Pamela DeGroff been writing for TGForum since the start of 1999. Her humor column, The Pamela Principle, ran until 2005. She started the Perpetual Change music column in May of 1999, and in 2008, Angela Gardner came up with the idea for the Transvocalizers column and put Pam to work on that. Pamela was a regular contributor to Transgender Community News until that magazine's demise. While part of a support group in Nashville called The Tennessee Vals she began writing for their newsletter, and also wrote for several local GLBT alternative newspapers in Tennessee. Pamela is currently a staff reporter for a small town daily paper in Indiana, and is also a working musician.
CD review A while back, I heard about a band called Copper, with a transsexual lead vocalist by the name of Meaghan Ball. Originally from Buffalo, New York, other members of Copper were: Joe Lucca, guitar; Sam Falbo, guitar; Steve Mack, bass; and Tim Turcott on drums. Their only full-length album project, Drag Queen, also […]
Too Much Information, or just TMI, is a band from the Tucson, Arizona area that has been featured here before, in November 2006 and again in April, 2008. Primarily a cover band, they are always expanding their song list, and beginning to include original material in the live sets. TMI is also a mix of […]
I first heard about Hedda Lettuce last year when this column featured a review of the Abba covers CD Abbalicious. Hedda was one of nine queens featured on this very rare album, which first came out in 2004. Hedda has become a force in drag in the New York area, has traveled extensively as well, […]
Back in April, 2004, we introduced San Francisco area band Lipstick Conspiracy to TGForum readers. At that time, the band had one EP release, Don’t Tell A Soul to its credit. In 2006, when we featured them again, they had just come out with their first full length project, A Perfect Alibi. Since then, the […]
When you first encounter Meghan Chavalier on the Internet, a very bold lettered WARNING ADULTS ONLY page comes up right away. A real in-your-face introduction if ever there was one. So, let’s get the obvious out of the way immediately-Meghan Chavalier is a former adult film star with something like 175 films under her-uh, garter […]
The diversity that the transgender community keeps presenting never ceases to amaze. I know I’ve said it before in this column (…to the point where it sounds like the proverbial old broken record…), but I’m always intrigued by artists who are hard to categorize. Ryka Aoki de la Cruz is not only a musician, but […]
Last month, we introduced to readers of this column, by way of a review of her latest project, Queen Of The World. Working under the stage name of Lezlee Anne, she has made a name for her herself as a singer/songwriter/roots rocker. She has also taken time to compete in a trans pageant known as […]
Interview with Elijah Oberman of The Shondes Last month, Perpetual Change featured a review of the new album My Dear One by Brooklyn, New York based The Shondes. This project was just released at the beginning of last month, and the band has been busy on the road in support of the new project. Their […]
Queen Of The World CD review This month Transvocalizers introduces you to Leslie-Anne Rios. She works under the stage name of LezleeAnne and in 2008, released her fourth CD entitled Queen Of The World. While this might not seem significant to some, it was in 2006 that she took time off from a busy touring […]
A press release for The Shondes new album My Dear One (released May 4th), set the tone of the project pretty succinctly: “Heartbreak sucks, and while ‘My Dear One’ explores this in depth, the songs also explore questions about how each of us deserves to be treated, and how we should treat each other.” Brooklyn, […]
Sometimes, new leads for the column come to me in rather unusual ways. I learned about Donna Sachet through a link to a video sent by a friend. Okay, so there’s absolutely nothing unusual or new anymore about watching a video on YouTube. What caught my attention was the caption: “Drag Queen makes history by […]
Being a working musician brings with it a certain degree of behind-the-scenes stress few fans or audience members are ever aware of. When you’re a trans musician, there’s a lot more to deal with than just your write-rehearse-record-tour schedule. Regardless of what genré your music falls into, it’s almost a given that at some time […]
