and first recorded in 1972,<ref name="airwaves">{{cite book |last1= Johnson|first1= Gail| last2= Keith|first2= Michael C|date= December 18, 2014|title= Queer Airwaves: The Story of Gay and Lesbian Broadcasting: The Story of Gay and Lesbian Broadcasting|publisher= Routledge}}</ref><ref name="gaiety">{{cite book|last= Warner|first= Sara|date= October 26, 2012|title= Acts of Gaiety: LGBT Performance and the Politics of Pleasure|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=Rw9nhW4QeywC&q=%22maxine+feldman%22&pg=PA139|publisher= University of Michigan Press|page= 139|isbn= 978-0472035670|access-date= March 24, 2017|archive-date= March 25, 2017|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20170325040841/https://books.google.com/books?id=Rw9nhW4QeywC&lpg=PA139&dq=%22maxine%20feldman%22&pg=PA139#v=onepage&q=%22maxine%20feldman%22&f=false|url-status= live}}</ref> is considered the first openly distributed [[coming out|out]] [[lesbian]] song<ref name="lesbian-gay-encyclopedia"/> of what would become the women's music movement.<ref name="vaid">{{cite book |last= Vaid|first= Urvashi|date= November 18, 1995|title= Virtual Equality: The Mainstreaming of Gay and Lesbian Liberation|publisher= Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group|author-link= Urvashi Vaid}}</ref><ref name="l">{{cite book |last= Morris|first= Bonnie J.|date= July 29, 2016|title= The Disappearing L: Erasure of Lesbian Spaces and Culture|publisher= SUNY Press |page= 27}}</ref> Feldman identified as a "big loud Jewish butch lesbian."<ref name="anderson">{{cite web|last=Anderson|first=Jamie|title=Maxine Feldman Folk Musician, Lesbian Activist 1945 – 2007|url=http://jwa.org/weremember/feldman-maxine|work=Sing Out! The Folk Song Magazine|publisher=Jewish Women's Archive|year=2008|access-date=March 15, 2013|archive-date=March 19, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130319063431/http://jwa.org/weremember/feldman-maxine|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="sullivan">{{cite book|last= Sullivan|first= Denise|date= 2011|title= Keep on Pushing: Black Power Music from Blues to Hip-hop|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=KiEczBAvANkC&q=%22maxine+feldman%22&pg=PA147|publisher= Chicago Review Press|isbn= 9781556528170|access-date= March 24, 2017|archive-date= March 25, 2017|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20170325025320/https://books.google.com/books?id=KiEczBAvANkC&lpg=PA147&dq=%22maxine%20feldman%22&pg=PA147#v=onepage&q=%22maxine%20feldman%22&f=false|url-status= live}}</ref>
'''Maxine "Max" Adele Feldman''' (December 26, 1945 – August 17, 2007) was an American [[folk music|folk]] singer-songwriter, comedian and pioneer of [[women's music]].<ref name="zimmerman">{{cite book |editor-last= Zimmerman|editor-first= Bonnie|date= August 21, 2013|title= Encyclopedia of Lesbian Histories and Cultures|publisher= Routledge|page= 185}}</ref><ref name="keetley">{{cite book |last= Keetley|first= Dawn|date= February 22, 2005|title= Public Women, Public Words: A Documentary History of American Feminism, Volume 2|publisher= Rowman & Littlefield|page= 326}}</ref><ref name="mankiller">{{cite book |editor1-last= Mankiller|editor1-first= Wilma P.