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“Is There Such A Thing As Too Gay?” (with Seth from Thanks For Coming! Podcast)

seth thanks for coming

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This week I am talking to Seth… no last name, just Seth… who is the former co-host of the Thanks for Coming! podcast, which recapped episodes of RuPaul’s Drag Race whilst also covering queer pop culture. Alas, the show ended earlier in 2022. Having lived in LA for a few years, Seth moved back to his college town of Bloomington, Indiana (where he had that weird experience of everything being exactly the same but also kind of different) and took the time and space to figure out his next moves. It was at this time that the gay bar Uncle Elizabeth’s became so important to him, and gave him the space to become more confident in his queerness. For some reason I try to bully Seth in to becoming a drag queen AND have sex in public during this episode… I’m not really sure why i felt the need to do that, but… well.. yeah… I sure was determined… Listen to the episode to find out how successful I was! 
Transcript

Seth  00:00

It was a really fun time where I felt like I connected to my queerness a lot and got to really explore that a lot more.

K Anderson  00:08

Hello, I am K Anderson and you are listening to lost spaces, the podcast that mourns the death of queer nightlife. Every episode I talk to a different person about a venue from their past the memories that they created there and the people that they used to know. This week I am talking to Seth, no last name, just Seth, who is the former co host of the thanks for coming podcast, which recap episodes of ripples drag race whilst also covering queer pop culture. And I say former because they stopped making the show, not because they kicked Seth off, I promise. Having lived in LA for a few years, Seth moved back to his college town of Bloomington, Indiana, where he had that really weird sensation of everything being super familiar, but also slightly different, and disorienting. And here, he took the time and space to figure out his next moves. And it was at this time that the gay bar uncle Elizabeth’s became so important to him, and helped him become more confident in his own queerness. Now, before we get into it, I need to let you know that I kind of bully Seth a little bit in this episode. I don’t really know what came over me. But I became somewhat determined to convince him to become a drag queen and to have sex in public. So sorry about that, Seth? Shall we Shall we find out how successful I was?

Seth  02:11

This was actually like a really fun period in my life, because for the first time, my whole friend group was like, basically all gay people are like queer people.

K Anderson  02:20

And that’s a good thing, right? Yeah,

Seth  02:22

I love you can like be yourself and you don’t have to like code switch and how you speak with other people and stuff like that, like with straight people or older people that don’t know. I don’t know how much you like tech. Yeah. So it’s really nice to be able to talk freely about gay things and gay topics and that sort of thing and, and not feel judged.

K Anderson  02:44

But do you not find that it becomes a bit of a like an echo chamber?

Seth  02:48

In what way?

K Anderson  02:49

Well, when like, the only people you talk to are gay or queer. It becomes about like, to, to gay.

Seth  02:58

Is there such a thing as too gay?

K Anderson  03:01

I think I might pay.

Seth  03:02

I’m not I’m not sure what

K Anderson  03:05

Okay, but what about like a unicorn puking rainbows while wearing a jock strap?

Seth  03:12

And listening to Lady Gaga is chromatica.

K Anderson  03:16

Yeah, yeah. Like surely that’s okay. No,

Seth  03:19

I would love that. That sounds fine.

K Anderson  03:23

Okay, but what if, like, what if the glitter gets stuck on you and you can’t get it off?

Seth  03:27

That’s fine. I went to I went to Rocky Horror Picture Show screening out you I would go there and they just like throw glitter all over you.

K Anderson  03:37

That should be an offence. I

Seth  03:39

think I didn’t mind it. It felt kind of fun and fabulous. I didn’t like

K Anderson  03:43

like, like waking up the next day and being like, Well, how did this get? But anyway, like, let’s let’s not ponder on that. The friends. You’re talking about your gay circle of friends?

Seth  03:56

Yes. For me, I really enjoyed it. Because I always mainly hung out with like, mostly heterosexual cis people. And so it was really fun to me, because I also really enjoy the atmosphere of Uncle Elizabeth’s because it wasn’t like, like a big club environment. It was like so chill. And you know, they would have boys on poles night.

K Anderson  04:20

And just to clarify these poles, not Polish people.

