April 30, 2025 • 57 mins
On this episode, we speak with Tony's Place executive director Carrie Rai and catch up with this organization providing services to LGBT youth. Then we have a conversation with Dixie Longate and her Tupperware Party. And finally we speak with Judy L Reeves about the Gulf Coast Archive and Museum of GLBT History, Inc. (GCAM), Queer Radio and the late Jimmy Carper.
Queer Voices airs in Houston Texas on 90.1FM KPFT and is heard as a podcast here. Queer Voices hopes to entertain as well as illuminate LGBTQ issues in Houston and beyond. Check out our socials at:
https://www.facebook.com/QueerVoicesKPFT/ and
https://www.instagram.com/queervoices90.1kpft/
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello everybody, this is Queer Voices, a podcast
version of a broadcast radioshow that's been on the air in
Houston, texas, for severaldecades.
This week, brian Levinka talksto the executive director of
Tony's Place, which offers dayservices to LGBTQ youth who are
(00:21):
not housed.
Some private foundations havecut funding this year because of
the current political climate.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
We are concerned about reduced funding.
We have heard from some privatefoundations that have actually
decided and they have notifiedus that they will not be giving
to us this year because theycannot be seen giving to an
LGBTQ organization.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
Brett Cullum talks with Dixie Longate, who has
appeared in Dixie's TupperwareParty at Stages Houston.
Dixie Longate is the alter egoof actor and dancer Chris
Anderson, of actor and dancerChris Anderson and Debra
Moncrief-Bell.
Has a conversation with JudyReeves about her legacy of the
Gulf Coast Archives and Museum.
(01:12):
Queer Radio and Jimmy Carper.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
I want everybody to know that this change in GCAM is
not to narrow down any of thecollections that we've had for
the last 25 years, but to focusmore, to bring it into a scope
of primarily leather collections.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
Queer Voices starts now.
Speaker 4 (01:40):
This is Brian Levinka , and I have the honor of
interviewing one of my favoritepeople, Carrie Ray, the
executive director of Tony'sPlace.
Welcome to the show, Keri.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
Hi, thank you, Brian.
Speaker 4 (01:50):
What is Tony's Place and how did you get involved?
Speaker 2 (01:54):
Tony's Place.
Our mission is to support andempower LGBTQ youth between the
ages of 14 and 25 in the Houstonarea.
We actually have a resourcecenter and a drop-in center in
the heart of the Montrose areawhere we offer many different
services, including the heart ofour area, which is the drop-in
(02:14):
services, where people and youthcan get access to showers, a
hot meal, clothing, hygieneproducts.
They can do their laundry.
But we also offer one-on-onecase management support and that
looks like helping youth definewhat goals they want to achieve
(02:35):
in life, helping walking themthrough achieving those goals,
helping them be successful.
And in the past year, we haveexpanded to after school
programs.
We offer an art group.
We offer a book club.
We are just thriving.
Over the past year, we haveopened up five days a week in
(02:56):
January, so our services areopen Monday through Friday and
youth have been coming in everyday and more and more youth are
coming in.
So that's a little bit aboutTony's Place.
I became the executive directorin August of 2023.
I was the first executivedirector.
(03:18):
Tony's Place was founded in2015.
They opened their doors in 2016, after the untimely death of
Tony Carroll, who was thefounder and brainchild of Tony's
Place, and in 2023, like I said, I became the first executive
director.
There was myself and one otherstaff member, and now we have
(03:43):
grown to seven staff.
We are open five days a weekwith seven staff and we're
thriving.
Speaker 4 (03:50):
So how did you end up with Tony's Place in Houston?
Speaker 2 (03:54):
I am a proud Canadian .
I actually became a dualcitizen last year.
I moved from Canada in 2015.
I moved from Canada in 2015.
I immigrated down here with anex-partner.
They worked in oil and gas andI'm a social worker.
We divorced and I fell in lovewith another person who's also a
(04:17):
social worker, and they arefrom the San Antonio area but
works in Houston, and I'vedecided I want to stay in
Houston and you know I've alwayswanted to lead a small
nonprofit and I realized I waspansexual and from the LGBTQ
(04:40):
community.
I am married to a trans man whoI love to death.
I think just the timing wasperfect.
So there was this position withTony's Place.
I was looking for a newopportunity.
I have found my dream job atTony's Place.
I get to serve my community, Iget to do the job that I've
(05:02):
always wanted to do and I don'tfeel like I'm going to work
every day.
I feel like I get up and get tolive my dream life.
Speaker 4 (05:10):
What is your greatest accomplishment at Tony's Place
In?
Speaker 2 (05:12):
2022, our operating budget was about $168,000.
This year, our operating budgetfor 2025 has grown to $750,000.
So that is tremendous growthover the last three, four years.
(05:33):
And the reason being is lastyear we secured our very first
government grant through HarrisCounty.
So we actually got two grantsin 2024 that are helping us be
open five days a week, which isvery important.
Our drop-in services were onlythree days a week.
(05:56):
Now that we are open five days aweek, we're actually seeing
more clients come in and they'recoming in more often.
Now that we're consistentlyopen, it's hard for someone to
remember when you're open.
When we were only open Tuesday,wednesday and Friday, but now
we're Monday through Friday.
The youth remember when we'reopen and they come in.
(06:20):
So I'm going to tell you, sharea little bit of statistics.
So last March March 2024, wehad clients come in 151 times in
that month.
In March 2025, we had clientscome in 429 times.
(06:40):
That's just crazy amount ofgrowth.
And then people are going toask how many clients?
So last year at this time wehad 33 clients individual
clients that were coming in.
This year we have 66 clientsindividual clients that came in
in the month of March.
(07:01):
In 2024, we had about 200clients that came through our
doors and we served almost 2,000meals.
This year we're planning toserve well over 3,000 meals.
Speaker 4 (07:15):
I'm part of an organization called EPA, the
Executive ProfessionalAssociation of Houston, and we
held a fundraiser for Tony'sPlace I think it was last year
for renovations.
Can you talk about therenovations that you're planning
or have already done?
I don't know if you've donethem yet.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
I want to first off, thank EPA for choosing us as
their beneficiary and then,second, thank EPA for the great
amount of funds that EPA raised.
So EPA raised $50,000 forTony's Place to help us with our
building renovations.
There's two parts to therenovations One to help us
(07:51):
replace the flooring in ourupstairs part of the building.
That part of the building thefloors were carpet and had not
been replaced in about 20, 30years.
So we have actually replacedthe floors now and that space is
usable.
We were using it as storage butbecause we've expanded staff,
we have needed the office space.
(08:11):
So those floors went in rightafter the fundraiser in the fall
.
So we have those new floors.
And the second part of theexpenses for the funds that we
raised were to renovate ourbathrooms.
So one of the number oneservices that clients come in,
particularly in the summer, areto access our shower.
(08:34):
Right now we currently onlyhave one shower in the building
and this means that our youthcan only shower for about 10
minutes and then they need toget out quickly.
So with the funds raised byEPPA this year, we will be
renovating our bathrooms to addtwo more showers into our
building.
So we will have three showers,which means more youth can
(08:54):
shower in a single day, which isamazing, so that they can feel
clean, feel good aboutthemselves, we don't have to
rush them out of the shower andthey can really live with
dignity.
Speaker 4 (09:07):
Just to be clear, these services are for unhoused
youth, lgbt youth right.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
The majority of the clients that come in during our
day service are either unhousedor unstably housed.
However, our services are forall LGBTQ youth, so we do have
after-school programming foryouth that are in school.
We try to tailor our servicesfor everybody, but those
(09:35):
services during the day, likethe showers, are mainly used by
LGBTQ youth who do not have aplace to shower.
Speaker 4 (09:44):
Talk about issues you may see coming from the
government, from legislature,and what you may be preparing
for.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
We are concerned about reduced funding.
We have heard from some privatefoundations that have actually
decided and they have notifiedus that they will not be giving
to us this year because theycannot be seen giving to an
LGBTQ organization.
(10:11):
So this will impactorganizations, including us,
financially.
We do have to seek out fundselsewhere to make up for that
difference, so we will beturning to other foundations,
other companies, individuals whocan give to help us sustain our
operations.
People may not want to beassociated with giving to
(10:36):
certain organizations because offear that their funding will be
cut off, like we've seen withHarvard, we've seen with Health
and Human Services.
Funds are being stopped at thistime.
Speaker 4 (10:50):
I understand that you have a new board chair.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
Thanks to our long-standing board chair, al
Amato.
He has been with Tony's Placefrom the beginning.
He was part of forming theorganization.
He has been a great board chair, helping guide the organization
(11:13):
through COVID, helping to makesure that it is sustained, and
now that his time is up, he'sbeen with the organization for
about 10 years.
So he is now moving on tobigger and better things and we
have brought in Stephen Parks.
He has been with Tony's Placefor almost two years now.
(11:36):
He has his own private practiceas a therapist and he also
works for the University ofHouston as a professor, and he
also works for the University ofHouston as a professor.
So we are so thrilled to havehim lead the charge with Tony's
Place.
Speaker 4 (11:51):
Do you have any events coming up?
Speaker 2 (11:53):
We have a drag show and lip syncing Beneficiary May
2nd.
All of our events upcomingevents can be found at
tonysplaceorg.
Speaker 4 (12:06):
All nonprofits need volunteers.
Tell us what you need and howcan the community help you.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
Tony's Place has many volunteer opportunities.
We actually rely on ourvolunteers to cook our meals,
serve our meals, help in ourclothing store, serve our meals,
help in our clothing store.
We are just a small but mightyorganization but we rely on
those volunteers.
So if you are interested inhelping greet clients, check
(12:35):
their bags, helping them sign upfor laundry, helping sort
through donations, help cookmeals, you can go to our website
at tonysplaceorg.
In the top right-hand cornerthere is a button that says
volunteer.
You can click on that and it'llguide you through how to sign
up to be a volunteer and takeour volunteer orientation.
Speaker 4 (12:59):
Is there anything that I didn't ask that you would
like to let our listeners knowabout?
Speaker 2 (13:03):
I'd like to talk about our Craft your Pride
program.
We started this program lastyear and it is a way to bring
youth to the table.
A lot of people don't ever wantto attend a support group, so
we didn't want to call this asupport group, so we called it
an art group.
Tony's Place provides all theart supplies.
(13:26):
We have staff case managers onhand to be there in case tough
conversations come up.
But this is really a placewhere youth can sit down, be
creative.
We have had many differentmediums of art.
We've created vision boards,We've used clay, canvas and we
have the art all over ourbuilding.
(13:46):
And what's happened recently iswe have partnered with a queer
art studio called FeistyCollective.
They sell different artistcrafts and we have held a queer
art show there.
We've held two so far, and thisis where Tony's Place clients
(14:07):
can actually sell their art thatthey've created at our center.
We've worked with clients toensure that they have a bank
account and that they can selltheir art and receive the money
directly themselves.
So this program has turned innot just a therapeutic support
(14:27):
group, but it's also turned intoan opportunity for economic
advancement.
So we've had these two artshows and every time each of our
artists have sold at least onepiece of art, and we are going
to be having another art showcome up in June and then July as
well.
Speaker 4 (14:47):
We've been speaking with the fabulous Carrie Ray,
the executive director of Tony'sPlace here in Houston.
Carrie, keep up the good workand thanks for coming on the
show.
Speaker 3 (14:57):
This is Avery Bellew.
My pronouns are she and her,and I am the CEO of the Montreux
Center, houston's LGBTQ pluscenter.
Speaker 5 (15:05):
And you are listening to Queer Voices, an integral
part of Houston's LGBTQ pluscommunity.
Speaker 6 (15:11):
Dixie Longgate has been selling Tupperware in her
theatrical party since 2007.
This has become a sensation and, believe it or not, you can
actually order Tupperware atthis theater show.
She actually sells this stuff.
It's hilarious, and all of itis the genius move of Chris
Anderson, who had a film and adrag career even before this
(15:32):
madness started.
Now Dixie is going to be atstages for a two-week run.
Tickets are already sellingfast about as fast as plastic
containers, to be honest.
So welcome to Queer Voices,chris, or rather Dixie, both of
you at once.
What?
I will flip back and forthbetween both voices.
