Event: A Reading with Justin Vivian Bond

[reviews_and_ramblings]

Date: 09/10/2011
Time: 5:30 pm
Place: Giovanni's Room
At 12th & Pine Streets in Philly's "Gayborhood" in Center City
345 South 12th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19107

Justin Vivian Bond is the author of Tango: My Childhood, Backwards and in High Heels (Feminist, $16.95 pb).

Tango: My Childhood, Backwards and in High Heels by Justin Vivian Bond
Paperback: 144 pages
Publisher: The Feminist Press at CUNY; 1 edition (August 16, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1558617477
ISBN-13: 978-1558617476
Amazon: Tango: My Childhood, Backwards and in High Heels

"Bond's fabulosity is matched by a trenchant wit, and [V's] over-the-top stories are smartly edged with politics, sexual or otherwise."—The New York Times

Recently hailed as "the greatest cabaret artist of [V's] generation" in The New Yorker, Mx. Justin Vivian Bond makes a brilliant literary debut with this staggeringly candid and hilarious novella-length memoir.

With a recent diagnosis of attention deficit disorder, and news that his first lover from childhood has been imprisoned for impersonating an undercover police officer, Bond recalls in vivid detail coming of age as a trans kid. Always haunted by the knowledge of being "different," Bond was further confused when the bully next door wanted to meet secretly. Their trysts went on for years, and made Bond acutely aware of sexual power and vulnerability. With inimitable style, Bond raises issues about LGBTQ adolescence, homophobia, parenting, and sexuality, while being utterly entertaining.

Singer, songwriter, and Tony-nominated performance artist Mx. Justin Vivian Bond is an Obie, Bessie, and Ethyl Eichelberger Award winner. As one half of the performance duo Kiki and Herb, Bond has toured the world, headlining at Carnegie Hall, the Sydney Opera House, and London's Queen Elizabeth Hall, and starring in a Tony nominated run on Broadway, "Kiki and Herb Alive on Broadway." His film credits include a role in John Cameron Mitchell's feature "Shortbus." Bond is currently releasing a record, "Dendrophile," and is writing a play with Sandra Bernhard.