Seth  04:25

Right, exactly. Yes, steel, steel rods. It was interesting because a lot of the guys that would dance. Those nights were actually straight guys.

K Anderson  04:37

I’ve actually just recently had a conversation about this. Shall we talk about straight strippers and gay bars?

Seth  04:44

We can sure what are your thoughts? I mean, as long as they’re being friendly, like I don’t have a problem.

K Anderson  04:50

But okay, more broadly. Are you one of those gays? Sorry… Are you Are you one of those gays?

Seth  05:02

That did it?

K Anderson  05:04

That fancy straight men?

Seth  05:06

I’m not really okay. Do you mean like, like, they mainly like pursue straight men?

K Anderson  05:10

Yeah, like this whole thing about straight man. I can’t wrap my head. Yeah,

Seth  05:14

I’ve been with a few straight identifying men before, but it wasn’t like I was seeking them out.

K Anderson  05:21

But it’s just so much energy.

Seth  05:23

What do you mean?

K Anderson  05:24

Well, like in the chase, first of all, there’s so much energy in like, you don’t even fancy my gender. Like, I just don’t, I can’t get my head around why that’s appealing to like, throw yourself at someone who’s really not interested. And then even if you’ve got over that hurdle, then there’s all the like, shame that they then feel after you like do something as innocent as OBJ.

Seth  05:50

How do you know that you feel shame? are you projecting? No.

K Anderson  05:56

I don’t think I don’t think I’ve ever had sex with a straight person. But I’ve had sex with people who were like, not comfortable with their sexuality.

Seth  06:05

They were like, quote, unquote, curious or something like that. Yeah.

K Anderson  06:09

Or maybe they like accepted that they were gay. But they were still seeped in shame. I see. And, like, maybe hadn’t really had any gay experiences. And have you ever had heterosexual experiences in the past? And even that was just like, ah, like, would you just get over this? I’m so sympathetic, as you can tell, but like, even though it’s just like this. Like, you do not have to feel bad about this.

Seth  06:35

Yeah. I mean, I don’t really pursue the straight man. I can be a little bit, make my little flirty comments here and there. And then at that point, it’s up to them to make the move. So I’m not like trying to take advantage of like straight men.

K Anderson  06:48

Okay, okay. Right. So Sorry, I interrupted you. So you were talking about the nights they had their men on poles?

Seth  06:55

Yes. There were men on poles. There was a karaoke night. There was a drag king night. And there was a drag queens a lot. I’m mostly trying to remember I think they were like, mostly on Fridays, or Saturdays were drag queens, but like boys on pole was like a weeknight activity.

K Anderson  07:16

So let’s have a chat about drag. Yes, I have a feeling that you might be a bit of a fan of drag, just to me, because you know, yeah, just you know, you might have had a podcast all about drag race and the various offshoots,

Seth  07:33

and I’ve seen a couple episodes.

K Anderson  07:36

What I’m like What got you into drag?

Seth  07:39

To be honest, this bar, the bar is where I fell in love with drag. That was always my favourite thing is to watch drag shows. Watch the drag queens.

K Anderson  07:47

What was it about the shows that you enjoyed? I liked the music.

Seth  07:50

I liked how confident they were as people that felt good to me because I have mostly been in non confident person. So to see someone that felt confident at peace and comfortable in their skin was always just like really appealing to me.

K Anderson  08:09

Did you ever explore drag yourself?

Seth  08:12

I have not. I’ve been told that I would make a great drag queen, but I’m simply too lazy to learn how to do makeup. I have been putting makeup before though.

K Anderson  08:22

Okay, so you were putting makeup or you put in like the full shebang or just makeup just make

Seth  08:27

up the I was just with a group of friends. And we were drinking and I was drunk. And it was like 9am. And they were like, oh, let’s do your makeup. I was like, Alright, cool. And then like, I think they maybe started like, let me put eyeliner on you. And it just kind of like progressed into like a full look. But yeah, I mean, I have no problem wearing makeup. It’s fine. I wear nail polish and eyeliner a lot in college because I was like an emo kid.

K Anderson  08:53

And so how far down did your fringe go?