|editor2-last= Mink|editor2-first= Gwendolyn|editor3-last= Navarro|editor3-first= Marysa |editor-link3=Marysa Navarro|editor4-last= Smith|editor4-first= Barbara|editor4-link=Barbara Smith|editor5-last= Steinem|editor5-first= Gloria|editor1-link=Wilma Mankiller|editor5-link=Gloria Steinem|date= 1999|title= The Reader's Companion to U.S. Women's History|publisher= Houghton Mifflin Harcourt|page= 340}}</ref> Feldman's song "Angry Atthis," first performed in May 1969 and first recorded in 1972,<ref name="airwaves">{{cite book |last1= Johnson|first1= Gail| last2= Keith|first2= Michael C|date= December 18, 2014|title= Queer Airwaves: The Story of Gay and Lesbian Broadcasting: The Story of Gay and Lesbian Broadcasting|publisher= Routledge}}</ref><ref name="gaiety">{{cite book|last= Warner|first= Sara|date= October 26, 2012|title= Acts of Gaiety: LGBT Performance and the Politics of Pleasure|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=Rw9nhW4QeywC&q=%22maxine+feldman%22&pg=PA139|publisher= University of Michigan Press|page= 139|isbn= 978-0472035670|access-date= March 24, 2017|archive-date= March 25, 2017|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20170325040841/https://books.google.com/books?id=Rw9nhW4QeywC&lpg=PA139&dq=%22maxine%20feldman%22&pg=PA139#v=onepage&q=%22maxine%20feldman%22&f=false|url-status= live}}</ref> is considered the first openly distributed [[coming out|out]] [[lesbian]] song<ref name="lesbian-gay-encyclopedia"/> of what would become the women's music movement.<ref name="vaid">{{cite book |last= Vaid|first= Urvashi|date= November 18, 1995|title= Virtual Equality: The Mainstreaming of Gay and Lesbian Liberation|publisher= Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group|author-link= Urvashi Vaid}}</ref><ref name="l">{{cite book |last= Morris|first= Bonnie J.|date= July 29, 2016|title= The Disappearing L: Erasure of Lesbian Spaces and Culture|publisher= SUNY Press |page= 27}}</ref> Feldman identified as a "big loud Jewish butch lesbian."<ref name="anderson">{{cite web|last=Anderson|first=Jamie|title=Maxine Feldman Folk Musician, Lesbian Activist 1945 – 2007|url=http://jwa.org/weremember/feldman-maxine|work=Sing Out! The Folk Song Magazine|publisher=Jewish Women's Archive|year=2008|access-date=March 15, 2013|archive-date=March 19, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130319063431/http://jwa.org/weremember/feldman-maxine|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="sullivan">{{cite book|last= Sullivan|first= Denise|date= 2011|title= Keep on Pushing: Black Power Music from Blues to Hip-hop|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=KiEczBAvANkC&q=%22maxine+feldman%22&pg=PA147|publisher= Chicago Review Press|isbn= 9781556528170|access-date= March 24, 2017|archive-date= March 25, 2017|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20170325025320/https://books.google.com/books?id=KiEczBAvANkC&lpg=PA147&dq=%22maxine%20feldman%22&pg=PA147#v=onepage&q=%22maxine%20feldman%22&f=false|url-status= live}}</ref>


