Alix Dobkin
Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox musical artist
Alix Cecil Dobkin<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> (August 16, 1940 – May 19, 2021)<ref name=Maxwell>Template:Cite news</ref> was an American folk singer-songwriter, memoirist, and lesbian feminist activist. In 1979, she was the first American lesbian feminist musician to do a European concert tour.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Early life
Dobkin was born in New York City into a Jewish Communist family, named after her uncle Alix who died fighting against the fascists in the Spanish Civil War. She was raised in Philadelphia and Kansas City.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Dobkin graduated from Germantown High School in 1958 and the Tyler School of Art with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1962.
Career
Dobkin began her career by performing on the Greenwich Village coffeehouse scene in 1962.<ref name=Laarhoven /> She played with greats like Bob Dylan and Buffy Sainte-Marie.<ref name=Laarhoven /><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Starting in 1973, she released a number of albums as well as a songbook and toured throughout the U.S., Canada, England, Scotland, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand promoting lesbian culture and community through women's music.
Dobkin and Kay Gardner founded the band Lavender Jane in the early 1970s. It was notable for being one of the first openly lesbian bands. They released Lavender Jane Loves Women, which was one of the first albums produced entirely by lesbians.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Dobkin enjoyed a small and devoted audience, has been called a "women's music legend" by Spin Magazine, "pithy" by The Village Voice, "Biting...inventive... imaginative" by New Age Journal, "uncompromising" in the New York Times Magazine, and "a troublemaker" by the FBI. She gained some unexpected fame in the 1980s when comedians such as David Letterman and Howard Stern tracked down her Lavender Jane Loves Women album, and began playing phrases from the song "View From Gay Head" on the air. By the 21st century, Dobkin had ceased writing and recording new material, but continued to tour until her death, stating she had "lost interest" and that writing her memoir had "sucked up all the creativity."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
In 1977, she became an associate of the American nonprofit publishing organization Women's Institute for Freedom of the Press (WIFP).<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Dobkin was a member of the OLOC (Old Lesbians Organizing for Change) Steering Committee.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Her 2009 memoir, My Red Blood, was published by Alyson Books.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Activism
Dobkin spoke about women-only spaces and protectionsTemplate:Which for lesbian women. She was a vocal critic of the inclusion of trans women in women-only spaces. In one letter to the National Center for Lesbian Rights, she asserted, "For over twenty years men have declared themselves 'women,' manipulated their bodies and then demanded the feminist seal of approval from survivors of girlhood.... [My lyrics] are not 'oppressive' but refer to those of us who have a girlhood & a clitoris, & no one else."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Her criticisms of postmodernism,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }} (Originally published in Outlines.)</ref> sadomasochism,<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> the transgender rights movement,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and other movements appeared in several of her written columns, such as "Minstrel Blood."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Her article "The Emperor's New Gender" appeared in the feminist journal off our backs in 2000.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Personal life
In 1965 she married Sam Hood, who ran the Gaslight Cafe in Greenwich Village.<ref name="Laarhoven">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> They moved to Miami and opened The Gaslight South folk club,<ref name=Laarhoven /> but moved back to New York in 1968.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Their daughter Adrian was born two years later, and the following year the marriage broke up. A few months later, Dobkin came out as a lesbian, which was uncommon for a public personality to do at the time. She met partner Liza Cowan when performing on the latter's radio show in New York. The meeting was subsequently described as "love at first sight" and the two women came out as a couple and moved in together in 1971, residing with Dobkin's daughter Adrian.<ref name=Maxwell />
Dobkin suffered a brain aneurysm on April 29, 2021, and was subsequently admitted to Westchester Medical Center. She was taken off life support on May 11 and discharged on May 17.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> She died at home surrounded by family on Wednesday, May 19, 2021. The cause of death was cited as a brain aneurysm and stroke.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> At the time of her death, Dobkin lived in Woodstock, New York.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> She is survived by her daughter Adrian, a brother and a sister, three grandchildren, and nieces and nephews. A memorial service was held for her in the summer of 2021.<ref name=Ring>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
Discography
Albums
- Lavender Jane Loves Women (1973)
- Living with Lesbians (1975)
- Xx Alix (1980)
- These Women (1986)
- Yahoo Australia! Live from Sydney (1990)
- Love & Politics (compilation, 1992)
- Living with Lavender Jane (CD re-release of first two albums, 1998)
Published works
- (Not Just A Songbook) (1978)
- Alix Dobkin's Adventures in Women's Music (1979)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
- My Red Blood: A Memoir of Growing Up Communist, Coming Onto the Greenwich Village Folk Scene, and Coming Out in the Feminist Movement (2009)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
References
External links
- Alix Dobkin
- Ladyslipper Music: Alix Dobkin
- Queer Music Heritage: Alix Dobkin
- Papers of Alix Dobkin, 1973–2004 (inclusive), 1979–1995 (bulk): A Finding Aid, Schlesinger Library, Harvard University
- Audiotape collection of Alix Dobkin, 1975–1995: A Finding Aid, Schlesinger Library, Harvard University
- Alix Dobkin interviewed by Sarah Dunn, April 2, 2011, Special Collections, Smith College
- 1940 births
- 2021 deaths
- 20th-century American LGBTQ people
- 21st-century American LGBTQ people
- 21st-century American Jews
- 21st-century American women writers
- Deaths from intracranial aneurysm
- American women singer-songwriters
- Singer-songwriters from New York (state)
- American folk singers
- American critics of postmodernism
- Lesbian singers
- American lesbian musicians
- Singers from Philadelphia
- American LGBTQ rights activists
- American LGBTQ singers
- American LGBTQ songwriters
- Lesbian Jews
- American Ashkenazi Jews
- Jewish American musicians
- Jewish American feminists
- Lesbian feminists
- Temple University Tyler School of Art alumni
- Radical feminists
- Jewish folk singers
- Lesbian songwriters
- Women's music
- Lesbian memoirists
- American feminist musicians
- Singer-songwriters from Pennsylvania
- American lesbian writers
- Memoirists from New York (state)
- Gender-critical feminists