Seth  08:56

Oh, yeah, it was pretty far down. Yeah. And I had like a black hair, blonde hair. I had a green and black hair at one time. I had, I think I did. Blonde at the roots and black on the ends. And so then like as it grew out, like we even got the third natural hair colour in there. So it was like a little Calico look that I thought looked nice.

K Anderson  09:22

Oh, yeah. And it’s really interesting to hear you say and it’s resonating with me. This thing about being attracted to the confidence that means exhibited, because of your own. And confidence, which I don’t write is actually a word, but it is now because we’ve used it so we’re stamping out Yeah, yeah. And I feel like you know, I’ve never been to a super competent person. But I’ve also never been interested in doing drag like I’ve never felt like oh, yeah, that’s a way that I can find confidence.

Seth  09:57

Yeah, I honestly At 37 years old, if I were to be able to like go back to like graduating at the time, like graduating college, like I should have just started doing drag at that point because my only valuable skills are throwing shade and being kind of funny. So

K Anderson  10:17

lip synching Oh, I love you good at it. They’re

Seth  10:21

in my mind and in my the privacy of my home. I’ve had no one ever complained when I’ve lip synced in my own home alone.

K Anderson  10:28

Oh, okay. Well, then thing you should be on Season 15. Definitely.

Seth  10:33

Yeah, I’ll send

K Anderson  10:35

you. So okay. Are you being a bit ageist here to yourself?

Seth  10:41

Well, I mean, I could start drag now of course, but, you know, I would want to have started like building my name and stuff back at a younger age. So at this point, I could be more successful.

K Anderson  10:52

But there Okay, so it’s not because of the love of it. It’s just like purely a business decision. Does that what you mean?

Seth  10:58

No, no, I mean, I love doing I love drag. I would love to do drag. I am old and lazy now is I guess maybe what I’m trying to say. And I can’t move the way that I used to be able to move.

K Anderson  11:12

Oh, okay. But promise me that you will consider buying a wig. And just when your lip synching in your house, you’ll try it on and I already have one. Yes. Oh, okay. Well, then why don’t why are you not? I already have

Seth  11:27

one and I already have dresses? It’s fine. It’s fine. Girl. I got the whole setup. Except for an Omega sir. With

K Anderson  11:33

a why, like, Why do I don’t know why I’m trying to convince you to become a drag queen. But

Seth  11:40

I don’t know. Yeah, I just um, it’s mostly just I don’t know. I mean, I’m not very good at makeup. And I think that’s probably like, the main thing that holds me back.

K Anderson  11:52

So how are you going to get better at doing makeup? I’m sorry. Oh, sorry. I’m trying to like push you to somewhere where you’re not even interested in going. And

Seth  12:04

that’s why I started a podcast about drag race so that I could be funny. And shady, but I don’t have to put makeup on.

K Anderson  12:13

But you could get like a skin mask that’s already made up?

Seth  12:18

Like a full makeup look on on a face mask?

K Anderson  12:21

Yeah, yeah,

Seth  12:22

I’ll be fine. I’ll be down for that. Does that I can just pull it over and I’m ready to go. You know?

K Anderson  12:27

Exactly. Yeah, that would be amazing. See, that’s that’s just why you have to

Seth  12:31

respect the drag queens more because they actually have the drive and patience to do their makeup the way I was all right. Whereas I’m just like, I just want to be funny. I don’t know.

K Anderson  12:41

That annoying thing. Like when you get into drag, you have to then be in drag for a long, seven hours. And yeah, it could be bothered.

Seth  12:51

Right? Exactly. I would not want to talk are like I don’t know, it just would you know, and standing Hills for six hours. Like I would probably just want to on a live myself. Yeah, it would hurt so bad.

K Anderson  13:05

But you know, the other thing about people who say that wearing high heels, like makes them feel a certain way. Maybe there’s something about that.

Seth  13:15

I mean, I love wearing a boot like even just, you know, like just like an address boot basically, like, you know, you get like the little bit of incline. But it’s not like the steep incline of a high heel. I just like I like hearing it. The noises like when you walk across the floor, and like click Clap, clap. It just makes me feel powerful. So I can only imagine wearing heels. Like it’s probably even more than that more, more of a confidence boost.