TGForum would like to take this opportunity to introduce our readers to Roxy Wood, who hails from Long Beach, California. Calling her a “drag queen” would really be inappropriate. Roxy is multitalented, and is known more as a “character illusionist”, combing her vocal ability to impersonations of such diva luminaries as Diana Ross, Tina Tuner, […]
This month, we conclude our interview with classical music musician Sara Davis Buechner. She recently celebrated the 25th anniversary of her professional debut in NYC. During her career, she has performed extensively in the United States and abroad, has released several recordings, and is currently an Associate Professor of Piano and Piano Literature at the […]
This month, we conclude our interview with classical music musician Sara Davis Buechner. She recently celebrated the 25th anniversary of her professional debut in NYC. During her career, she has performed extensively in the United States and abroad, has released several recordings, and is currently an Associate Professor of Piano and Piano Literature at the […]
This month, we conclude our interview with Daniel Dalton, a.k.a LaLa McCallan. She is an amazing entertainer with a three octave vocal range who sings not only pop, soul, and jazz standards, but opera classics as well. For this portion of the interview, LaLa discusses her wardrobe and her side business of selling wigs. Be […]
Classical music has been featured in this column before, and as a genre’, it’s probably received the least amount of attention in the transgender music community. However, that’s definitely starting to change. Sara Davis Buechner is a concert pianist whose repertoire includes over 100 piano concertos, from Bach to modern composers. A Buechner concert is […]
What happens when you mix a three octave vocal range and incredible stage presence with a fine eye for detailed period costumes and ornate wigs? No clue…give up? Well, TGForum would like to introduce you the the answer — Miss LaLa McCallan. Besides the uniqueness of her stage presence, what also stands out about LaLa is […]
HOUSE OF JOY by Roger Anthony Yolanda Mapes CD review Starting with this first installment of Perpetual Change for the new year, we’re going to post the occasional CD review. With all the great music being released by the many talented artists within the GLB and trans music communities, it would be a shame not […]
Coco Peru, a.k.a. Clinton Leupp, hails originally from The Bronx in New York and got her start doing a one woman cabaret show entitled Miss Coco Peru In My Goddamn Cabaret, in the early 1990s. The Coco character is part drag diva, part actress, and all entertainment. Besides the live cabaret shows, Coco has appeared […]
Through the years, I’ve always tried to do something a bit different for the end-of-year December installment of Perpetual Change. It’s sort of gotten to the point, though, where it would be redundant to discuss Walkin’ Round In Women’s Underwear for the umpteenth time. However, in wanting to maintain a semblance of Christmas spirit, I […]
This year, just in time (hopefully…) for the Christmas season, Transvocalizers would like to offer a gift suggestion for that extremely hard-to-buy-for fan of drag on everyone’s shopping list. Along with our companion column, Perpetual Change, I’d like to introduce some truly unique music that will probably be new to many, but nonetheless is definitely […]
The West Coast, and particularly Los Angeles, is known as one of the country’s major music markets. Okay, so that’s one of those statements that’s practically a cliche, and you’re probably wondering why it’s used to start this article. Well, transgender musicians are becoming more and more an important, creatively viable part of what’s happening […]
This month, Transvocalizers features Part 2 of our interview with Beth Isbell. Ms. Isbell is best known as a solo artits, who has several albums out under her own name. She is also part of the band The Dead Prophets. She lives in Oklahoma, where she is a practicing attorney who specializes in gender rights […]
Last month’s column was Part 1 of our introduction to Ms. Desiree HInes, a classical musician from Philadelphia whose instrument of choice is pipe organ. She is also instrumental in getting the local GLBT festival known as The Traverse Arts Festival organized. This has been described as a multi-disciplinary showcase for GLBT artists and their […]
Beth Isbell is a singer/songwriter who has been musically active for many years, but who will no doubt be a new name to TGForum readers. She lives in Oklahoma, and is originally from Georgia. Her father was in the military, which means the family moved all over the U.S. and even lived in Germany for […]
