Building Bridges of Love and Compassion between Diverse Communities through the Power of Inspirational Entertainment.

 

The Yolanda Archives

The Cherie and Yolanda Show

Cherie & Yolanda Live!

In the late 90s, Cherie & Yolanda LIVE! was a staple of Vermont cable access—a literal variety show, featuring guest interviews, musical performances, live telephone calls from viewers, poetry readings, and performance art, all filtered through the bawdy and burlesque charisma of hostesses Cherie Tartt (Steven West) and Reverend Yolanda (Yolanda Roger Anthony Mapes).

The guest list was a who’s who of Burlington’s music and theater scenes, and the show celebrated and supported the social justice work of the city’s queer-positive individuals and organizations. The show aired from 1998 to 2001, including the hostile years of the Vermont civil unions debate. 

Cherie and Yolanda HERE

Reverend Yolanda on the power of music in queer and spiritual activism

The personal journey that ties together her work, from Drag Story Hour to Church with a 2 Drink Minimum:

BROOKLYN — Artist, musician and performance artist Roger Anthony (Tony) Mapes, aka Rev. Yolanda, was born in 1956 in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. Yolanda emerged at the end of the 1980s, between the East Village and a Radical Faeries community in Vermont.

Yolanda—trans femme gender queer actor, storyteller, singer, songwriter, reverend, drag artist— was inducted into the GLBT Hall of Fame for her activism role in 2005. In 2014, she received a MAC award, which honors cabaret, jazz and comedy artists in Manhattan. In 2015, she was honored by the New York Blues Hall of Fame.

She has taken part in dozens of theater shows, had her own cable-television show and has navigated the music world as a solo artist and as the lead singer for bands. She has taken drag, music and reading into New York schools and libraries. And a few years ago she became an ordained interfaith minister.

The dynamism of her professional portfolio is the product of an even more eclectic life journey we got to talk about while shipping some green matcha tea in Bay Ridge. The conversation has been edited for brevity and clarity.

Click button below for the entire conversation:

read full article here

A History of Yolanda by Yolanda for LGBTQAI History Month:

Right to Surrender

Yolanda and the Plastic Family

(2001) from David Finkelstein on Vimeo.
music video from the album "Welcome to Yolandaworld"
yolanda.net/buy_music_here

Adam Wood-keyboards
Eric Rorbach- drums
Jon Akland- bass
Tom Henglesberg- guitar
Martha Seyler- backing vocals

Vimeo

The Sickness of Beauty

Yolanda and the Plastic Family

(2001) from David Finkelstein on Vimeo.
music video from the album "Welcome to Yolandaworld"
yolanda.net/buy_music_here

Adam Wood-keyboards
Eric Rorbach- drums
Jon Akland- bass
Tom Henglesberg- guitar
Martha Seyler- backing vocals

Vimeo

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