2010 Special Guests

Recipient of the 2004 Ferro-Grumley and Violet Quill awards for his first novel, Through It Came Bright Colors (Harrington Park Press), Trebor Healey is also the author of 5 poetry chapbooks and a collection of poems, Sweet Son of Pan, (Suspect Thoughts, 2006), as well as a short story collection, A Perfect Scar & Other Stories (Harrington Park Press, 2007).  He co-edited (with Marci Blackman) Beyond Definition: New Writing from Gay and Lesbian San Francisco (Manic D Press, 1994) and co-edited (with Amie M. Evans) Queer & Catholic
(Routledge, 2008). His short fiction and poetry were nominated for a 2008 Pushcart Prize. Trebor lives in LA where he is completing his new novel, Faun.


"As for Master Trebor, he is a ring-bearer, a torch carrier, the legitimate bastard son of an endless line of bastard sons howling in the wilderness--dating back through Lorca, Cavafy, Whitman, to Catullus, Strato and beyond. For as long as man is commanded to roam these sacred woods, somewhere, from some lone hilltop, licentious yet austere, this voice will ever be heard to howl. And Trebor is just this wolf. Hear his voice and tremble."

—Gavin Geoffrey Dillard,
author of The Naked Poet

Web Site

The first time I sang in front of an audience was in third grade at the chorus. I performed Song Sung Blue by Neil Diamond. I was so nervous I practically ate the microphone. I also started writing songs that year. I remember writing one about evolution with an upbeat almost jingle-like melody. It was like a commercial for Darwinism. Michael Jackson inspired me to start dancing lessons at 13 and by 15 I was teaching and performing with a break dancing crew called The Twin City Breakers.

Inspired by artists like The Beatles and Peter Gabriel I had also cultivated a love of songwriting. At 16 I quit high school to go after my dreams.  I formed a group and by the time I was 18 we signed a publishing/production/ management contract. We recorded a few demos and then made the round at record labels in NY. We got some interest and played a showcase for Electra records but didn’t get offered a recording deal. We signed a second publishing deal with Virgin Publishing. Again we made the rounds at record labels but still had no luck getting signed. Internal struggles prompted me to leave the band and form a new one. The new band OUCH was a heavy rock band with an alternative edge. We started playing out regularly and gaining popularity but after a couple years I lost my voice to nodules.

Three months after losing my voice I broke up with my partner of 4& ½ years. My plan was to get my voice back and move to New York City to further my career. Two weeks after the break up my ex broke into my mothers’ house and stabbed me. I needed a new start and moved to Rochester NY. I had voice surgery and started therapy. To deal with the loss of my ex-partner and the stabbing I started writing and recording under the pseudonym RanDm. I recorded five CDs under this name which have never been released.
 
While living in Rochester I attended a drag show at local night spot called Club Marcella . Since it was a creative outlet and would allow me to perform in front of an audience I decided to give drag a try. After moving back to Buffalo a year later I won the Miss Gay Buffalo Pageant.  My voice started to come back and I continued to write. A friend of mine gave my demo to Robert Cliviles from C&C Music Factory who inquired if he could use one of my songs for a girl group he was putting together. After traveling back and forth to New York and working on the song for 9 months he dropped the girl group and the song. I released my first CD Radar with the song on it myself in 1997.

In 2000 I was approached to be a drag performer in a movie about the city I grew up in called WhereInTheHellIsNorthTonanwanda?. I was inspired by the title and wrote a theme song which I presented to the film makers. They liked the song so much that they asked me to score the entire film and in 2001 I released the soundtrack.  Over the next few years I recorded music, and continued to do drag. A friend of mine from the Bear group I was in started an internet site for bear musicians called Bear Radio and offered me an outlet for my material. In 2004 after hearing my music on Bear Radio, Freddy Freeman asked me to perform in his Bear music event Bearapalooza in NY City. It was a blast and I decided to perform at more bear runs and events.

Later that year I was contacted by Greg Hudson from the Bear music record label Woobie Bear Music to use one of my songs for a bear music compilation called Bear Tracks. After appearing on two of these compilations Greg came up with the idea of putting together a retrospective of my material called Rekindled which was then soon released.  In 2004-05 I released two EPs back to back –Plain White Wrapper & Aint Love Queer. While touring and promoting ,The Booty Song from Plain White Wrapper made it to the number 1 position on Sirius Out Q Satellite Radio.

After playing at many bear runs and Bearapalooza events I was asked by singer/songwriter Shannon Grady if I wanted to be a part of a three week U.S bears tour with five other performers. I immediately said yes and became part of the Bears on the Run tour.  Before touring with Bears on the Run I released the music video Bears. During the tour the video took off on YouTube and gained attention through various internet sources and sites. When I returned to Buffalo I was contacted by LOGO Television which is the Gay cable network owned by MTV Networks. They wanted Bears for their programming and it aired on their music video show NEWNOWNEXT.

In 2008 I released Making Love to the Radio, a collection of songs known mostly through the music videos on YouTube. The CD including Bears, Heterosexual Sex and Hip Hop Dykes which won for best video at The Rochester Gay and Lesbian Film Festival. The video was co-directed by friend and artist Brutus known for his years of illustration work with Bear Magazine. In May of 2008 I went on two consecutive east coast tours, first with Bears on the Run and then a week later with Bearapalooza. I returned home to have my place of employment for the last ten years file chapter seven and decided to work on my new CD Truth Changes.

These are a few of the publications I have appeared in:
100% Beef
Unzipped
Voices
HX
Bear Magazine
Out Magazine
Outcome

 

Mr. Russell has performed for the past 30 years throughout the United 
States and the Bahamas, as a featured magician, at Renaissance Faires 
and historical events, at comedy clubs and murder mystery shows, and as 
a historical magician at Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia. As a 
specialist in antiquarian magic, "William the Conjuror" entertains a 
wide variety of audiences in historical costume and shares his love of 
history, as well as his quick wit, bawdy humor (when encouraged), and 
master manipulative skill. Mr. Russell is a graduate of the Chavez 
College of Magic and Showmanship.