This is a shock, because I'veonly heard Dixie, so Chris's
(15:55):
voice is very different.
That's amazing, Chris.
How are you.
I am so good.
What an honor to have you.
I am just amazed because I'veheard about this for years.
I mean, everybody always talksabout this show and how
wonderful it is.
Please tell me how all of thisgot started with this Tupperware
party.
Speaker 7 (16:14):
It was interesting.
I went to a Tupperware partyyears ago in 2001 with a couple
of friends of mine and a friendof mine said oh my God, the
woman that was doing the partywas trying to basically recruit
everybody at the party and afriend of mine that was there
said oh, you should do it, you'dbe great, you'd do it in
character, that would be sofunny.
(16:35):
And he kind of dared me to doit in drag and so I created this
character, this kind ofSouthern housewife from the
wrong side of the tracks, andjust did a couple Tupperware
parties.
And it caught on and more andmore people were inviting me to
do parties and I was going upthe ranks of the Tupperware
Corporation as a consultant andselling more and more Tupperware
(16:55):
.
And it was interesting, I wouldgo to these.
I was living in LA at the timeand I would do a lot of my
parties in Orange County, whichis just south of LA, and
obviously, famously, the OrangeCounty housewives dominate that
area.
This is before that TV show wason, but the same women were
there, you know, and I would goto the parties and they would be
(17:16):
fascinated with me.
They would always ask me, youknow, oh, tell me about you.
And I'm, you know, in fullcharacter.
I'm setting up my Tupperwaretable before the party.
And I would say, oh, I'm Dixie,and you know, this is my, you
know, I'm from Alabama and I'vebeen doing this.
And then I'd turn it on themand I'd say, well, tell me about
you.
And they would say, oh well,you know, my husband does this.
And I'd say, okay, well then,tell me about you.
(17:37):
And they'd in ballet.
And I kept noticing how thesewomen would talk around
themselves.
You know, their identity wascompletely linked to other
people.
And so when I I I told a friendof mine who's a director in New
York, oh, I'm doing this thingnow, I'm doing these Tupperware
parties.
And he's the one who said, oh,this should be a show, you need
(17:59):
to turn this into something.
And so I kind of wrote it as alove letter to the unsung women
that don't see their ownstrength, and I put it together.
We took it to New York as partof the New York International
Fringe Festival back in 2004.
And that was seen by a numberof people.
That kind of had some influence.
(18:19):
They moved it up the food chainand I ended up having an
off-Broadway developmental runin 2007, which led to the tour,
and it was a very different showat that time because there were
a lot of hands on that showwhen it went into New York and
so it wasn't exactly the show Iwanted to do.
And so when the tour wasalready connected to it, but the
(18:40):
tour was going to end up beingtoo expensive the way they
wanted to do it, so I kind ofrewrote it and stripped it all
down to what it needed to be,which is a love letter to women,
and so that's how it ended upgoing on the road in 2008.
And the booker at the timethought we'd maybe get a year
out of it, at most maybe 18months.
And 17 years later, the show isstill going, and this is my
(19:05):
final year.
I'm wrapping everything up inthe fall.
So, as far as the road isconcerned, I'm wrapping up.
I've got bigger designs pastthat, but that's how it all came
to be, and so it's a funopportunity to go.
People kind of underestimatewhat the show is.
They think it's going to be asilly little show about a
tupperware party, and it ends uphaving this message about
(19:27):
resilience and finding your owncourage and your own strength
and lifting yourself up andpeople are always kind of sucker
punched by that and it inspirespeople to walk away from the
show, kind of valuing themselvesa little bit more.
Speaker 6 (19:43):
Wow, I mean that's a lot.
Speaker 7 (19:45):
That's amazing.
Speaker 4 (19:47):
I'm not good at one-word answers.
Speaker 6 (19:48):
No, that's amazing, though, but okay, and if you
want to, you can answer this asDixie.
I would just like to know whois Dixie.
Where did you come from, dixie?
Speaker 7 (19:59):
She is.
Well, listen, I have had acouple of run-ins, I've been
married three times.
I have three kids that I knowof, you know, and yeah, you know
I start.
I was doing things I neverthought I would be a tough word
lady.
I was doing things thatnormally weren't.
You know, panning out fromwhere I was from.
And you know my mama said I'mnot pretty enough to work at
(20:19):
this strip club, but I was bendyenough and so, but I would come
from a place they didn't throwdollars, they'd throw quarters,
and I didn't want to go throughmy 20s getting these little
bruises all over me.
So I said, no, I'm going to dosomething better.
And I was on part of theconditions of my parole, my
parole officer.
When I got out one time shesaid you know, you need a job in
order to get your kids back.
And I was like who wants that?
(20:40):
That's no, you know, be changedobviously.
And so I started.
She's the one who suggested Istart selling Tupperware and I
did it and I became top sellingTupperware lady in the entire
United States and Canada, whichis so crazy.
But I would go to theseJubilees, the big Tupperware
convention, and that's reallywhat got inspiring to me,
because I would watch all thesewomen get celebrated for what
(21:02):
they were doing you know,selling Tupperware and having
their own business and I waslike, oh, I want to be like that
.
I want to get up on stage andbe recognized like all these
other great ladies are being,and so that's what really got me
going in the whole Tupperwarething and to be able to go into
people's homes and share somequality, creative food storage
solutions with them and be ableto laugh and drink.
This is the bottom line.
(21:23):
I get to drink for free at workand that's really why you do
any job.
If you don't get to do that,you need to really reconsider
what you're doing for a living.
Speaker 6 (21:31):
You're doing something wrong if you can't
drink at your job.
Yeah, I know.
Speaker 7 (21:33):
I mean, that's the thing I was like when I went to
my first party.
The host said would you like acocktail?
I said oh no, I'm working.
She's like, but it's a partynow.
Are you like related to rebamcintyre at all, because you
look a lot like reba.
Oh my god, that is the nicestcompliment anyone's ever given
(21:54):
me all the time.
No, I'm not.
I don't.
I'm not related to anybody thatI'm aware of, and so you know,
it's just.
I'm just a southern redhead.
That's what happens, you know.
You get in the south andeverybody's kind of related to
everybody else, whether theyknow it or not, because you, you
know the population down thereis well, we're longing for
something of meaning, and sosometimes mama gets behind the
dumpster and finds something ona Friday night.
(22:16):
You never know what you'regoing to be doing.
You know how it is.
Nine months later, mistakes aremade.
Speaker 6 (22:21):
Always.
Now, okay, you were at Stagesuntil April 20th.
How did you connect with stages?
How did they get dixie longgate?
Speaker 7 (22:31):
well, I have been in houston a couple times before I
had been at the um touchpresented me the first time.
I came through a theater underthe stars at the hobby center
and then I was brought back twodifferent times there.
And then I've also playedgalveston at the opera house
three times and then I think itwas just a mitchell greco, who's
one of the members that runsthe whole thing, reached out and
(22:53):
he said, hey, you're pretty.
And I was like, it's true, Ican't help it because of Jesus
or whatever.
And then he said you won't cometo your program here and I said
I love that.
That would be so fun.
So it was just about peopleknowing me from you know, having
been here before and they werelooking for some fun programming
for their season and they said,well, we'd like to try this,
because we had seen the showover at the Hobby Center and we
(23:14):
really got a giggle and wethought our audiences over here
would enjoy the show a lot.
So they said let's come on in.
So two weeks I'm here and I'mhaving a good time.
I mean, everything in Houstonis fantastic, so fantastic.
So I'm having a good time hereand everybody's so naively.
It's very interesting becausethe their audiences that go to
the performing arts center aresomewhat different than the
audiences that go to stages, andso it's you know where I go to
(23:34):
the performing arts center.
People know me, they're used tobecause I've been there a bunch
, and so I'm sort of having torebuild an audience.
There's a lot of people comingover that have seen me before,
but there's a lot of people thatdon't know my show at all over
the hobby, and so, yeah, sorry,at the stages, and so it's kind
of like building the reputationfrom scratch, which is always an
interesting thing starting over, you know.
Speaker 6 (23:57):
Now the scuttlebutt on this one is this is the last
tour for Dixie in thisTupperware party, and why?
Why end a good thing?
I mean you got to go, and whyis this the?
Speaker 7 (24:08):
last.
You know I've been on the road17 years.
We never thought that.
You know me and my team neverthought it would be this long,
and save for COVID, when I wasoff the road for a little bit
because everything was shut down.
I've been hoofing it for a longtime and I figured, you know
what, it's time to kind of windthe tour down on the road.
And we're looking at taking theshow to New York in the fall
and sitting it down off Broadwayand doing a long run there.
(24:29):
So that's gonna, you know, takeme off the road.
But I said, you know, I'm likeI'm not going nowhere, I'm just
going around.
But I thought, you know, I wantto kind of wrap it up and start
, you know, in where I started,but be able to take the show
that I've been doing on the roadfor the last 17 years.
It's really kind of inspired meand inspired so many audience
members.
I want to take that and put itdown in New York and do it that
(24:52):
way to kind of book in the wholething.
So that's where I'm going.
But yeah, it's.
You know I love being on theroad, but I think it's just time
, you know, every, every chapterof your life ends and a new one
begins, and I think it's timeto write a new story.
Speaker 6 (25:05):
Let's get serious here for just a second.
So Kennedy Center you performedthere, right?
Speaker 7 (25:14):
I did.
I was very, very grateful.
They invited me to do a monthof shows last summer and it was
great.
I mean it was to be able toperform at such a legendary
venue and to be able to I meanit was an honor.
It was an honor to step foot inthose hallowed halls and be
amongst the performers that havegotten to be there.
Speaker 6 (25:34):
Now you're not invited back, are you?
Speaker 7 (25:37):
Well, I don't know.
If you're aware there's alittle bit of a scuttlebutt.
Yes, there is.
The president has decided thathe wants a very specific program
, and of which I am not countingmyself among, because they have
decided that he wants a veryspecific program and of which I
am not counting myself amongbecause they have decided that
they are going to curate exactlywhat he wants to see and not
what the patrons want to see,necessarily, or what people are
(25:57):
used to.
I mean, the thing about artcenters is it's going to be
diverse program and noteverybody's going to like
everything that's in there.
You're going to have opera andballet and you're going to have
poetry jams and you going tohave musicals and plays, and not
everything is going to be yourcup of tea.
But the whole point of it isit's because everybody has
different artistic visions andan art center should be able to
(26:19):
share all kinds of differentpoints of views and perspective,
and the president doesn't seemto think that that's a good idea
.
Speaker 6 (26:26):
I think that this is iconic.
Seriously, it is the biggestreason that I want to come see
you on this run and stages tosupport you, because this is
just amazing that they're tryingto even target this kind of
production or anything like that.
Speaker 7 (26:41):
Yeah, I mean it was very interesting to kind of be
called out basically personallyby the president why we can't
have.
I had done my show there and itwas in the fam the name of the
theater.
There are six theaters in thebuilding and the name of the
theater that I performed in wascalled the family theater.
And that's what he, you knowhe's like, oh, the family.
You know we don't want dragshows for families and I was
(27:03):
like, well, that's not what washappening.
It was a family theater, it wasmy show and it's a show about
empowerment and it's also a showyou never bothered to step foot
into the theater to see.
So I don't know what you'retalking from, but it's again,
you know, it's an inspiring,empowering show and makes people
feel good and makes peoplegiggle, and so I'm not sure
what's wrong with that.
But that is, you know, I'm notable to, not able to fight, pass
(27:26):
that thing, so that I'm notgoing to be about it.
But you know what I'm gratefulto have been there.
The people that brought me inare sticking to the guns and
saying thank you so much forbeing part of our programming
and our legacy, and I'm veryhappy about that.
Speaker 6 (27:38):
Well, I'm happy that you're going to be at Stages 3
April 20th, because that givesus a chance to see you here.
I don't have to travel all theway to DC, and see you in some
family theater and the Guinnessis in her.
It was funny.
Speaker 7 (27:47):
Actually, I was doing the show last night and
somebody came out after the showand said I got to see you in DC
and that's why I came, becauseit was a lady that lives here.
But she's like, I was in DCtraveling for work and the show
popped up there and I said nightbecause I mean you're neck of
the woods.