K Anderson  13:41

Yeah. Unless you can’t walk in them, then like it’s the total opposite. Yeah, that would be bad. But talking about this unconfident thing. Yes. And drag. Yes. And not wanting to do it. Don’t think I actually have a question here.

Seth  14:02

You’re still just trying to figure out how to get me to do drag, aren’t you? No,

K Anderson  14:05

no, I think I think what I wanted to talk about is confidence. Sure. This whole show is about spaces. Okay. And oftentimes we talk about how those are safe spaces and community spaces, and places where you get to explore who you are, and you get to feel comfortable. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re going to feel confident. And sometimes being around those people means that you put an additional pressure on yourself, right?

Seth  14:43

I guess so. I think I understand what you’re talking about. It’s, you know, I definitely went there and felt comfortable to be in the space and to be at Uncle Elizabeth’s, but like, I still felt maybe not a lot of confidence to like approach guys to talk to them.

K Anderson  14:58

And did you ever Find that confidence. Um, no. So you don’t have any tips for me? No,

Seth  15:06

I am not very, very confident when it comes to talking with guys. So that’s like definitely a hold back or whatever you want to say, however you want to call it.

K Anderson  15:17

Would you just wait for them to talk to you? Preferably? And so would you just like lean up against the bar that came? coquettish? Yeah, I

Seth  15:25

just leaned against the bar, but my bosoms on the bar, the bar ledge or whatever you call it, Archer back and just, you know, present what’s going on?

K Anderson  15:36

But not really, right.

Seth  15:37

No, no. An ideal world I would feel competent to do that be a no and honestly, like, I don’t know, maybe this is too meta and too deep to get into. But it’s like, I just feel like as queer people we grow up being not accepted. And and, you know, insulted and made to believe that we’re less than, so that once we’re like adults and stuff, we still carry all that hurt with us. So then it’s like, hard to like, put yourself out there even to talk to another guy to see if they would be interested in you.

K Anderson  16:04

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, absolutely. And you know, the thing that got me like, over that hump,

Seth  16:10

was sleeping with lots of men.

K Anderson  16:12

Were Sleeping with lots of men. Yeah, it’s not just that, like, it’s not just sleeping with lots of men. So in my early 20s, it’s like for most of my 20s, I was like, I had this very heteronormative thinking about sex and about relationships and how it’s like, I’m waiting for the one or I’m waiting for like a good, meaty, emotional, something relationship. No, no. I wasn’t meaning that when he said, meaty, my bed. And then like, I got to a point where I was like, Well, I’m not in a relationship. I’m not having lots of sex. So like, this is pointless. I may as well do one of the two of these things. So it’s right to be the sex, I want to experience more sex, I’m going to go out and have more sex. And that’s when like, I started going to saunas and sex clubs and things like that. And, like, the whole culture around those sold, like a whole other topic, but getting to the point where I was like, Alright, I’m here for sex. So I’m gonna have sex tonight. Having having to push myself and having to approach people and having to be turned down and having to just be like, Oh, well, and moving on to the next person. And then the next and then the next and then the next and then the next. And then finally hitting hitting it out of the park. That so taught me so much about just doing

Seth  17:36

Yeah, I mean, a part to me. Yeah, I can see how that would be like, definitely, like a lot of like, good practice and stuff like that for approaching people.

K Anderson  17:46

Yeah, cuz you just get you just get so much rejection, and it’s just so good for you.

Seth  17:50

Right? Well, that’s the thing is like, for me, like I’ve never been to those environments strictly because I just assumed that if I were to go there, everyone will look like me. Like, I was like, a clown in the corner, like the sideshow act or something. And just nothing would happen the whole night.

K Anderson  18:06

Yeah, I get that. Like, that’s, that’s how I felt. So yeah,

Seth  18:09

so I haven’t I haven’t like been confident enough to go to those types of places. Hmm.

K Anderson  18:15

Okay, so the next thing I’m going to be trying to talk you into doing

Seth  18:21

getting raw dogged in a sauna?