In later years Feldman embraced a gender-fluid identity, according to partner Helen Thornton. Thornton described her partner's identity as "both/and" rather than "either/or."<ref name="Kiritsy">{{cite news|last=Kiritsy|first=Laura|title=Lesbian trail blazer Maxine Feldman dies|url=http://www.edgeprovidence.com/index.php?ch=news&sc=&sc2=news&sc3=&id=36268|newspaper=Edge Providence|date=August 30, 2007}}</ref> Feldman had been comfortable with either gender label and wore men's clothing on stage.<ref name="sullivan"/>
In later years, Feldman embraced a gender-fluid identity, according to partner Helen Thornton. Thornton described her partner's identity as "both/and" rather than "either/or."<ref name="Kiritsy">{{cite news|last=Kiritsy|first=Laura|title=Lesbian trail blazer Maxine Feldman dies|url=http://www.edgeprovidence.com/index.php?ch=news&sc=&sc2=news&sc3=&id=36268|newspaper=Edge Providence|date=August 30, 2007}}</ref> Feldman had been comfortable with either gender label and wore men's clothing on stage.<ref name="sullivan"/>


==Early life==
==Early life==
Feldman was born on December 26, 1945, in Brooklyn, New York. As a child, Feldman had a [[stuttering|stutter]] and requested lessons in acting. Feldman had a [[bit part]] as a [[Membership levels of the Girl Scouts of the USA#Brownies|Girl Scout Brownie]] on ''[[The Goldbergs (broadcast series)|The Goldbergs]]'' in 1956.<ref name="anderson-memoir"/><ref name="Vaudeville"/> As a student at the [[High School of Performing Arts]], Feldman performed in children's theater productions.<ref name="Vaudeville">{{cite book|last=Cullen|first=Frank|title=Vaudeville, Old & New: An Encyclopedia of Variety Performers in America|year=2007|publisher=Routledge|location=New York [u.a.]|isbn=978-0-415-93853-2|pages=372–375|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XFnfnKg6BcAC&q=%22Maxine%20Feldman%22&pg=PA372|chapter=Maxine Feldman}}</ref>
Feldman was born on December 26, 1945, in Brooklyn, New York. As a child, Feldman had a [[stuttering|stutter]] and requested lessons in acting. Feldman had a [[bit part]] as a [[Membership levels of the Girl Scouts of the USA#Brownies|Girl Scout Brownie]] on ''[[The Goldbergs (broadcast series)|The Goldbergs]]'' in 1956.<ref name="anderson-memoir"/><ref name="Vaudeville"/> As a student at the [[High School of Performing Arts]], Feldman performed in children's theater productions.<ref name="Vaudeville">{{cite book|last=Cullen|first=Frank|title=Vaudeville, Old & New: An Encyclopedia of Variety Performers in America|year=2007|publisher=Routledge|location=New York [u.a.]|isbn=978-0-415-93853-2|pages=372–375|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XFnfnKg6BcAC&q=%22Maxine%20Feldman%22&pg=PA372|chapter=Maxine Feldman}}</ref>


Feldman attended Emerson College in Boston to study theater arts. After being kicked out for being a lesbian, Feldman was sent to psychiatric treatment and refused the [[electroconvulsive therapy|electroshock treatment]] used at the time.<ref name="Vaudeville"/><ref name="anderson-memoir"/> In 1963, Feldman began performing on the vibrant Boston music circuit, at [[Beacon Hill, Boston|Beacon Hill]] and [[Cambridge, Massachusetts|Cambridge]] coffeehouses such as the Turk's Head, the Orleans and the Loft.<ref name="Vaudeville"/><ref name="willowroot">{{cite web|url= http://www.spiralgoddess.com/MaxineFeldman.html|title= Maxine Feldman ~ Memories of Max from 1964 on|last= Willowroot|first= Abby|date= 2009|website= Spiral Goddess Grove|access-date= April 25, 2017|archive-date= June 27, 2018|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20180627070600/http://www.spiralgoddess.com/MaxineFeldman.html|url-status= dead}}</ref> At one point, Feldman introduced a then-unknown [[José Feliciano]].<ref name="Vaudeville"/> Openly lesbian, Feldman was described as attracting "the wrong crowd" by a local DJ.<ref name="anderson-memoir"/>
Feldman attended [[Emerson College]] in Boston to study theater arts. After being kicked out for being a lesbian, Feldman was sent to psychiatric treatment and refused the [[electroconvulsive therapy|electroshock treatment]] used at the time.<ref name="Vaudeville"/><ref name="anderson-memoir"/> In 1963, Feldman began performing on the vibrant Boston music circuit, at [[Beacon Hill, Boston|Beacon Hill]] and [[Cambridge, Massachusetts|Cambridge]] coffeehouses such as the Turk's Head, the Orleans and the Loft.<ref name="Vaudeville"/><ref name="willowroot">{{cite web|url= http://www.spiralgoddess.com/MaxineFeldman.html|title= Maxine Feldman ~ Memories of Max from 1964 on|last= Willowroot|first= Abby|date= 2009|website= Spiral Goddess Grove|access-date= April 25, 2017|archive-date= June 27, 2018|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20180627070600/http://www.spiralgoddess.com/MaxineFeldman.html|url-status= dead}}</ref> At one point, Feldman introduced a then-unknown [[José Feliciano]].<ref name="Vaudeville"/> Openly lesbian, Feldman was described as attracting "the wrong crowd" by a local DJ.<ref name="anderson-memoir"/>


