Pride stage performers include (clockwise from top right) Lindsey Hinkle (Photo courtesy Lindsey Hinkle), Ron Morris (Photo by George Lyter), Josh Zuckerman (Photo by Guy Guido) and DaLyrical (Photo courtesy DaLyrical).
Conquer ATL Pride stages Diverse performers dominate lineup
Lindsey Hinkle totaled her car on Interstate 75 while driving from her home in Murfreesboro, Tenn., to her gig at My Sisters’ Room in East Atlanta not too long ago. Just another incident in recent string of bad luck, the car wreck is sure to inspire a song, she says.
“Yeah, it was my fault. And I have no car insurance, so I’m in big trouble,” she says. “But I already know [a lyric] for a song — ‘all you see is all I have.’”
Hinkle, who performs Sunday at 2 p.m. on the Coca-Cola stage, describes her sound as being similar to a “female John Mayer.” She says all of her songs are about life experiences, especially about the women she’s dated. And she offers a bit of advice for those who do end up in a relationship with her: “Don’t fuck with a girl with a microphone.”
“And you can quote me on that,” she says.
“I try to write with some emotion. I can’t write when I’m happy, so I write when I’m feeling down, usually about relationships,” she says.
Women who’ve broken Hinkle's heart along the way are in every one of her songs, although no names are used.
“But they know who they are,” she says, laughing.
Hinkle originally hails from Alabama and moved to Atlanta for a while, where she won the Eddie’s Attic Open Mic Night competition before moving to Murfreesboro a year ago. Now she's considering moving back to the ATL.
‘MUSIC SAVED MY LIFE’
Hinkle is just one of the dozens of openly gay musicians performing on the Coca-Cola and Bud Light stages throughout Atlanta Pride.
From country-western to hip hop to folk to rock, this year’s lineup shows the diversity of queer musicians writing songs that they hope resonate with audiences, especially gay fans.<br />
“I started writing songs when I realized I was gay,” Hinkle says. “Music was my outlet. Music saved my life.”
For Josh Zuckerman, a first-time Atlanta Pride performer on the Coca-Cola stage at 6:40 p.m. on Saturday, classical music was a major part of his life growing up. He started playing violin at age 8.
“My mom actually made me play,” he says.
But when he was 13, his life was forever changed when Joan Jett & the Blackhearts topped the charts with “I Love Rock & Roll.”
“She was and is a big inspiration,” Zuckerman says. “When I heard that song the first time, I fell in love with rock and roll.”
In addition to a busy touring and recording career, Zuckerman lives in New Jersey and works as a kindergarten teacher. He says the best part of his job is writing and singing songs to his students.
“That’s one of the perks — I get to play a lot,” he says.
Zuckerman says when he writes music, he always begins with a melody.
Lyrics and other music come later in the process, he says.
“I just try to be as honest as I can be,” he says. “The CD I’m working on now, ‘Got Love,’ is about getting more connected to the internal love within ourselves.”
His CD released in 2006, “Out from Under,” dealt a lot with coming out of a relationship and being single. But sorry, gents — Zuckerman has a boyfriend now.
Zuckerman garnered a great deal of buzz with “Out from Under” when the title track went to No. 1 on Sirius Radio and his video for the song was ranked No. 4 for 2006 on Logo’s The Click List. Zuckerman’s music even made the A-List when it was featured on the TV show “Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List” in 2006.
While he has a band, Zuckerman performs solo at Atlanta Pride and says he always looks forward to getting on stage in front of a live audience.
“I love performing, the spontaneity of it. You don’t know how the audience will respond, how you’ll feel. It’s always different,” Zuckerman says.
‘STOKED’ FOR PRIDE
Beth Isbell, a transgender singer who was born in Columbus, Ga., and lives in Oklahoma, takes the Bud Light stage Sunday at 3:25 p.m. with her solo rock-and-roll act. She says she's “totally stoked” to be playing her first Pride event.
Also the lead guitarist for the psychedelic rock band The Dead Prophets from Dallas, Texas, Isbell says lately she’s focused on her solo career — and that she finds discrimination wherever she goes.
Isbell was kicked out of the Oklahoma State Fair because officials considered her lyrics too racy, as well as a few straight bars because she used the women’s restroom. Recently having undergone sex reassignment surgery in Thailand, she thinks using the correct restroom will no longer be an issue.
“I just want to get up and play. None of that other stuff matters,” she says. “I just try to write and play great music. And if you can do that, trying to gain acceptance [for who you are] becomes less an issue.”
Isbell is also a civil rights attorney who works with people who have been discriminated against in the workplace. She says Atlanta Pride made the right decision when the festival turned down a $5,000 sponsorship from the Human Rights Campaign over HRC’s support for a version of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act that only covered sexual orientation.
“Good for Pride,” she says. “I’m behind them on that. We all have to stand together. If we don’t stand for the rights of others, how can we expect them to stand up for our rights?”
HOMO REVOLUTION
Local hip-hop queer artist DaLyrical returns to Atlanta Pride for the second year and closes out the Bud Light stage Sunday at 6:40 p.m. DaLyrical says she’s transgender, but she that she's not concerned about pronouns.
“Pronouns don’t bother me," she says. "I do feel like I’m trapped in the wrong body and people always tell me that I’m a stud, but there’s more to me than just being a stud.”
“I wore a three-piece suit to my grandmother’s funeral [earlier this month], and I think my family’s getting it,” DaLyrical says. “My grandmother has also been a great inspiration to me. She preached at me, but she still loved me for me.”
Plus, looking and dressing like a man has its advantages, she says.
“I’m always myself wherever I am. I can hold my girlfriend’s hand in public, and it’s usually not a problem because people can’t tell [she’s biologically female].”
Currently touring on the hip-hop circuit with the Unity Tour and the Homo Revolution Tour and working on her third CD, DaLyrical says the popularity of gay hip-hop is on the rise. And, she says, the artists in the scene are typically more talented than what everyone hears.
The
following comments were posted by our readers and were
not edited by SOVO. We ask that you
treat others with respect; any post deemed offensive will
be removed.