Speaker 6 (28:07):
You know I have to ask because I don't have a lot
of it, but if you have to buyone item of Tupperware, what do
I need?
Speaker 7 (28:15):
You know it's all dependent on who you are and
what you do.
See my tumblers, you'll see, atthe program I have tumblers
that are with me all the timeand they have a seal that you
stick a straw in.
And so if you're drinking anddriving and you hit a baby or
whatever, you're not gonna spillyour drink because the lid on
it is gonna keep anything fromspilling, which is so nice, and
(28:35):
you can drink right through thelid, which is great.
That's something I couldn't bewithout.
I mean, and I put, like youknow, my morning vodka right on
the bedside table and then withthat and then so if the cat on
it, it's not going to get hairin it and it's not going to
spill over.
There's that.
There's my wine opener.
Like you'd be amazed whattupperware has.
Everybody thinks it's justplastic bowls, but there's so
much different stuff.
(28:55):
I have a wine opener that Ilove because I take it with me
in my glove box when I'm drivingplaces and get thirsty and
parched.
There is a jello shot containerthat I take my jello shots to
church to serve Jesus andeverything.
There's so many good thingsthat you're going to see the
program and you're going to belike I didn't even believe they
had all this stuff that I didn'tknow.
Speaker 6 (29:15):
Alright, I'm there and I'm ordering.
Finally, I want to ask Dixiewhat do you think of Oreo
flavored Coke?
Speaker 7 (29:23):
Oh, my God, did you see that?
People that know me they knowthat I love Oreos and I have all
kinds of videos up on my socialmedia about different Oreos.
Because Oreos have been goingthrough this thing in the last
couple of years where they'vebeen making all these different
flavors and they had this weirdcross-branding thing with Coke
where they did Coke-flavoredOreos and Oreo-flavored Coke and
the Coke-flavored Oreos.
(29:44):
The smell is a bit overwhelmingwhen you open up the package at
first, but they actually tastepretty decent, but the
Oreo-flavored Coke is anabomination.
They should be shamingthemselves.
They should sit in the cornerand cry until they know what
they did and what they unleashedon the rest of the world and
they need to understand and takethat accountability forward.
Because it is a flavor in yourmouth.
(30:05):
I had a bottle of it.
Let me explain to you.
It took me about four days toget through a single like 12
ounces, I think, because it theflavor is.
I've had things in my mouthbefore and this is not one that
I would repeat, you know, and Ikept it for so long because I
kept thinking that, well, maybeif I tried a different way it'll
be okay.
Maybe if I tried in the morning.
Maybe I tried it after I'vealready been drinking.
(30:26):
Maybe, if I try it, you knowwhen it's flat it will be.
But no, no, it never improved.
It just got worse.
It just made the baby jesus cryand it's already so moody.
You know you don't want to doanything to make it worse.
So, yeah, it was, it was.
Speaker 6 (30:40):
It's something, yeah you know, I I have to confirm.
I tried it, it was foul, it wasreally bad.
Speaker 7 (30:47):
and you've got to, you've got to wonder, because
you know, companies this big doall kinds of taste tests.
And I want to sequester thepeople in the room that said, oh
, this is a good idea, and thatdid that taste test and said
this is the version you need toput on the market, and I want to
smack them upside the head sohard.
Oh my Lord, what's wrong withpeople?
They were like, oh yeah,that'll be okay, you know, put
that out.
Oh no, no, what's wrong withpeople?
Speaker 6 (31:08):
Well, what is a good idea is to go see Dixie's
Tupperware Party at Stagesthrough April 20th, I believe.
April 20th yeah, Two weeks, twowhole weeks, lots of shows.
I even saw there's some onTuesday, wednesday, thursday.
I mean they're filling it.
Speaker 7 (31:22):
Every day of the week .
We have Mondays Monday off butwe have every day of the week
and we've got matinee onSaturday and a matinee on
Thursday, which is sointeresting.
Speaker 6 (31:31):
You're doing matinees on Thursdays.
Speaker 7 (31:32):
Yeah, yeah, so sometimes and Thursday obviously
is very interesting, so it'sgoing to be like a luck of the
draw, you know, because theywanted to be able to give people
as many opportunities to beable to see the show as possible
.
Speaker 6 (31:49):
So they're just like like do shows all the time, so
I'm doing a thursday matinee too, okay, according to chris's
imdb page, you have been in someof my favorite movies, like
scream 2, hellbent, which isthis amazing gay horror flick
that everybody needs to see.
No, that's amazing and theiconic.
Of course, Girls Will Be Girlswith all of my favorite drag
queens.
Speaker 3 (32:08):
Oh my God yeah.
Speaker 6 (32:11):
So I'm wondering, you know, when all of this wraps,
if Dixie ever decides that it'stime to go, what's next for you?
Are you going to pursue morefilm Are?
Speaker 5 (32:22):
you going?
Speaker 7 (32:22):
to do shows.
Speaker 6 (32:24):
I see you're a dancer , right.
Speaker 7 (32:25):
Yeah, well, I was back when my body moved that way
.
I'm getting older, so it's alittle hard.
You know, one of the reasons,one of the things I'm looking
forward to about taking the showto New York, is to be with
people.
You know, new York obviouslyhas a lot of theater, a lot of
film and TV, but also has a lotof resources for because I like
to create stuff.
So I mean resources for becauseI like to create stuff.
(32:49):
So I mean I created dixie.
I created all the tours thatI've done.
I mean I've done four differentshows now under the dixie
character.
Three of them live and then oneof them during the pandemic.
I did a show called dixie'shappy hour, which I went into a
small theater near where I livedand filmed it, and then we got
it streaming to 26 different artcenters around the country to
bring income in, and so I I youknow, and I've done all this
stuff as Dixie, but I like tocreate things and I want to be
(33:12):
in a city where I have access tomore people, more resources,
more ability and opportunitiesto create other things.
So I have some things that I'mworking on, for sure that are in
the early stages and mediumstages, and when I get there I'm
hoping to throw, you know,throw out some wide nets and
meet some people and collaborateon some things.
You know, new York is a citythat really inspires me, so I
(33:34):
don't I don't see myself sittingdown for too long and just kind
of being lazy, you know.
So I'll be doing, I'll be doingthe show every night there
while I'm there, but also duringthe day I'll be taking that
time to reach out and and createa wider sandbox with bigger
toys to play with well, I lookforward to seeing whatever comes
(33:54):
next for you, because Dixieobviously just a beloved
character and just you've had anamazing run.
Speaker 6 (34:02):
I really hope that you kind of do what some.
There's another performer thatcomes through stages a lot,
denise Fennell, and she does thesister shows at stages a lot,
but she also comes in as Denisesometimes and she'll do shows
where she's herself and she'lldo ones where she's the sister
and it's amazing to watch herbranch out and create new things
(34:23):
and always kind of spin thingsout.
So it's going to be amazing tosee what's next.
But I don't ever want dixie togo away.
I definitely want her around.
We need someone to push thistupperware right here.
You know, even though I'm gonnabe off the road.
Speaker 7 (34:40):
I'm still gonna be very active on social.
I'll still be doing a lot ofstuff and and you know and
sharing smiles.
That's the one of the thingsthat I'm.
You know, and you talk to anyactor and any actor will say how
grateful they are if they getto do a long run of a show.
But to be a character that Igot to create and that's been
(35:01):
kind of inhabited my body nowfor you know, 23 years, 24 years
, it's great.
It's great.
And the fact that people likeher probably more than they like
me, she's great.
I like her, but I'm verygrateful, I'm very lucky to have
created something that's leftkind of an indelible mark on so
(35:21):
many people's hearts, and so Idon't foresee her leaving
necessarily anytime soon.
She's just going to be off theroad for a while.
Speaker 6 (35:29):
Well, Chris Anderson, where can we find you?
Where can we find DixieLongate's socials?
Speaker 7 (35:34):
Dixie is all over social.
I am very limited socialbecause most of my life I've
been her.
I started this before socialmedia even existed, so it's
actually kind of funny.
So all my social is pretty muchher, except I have a small,
very small instagram handle,chris, and I don't even know
what it is chris andersonofficial, but I don't know, I
(35:55):
don't.
I've got to look at it becauseI don't even know you got a
resurrection now, becauseeverybody knows dixie but nobody
really gives a crap about Chrislet's save that Chris Anderson
underscore official and you knowmost of the stuff I post on it.
it doesn't have a lot of stuffon it, but most of the stuff I
(36:16):
post on it is like, oh, apicture of me standing outside
an art center that Dixie's aboutto play.
Because she's the dominantforce in my life, she gets all
the attention.
But, yeah, you can find dixie,longgate and on any of the
social platforms I'm not on.
Interestingly, I'm not ontiktok yet.
A lot of people have been like,oh, go on tiktok, doing tiktok.
There is a lot of my content ontiktok but none of it is but
(36:37):
I've released.
People have like, tagged it andand stuff from other platforms.
But and you know I'm I'm hopingthat I will probably invest some
time into creating a TikTokplatform.
If it stays, I mean, nobodyknows what the hell is going to
happen with it, because everyother day there's another.
It might be going away, itmight be coming, yeah.
So, but you know, you neverknow.
I'm on all the old ladyplatforms Facebook, instagram
(37:01):
and a little bit of the Blue Skyaccount.
I don't use X that much becauseit's just become too divisive,
so you know, but I'm on air.
Speaker 6 (37:10):
Well, chris, it was a pleasure to have you, and Dixie
, it was a pleasure to have youas well.
I am so thrilled.
Thank you both for being here.
Speaker 7 (37:17):
Thank you so much.
You are very kind, I appreciatethat.
Speaker 1 (37:21):
This is KPFT 90.1 FM Houston, 89.5 FM Galveston, 91.9
FM Huntsville, and worldwide onthe internet at kpftorg.
Speaker 5 (37:37):
This is Deborah Moncrief-Bell, and today I'm in
conversation with an old friendand a wonderful activist, judy
Reeves.
Judy's been active in the queercommunity for many years.
One of her most recentactivities that's taken a great
deal of her time is the GulfCoast Archive and Museum of Gay,
(37:58):
lesbian, bisexual andTransgender History, commonly
referred to as GCAM.
So we're going to go on a tripdown memory lane.
Judy, first of all, how did youget involved?
What was the birth of GCAM?
Speaker 3 (38:14):
Well, it's all Rick Hurt or Rainbow Declan's fault.
He sent a missive to HandNet,which was before all of these,
you know fancy things and hesaid where's the gay museum?
You know we've got the Museumof Fine Arts and everything.
Why don't we have a gay museum?
And Brandon Wolf, who directedHandNet, he said, well, let's
(38:39):
see if we need one.
And so he sent a message out toeveryone on the list and said
we're going to meet at theMontrose Library at three
o'clock on Saturday and if youwant to talk about a museum
possibility, be there.
So 13 of us showed up, alongwith Jim Sears of one institute
(39:00):
Brandon had invited to talk tous about how to start a museum,
and he gave us the four modelsof starting up a museum.
And we decided to stand alone,because the other choices were
in a church which we have a hugeatheist community here in a bar
(39:21):
and we wanted to educate thechildren, so we couldn't do that
.
Or with a university, and someof us have had a bad taste in
our mouth from the universitycollecting memorabilia for
individuals.
So we decided to stand aloneand that's exactly what we did
for 25 years.
Speaker 5 (39:39):
What was the first step that you took?
Speaker 3 (39:43):
Well, the first step was to find out how much
interest there was in a museumand we just kind of put feelers
out and we started putting thepapers together for a 501c3.
And Bill O'Rourke Fancy PaceLawrence in Reeses, threw a
(40:04):
fundraiser for us at the pianobar.
So we made the $500 so we couldput in our application for a
501c3.
We elected a slate of officersfrom the 13 of us that were
there and we started meeting andthe first collection we took in
was about six weeks later,because we moved into Bruce and
(40:28):
I had a warehouse on CapitolStreet.
So we moved into that warehouse.
Speaker 5 (40:33):
Bruce Reeves yeah.
Speaker 3 (40:35):
Yeah, yeah.
And so it was a 3,600 squarefoot warehouse, so we figured we
could donate, you know, 300 or400 square feet for the
collections and meetings andsuch.
We quickly learned that thatwasn't enough space, but we had
(40:57):
built in the walls and set it upfor a display.