K Anderson  18:24

Well, yeah, I didn’t know I didn’t really like someone is to be honest. They’re a bit boring. And like everyone just looking at each other.

Seth  18:31

No one talks. Yeah, it’s a lot of I. I’m linked language.

K Anderson  18:37

Well, it’s this whole fair, like, I mean, I may just be a person whose standards are very low, but I’m like, you’re good enough. Let’s go. But there’s lots of people in saunas who are like, No, I’m waiting for the perfect person to come through the doors. And it’s like, Firefox. He

Seth  18:51

only has a six pack. I’m

K Anderson  18:52

waiting for the eight pack. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. That’s it. Yeah. It’s like I just, I just, I’m just not into that. So I think it’s probably better for you to go to like some dark woods somewhere.

Seth  19:05

Oh, pillar.

K Anderson  19:08

No, just you know, is

Seth  19:09

there a witch in the woods that it’s gonna kill me?

K Anderson  19:11

No, just like this. There’s men on their lunch breaks who were like, Oh, I get off pretty quickly. So Oh, yep. You’ll do? Yeah, not me saying

Seth  19:21

no, I understand my place I understand. I get it

K Anderson  19:28

does know what I’m saying.

Seth  19:32

I mean, I didn’t lose my virginity, I think until I was like 22 I would say oh, that’s not bad. So from that point, you know, moving through life like I just found myself basically just like doing hookups and like the whole grinder thing for a while and then within the last like, five or six years or something, maybe even longer than that. I don’t know. It’s just really lot like hookups have really like lost its appeal to me. I would just much prefer like to be in a relationship with somebody because as someone with anxiety, like, I feel like it would be a more fun pleasurable experience to sleep with someone you’re comfortable with. But I have not experienced that. So I don’t know. But then you’d get bored. I don’t think I would. Yeah, you I always seek acceptance. So having someone there to tell me that I’m great would just be like an awesome addition to my life. Hmm.

K Anderson  20:26

I didn’t. It’s not for you. I didn’t know you know what people are like human beings. They’re just a bit. Yeah, they’re a bit annoying. After a while.

Seth  20:33

I don’t know. You know, I’m a very independent person, too. So like, maybe if I ever did find someone that wanted to be in a relationship with me, then maybe I would get bored. I don’t know. It’s hard to say. But in, you know, in my fantastical mind, I imagine having a lovely experience with an individual on a regular basis.

K Anderson  20:54

Yeah, but the reality is just hard work. I think.

Seth  20:58

Just too hard. I don’t know. I’m easy. easygoing person. I hate man. Oh, my God. Like I hate men. And I’m doing drag.

K Anderson  21:09

Good, good. Yeah, this is where I’m trying to indoctrinate you to accomplish a lot in this interview. So okay, we went off topic. We were talking about the group of friends, I think, yes. Where we were at?

Seth  21:21

Probably. Yeah, I don’t know, I really enjoyed having a group of gay friends. It was really nice to be able to just have like, a core group of people to count on. Yeah, it was fun, you know, and then sometimes there would just be house parties. Like we would pregame by having like game night, and then like, just people start showing up and then, you know, people are naked in the hot tub. And yeah,

K Anderson  21:45

was there any like drama amongst the friend group, anyone that fancied or hooked up or broken another person’s heart?

Seth  21:53

Yeah, there was, um, a couple that was were open. And I think one of the people like would kind of get involved with someone. And like, I think they wanted to be more like, I don’t know what that’s called like, polyamorous. No, because it wasn’t it wasn’t like all three would be together. It would be like the two main people and then him and the other new person.

K Anderson  22:16

From within the friend group, though. Yes. Oh, that gets messy quickly.

Seth  22:23

Yeah. So I think that, you know, then the original partners like, well, what the heck, like, why are you so lovey dovey with this other person? Like, I’m supposed to be the main person and see, and this is why I would not want to open relationship because it’s already too much work to be in a relationship. Like, I can’t have extraneous factors going on.

K Anderson  22:43

But no, I mean, I think it’s fine to be in an open relationship, or, like, just Oh, yeah, like, just don’t do things in front of me. Like cuz that’s, even if you’re not jealous. It’s just a bit like, Oh, God.