In 1968, Feldman moved to Manhattan and then to Los Angeles. Feldman attended [[El Camino College]]<ref name="LT"/> in Los Angeles County and helped to found the campus women's center.<ref name="Vaudeville"/>
In 1968, Feldman moved to Manhattan and then to Los Angeles. Feldman attended [[El Camino College]]<ref name="LT"/> in Los Angeles County and helped to found the campus women's center.<ref name="Vaudeville"/>
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In 1970–1971, Feldman met the feminist comedy duo [[Harrison and Tyler]], who had come to perform at the college. After hearing the performance of "Angry Atthis," Patty Harrison and Robin Tyler invited Feldman to open for them during their tour of the United States.<ref name="Vaudeville"/> Feldman joined Harrison and Tyler, performing for colleges and once at a state penitentiary, the California Institute for Women. After Feldman was introduced as a lesbian performer during one show at [[Ventura College]], the stage manager insisted on informing the audience that Feldman had not been invited by the college.<ref name="LT">{{cite news|last=Morgan|first=Stacey|title=Angry Atthis|url=http://www.queermusicheritage.us/apr2002mf.html|newspaper=[[Lesbian Tide]]|date=January 1973}}</ref>
In 1970–1971, Feldman met the feminist comedy duo [[Harrison and Tyler]], who had come to perform at the college. After hearing the performance of "Angry Atthis," Patty Harrison and Robin Tyler invited Feldman to open for them during their tour of the United States.<ref name="Vaudeville"/> Feldman joined Harrison and Tyler, performing for colleges and once at a state penitentiary, the California Institute for Women. After Feldman was introduced as a lesbian performer during one show at [[Ventura College]], the stage manager insisted on informing the audience that Feldman had not been invited by the college.<ref name="LT">{{cite news|last=Morgan|first=Stacey|title=Angry Atthis|url=http://www.queermusicheritage.us/apr2002mf.html|newspaper=[[Lesbian Tide]]|date=January 1973}}</ref>


A record of "Angry Atthis" was produced by Harrison & Tyler Productions in January 1972.<ref>{{cite news|last=St. John|first=Martin|title=Liberation music, angry and proud, enters gay life|url=http://www.queermusicheritage.us/nov2000m.html|newspaper=Advocate|date=April 11, 1973|access-date=March 15, 2013|archive-date=May 12, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130512123714/http://www.queermusicheritage.us/nov2000m.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
A record of "Angry Atthis" was recorded and produced by Harrison & Tyler Productions in January 1972.<ref>{{cite news|last=St. John|first=Martin|title=Liberation music, angry and proud, enters gay life|url=http://www.queermusicheritage.us/nov2000m.html|newspaper=Advocate|date=April 11, 1973|access-date=March 15, 2013|archive-date=May 12, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130512123714/http://www.queermusicheritage.us/nov2000m.html|url-status=live}}</ref>


Feldman worked off and on at [[Alice's Restaurant|The Back Room]] for Alice M. Brock, a friend.<ref name="Vaudeville"/> Other venues included the [[Village Gate]] and the Other End, in New York City, and the [[Ash Grove (music club)|Ash Grove]] in Los Angeles.
Feldman worked off and on at [[Alice's Restaurant|The Back Room]] for Alice M. Brock, a friend.<ref name="Vaudeville"/> Other venues included the [[Village Gate]] and the Other End, in New York City, and the [[Ash Grove (music club)|Ash Grove]] in Los Angeles.
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| first =D. Keith
| first =D. Keith
| author-link =D. Keith Mano
| author-link =D. Keith Mano
| title =Lib on the Rocks
| title =Lib on the Rocks
| newspaper =National Review
| newspaper =National Review
| pages =
| pages =
| date =March 15, 1975
| date =March 15, 1975
| url =https://www.nationalreview.com/2017/02/feminisms-history-of-self-sabotage/
| url =https://www.nationalreview.com/2017/02/feminisms-history-of-self-sabotage/
| archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20211116031113/https://www.nationalreview.com/2017/02/feminisms-history-of-self-sabotage/
| archive-url =
| archive-date =
| archive-date =November 16, 2021
| access-date = November 15, 2021}}</ref> The columnist for ''National Review'' wrote: "Maxine exits to her personal refrain, 'No longer afraid to be the big word, letter L, Lesbian.'"<ref name="nr"/>
| access-date =November 15, 2021
| url-status =live
}}</ref> The columnist for ''National Review'' wrote: "Maxine exits to her personal refrain, 'No longer afraid to be the big word, letter L, Lesbian.'"<ref name="nr"/>


