I was sad to hear about Alix Dobkin, Lesbian Activist & Feminist Music Icon back who passed this week at 80. In 2009 I had the honor to talk to Alix in this exclusive audio interview. Dobkin began her music career in Greenwich Village in the early 60’s along with legends like Bob Dylan & Joni Mitchell. In the early 70’s she came out as the first lesbian performer of her day. I talked to Alix about her memoir “My Red Blood” that begins in post-war New York City growing up in a Communist family & rubbing elbows with radical left celebrities like Paul Robeson. In the 1950’s in the midst of the McCarthy Era she joined the Communist Party & offers a first-hand glimpse of daily life as a teenager living under FBI surveillance. In 1965 she married Sam Hood who ran the historic Gaslight Cafe in Greenwich Village. They then moved to Miami & opened The Gaslight South folk club but moved back to New York in 1968. Their daughter Adrian was born two years later & the following year the marriage broke up. A few months later Alix came out as lesbian which was extraordinary for a public personality to do at the time. Shortly after that she released her 1973 debut album “Lavender Jane Loves Women” at 32 which was the very first album by, for & about Lesbians in the history of the world. All present day lesbian & feminist women’s music performers are indebted to Dobkin's groundbreaking accomplishments & spirit. Dobkin suffered a brain aneurysm & stroke & died at home surrounded by family on Wednesday, May 19th in Woodstock, New York. LISTEN
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