Seth  22:55

I mean, I have no problem with people that want to be in open relationships. Like or if you want to be polyamorous, that’s fine. I it’s just not something that I can do because my brain is limited.

K Anderson  23:05

Okay. But like, going back to what I said before, when you get to the point where you’re just bored of your partner, you’ll change your mind.

Seth  23:12

Okay. I mean, maybe we will come back and do this again. And like, change

K Anderson  23:19

my little checklist like so. Are you a drag queen now? Good relationship. Good. Good. Have you been to the sauna? Have you been to the woods? Yeah, okay.

Seth  23:27

Yeah. Have you ever hooked up with a weirdo? Oh, I

K Anderson  23:29

love checking things off lists. That’s like one. Have you ever hooked up with someone

Seth  23:33

that didn’t seem totally human? I don’t know.

K Anderson  23:35

Wait, what is that recorded? Please say?

Seth  23:39

Well, I just imagined myself in the woods like getting banged by like, like a half demon or an elk or something. Okay. Yeah. No. Like, Let’s not get crazy. We need to change the topic.

K Anderson  23:50

Maybe, maybe. Um, so let’s stay out of the woods for now.

Seth  23:55

Yeah, I think it would be happier not having sex in the woods. Well, I’d be okay, fine. I’ll do it. You talk me into it. It’s

K Anderson  24:04

just like this. Just something about the experience. You know, there’s the wind whipping through your hair. There’s the thrill of potentially being caught, you know, I think

Seth  24:15

poison ivy

K Anderson  24:17

Yes. Yes. Coming away with a rash on your ding dong.

Seth  24:21

That’d be fun.

K Anderson  24:22

It’s a life experience that everyone should have.

Seth  24:24

It’s like yeah, you got poison ivy but you also got to have sex in the woods. Exactly. Exactly. I’m seeing I’m seeing the appeal now. dirt under your fingernails and yeah, you feel one with nature. Yes.

K Anderson  24:36

That Yes. That’s what I’m trying to get at. You’re communing with nature. And yeah, orgasming

Seth  24:42

with it and well, and you plant your seed like you would in nature, you know, okay. All right. Well, that’s a bit on the nerves. Okay, sorry. I just took it right there.

K Anderson  24:53

But okay, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait till we’re leaving. The words we are not talking about the words again. Okay. until I get distracted and decide to text back then let’s go to Uncle Elizabeth’s. Okay. So when I was like, Hey, let’s have this conversation. Let’s talk about a last space. Why was Uncle Elizabeth’s the one? The one for you?

Seth  25:15

I mean, I loved going there. I just felt so comfortable being there. You know, once my one of my friends started bartending there, it was nice to be able to like, you know, get like a little shot here x, you know, that you’re not really paying for

K Anderson  25:32

seriously alcohol. That’s was basically

Seth  25:34

yes, that was cool. I was also like, I don’t know that maybe this is normal. But I was also super like, on the download, like trying to save money. So I would, you would get those like little $1 bottle shots, I would just like put them in my pocket or my coat pocket or something and bring them in. And then I would like lure people out there to out into the, into the patio to do shots with me.

K Anderson  25:55

Maybe didn’t say lower people. Like

Seth  25:59

it says innocent. We’re just drinking.

K Anderson  26:01

No, of course. But as soon as you said lower, I was like, Oh, hang on what?

Seth  26:07

It’s like, you know, you put the little bottle in front of them and get somebody on the treadmill.

K Anderson  26:11

Do you want? Yeah, it’s like that. I’m out here and have a drink with me. Yeah. And it was really

Seth  26:15

fun. Sorry if it sounded creepy.

K Anderson  26:20

But so are you the reason that they closed down because they weren’t selling any alcohol?

Seth  26:25

Yeah, well, I was drinking underage. Oh, yeah, I’m just kidding.

K Anderson  26:31

21 thing that I always get confused about?

Seth  26:33

I don’t know, I haven’t gotten there yet in my life. But yeah,

K Anderson  26:37

wait, you’ve already said your age. So I can’t cycle back on that.