And we opened our first exhibitthere on Capitol Street Pride
Week of 2000.
That was the beginning.
The first collection we took inwas 56 boxes and I couldn't
(41:23):
believe that somebody had 56boxes in their one bedroom condo
and they had lived with themfor 12 years because the boxes
all had his lover who had diedfrom AIDS complications, stuff,
stuff, in it and he couldn'tpart with them.
So he talked to me and he saidcan I bring you some things?
And I went sure, and three Jeeploads later he had it all there
(41:45):
and he said I've been walkingaround this for 12 years now and
I have a place to put it whereI know it's safe, and so now I
can get on with living.
And that's when it hit mereally hard.
And I got really involved withGCAM at that point because I
knew we weren't going to be somuch a museum as a collection
point for the deceased, so theliving could get back to living.
(42:09):
And that's a lot of what wetook in the first couple of
years.
Speaker 5 (42:14):
What was your initial interest in doing this work?
Why did you think it wasimportant?
Speaker 3 (42:20):
My community has always been very important to me
and my stepdad had supported mein it and I was very surprised
at that.
So he had a gun collection.
He had Indian relics andpre-Civil War firearms and a lot
of Indian relics and I wasraised in a house full of
(42:44):
history and he had a keenunderstanding of the Civil War
and of the war between theIndians and the states and so on
and so forth and I just caughton to it.
So I realized that this was asimportant as any Indian relic in
my house.
So I wanted to support thisbecause we had lost so many
(43:07):
people to AIDS and a lot of themin our community were leather
people specifically not justleather people, but I was more
prone to be around that we losta whole generation.
I was doing as much dumpsterdiving of course I was much
younger then.
I was doing as much dumpsterdiving as I was shopping in
(43:29):
stores for anything I.
It was ridiculous.
The family would move in andthrow everything away because it
was not only painted from AIDSbut it was painted because their
relative was queer and nobodyknew it and they didn't want the
rest of the family to know it.
We did dumpster dives.
Every time we got a phone calland I realized how much was
(43:50):
being lost just in thosedumpster dives.
Even the voice threw all theirpictures away after they
appeared in the magazine.
So we started saving them orthe newspapers, but they threw
all their photographs in them inthe dumpsters.
I couldn't figure out why.
I mean, yes, it was in thepaper, but it's still a living
(44:11):
artifact.
I don't know, I just developeda passion for it.
My stepdad gave his collectionto the University of Texas
because he was an alumnus there.
He's a football player.
I went to see it several yearslater and I found a pile of rust
in the basement.
Somewhere they just let it goto a seed, and I just couldn't
stand that.
Where they just let it go to aseed, and I just couldn't.
I couldn't stand that.
Speaker 5 (44:33):
The importance of preserving history is so that
years later, people know whathas occurred.
And, as we are currently havingpeople erased from the internet
or access to information, Imean they're even wanting to
(44:55):
tell medical journals what theycan and can't print.
I really appreciate yourattitude towards honoring those
people that have passed and topreserve these collections.
I know you also had a ratherextensive drag collection had a
(45:16):
rather extensive drag collection.
Speaker 3 (45:16):
Oh yes, and a lot of the older drag queens.
The further back you go you'llfind out that they were
connected to the leathercommunity and, infected or not,
they weren't dying out soquickly and they decided to put
on a dress and sing a song for adollar.
And those dollars didn't go toother charities as it does today
.
Those dollars went to pay rentor buy medicine or even food for
(45:39):
those who were afflicted withAIDS at that point in time.
So our drag queens became veryimportant to us.
We had different people, say,at Mary's would sit on a bar
stool and jump on the stage whenthe song was playing and sing a
song for dollars, for a drink,and I think that's kind of where
the idea was born.
(46:00):
So yes, we have a veryextensive collection of drags
and we are keeping it.
I want everybody to know thatthis change in GCAM is not to
narrow down any of thecollections that we've had for
the last 25 years, but to focusmore, to bring it into a scope
(46:24):
of primarily leather collections.
Speaker 5 (46:27):
GCAM celebrated its 25th year last October.
This change in the organizationdeveloped, which was for it to
become the heart of LeatherAssociation.
You're going to maintain thecollection that you have.
You're not going to beaccepting new collections that
(46:50):
are not leather community newcollections that are not leather
community.
Speaker 3 (46:57):
They're not leather related, but I will assist.
If someone has a collectionthat they need to get rid of, I
will assist them in finding theproper place for it.
We won't be taking it inourselves.
I'm sure there's probably anemergency down the road
somewhere where we'll have tohave to take it temporarily, but
we won't be actually taking incollections.
And you have to remember now orknow that when I say leather it
(47:19):
doesn't mean someone who'srunning around in cowhide, it
means leather related.
We have a lot of communityorganizations that are leather
related and the drag queens area part of that.
I mean a lot of your dragqueens.
Lady Victoria Lust was thefirst and only real drag queen
(47:40):
of that era raised over amillion dollars for AIDS, but
she was clearly a member of allthe leather organizations in
town.
So we have a display case ofprimarily her of all the leather
organizations in town.
So we have a display case ofprimarily all of her stuff.
It was presented to us by DonGill and the crew of Olympus
built the waterproof, airproof,dustproof case for it and it's a
(48:04):
beautiful display.
But she was one of the dragqueens from leather.
Speaker 5 (48:10):
And of course Lady Victoria Luss was the drag name
for Dear Marvin Davis, a veryprecious person who's deeply
missed.
The museum didn't really havean ongoing space.
A lot of times things had tojust be stored.
You would always bring outthings during Pride Month at the
(48:33):
festival.
There'd be a display.
Speaker 3 (48:35):
We're members of the Texas Association of Museums,
which is attached to theAmerican Association of.
Museums and we have been deemedthe first pop-up museum in Texas
and possibly, according to theAmerican Association of Museums,
possibly the first in theentire United States who had the
title of pop-up museums or havepop-up exhibits.
(48:58):
Now everybody claims to have apop-up exhibit, so that's great
and I learned fairly early onthat I didn't really need a big
building that I could pay taxeson and keep up the renovations
on, etc.
To save this stuff or to showthis stuff off whenever possible
(49:20):
.
It's a lot easier just to pullit out of storage and take it
someplace temporarily, eitherfor the day or for.
We had an exhibit over at theHealth Museum for over a year.
So we go different places fordifferent reasons and we always
make sure our stuff is safe, butit's a lot easier to pull it
out of storage than it is topull it out of storage.
(49:42):
I mean, it's the samedifference.
There's no museum has any roomfor every single item they have.
We have over 35,000 items.
No, we never had a building andwe didn't really want a
building after a while.
We have over 35,000 items.
No, we never had a building andwe didn't really want a
building.
After a while we learned theins and outs of pop-up exhibits
a lot better from TexasAssociation of Museums.
Speaker 5 (50:04):
Lloyd Powell is coordinating the transformation
and we will invite him on in thenear future to talk more about
Heart of Leather.
But let us go back a little bit.
Another thing that Judy hasdone for many years was part of
KPFT and doing radio, first withthe show After Hours, and then
(50:25):
it morphed into Facets.
How did you get involved withAfter Hours?
Speaker 3 (50:32):
Shortly after After Hours started.
I was involved with the NamesProject in 1987 and 88.
And it was getting ready tomake its inaugural tour of the
US and Brian Kiever got Houstonput on the list of places to
stop.
So I was volunteer coordinatorfor that on the board.
(50:54):
Buddy invited me onto the showto talk about it because I
needed as many volunteers as Icould get and it just stuck.
I mean, I found a home when Iwalked into that radio station
and was interviewed by Buddy andI never left.
Buddy was the instigator ofAfter Hours.
He talked to the station andthey decided to give him a try
(51:15):
for a month and it lasted 30years.
Buddy wasn't there all thattime.
He moved to California butJimmy Carper came on very early
in and I came on very early inand Bruce even came in for a
little while.
So when Buddy left, jimmy andBruce took over the helm of it
and we all kind of stuck with itand Bruce left eventually.
(51:39):
I think after a year or twoOther people came in.
Chris Harrison came in for awhile and Jimmy lasted almost 27
years of the show until hebecame too ill to even attend
the airing of it.
Actually he was there inJanuary of 2014, just before his
(52:02):
birthday, and that was his lastshow.
Then Chris and Wes and I stayedwith it for another three years
and we shut it down on itsanniversary of 30 years and the
next week I started facets andit was not meant to be.
It was never meant to be whatJimmy and Buddy made that show.
Mine was supposed to be TLBTQIA.
(52:25):
Whatever related information Idid not try to emulate after
hours, because nobody could dowhat Jimmy and Buddy did for
that show.
Speaker 5 (52:36):
What is your fondest memory of Jimmy?
Speaker 3 (52:39):
When Stanley, his lover, passed, jimmy inherited a
very old house in the museumdistrict and he walked me
through that house and said nowI want this, this and this.
And what he wanted was a columnput in the living room, in the
entryway, and it was like Jimmy,do you have any idea what
(53:00):
that's going to take?
He says, well, you can do it.
And I took over the care andfeeding of his house and had it
done in less than a year,completely remodeled to suit him
and remodeled the duplex, theupstairs for me.
He kept saying, well, what doyou want?
What do you want?
I said it doesn't matter what Iwant, you're going to live here
.
And he said, no, you are too.
(53:21):
I moved into the upstairs of hisduplex.
I was there almost every dayanyway, giving him personal care
.
It took almost a year and everysingle single afternoon I would
go over to his house, wake himup and we'd go to House of Pies
at our booth in the corner and Iwould tell him everything the
contractors did that day.
And then I'd go by and show himeverything he did that day and
(53:44):
he was just like a kid atChristmas.
Every single day, every singlestep that we made in that house.
He was thrilled with it andthat's one of my fondest
memories of him.
Speaker 5 (53:55):
I understand that Jimmy recorded all the radio
shows, including some QueerVoices episodes, and that those
are now in the archives at theUniversity of Houston.
Speaker 3 (54:09):
Yeah, they still belong to me.
It is not a GCAM acquisition.
They belong to me.
I inherited them and I arrangedwith Emily Vinson over at U of
H.
She applied for a grant fromNEH to record and transcribe all
of these shows, cassettes andso on, because Jimmy and Buddy
(54:32):
would do 15-minute cassettepieces and give them as prizes
for people who donated to duringthe sweeps.
So I had millions of cassettesand we had several reel-to-reels
because if they called apolitician or a sheriff's
department person or even thepolice department, they would
come into the studio and recordfor 30 or 45 minutes and then
(54:56):
Buddy and Jimmy would cut thebest part of that to play on the
radio.
And Buddy kept all of thosereels.
So we had a lot of 12-inch and7-inch and 15-inch reels to be
transcribed to.
It was done at U of H.
She got almost a hundredthousand dollar grant for that
and it took two years to do allof that.
When it was all said and done.
(55:17):
It is on the Heart of LeatherFoundation's website under GCAM.
You can access them and you canresearch them as much as you
want.
You cannot download therecordings.
You can only download thetranscripts.
I didn't want people to be ableto download the recordings so
that they could mess with them.
(55:39):
I didn't want them toying withour words because we even called
the White House one night.
Buddy and Jimmy got to talkingabout the White House and they
called the White House andactually got the secretary on
the radio and she wanted to knowwhy he wanted to talk to
President Reagan Because he wasasleep.
And he says it's one o'clock inthe morning.
(56:00):
He said I don't care, I'm onthe radio and I have a question
for him.
And she asked what the questionwas.
He says I want to know why hecan't say the word aid.
And she was mystified byeverything.
Speaker 5 (56:11):
This is Deborah Moncrief Bell.
I've been talking with JudyReeves, longtime activist and
dear friend.
Thank you, Judy.
Speaker 3 (56:19):
With a bad memory.
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (56:29):
This has been Queer Voices, heard on KPFT Houston
and as a podcast available fromseveral podcasting sources.
Check our webpageQueerVoicesorg for more
information.
Queer Voices executive produceris Brian Levinka, deborah
Moncrief-Bell is co-producer,brett Cullum and David
(56:54):
Mendoza-Druzman are contributors.
The News Wrap segment is partof another podcast called this
Way Out, which is produced inLos Angeles.