Under police protection from [[Ku Klux Klan]] protesters, Feldman performed comedy at the [[1977 National Women's Conference]] in Houston, Texas. Feldman later said of the event, "There were three hundred KKK in the audience carrying placards that read, 'Kill all dykes, kikes, commies, and abortionists,' and I was three out of four."<ref name="keetley"/>
Under police protection from [[Ku Klux Klan]] protesters, Feldman performed comedy at the [[1977 National Women's Conference]] in Houston, Texas. Feldman later said of the event, "There were three hundred KKK in the audience carrying placards that read, 'Kill all dykes, kikes, commies, and abortionists,' and I was three out of four."<ref name="keetley"/>
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[[Category:2007 deaths]]
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[[Category:20th-century American guitarists]]
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[[Category:American stand-up comedians]]
[[Category:American stand-up comedians]]
[[Category:American women comedians]]
[[Category:American women comedians]]
[[Category:Feminist comedians]]
[[Category:Feminist comedians]]
[[Category:Feminist musicians]]
[[Category:American feminist musicians]]
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[[Category:Guitarists from New York (state)]]
[[Category:Jewish American musicians]]
[[Category:Jewish American musicians]]
[[Category:Jewish feminists]]
[[Category:Jewish feminists]]
[[Category:Jewish folk singers]]
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[[Category:Lesbian singers]]
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[[Category:Musicians from Brooklyn]]
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[[Category:Radical feminists]]
[[Category:Radical feminists]]
[[Category:Transgender musicians]]
[[Category:Women's music]]
[[Category:Women's music]]
[[Category:20th-century American women singers]]
[[Category:20th-century American women singers]]
[[Category:20th-century American singer-songwriters]]
[[Category:20th-century American comedians]]
[[Category:20th-century American comedians]]
[[Category:20th-century American women guitarists]]
[[Category:20th-century American women guitarists]]
[[Category:20th-century LGBT people]]
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[[Category:21st-century American Jews]]
[[Category:21st-century American women]]
[[Category:21st-century American women writers]]
[[Category:Singer-songwriters from New York (state)]]
[[Category:Singer-songwriters from New York (state)]]
[[Category:El Camino College alumni]]
[[Category:American lesbian writers]]
[[Category:Emerson College alumni]]
[[Category:Comedians from Brooklyn]]

Latest revision as of 23:07, 24 September 2024

Maxine Feldman
Born(1945-12-26)December 26, 1945
Brooklyn, New York City, U.S.
DiedAugust 17, 2007(2007-08-17) (aged 61)
Alma materEl Camino College
Occupation(s)Singer-songwriter, comedian
Known forWomen's music

Maxine "Max" Adele Feldman (December 26, 1945 – August 17, 2007) was an American folk singer-songwriter, comedian and pioneer of women's music.[1][2][3] Feldman's song "Angry Atthis," first performed in May 1969 and first recorded in 1972,[4][5] is considered the first openly distributed out lesbian song[6] of what would become the women's music movement.[7][8] Feldman identified as a "big loud Jewish butch lesbian."[9][10]

In later years, Feldman embraced a gender-fluid identity, according to partner Helen Thornton. Thornton described her partner's identity as "both/and" rather than "either/or."[11] Feldman had been comfortable with either gender label and wore men's clothing on stage.[10]

Early life

[edit]

Feldman was born on December 26, 1945, in Brooklyn, New York. As a child, Feldman had a stutter and requested lessons in acting. Feldman had a bit part as a Girl Scout Brownie on The Goldbergs in 1956.[12][13] As a student at the High School of Performing Arts, Feldman performed in children's theater productions.[13]

Feldman attended Emerson College in Boston to study theater arts. After being kicked out for being a lesbian, Feldman was sent to psychiatric treatment and refused the electroshock treatment used at the time.[13][12] In 1963, Feldman began performing on the vibrant Boston music circuit, at Beacon Hill and Cambridge coffeehouses such as the Turk's Head, the Orleans and the Loft.[13][14] At one point, Feldman introduced a then-unknown José Feliciano.[13] Openly lesbian, Feldman was described as attracting "the wrong crowd" by a local DJ.[12]

In 1968, Feldman moved to Manhattan and then to Los Angeles. Feldman attended El Camino College[15] in Los Angeles County and helped to found the campus women's center.[13]

Career

[edit]

"Angry Atthis," of course, is a play on words. I was "angry at this" lesbian oppression. My brainy girl side wanted to call my piece "Sappho's Song," but then I read that Atthis was the name of one of Sappho's lovers. And "Atthis" began to appear to me as a better statement of all I felt. The song just spewed out of me.

— Maxine Feldman

Feldman wrote the consciousness raising song "Angry Atthis" on May 13, 1969,[12][5] prior to the Stonewall Riots. The debut of the song in Los Angeles has been credited as the first performance of an openly lesbian song.[6][16]

In 1970–1971, Feldman met the feminist comedy duo Harrison and Tyler, who had come to perform at the college. After hearing the performance of "Angry Atthis," Patty Harrison and Robin Tyler invited Feldman to open for them during their tour of the United States.[13] Feldman joined Harrison and Tyler, performing for colleges and once at a state penitentiary, the California Institute for Women. After Feldman was introduced as a lesbian performer during one show at Ventura College, the stage manager insisted on informing the audience that Feldman had not been invited by the college.[15]

A record of "Angry Atthis" was recorded and produced by Harrison & Tyler Productions in January 1972.[17]

Feldman worked off and on at The Back Room for Alice M. Brock, a friend.[13] Other venues included the Village Gate and the Other End, in New York City, and the Ash Grove in Los Angeles.