Seth  26:41

No, I have a close down. Because I’m not exactly sure. I think it may have been something to do with financial situation. Maybe it just started like getting less and less busy. I’m not too sure.

K Anderson  26:55

So what was going on in your life at this time? So you said you just move back to Indiana, you were going to the five nights a week. I don’t know why I said five nights. You said every night. You’re going to the club just about every night and just about every night. Like what else was going on?

Seth  27:10

Oh, not much, really. And that was just it just hanging. Hanging out with my friends and drinking. Yeah, it was just a really fun time. And it was, it was a really fun time where I felt like I connected to my queerness a lot and got to really explore that a lot more.

K Anderson  27:27

And so you didn’t explore that. NLA Hmm,

Seth  27:31

not I don’t know. I mean, I would go to go to the bars. Sometimes I

K Anderson  27:36

do. But so then why were you not?

Seth  27:40

Why was I not generally accepted by the gay community in Los Angeles?

K Anderson  27:43

Well, I was gonna ask like, why did he not explore your queerness? More there? But yeah,

Seth  27:50

because Los Angeles is a very superficial town. Even more so than just you know, like being in Bloomington, Indiana. So it’s very much about looks, your job or whatever your social standing in the, in the community there.

K Anderson  28:07

And so did it just feel like fuck my drag?

Seth  28:11

Yeah, basically. I mean, why? Yeah, yeah. I mean, I felt that way just about being queer. A lot of my life just as someone who has generally been overweight and struggled with that, and not been accepted by the community. You know, growing up, I was into like punk rock music and pop punk and stuff like that. And not Madonna.

K Anderson  28:31

So just, I just want to say for the record, you can be into birth.

Seth  28:36

Oh, well, I am now. But like growing up, I thought being into punk music meant you could only listen to punk music.

K Anderson  28:43

Yeah. Isn’t that interesting? pigeonhole ourselves sometimes?

Seth  28:48

Yeah. But then I grew up and I was like, Oh, well, no, Lady Gaga is punk.

K Anderson  28:51

Wow, I didn’t know about.

Seth  28:54

I do. Really? I think so. Well, like early Gaga. Like she’s kind of like evolved a little bit different within like Joanne and chromatica. I like Joey I don’t know slander on joey. Oh, come

K Anderson  29:06

on. What’s it so good? Is it million reasons?

Seth  29:10

million reasons. It’s one of my least favourite songs. Okay, well, that’s awful. That is Oh, although I went we went and saw her in Vegas at her residency, her Enigma show. And for some reason, I was like, super. I was like, really emotional during that song when she performed it. So it’s like, kind of hit or miss for me.

K Anderson  29:28

Were you just dehydrated?

Seth  29:30

No, I’m a Pinot Grigio girl.

K Anderson  29:35

Right. What did Uncle Elizabeth’s teach you about yourself?

Seth  29:41

Um, it really well. It allowed me to space to make a whole like tight knit group of gay friends and allies. And it was really nice to be able to have that moment because it just really, I felt like I could be myself. I felt more confident in my queerness and And I became more like, oh, yeah, like, um, I don’t know what I’m trying to say. More out there. I guess maybe that’s what I’m trying to say.

K Anderson  30:09

Do you have any memories of Uncle Elizabeth’s, or clubbing from your own queer scene that you want to share? Well, if you do, please get in touch. I want to create the biggest online record of people’s memories and stories of queer clubbing, go to LA spaces podcast.com and find the section share a lost space. And tell me all about what you’ve got up to. You can also find me on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter has lost spaces apart. Follow Seth on Twitter at Pomo SEF fuel Do you see what he did there? That’s funny, right? Or listen to old episodes of thanks for coming wherever you find podcasts. Love spaces is not only a podcast, but a concept record as well. I have been writing songs about queer venues and the people who used to live their lives there and we’ll be releasing songs over the next year. You can hear the first single well groomed boys which is also playing underneath my talking all right, this very second on all good streaming platforms. If you enjoyed this episode, I would really appreciate if you subscribed, left a review on your podcast platform or just told people who you think might be interested in giving it a little listen to I am K Anderson and you have been listening to lost spaces