Speaker 8 (57:04):
Some of the material in this program has been edited
to improve clarity and runtime.
This program does not endorseany political views or animal
species.
Views, opinions andendorsements are those of the
participants and theorganizations they represent.
In case of death, pleasediscontinue use and discard
remaining product.
Speaker 1 (57:16):
For Queer Voices.
I'm Glenn Holt, Thank you.
Hello everybody, this is Queer Voices, a podcast
version of a broadcast radioshow that's been on the air in
Houston, texas, for severaldecades.
This week, brian Levinka talksto the executive director of
Tony's Place, which offers dayservices to LGBTQ youth who are
(00:21):
not housed.
Some private foundations havecut funding this year because of
the current political climate.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
We are concerned about reduced funding.
We have heard from some privatefoundations that have actually
decided and they have notifiedus that they will not be giving
to us this year because theycannot be seen giving to an
LGBTQ organization.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
Brett Cullum talks with Dixie Longate, who has
appeared in Dixie's TupperwareParty at Stages Houston.
Dixie Longate is the alter egoof actor and dancer Chris
Anderson, of actor and dancerChris Anderson and Debra
Moncrief-Bell.
Has a conversation with JudyReeves about her legacy of the
Gulf Coast Archives and Museum.
(01:12):
Queer Radio and Jimmy Carper.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
I want everybody to know that this change in GCAM is
not to narrow down any of thecollections that we've had for
the last 25 years, but to focusmore, to bring it into a scope
of primarily leather collections.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
Queer Voices starts now.
Speaker 4 (01:40):
This is Brian Levinka , and I have the honor of
interviewing one of my favoritepeople, Carrie Ray, the
executive director of Tony'sPlace.
Welcome to the show, Keri.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
Hi, thank you, Brian.
Speaker 4 (01:50):
What is Tony's Place and how did you get involved?
Speaker 2 (01:54):
Tony's Place.
Our mission is to support andempower LGBTQ youth between the
ages of 14 and 25 in the Houstonarea.
We actually have a resourcecenter and a drop-in center in
the heart of the Montrose areawhere we offer many different
services, including the heart ofour area, which is the drop-in
(02:14):
services, where people and youthcan get access to showers, a
hot meal, clothing, hygieneproducts.
They can do their laundry.
But we also offer one-on-onecase management support and that
looks like helping youth definewhat goals they want to achieve
(02:35):
in life, helping walking themthrough achieving those goals,
helping them be successful.
And in the past year, we haveexpanded to after school
programs.
We offer an art group.
We offer a book club.
We are just thriving.
Over the past year, we haveopened up five days a week in
(02:56):
January, so our services areopen Monday through Friday and
youth have been coming in everyday and more and more youth are
coming in.
So that's a little bit aboutTony's Place.
I became the executive directorin August of 2023.
I was the first executivedirector.
(03:18):
Tony's Place was founded in2015.
They opened their doors in 2016, after the untimely death of
Tony Carroll, who was thefounder and brainchild of Tony's
Place, and in 2023, like I said, I became the first executive
director.
There was myself and one otherstaff member, and now we have
(03:43):
grown to seven staff.
We are open five days a weekwith seven staff and we're
thriving.
Speaker 4 (03:50):
So how did you end up with Tony's Place in Houston?
Speaker 2 (03:54):
I am a proud Canadian .
I actually became a dualcitizen last year.
I moved from Canada in 2015.
I moved from Canada in 2015.
I immigrated down here with anex-partner.
They worked in oil and gas andI'm a social worker.
We divorced and I fell in lovewith another person who's also a
(04:17):
social worker, and they arefrom the San Antonio area but
works in Houston, and I'vedecided I want to stay in
Houston and you know I've alwayswanted to lead a small
nonprofit and I realized I waspansexual and from the LGBTQ
(04:40):
community.
I am married to a trans man whoI love to death.
I think just the timing wasperfect.
So there was this position withTony's Place.
I was looking for a newopportunity.
I have found my dream job atTony's Place.
I get to serve my community, Iget to do the job that I've
(05:02):
always wanted to do and I don'tfeel like I'm going to work
every day.
I feel like I get up and get tolive my dream life.
Speaker 4 (05:10):
What is your greatest accomplishment at Tony's Place
In?
Speaker 2 (05:12):
2022, our operating budget was about $168,000.
This year, our operating budgetfor 2025 has grown to $750,000.
So that is tremendous growthover the last three, four years.
(05:33):
And the reason being is lastyear we secured our very first
government grant through HarrisCounty.
So we actually got two grantsin 2024 that are helping us be
open five days a week, which isvery important.
Our drop-in services were onlythree days a week.
(05:56):
Now that we are open five days aweek, we're actually seeing
more clients come in and they'recoming in more often.
Now that we're consistentlyopen, it's hard for someone to
remember when you're open.
When we were only open Tuesday,wednesday and Friday, but now
we're Monday through Friday.
The youth remember when we'reopen and they come in.
(06:20):
So I'm going to tell you, sharea little bit of statistics.
So last March March 2024, wehad clients come in 151 times in
that month.
In March 2025, we had clientscome in 429 times.
(06:40):
That's just crazy amount ofgrowth.
And then people are going toask how many clients?
So last year at this time wehad 33 clients individual
clients that were coming in.
This year we have 66 clientsindividual clients that came in
in the month of March.
(07:01):
In 2024, we had about 200clients that came through our
doors and we served almost 2,000meals.
This year we're planning toserve well over 3,000 meals.
Speaker 4 (07:15):
I'm part of an organization called EPA, the
Executive ProfessionalAssociation of Houston, and we
held a fundraiser for Tony'sPlace I think it was last year
for renovations.
Can you talk about therenovations that you're planning
or have already done?
I don't know if you've donethem yet.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
I want to first off, thank EPA for choosing us as
their beneficiary and then,second, thank EPA for the great
amount of funds that EPA raised.
So EPA raised $50,000 forTony's Place to help us with our
building renovations.
There's two parts to therenovations One to help us
(07:51):
replace the flooring in ourupstairs part of the building.
That part of the building thefloors were carpet and had not
been replaced in about 20, 30years.
So we have actually replacedthe floors now and that space is
usable.
We were using it as storage butbecause we've expanded staff,
we have needed the office space.
(08:11):
So those floors went in rightafter the fundraiser in the fall
.
So we have those new floors.
And the second part of theexpenses for the funds that we
raised were to renovate ourbathrooms.
So one of the number oneservices that clients come in,
particularly in the summer, areto access our shower.
(08:34):
Right now we currently onlyhave one shower in the building
and this means that our youthcan only shower for about 10
minutes and then they need toget out quickly.
So with the funds raised byEPPA this year, we will be
renovating our bathrooms to addtwo more showers into our
building.
So we will have three showers,which means more youth can
(08:54):
shower in a single day, which isamazing, so that they can feel
clean, feel good aboutthemselves, we don't have to
rush them out of the shower andthey can really live with
dignity.
Speaker 4 (09:07):
Just to be clear, these services are for unhoused
youth, lgbt youth right.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
The majority of the clients that come in during our
day service are either unhousedor unstably housed.
However, our services are forall LGBTQ youth, so we do have
after-school programming foryouth that are in school.
We try to tailor our servicesfor everybody, but those
(09:35):
services during the day, likethe showers, are mainly used by
LGBTQ youth who do not have aplace to shower.
Speaker 4 (09:44):
Talk about issues you may see coming from the
government, from legislature,and what you may be preparing
for.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
We are concerned about reduced funding.
We have heard from some privatefoundations that have actually
decided and they have notifiedus that they will not be giving
to us this year because theycannot be seen giving to an
LGBTQ organization.
(10:11):
So this will impactorganizations, including us,
financially.
We do have to seek out fundselsewhere to make up for that
difference, so we will beturning to other foundations,
other companies, individuals whocan give to help us sustain our
operations.
People may not want to beassociated with giving to
(10:36):
certain organizations because offear that their funding will be
cut off, like we've seen withHarvard, we've seen with Health
and Human Services.
Funds are being stopped at thistime.
Speaker 4 (10:50):
I understand that you have a new board chair.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
Thanks to our long-standing board chair, al
Amato.
He has been with Tony's Placefrom the beginning.
He was part of forming theorganization.
He has been a great board chair, helping guide the organization
(11:13):
through COVID, helping to makesure that it is sustained, and
now that his time is up, he'sbeen with the organization for
about 10 years.
So he is now moving on tobigger and better things and we
have brought in Stephen Parks.
He has been with Tony's Placefor almost two years now.
(11:36):
He has his own private practiceas a therapist and he also
works for the University ofHouston as a professor, and he
also works for the University ofHouston as a professor.
So we are so thrilled to havehim lead the charge with Tony's
Place.
Speaker 4 (11:51):
Do you have any events coming up?
Speaker 2 (11:53):
We have a drag show and lip syncing Beneficiary May
2nd.
All of our events upcomingevents can be found at
tonysplaceorg.
Speaker 4 (12:06):
All nonprofits need volunteers.
Tell us what you need and howcan the community help you.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
Tony's Place has many volunteer opportunities.
We actually rely on ourvolunteers to cook our meals,
serve our meals, help in ourclothing store, serve our meals,
help in our clothing store.
We are just a small but mightyorganization but we rely on
those volunteers.
So if you are interested inhelping greet clients, check
(12:35):
their bags, helping them sign upfor laundry, helping sort
through donations, help cookmeals, you can go to our website
at tonysplaceorg.
In the top right-hand cornerthere is a button that says
volunteer.
You can click on that and it'llguide you through how to sign
up to be a volunteer and takeour volunteer orientation.
Speaker 4 (12:59):
Is there anything that I didn't ask that you would
like to let our listeners knowabout?
Speaker 2 (13:03):
I'd like to talk about our Craft your Pride
program.
We started this program lastyear and it is a way to bring
youth to the table.
A lot of people don't ever wantto attend a support group, so
we didn't want to call this asupport group, so we called it
an art group.
Tony's Place provides all theart supplies.
(13:26):
We have staff case managers onhand to be there in case tough
conversations come up.
But this is really a placewhere youth can sit down, be
creative.
We have had many differentmediums of art.
We've created vision boards,We've used clay, canvas and we
have the art all over ourbuilding.
(13:46):
And what's happened recently iswe have partnered with a queer
art studio called FeistyCollective.
They sell different artistcrafts and we have held a queer
art show there.
We've held two so far, and thisis where Tony's Place clients
(14:07):
can actually sell their art thatthey've created at our center.
We've worked with clients toensure that they have a bank
account and that they can selltheir art and receive the money
directly themselves.
So this program has turned innot just a therapeutic support
(14:27):
group, but it's also turned intoan opportunity for economic
advancement.
So we've had these two artshows and every time each of our
artists have sold at least onepiece of art, and we are going
to be having another art showcome up in June and then July as
well.
Speaker 4 (14:47):
We've been speaking with the fabulous Carrie Ray,
the executive director of Tony'sPlace here in Houston.
Carrie, keep up the good workand thanks for coming on the
show.
Speaker 3 (14:57):
This is Avery Bellew.
My pronouns are she and her,and I am the CEO of the Montreux
Center, houston's LGBTQ pluscenter.
Speaker 5 (15:05):
And you are listening to Queer Voices, an integral
part of Houston's LGBTQ pluscommunity.
Speaker 6 (15:11):
Dixie Longgate has been selling Tupperware in her
theatrical party since 2007.
This has become a sensation and, believe it or not, you can
actually order Tupperware atthis theater show.
She actually sells this stuff.
It's hilarious, and all of itis the genius move of Chris
Anderson, who had a film and adrag career even before this
(15:32):
madness started.
Now Dixie is going to be atstages for a two-week run.
Tickets are already sellingfast about as fast as plastic
containers, to be honest.
So welcome to Queer Voices,chris, or rather Dixie, both of
you at once.
What?
I will flip back and forthbetween both voices.
This is a shock, because I'veonly heard Dixie, so Chris's
(15:55):
voice is very different.
That's amazing, Chris.
How are you.
I am so good.
What an honor to have you.
I am just amazed because I'veheard about this for years.
I mean, everybody always talksabout this show and how
wonderful it is.
Please tell me how all of thisgot started with this Tupperware
party.
Speaker 7 (16:14):
It was interesting.
