Saturday, June 3rd 2023. 1:00–4:00PM
To kick off Pride month and the opening of Photoville, the Alice Austen House and Tin Pan Alley present an afternoon of music with Miss Maybell and Charlie Judkins and the inimitable Kay Turner.
This event is part of a year long series to celebrate 50 years of the New York Landmarks Conservancy
Celebrate summer, pride, art, and community with us! On June 3rd, join us for an afternoon of music, culture, and community on the waterfront as we kick off both the start of pride month and the opening of Photoville, the outside photography festival featuring both Staten Island-based and inspired artists. Soak up the sunshine, drink some Flagship brews, and eat some snacks made by Chef Cheryl as we celebrate the preservation of Alice Austen and Gertrude Tate’s iconic love story.
Taking inspiration from an era when Alice Austen and her life partner Gertrude Tate resided at Clear Comfort and presented in collaboration with the Tin Pan Alley American Popular Music Project; Miss Maybell and Charlie Judkins will perform vintage jazz, ragtime and blues songs from 1900-1929.
Between the late 1890s and 1970s New York City’s music publishing district was known as “Tin Pan Alley”—a reference to the continuous sound of pianos emanating from nearly every open window nearby, allegedly causing a remark that it sounded like the banging of tin pans. Reinvigorating that spirit on our historic grounds, The Tin Pan Alley American Popular Music Project commemorates and invigorates a living legacy.
In “Songs for Alice and Gertrude” lesbian-feminist queer activist Kay Turner and her band Kay Turn Her and the Pages sings from her lesbo-centric catalog of songs she has written and co-written over the past thirty-five years. A former professor at NYU, Turner is known for teaching lesbian lessons in song. Appropriately, this set at Alice Austen House includes “Bicycling for Ladies,” written in loving recognition of Austen and her partner Gertrude Tate.
Saturday, June 3rd 2023
1–4PM
TICKETS
ONLINE PRESALE: $30
DOORS: $35
BECOME A LANDMARKS LEGEND!
Purchase a ticket and get a discounted AAH membership: $50
Become a member and join the Alice Austen House community to support education, history, and the arts on Staten Island.
Enjoy complimentary admission, guest passes, discounts on programs, and invitations to exclusive events.
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The perfect accompaniment to the landmark views of Alice and Gertrude’s seaside lawn is vintage and rare music. Miss Maybell & Charlie Judkins’ sound brings you back to an era when this Victorian setting would have been filled with music. Miss Maybell & Charlie Judkins’ historic take on music is more than just for looks. Charlie Judkins’s ragtime piano work plays well with Miss Maybell’s vocal style. Miss Maybell offers up more than just Flapper-era vocals, during her performances she plays unconventional (by today’s standards) instruments including a washboard and even a kazoo. Truly a performance to behold, Miss Maybell & Charlie Judkins are not to be missed.
The Tin Pan Alley American Popular Music Project commemorates and invigorates a living legacy: the birthplace of American Popular Music and the modern music industry on West 28th Street in New York City. In 2019, Tin Pan Alley became an official New York City landmark with the designation of 47-55 West 28th Street by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission following years of advocacy by the Tin Pan Alley Project among many others.
By telling the stories of the songwriters, music publishers, performers and songs that created a new sound and industry in the late 19th and early 20th Century, we connect people with the power of music and diversity as essential elements of the culture of New York City and America.
Kay Turner is an artist and scholar working across disciplines including music, songwriting, performance art, and folklore. This lesbian-feminist queer activist sings and writes songs that she has performed in numerous all-womyn bands, most notably the early lesbian-feminist “Oral Tradition” (1972-1977) and the Austin, Texas- based rock punk lesbian-feminist art band “Girls in the Nose,” active 1985-1996, with reunion tours 2015-present. The band released three albums and toured widely in the USA from 1991-1996.
After moving to Brooklyn in 1998 Turner continued her feminist and queer-focused songwriting and performing career, first with Carolyn Dinshaw in a duet, “Snaggletooth,” active from 2003-2009, and then with guitarist Viva DeConcini and bass player Mary Feaster, who, with Turner, are the music co-writers and performers for “Otherwise: Queer Scholarship into Song,” created by Turner in 2012.
Turner is also the well-known creator and host of “Lesbopalooza,” an epic lesbian music and performance variety show, the 25th anniversary of which was recently made into a documentary, “Lesbopalooza: The Movie” (2021). Turner was Adjunct Professor in Performance Studies at NYU from 2002-2022. Her books include Baby Precious Always Shines: Love Notes Between Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas and Transgressive Tales: Queering the Grimms. Follow Kay on Instagram @kay__turner
Celebrate the New York Landmarks Conservancy’s 50th anniversary by experiencing the 50 at 50 exhibition. Explore their most iconic, memorable successes in preserving and protecting the architecture that helps make New York singularly unique.
