Out In the Bay

Lipstick Conspiracy Reunites!

Pump up the volume! Lipstick Conspiracy, San Francisco’s all-transwomen rock band, is back together after almost 13 years, in part as a “joyful antidote” to the escalation of transphobia and anti-LGBTQ laws across the USA.

Lipstick Conspiracy founding members Sarafina Maraschino, Shawna Love and Marilyn Mitchell share recent music, past hits, political insights and their comeback plans with host Eric Jansen on this edition of Out in the Bay.

Hear the podcast!

No one prepared you for Lipstick Conspiracy…..these are the girls your mother warned you about…..an extraordinary experience.
— Jenny Sherwin, CURVE magazine

Riot Acts: Flaunting Gender Deviance in Music Performance

Riots Acts: Flaunting Gender in Music.
Riots Acts: Flaunting Gender Deviance in Music Performance.

Challenging an audience’s assumptions about sex and gender dates back to the earliest days of rock & roll, from the lustful hip-shaking of Elvis Presley to the confident but effeminate style of Little Richard. But a new generation of musicians is pushing the boundaries farther than ever before; on the independent music scene, transgender performers are achieving a new level of visibility and acceptance, and filmmaker Madsen Minax profiles a handful of transgender artists bubbling up from the underground in this documentary. Riot Acts: Flaunting Gender Deviance In Music Performance features performances from Systyr Act, Coyote Grace, The DeGenerettes, and Lipstick Conspiracy.  Riot Acts was an official selection at the 2010 San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival.

–Excerpt from the N.Y. Times Review of Riot Acts, by Mark Deming.

Check out the film.

..rough-around-the-edges pop music…approaches sexual politics with humor and spunk.
Julie Sabatier, Portland JustOut

After decades of dabbling in nonsurgical genderf@#k, rock ‘n’ roll finally has its first all-[trans] band…..a glammy ’80s dance party…..and a sincere desire to blow your mind.

David Schmader, Seattle Stranger / Portland Mercury

…layered with a rebelliousness and playfulness that carries [a] distinctive and subversive tone through.

Chris Jarvis, Gay Fresno.com, 2006

…the wallop of a regular ’80s-style chick-rock band…..Josie and the Pussycats, all grown up.

Rachel Swan, The East Bay Express

Glitter, sneers, and ridiculously high heels are abundant, as are raging keyboard riffs and catchy lyrics.

San Francisco Weekly