I went to a Tupperware partyyears ago in 2001 with a couple
of friends of mine and a friendof mine said oh my God, the
woman that was doing the partywas trying to basically recruit
everybody at the party and afriend of mine that was there
said oh, you should do it, you'dbe great, you'd do it in
character, that would be sofunny.
(16:35):
And he kind of dared me to doit in drag and so I created this
character, this kind ofSouthern housewife from the
wrong side of the tracks, andjust did a couple Tupperware
parties.
And it caught on and more andmore people were inviting me to
do parties and I was going upthe ranks of the Tupperware
Corporation as a consultant andselling more and more Tupperware
(16:55):
.
And it was interesting, I wouldgo to these.
I was living in LA at the timeand I would do a lot of my
parties in Orange County, whichis just south of LA, and
obviously, famously, the OrangeCounty housewives dominate that
area.
This is before that TV show wason, but the same women were
there, you know, and I would goto the parties and they would be
(17:16):
fascinated with me.
They would always ask me, youknow, oh, tell me about you.
And I'm, you know, in fullcharacter.
I'm setting up my Tupperwaretable before the party.
And I would say, oh, I'm Dixie,and you know, this is my, you
know, I'm from Alabama and I'vebeen doing this.
And then I'd turn it on themand I'd say, well, tell me about
you.
And they would say, oh well,you know, my husband does this.
And I'd say, okay, well then,tell me about you.
(17:37):
And they'd in ballet.
And I kept noticing how thesewomen would talk around
themselves.
You know, their identity wascompletely linked to other
people.
And so when I I I told a friendof mine who's a director in New
York, oh, I'm doing this thingnow, I'm doing these Tupperware
parties.
And he's the one who said, oh,this should be a show, you need
(17:59):
to turn this into something.
And so I kind of wrote it as alove letter to the unsung women
that don't see their ownstrength, and I put it together.
We took it to New York as partof the New York International
Fringe Festival back in 2004.
And that was seen by a numberof people.
That kind of had some influence.
(18:19):
They moved it up the food chainand I ended up having an
off-Broadway developmental runin 2007, which led to the tour,
and it was a very different showat that time because there were
a lot of hands on that showwhen it went into New York and
so it wasn't exactly the show Iwanted to do.
And so when the tour wasalready connected to it, but the
(18:40):
tour was going to end up beingtoo expensive the way they
wanted to do it, so I kind ofrewrote it and stripped it all
down to what it needed to be,which is a love letter to women,
and so that's how it ended upgoing on the road in 2008.
And the booker at the timethought we'd maybe get a year
out of it, at most maybe 18months.
And 17 years later, the show isstill going, and this is my
(19:05):
final year.
I'm wrapping everything up inthe fall.
So, as far as the road isconcerned, I'm wrapping up.
I've got bigger designs pastthat, but that's how it all came
to be, and so it's a funopportunity to go.
People kind of underestimatewhat the show is.
They think it's going to be asilly little show about a
tupperware party, and it ends uphaving this message about
(19:27):
resilience and finding your owncourage and your own strength
and lifting yourself up andpeople are always kind of sucker
punched by that and it inspirespeople to walk away from the
show, kind of valuing themselvesa little bit more.
Speaker 6 (19:43):
Wow, I mean that's a lot.
Speaker 7 (19:45):
That's amazing.
Speaker 4 (19:47):
I'm not good at one-word answers.
Speaker 6 (19:48):
No, that's amazing, though, but okay, and if you
want to, you can answer this asDixie.
I would just like to know whois Dixie.
Where did you come from, dixie?
Speaker 7 (19:59):
She is.
Well, listen, I have had acouple of run-ins, I've been
married three times.
I have three kids that I knowof, you know, and yeah, you know
I start.
I was doing things I neverthought I would be a tough word
lady.
I was doing things thatnormally weren't.
You know, panning out fromwhere I was from.
And you know my mama said I'mnot pretty enough to work at
(20:19):
this strip club, but I was bendyenough and so, but I would come
from a place they didn't throwdollars, they'd throw quarters,
and I didn't want to go throughmy 20s getting these little
bruises all over me.
So I said, no, I'm going to dosomething better.
And I was on part of theconditions of my parole, my
parole officer.
When I got out one time shesaid you know, you need a job in
order to get your kids back.
And I was like who wants that?
(20:40):
That's no, you know, be changedobviously.
And so I started.
She's the one who suggested Istart selling Tupperware and I
did it and I became top sellingTupperware lady in the entire
United States and Canada, whichis so crazy.
But I would go to theseJubilees, the big Tupperware
convention, and that's reallywhat got inspiring to me,
because I would watch all thesewomen get celebrated for what
(21:02):
they were doing you know,selling Tupperware and having
their own business and I waslike, oh, I want to be like that
.
I want to get up on stage andbe recognized like all these
other great ladies are being,and so that's what really got me
going in the whole Tupperwarething and to be able to go into
people's homes and share somequality, creative food storage
solutions with them and be ableto laugh and drink.
This is the bottom line.
(21:23):
I get to drink for free at workand that's really why you do
any job.
If you don't get to do that,you need to really reconsider
what you're doing for a living.
Speaker 6 (21:31):
You're doing something wrong if you can't
drink at your job.
Yeah, I know.
Speaker 7 (21:33):
I mean, that's the thing I was like when I went to
my first party.
The host said would you like acocktail?
I said oh no, I'm working.
She's like, but it's a partynow.
Are you like related to rebamcintyre at all, because you
look a lot like reba.
Oh my god, that is the nicestcompliment anyone's ever given
(21:54):
me all the time.
No, I'm not.
I don't.
I'm not related to anybody thatI'm aware of, and so you know,
it's just.
I'm just a southern redhead.
That's what happens, you know.
You get in the south andeverybody's kind of related to
everybody else, whether theyknow it or not, because you, you
know the population down thereis well, we're longing for
something of meaning, and sosometimes mama gets behind the
dumpster and finds something ona Friday night.
(22:16):
You never know what you'regoing to be doing.
You know how it is.
Nine months later, mistakes aremade.
Speaker 6 (22:21):
Always.
Now, okay, you were at Stagesuntil April 20th.
How did you connect with stages?
How did they get dixie longgate?
Speaker 7 (22:31):
well, I have been in houston a couple times before I
had been at the um touchpresented me the first time.
I came through a theater underthe stars at the hobby center
and then I was brought back twodifferent times there.
And then I've also playedgalveston at the opera house
three times and then I think itwas just a mitchell greco, who's
one of the members that runsthe whole thing, reached out and
(22:53):
he said, hey, you're pretty.
And I was like, it's true, Ican't help it because of Jesus
or whatever.
And then he said you won't cometo your program here and I said
I love that.
That would be so fun.
So it was just about peopleknowing me from you know, having
been here before and they werelooking for some fun programming
for their season and they said,well, we'd like to try this,
because we had seen the showover at the Hobby Center and we
(23:14):
really got a giggle and wethought our audiences over here
would enjoy the show a lot.
So they said let's come on in.
So two weeks I'm here and I'mhaving a good time.
I mean, everything in Houstonis fantastic, so fantastic.
So I'm having a good time hereand everybody's so naively.
It's very interesting becausethe their audiences that go to
the performing arts center aresomewhat different than the
audiences that go to stages, andso it's you know where I go to
(23:34):
the performing arts center.
People know me, they're used tobecause I've been there a bunch
, and so I'm sort of having torebuild an audience.
There's a lot of people comingover that have seen me before,
but there's a lot of people thatdon't know my show at all over
the hobby, and so, yeah, sorry,at the stages, and so it's kind
of like building the reputationfrom scratch, which is always an
interesting thing starting over, you know.
Speaker 6 (23:57):
Now the scuttlebutt on this one is this is the last
tour for Dixie in thisTupperware party, and why?
Why end a good thing?
I mean you got to go, and whyis this the?
Speaker 7 (24:08):
last.
You know I've been on the road17 years.
We never thought that.
You know me and my team neverthought it would be this long,
and save for COVID, when I wasoff the road for a little bit
because everything was shut down.
I've been hoofing it for a longtime and I figured, you know
what, it's time to kind of windthe tour down on the road.
And we're looking at taking theshow to New York in the fall
and sitting it down off Broadwayand doing a long run there.
(24:29):
So that's gonna, you know, takeme off the road.
But I said, you know, I'm likeI'm not going nowhere, I'm just
going around.
But I thought, you know, I wantto kind of wrap it up and start
, you know, in where I started,but be able to take the show
that I've been doing on the roadfor the last 17 years.
It's really kind of inspired meand inspired so many audience
members.
I want to take that and put itdown in New York and do it that
(24:52):
way to kind of book in the wholething.
So that's where I'm going.
But yeah, it's.
You know I love being on theroad, but I think it's just time
, you know, every, every chapterof your life ends and a new one
begins, and I think it's timeto write a new story.
Speaker 6 (25:05):
Let's get serious here for just a second.
So Kennedy Center you performedthere, right?
Speaker 7 (25:14):
I did.
I was very, very grateful.
They invited me to do a monthof shows last summer and it was
great.
I mean it was to be able toperform at such a legendary
venue and to be able to I meanit was an honor.
It was an honor to step foot inthose hallowed halls and be
amongst the performers that havegotten to be there.
Speaker 6 (25:34):
Now you're not invited back, are you?
Speaker 7 (25:37):
Well, I don't know.
If you're aware there's alittle bit of a scuttlebutt.
Yes, there is.
The president has decided thathe wants a very specific program
, and of which I am not countingmyself among, because they have
decided that he wants a veryspecific program and of which I
am not counting myself amongbecause they have decided that
they are going to curate exactlywhat he wants to see and not
what the patrons want to see,necessarily, or what people are
(25:57):
used to.
I mean, the thing about artcenters is it's going to be
diverse program and noteverybody's going to like
everything that's in there.
You're going to have opera andballet and you're going to have
poetry jams and you going tohave musicals and plays, and not
everything is going to be yourcup of tea.
But the whole point of it isit's because everybody has
different artistic visions andan art center should be able to
(26:19):
share all kinds of differentpoints of views and perspective,
and the president doesn't seemto think that that's a good idea
.
Speaker 6 (26:26):
I think that this is iconic.
Seriously, it is the biggestreason that I want to come see
you on this run and stages tosupport you, because this is
just amazing that they're tryingto even target this kind of
production or anything like that.
Speaker 7 (26:41):
Yeah, I mean it was very interesting to kind of be
called out basically personallyby the president why we can't
have.
I had done my show there and itwas in the fam the name of the
theater.
There are six theaters in thebuilding and the name of the
theater that I performed in wascalled the family theater.
And that's what he, you knowhe's like, oh, the family.
You know we don't want dragshows for families and I was
(27:03):
like, well, that's not what washappening.
It was a family theater, it wasmy show and it's a show about
empowerment and it's also a showyou never bothered to step foot
into the theater to see.
So I don't know what you'retalking from, but it's again,
you know, it's an inspiring,empowering show and makes people
feel good and makes peoplegiggle, and so I'm not sure
what's wrong with that.
But that is, you know, I'm notable to, not able to fight, pass
(27:26):
that thing, so that I'm notgoing to be about it.
But you know what I'm gratefulto have been there.
The people that brought me inare sticking to the guns and
saying thank you so much forbeing part of our programming
and our legacy, and I'm veryhappy about that.
Speaker 6 (27:38):
Well, I'm happy that you're going to be at Stages 3
April 20th, because that givesus a chance to see you here.
I don't have to travel all theway to DC, and see you in some
family theater and the Guinnessis in her.
It was funny.
Speaker 7 (27:47):
Actually, I was doing the show last night and
somebody came out after the showand said I got to see you in DC
and that's why I came, becauseit was a lady that lives here.
But she's like, I was in DCtraveling for work and the show
popped up there and I said nightbecause I mean you're neck of
the woods.
Speaker 6 (28:07):
You know I have to ask because I don't have a lot
of it, but if you have to buyone item of Tupperware, what do
I need?
Speaker 7 (28:15):
You know it's all dependent on who you are and
what you do.
See my tumblers, you'll see, atthe program I have tumblers
that are with me all the timeand they have a seal that you
stick a straw in.
