"I saw the word transsexual, and I thought, 'Well, I guess that's me'" (with Cidny Bullens)
Lost Spaces: Memories from Gay Bars, Lesbian Clubs, and LGBTQ+ Parties - A podcast by lost queer spaces - Wednesdays
The story behind how this week's conversation happened is almost as good as the interview itself! So, you may know this already, but I’m a big fan of Grease 2, which I think is a far superior film to Grease. Having heard me rant about it on a previous episode of the show (see 'Queer as Punk' with Demi Wylde) a follower on twitter, @rnfrw, who is also a long time listener of the show (hello!) reached out to disagree, and we had a little bit of a back and forth about it. This got me thinking about Grease, which led me to wikipedia, and then I fell in to a bit of a wiki-hole and now I have an encyclopaedic knowledge of the two films… But, one of the things that I didn’t know before I fell in to this wiki-hole, is what happened to the singer behind my absolute favourite song from the soundtrack to the Grease movie, which is obviously ‘It’s Raining on Prom Night’. And my internet sleuthing led me to the singer/songwriter Cidny Bullens.... Cidny has had a long and fascinating career, and made the brave decision to transition in 2010 in his early 60s… We had a really great conversation about his life, but I have to admit that we’re kind of stretching the theme somewhat, and rather than talk about one physical space we are talking about the spaces that were created on the 1975 Elton John West of the Rockies Tour. Cidny was a back up singer on this tour, and is currently in the process of writing his memoir, so had a tonne of stories and insights to share about that experience and creating magic in front of an audience every evening.... Do you have any memories of clubbing from your own queer scene that you want to share? Well, if you have please get in touch - I want to create the biggest online record of people's memories and stories - go to www.lostspacespodcast.com and find the section 'Share a Lost Space' and tell me what you got up to! Bonus points for embarrassing photos! You can also find me on Facebook (www.facebook.com/lostspacespod), Instagram (www.instagram.com/lostspacespod) and Twitter (www.twitter.com/lostspacespod) Find out more about Cidny at his website (https://www.cidnybullens.com/), or on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/cidbullens/), or Twitter (https://www.twitter.com/cidnybullens/)