In 1974, Feldman shared the stage at the Town Hall in Manhattan with Yoko Ono. Variety magazine described the performance as a "smashing success," and said Feldman "proved an impressive spokesman for lesbians with her voice, tunes, interpretation and sense of humor."[13] The conservative National Review magazine, which also covered the show, described Feldman as "Jonathan Winters in drag," which Feldman took as a compliment.[13][18] The columnist for National Review wrote: "Maxine exits to her personal refrain, 'No longer afraid to be the big word, letter L, Lesbian.'"[18]

Under police protection from Ku Klux Klan protesters, Feldman performed comedy at the 1977 National Women's Conference in Houston, Texas. Feldman later said of the event, "There were three hundred KKK in the audience carrying placards that read, 'Kill all dykes, kikes, commies, and abortionists,' and I was three out of four."[2]

Openly Jewish, Feldman decried antisemitism in the women's movement:

As a kid, I was the only Jew on my block to keep my own nose, and in the Movement's early days, I was the only one to keep my own name. Women were changing their names if they had a 'man' ending. They said it was to deny the patriarchy, but they were also denying their Jewish identities. Feldman is a Jewish name, not a male name. When they asked why I didn't change it, I answered, 'Why don't Margie Adam and Cris Williamson change theirs?'[2]

Feldman performed at the first Michigan Womyn's Music Festival in 1976 and returned to the festival 14 times. Feldman's womyn's anthem, "Amazon," was traditionally performed during the opening festivities of the festival.[19][20] In 1986, Feldman gave the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival the rights to the song.[21]

Feldman recorded the record album Closet Sale in 1979.[6] The album included the songs "White Mountain Mama," "Holbrook," "Amazon," "Closet Sale," "Angry Atthis," "Everywoman," "Bottom Line," "Objectification" and "Bar One."[22]

Feldman's music was featured in Jan Oxenberg's 1975 film about lesbian stereotypes, A Comedy in Six Unnatural Acts.[23]

Death

[edit]

Feldman, who did not have health insurance, became ill in 1994 and died on August 17, 2007, in Albuquerque, New Mexico at the age of 61.[11]

Legacy

[edit]

Feldman was recognized as one of the founders of women's music in Dee Mosbacher's 2002 documentary film, Radical Harmonies.[13]

In 2011, the album Amazon 35 was released in Feldman's honor, on the 35th anniversary of the song "Amazon".[24] The album features the original song, along with reggae, dub, salsa and acoustic versions.[25]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Zimmerman, Bonnie, ed. (August 21, 2013). Encyclopedia of Lesbian Histories and Cultures. Routledge. p. 185.
  2. ^ a b c Keetley, Dawn (February 22, 2005). Public Women, Public Words: A Documentary History of American Feminism, Volume 2. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 326.
  3. ^ Mankiller, Wilma P.; Mink, Gwendolyn; Navarro, Marysa; Smith, Barbara; Steinem, Gloria, eds. (1999). The Reader's Companion to U.S. Women's History. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. p. 340.
  4. ^ Johnson, Gail; Keith, Michael C (December 18, 2014). Queer Airwaves: The Story of Gay and Lesbian Broadcasting: The Story of Gay and Lesbian Broadcasting. Routledge.
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  24. ^ "February 2011". OutRadio. Archived from the original on October 15, 2016. Retrieved December 22, 2016. 'Amazon 35' is a CD devoted to honoring the legacy of Maxine Feldman, on the 35th anniversary of her song 'Amazon.'
  25. ^ "Amazon Thirty Five Download". Goldenrod Music. Archived from the original on December 24, 2016. Retrieved December 22, 2016. This album pays tribute to the song "Amazon Woman Rise," written by Maxine Feldman in 1976 and performed as the unofficial official opening song at the festival every year! This disc has the reggae version of the song, the dub version, an acoustic version featuring Judith Casselbery and Holly Near, a salsa version featuring members of Cocomama and the original version by Maxine.
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