And so if you're drinking anddriving and you hit a baby or
whatever, you're not gonna spillyour drink because the lid on
it is gonna keep anything fromspilling, which is so nice, and
(28:35):
you can drink right through thelid, which is great.
That's something I couldn't bewithout.
I mean, and I put, like youknow, my morning vodka right on
the bedside table and then withthat and then so if the cat on
it, it's not going to get hairin it and it's not going to
spill over.
There's that.
There's my wine opener.
Like you'd be amazed whattupperware has.
Everybody thinks it's justplastic bowls, but there's so
much different stuff.
(28:55):
I have a wine opener that Ilove because I take it with me
in my glove box when I'm drivingplaces and get thirsty and
parched.
There is a jello shot containerthat I take my jello shots to
church to serve Jesus andeverything.
There's so many good thingsthat you're going to see the
program and you're going to belike I didn't even believe they
had all this stuff that I didn'tknow.
Speaker 6 (29:15):
Alright, I'm there and I'm ordering.
Finally, I want to ask Dixiewhat do you think of Oreo
flavored Coke?
Speaker 7 (29:23):
Oh, my God, did you see that?
People that know me they knowthat I love Oreos and I have all
kinds of videos up on my socialmedia about different Oreos.
Because Oreos have been goingthrough this thing in the last
couple of years where they'vebeen making all these different
flavors and they had this weirdcross-branding thing with Coke
where they did Coke-flavoredOreos and Oreo-flavored Coke and
the Coke-flavored Oreos.
(29:44):
The smell is a bit overwhelmingwhen you open up the package at
first, but they actually tastepretty decent, but the
Oreo-flavored Coke is anabomination.
They should be shamingthemselves.
They should sit in the cornerand cry until they know what
they did and what they unleashedon the rest of the world and
they need to understand and takethat accountability forward.
Because it is a flavor in yourmouth.
(30:05):
I had a bottle of it.
Let me explain to you.
It took me about four days toget through a single like 12
ounces, I think, because it theflavor is.
I've had things in my mouthbefore and this is not one that
I would repeat, you know, and Ikept it for so long because I
kept thinking that, well, maybeif I tried a different way it'll
be okay.
Maybe if I tried in the morning.
Maybe I tried it after I'vealready been drinking.
(30:26):
Maybe, if I try it, you knowwhen it's flat it will be.
But no, no, it never improved.
It just got worse.
It just made the baby jesus cryand it's already so moody.
You know you don't want to doanything to make it worse.
So, yeah, it was, it was.
Speaker 6 (30:40):
It's something, yeah you know, I I have to confirm.
I tried it, it was foul, it wasreally bad.
Speaker 7 (30:47):
and you've got to, you've got to wonder, because
you know, companies this big doall kinds of taste tests.
And I want to sequester thepeople in the room that said, oh
, this is a good idea, and thatdid that taste test and said
this is the version you need toput on the market, and I want to
smack them upside the head sohard.
Oh my Lord, what's wrong withpeople?
They were like, oh yeah,that'll be okay, you know, put
that out.
Oh no, no, what's wrong withpeople?
Speaker 6 (31:08):
Well, what is a good idea is to go see Dixie's
Tupperware Party at Stagesthrough April 20th, I believe.
April 20th yeah, Two weeks, twowhole weeks, lots of shows.
I even saw there's some onTuesday, wednesday, thursday.
I mean they're filling it.
Speaker 7 (31:22):
Every day of the week .
We have Mondays Monday off butwe have every day of the week
and we've got matinee onSaturday and a matinee on
Thursday, which is sointeresting.
Speaker 6 (31:31):
You're doing matinees on Thursdays.
Speaker 7 (31:32):
Yeah, yeah, so sometimes and Thursday obviously
is very interesting, so it'sgoing to be like a luck of the
draw, you know, because theywanted to be able to give people
as many opportunities to beable to see the show as possible
.
Speaker 6 (31:49):
So they're just like like do shows all the time, so
I'm doing a thursday matinee too, okay, according to chris's
imdb page, you have been in someof my favorite movies, like
scream 2, hellbent, which isthis amazing gay horror flick
that everybody needs to see.
No, that's amazing and theiconic.
Of course, Girls Will Be Girlswith all of my favorite drag
queens.
Speaker 3 (32:08):
Oh my God yeah.
Speaker 6 (32:11):
So I'm wondering, you know, when all of this wraps,
if Dixie ever decides that it'stime to go, what's next for you?
Are you going to pursue morefilm Are?
Speaker 5 (32:22):
you going?
Speaker 7 (32:22):
to do shows.
Speaker 6 (32:24):
I see you're a dancer , right.
Speaker 7 (32:25):
Yeah, well, I was back when my body moved that way
.
I'm getting older, so it's alittle hard.
You know, one of the reasons,one of the things I'm looking
forward to about taking the showto New York, is to be with
people.
You know, new York obviouslyhas a lot of theater, a lot of
film and TV, but also has a lotof resources for because I like
to create stuff.
So I mean resources for becauseI like to create stuff.
(32:49):
So I mean I created dixie.
I created all the tours thatI've done.
I mean I've done four differentshows now under the dixie
character.
Three of them live and then oneof them during the pandemic.
I did a show called dixie'shappy hour, which I went into a
small theater near where I livedand filmed it, and then we got
it streaming to 26 different artcenters around the country to
bring income in, and so I I youknow, and I've done all this
stuff as Dixie, but I like tocreate things and I want to be
(33:12):
in a city where I have access tomore people, more resources,
more ability and opportunitiesto create other things.
So I have some things that I'mworking on, for sure that are in
the early stages and mediumstages, and when I get there I'm
hoping to throw, you know,throw out some wide nets and
meet some people and collaborateon some things.
You know, new York is a citythat really inspires me, so I
(33:34):
don't I don't see myself sittingdown for too long and just kind
of being lazy, you know.
So I'll be doing, I'll be doingthe show every night there
while I'm there, but also duringthe day I'll be taking that
time to reach out and and createa wider sandbox with bigger
toys to play with well, I lookforward to seeing whatever comes
(33:54):
next for you, because Dixieobviously just a beloved
character and just you've had anamazing run.
Speaker 6 (34:02):
I really hope that you kind of do what some.
There's another performer thatcomes through stages a lot,
denise Fennell, and she does thesister shows at stages a lot,
but she also comes in as Denisesometimes and she'll do shows
where she's herself and she'lldo ones where she's the sister
and it's amazing to watch herbranch out and create new things
(34:23):
and always kind of spin thingsout.
So it's going to be amazing tosee what's next.
But I don't ever want dixie togo away.
I definitely want her around.
We need someone to push thistupperware right here.
You know, even though I'm gonnabe off the road.
Speaker 7 (34:40):
I'm still gonna be very active on social.
I'll still be doing a lot ofstuff and and you know and
sharing smiles.
That's the one of the thingsthat I'm.
You know, and you talk to anyactor and any actor will say how
grateful they are if they getto do a long run of a show.
But to be a character that Igot to create and that's been
(35:01):
kind of inhabited my body nowfor you know, 23 years, 24 years
, it's great.
It's great.
And the fact that people likeher probably more than they like
me, she's great.
I like her, but I'm verygrateful, I'm very lucky to have
created something that's leftkind of an indelible mark on so
(35:21):
many people's hearts, and so Idon't foresee her leaving
necessarily anytime soon.
She's just going to be off theroad for a while.
Speaker 6 (35:29):
Well, Chris Anderson, where can we find you?
Where can we find DixieLongate's socials?
Speaker 7 (35:34):
Dixie is all over social.
I am very limited socialbecause most of my life I've
been her.
I started this before socialmedia even existed, so it's
actually kind of funny.
So all my social is pretty muchher, except I have a small,
very small instagram handle,chris, and I don't even know
what it is chris andersonofficial, but I don't know, I
(35:55):
don't.
I've got to look at it becauseI don't even know you got a
resurrection now, becauseeverybody knows dixie but nobody
really gives a crap about Chrislet's save that Chris Anderson
underscore official and you knowmost of the stuff I post on it.
it doesn't have a lot of stuffon it, but most of the stuff I
(36:16):
post on it is like, oh, apicture of me standing outside
an art center that Dixie's aboutto play.
Because she's the dominantforce in my life, she gets all
the attention.
But, yeah, you can find dixie,longgate and on any of the
social platforms I'm not on.
Interestingly, I'm not ontiktok yet.
A lot of people have been like,oh, go on tiktok, doing tiktok.
There is a lot of my content ontiktok but none of it is but
(36:37):
I've released.
People have like, tagged it andand stuff from other platforms.
But and you know I'm I'm hopingthat I will probably invest some
time into creating a TikTokplatform.
If it stays, I mean, nobodyknows what the hell is going to
happen with it, because everyother day there's another.
It might be going away, itmight be coming, yeah.
So, but you know, you neverknow.
I'm on all the old ladyplatforms Facebook, instagram
(37:01):
and a little bit of the Blue Skyaccount.
I don't use X that much becauseit's just become too divisive,
so you know, but I'm on air.
Speaker 6 (37:10):
Well, chris, it was a pleasure to have you, and Dixie
, it was a pleasure to have youas well.
I am so thrilled.
Thank you both for being here.
Speaker 7 (37:17):
Thank you so much.
You are very kind, I appreciatethat.
Speaker 1 (37:21):
This is KPFT 90.1 FM Houston, 89.5 FM Galveston, 91.9
FM Huntsville, and worldwide onthe internet at kpftorg.
Speaker 5 (37:37):
This is Deborah Moncrief-Bell, and today I'm in
conversation with an old friendand a wonderful activist, judy
Reeves.
Judy's been active in the queercommunity for many years.
One of her most recentactivities that's taken a great
deal of her time is the GulfCoast Archive and Museum of Gay,
(37:58):
lesbian, bisexual andTransgender History, commonly
referred to as GCAM.
So we're going to go on a tripdown memory lane.
Judy, first of all, how did youget involved?
What was the birth of GCAM?
Speaker 3 (38:14):
Well, it's all Rick Hurt or Rainbow Declan's fault.
He sent a missive to HandNet,which was before all of these,
you know fancy things and hesaid where's the gay museum?
You know we've got the Museumof Fine Arts and everything.
Why don't we have a gay museum?
And Brandon Wolf, who directedHandNet, he said, well, let's
(38:39):
see if we need one.
And so he sent a message out toeveryone on the list and said
we're going to meet at theMontrose Library at three
o'clock on Saturday and if youwant to talk about a museum
possibility, be there.
So 13 of us showed up, alongwith Jim Sears of one institute
(39:00):
Brandon had invited to talk tous about how to start a museum,
and he gave us the four modelsof starting up a museum.
And we decided to stand alone,because the other choices were
in a church which we have a hugeatheist community here in a bar
(39:21):
and we wanted to educate thechildren, so we couldn't do that
.
Or with a university, and someof us have had a bad taste in
our mouth from the universitycollecting memorabilia for
individuals.
So we decided to stand aloneand that's exactly what we did
for 25 years.
Speaker 5 (39:39):
What was the first step that you took?
Speaker 3 (39:43):
Well, the first step was to find out how much
interest there was in a museumand we just kind of put feelers
out and we started putting thepapers together for a 501c3.
And Bill O'Rourke Fancy PaceLawrence in Reeses, threw a
(40:04):
fundraiser for us at the pianobar.
So we made the $500 so we couldput in our application for a
501c3.
We elected a slate of officersfrom the 13 of us that were
there and we started meeting andthe first collection we took in
was about six weeks later,because we moved into Bruce and
(40:28):
I had a warehouse on CapitolStreet.
So we moved into that warehouse.
Speaker 5 (40:33):
Bruce Reeves yeah.
Speaker 3 (40:35):
Yeah, yeah.
And so it was a 3,600 squarefoot warehouse, so we figured we
could donate, you know, 300 or400 square feet for the
collections and meetings andsuch.
We quickly learned that thatwasn't enough space, but we had
(40:57):
built in the walls and set it upfor a display.
And we opened our first exhibitthere on Capitol Street Pride
Week of 2000.
That was the beginning.
The first collection we took inwas 56 boxes and I couldn't
(41:23):
believe that somebody had 56boxes in their one bedroom condo
and they had lived with themfor 12 years because the boxes
all had his lover who had diedfrom AIDS complications, stuff,
stuff, in it and he couldn'tpart with them.
So he talked to me and he saidcan I bring you some things?
And I went sure, and three Jeeploads later he had it all there
(41:45):
and he said I've been walkingaround this for 12 years now and
I have a place to put it whereI know it's safe, and so now I
can get on with living.
And that's when it hit mereally hard.
And I got really involved withGCAM at that point because I
knew we weren't going to be somuch a museum as a collection
point for the deceased, so theliving could get back to living.
(42:09):
And that's a lot of what wetook in the first couple of
years.
Speaker 5 (42:14):
What was your initial interest in doing this work?
Why did you think it wasimportant?
Speaker 3 (42:20):
My community has always been very important to me
and my stepdad had supported mein it and I was very surprised
at that.
So he had a gun collection.
He had Indian relics andpre-Civil War firearms and a lot
of Indian relics and I wasraised in a house full of
(42:44):
history and he had a keenunderstanding of the Civil War
and of the war between theIndians and the states and so on
and so forth and I just caughton to it.
So I realized that this was asimportant as any Indian relic in
my house.
So I wanted to support thisbecause we had lost so many
(43:07):
people to AIDS and a lot of themin our community were leather
people specifically not justleather people, but I was more
prone to be around that we losta whole generation.
I was doing as much dumpsterdiving of course I was much
younger then.
I was doing as much dumpsterdiving as I was shopping in
(43:29):
stores for anything I.
It was ridiculous.
The family would move in andthrow everything away because it
was not only painted from AIDSbut it was painted because their
relative was queer and nobodyknew it and they didn't want the
rest of the family to know it.
We did dumpster dives.
Every time we got a phone calland I realized how much was
(43:50):
being lost just in thosedumpster dives.
Even the voice threw all theirpictures away after they
appeared in the magazine.
So we started saving them orthe newspapers, but they threw
all their photographs in them inthe dumpsters.
I couldn't figure out why.
I mean, yes, it was in thepaper, but it's still a living
(44:11):
artifact.
I don't know, I just developeda passion for it.
My stepdad gave his collectionto the University of Texas
because he was an alumnus there.
He's a football player.
I went to see it several yearslater and I found a pile of rust
in the basement.
Somewhere they just let it goto a seed, and I just couldn't
stand that.
Where they just let it go to aseed, and I just couldn't.
I couldn't stand that.
Speaker 5 (44:33):
The importance of preserving history is so that
years later, people know whathas occurred.
And, as we are currently havingpeople erased from the internet
or access to information, Imean they're even wanting to
(44:55):
tell medical journals what theycan and can't print.
I really appreciate yourattitude towards honoring those
people that have passed and topreserve these collections.
I know you also had a ratherextensive drag collection had a
(45:16):
rather extensive drag collection.
Speaker 3 (45:16):
Oh yes, and a lot of the older drag queens.
The further back you go you'llfind out that they were
connected to the leathercommunity and, infected or not,
they weren't dying out soquickly and they decided to put
on a dress and sing a song for adollar.
And those dollars didn't go toother charities as it does today
.
Those dollars went to pay rentor buy medicine or even food for
(45:39):
those who were afflicted withAIDS at that point in time.
So our drag queens became veryimportant to us.
We had different people, say,at Mary's would sit on a bar
stool and jump on the stage whenthe song was playing and sing a
song for dollars, for a drink,and I think that's kind of where
the idea was born.
(46:00):
So yes, we have a veryextensive collection of drags
and we are keeping it.
I want everybody to know thatthis change in GCAM is not to
narrow down any of thecollections that we've had for
the last 25 years, but to focusmore, to bring it into a scope
(46:24):
of primarily leather collections.
Speaker 5 (46:27):
GCAM celebrated its 25th year last October.
This change in the organizationdeveloped, which was for it to
become the heart of LeatherAssociation.
You're going to maintain thecollection that you have.
You're not going to beaccepting new collections that
(46:50):
are not leather community newcollections that are not leather
community.
Speaker 3 (46:57):
They're not leather related, but I will assist.
If someone has a collectionthat they need to get rid of, I
will assist them in finding theproper place for it.
We won't be taking it inourselves.
I'm sure there's probably anemergency down the road
somewhere where we'll have tohave to take it temporarily, but
we won't be actually taking incollections.
And you have to remember now orknow that when I say leather it
(47:19):
doesn't mean someone who'srunning around in cowhide, it
means leather related.
We have a lot of communityorganizations that are leather
related and the drag queens area part of that.
I mean a lot of your dragqueens.
Lady Victoria Lust was thefirst and only real drag queen
(47:40):
of that era raised over amillion dollars for AIDS, but
she was clearly a member of allthe leather organizations in
town.
So we have a display case ofprimarily her of all the leather
organizations in town.
So we have a display case ofprimarily all of her stuff.
It was presented to us by DonGill and the crew of Olympus
built the waterproof, airproof,dustproof case for it and it's a
(48:04):
beautiful display.
But she was one of the dragqueens from leather.
Speaker 5 (48:10):
And of course Lady Victoria Luss was the drag name
for Dear Marvin Davis, a veryprecious person who's deeply
missed.
The museum didn't really havean ongoing space.
A lot of times things had tojust be stored.
You would always bring outthings during Pride Month at the
(48:33):
festival.
There'd be a display.
Speaker 3 (48:35):
We're members of the Texas Association of Museums,
which is attached to theAmerican Association of.
Museums and we have been deemedthe first pop-up museum in Texas
and possibly, according to theAmerican Association of Museums,
possibly the first in theentire United States who had the
title of pop-up museums or havepop-up exhibits.
(48:58):
Now everybody claims to have apop-up exhibit, so that's great
and I learned fairly early onthat I didn't really need a big
building that I could pay taxeson and keep up the renovations
on, etc.
To save this stuff or to showthis stuff off whenever possible
(49:20):
.
It's a lot easier just to pullit out of storage and take it
someplace temporarily, eitherfor the day or for.
We had an exhibit over at theHealth Museum for over a year.
So we go different places fordifferent reasons and we always
make sure our stuff is safe, butit's a lot easier to pull it
out of storage than it is topull it out of storage.
(49:42):
I mean, it's the samedifference.
There's no museum has any roomfor every single item they have.
We have over 35,000 items.
No, we never had a building andwe didn't really want a
building after a while.
We have over 35,000 items.
No, we never had a building andwe didn't really want a
building.
After a while we learned theins and outs of pop-up exhibits
a lot better from TexasAssociation of Museums.
Speaker 5 (50:04):
Lloyd Powell is coordinating the transformation
and we will invite him on in thenear future to talk more about
Heart of Leather.
But let us go back a little bit.
Another thing that Judy hasdone for many years was part of
KPFT and doing radio, first withthe show After Hours, and then
(50:25):
it morphed into Facets.
How did you get involved withAfter Hours?
Speaker 3 (50:32):
Shortly after After Hours started.
I was involved with the NamesProject in 1987 and 88.
And it was getting ready tomake its inaugural tour of the
US and Brian Kiever got Houstonput on the list of places to
stop.
So I was volunteer coordinatorfor that on the board.
(50:54):
Buddy invited me onto the showto talk about it because I
needed as many volunteers as Icould get and it just stuck.
I mean, I found a home when Iwalked into that radio station
and was interviewed by Buddy andI never left.
Buddy was the instigator ofAfter Hours.
He talked to the station andthey decided to give him a try
(51:15):
for a month and it lasted 30years.
Buddy wasn't there all thattime.
He moved to California butJimmy Carper came on very early
in and I came on very early inand Bruce even came in for a
little while.
So when Buddy left, jimmy andBruce took over the helm of it
and we all kind of stuck with itand Bruce left eventually.
(51:39):
I think after a year or twoOther people came in.
Chris Harrison came in for awhile and Jimmy lasted almost 27
years of the show until hebecame too ill to even attend
the airing of it.
Actually he was there inJanuary of 2014, just before his
(52:02):
birthday, and that was his lastshow.
Then Chris and Wes and I stayedwith it for another three years
and we shut it down on itsanniversary of 30 years and the
next week I started facets andit was not meant to be.
It was never meant to be whatJimmy and Buddy made that show.
Mine was supposed to be TLBTQIA.
(52:25):
Whatever related information Idid not try to emulate after
hours, because nobody could dowhat Jimmy and Buddy did for
that show.
Speaker 5 (52:36):
What is your fondest memory of Jimmy?
Speaker 3 (52:39):
When Stanley, his lover, passed, jimmy inherited a
very old house in the museumdistrict and he walked me
through that house and said nowI want this, this and this.
And what he wanted was a columnput in the living room, in the
entryway, and it was like Jimmy,do you have any idea what
(53:00):
that's going to take?
He says, well, you can do it.
And I took over the care andfeeding of his house and had it
done in less than a year,completely remodeled to suit him
and remodeled the duplex, theupstairs for me.
He kept saying, well, what doyou want?
What do you want?
I said it doesn't matter what Iwant, you're going to live here
.
And he said, no, you are too.
(53:21):
I moved into the upstairs of hisduplex.
I was there almost every dayanyway, giving him personal care
.
It took almost a year and everysingle single afternoon I would
go over to his house, wake himup and we'd go to House of Pies
at our booth in the corner and Iwould tell him everything the
contractors did that day.
And then I'd go by and show himeverything he did that day and
(53:44):
he was just like a kid atChristmas.
Every single day, every singlestep that we made in that house.
He was thrilled with it andthat's one of my fondest
memories of him.
Speaker 5 (53:55):
I understand that Jimmy recorded all the radio
shows, including some QueerVoices episodes, and that those
are now in the archives at theUniversity of Houston.
Speaker 3 (54:09):
Yeah, they still belong to me.
It is not a GCAM acquisition.
They belong to me.
I inherited them and I arrangedwith Emily Vinson over at U of
H.
She applied for a grant fromNEH to record and transcribe all
of these shows, cassettes andso on, because Jimmy and Buddy
(54:32):
would do 15-minute cassettepieces and give them as prizes
for people who donated to duringthe sweeps.
So I had millions of cassettesand we had several reel-to-reels
because if they called apolitician or a sheriff's
department person or even thepolice department, they would
come into the studio and recordfor 30 or 45 minutes and then
(54:56):
Buddy and Jimmy would cut thebest part of that to play on the
radio.
And Buddy kept all of thosereels.
So we had a lot of 12-inch and7-inch and 15-inch reels to be
transcribed to.
It was done at U of H.
She got almost a hundredthousand dollar grant for that
and it took two years to do allof that.
When it was all said and done.
(55:17):
It is on the Heart of LeatherFoundation's website under GCAM.
You can access them and you canresearch them as much as you
want.
You cannot download therecordings.
You can only download thetranscripts.
I didn't want people to be ableto download the recordings so
that they could mess with them.
(55:39):
I didn't want them toying withour words because we even called
the White House one night.
Buddy and Jimmy got to talkingabout the White House and they
called the White House andactually got the secretary on
the radio and she wanted to knowwhy he wanted to talk to
President Reagan Because he wasasleep.
And he says it's one o'clock inthe morning.
(56:00):
He said I don't care, I'm onthe radio and I have a question
for him.
And she asked what the questionwas.
He says I want to know why hecan't say the word aid.
And she was mystified byeverything.
Speaker 5 (56:11):
This is Deborah Moncrief Bell.
I've been talking with JudyReeves, longtime activist and
dear friend.
Thank you, Judy.
Speaker 3 (56:19):
With a bad memory.
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (56:29):
This has been Queer Voices, heard on KPFT Houston
and as a podcast available fromseveral podcasting sources.
Check our webpageQueerVoicesorg for more
information.
Queer Voices executive produceris Brian Levinka, deborah
Moncrief-Bell is co-producer,brett Cullum and David
(56:54):
Mendoza-Druzman are contributors.
The News Wrap segment is partof another podcast called this
Way Out, which is produced inLos Angeles.
Speaker 8 (57:04):
Some of the material in this program has been edited
to improve clarity and runtime.
This program does not endorseany political views or animal
species.
Views, opinions andendorsements are those of the
participants and theorganizations they represent.
In case of death, pleasediscontinue use and discard
remaining product.
Speaker 1 (57:16):
For Queer Voices.
I'm Glenn Holt, Thank you.
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy And Charlamagne Tha God!
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.