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He used both “Ray” and “Ray” professionally and “Ray” in his personal life. You might remember him for an album he did in the 50s called “Take a Look at My Operation” released when he created a sex change hoax. (In reality, he had an operation for cancer and was trying to get LA cops off his back that were arresting him for dressing as a woman onstage.) Randy On Tue, Mar 5, 2019 at 10:06 PM Clark Johnsen <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > I think I recall some of those weird albums, but wasn't it > Rae Bourbon > > ? > > On Tue, Mar 5, 2019 at 9:31 PM Randy A. Riddle <[log in to unmask]> > wrote: > > > I'm reaching out to members of ARSC that might be familiar with > > archival reissues of cd material. > > > > You may be aware of my work with Old Time Radio transcriptions > > (https://randsesotericotr.podbean.com), but I've been working for 25 > > years on another research project that's drawing more of my attention. > > > > I've been researching the life and work of pioneering pre-Stonewall > > gay performer Ray (aka Rae) Bourbon. > > > > During his long career, which extended from 1910s vaudeville and > > silent movies to nightclubs in the 1960s, Ray self-published dozens of > > 78 rpm records and over a dozen lp records. > > > > https://raebourbon.com > > > > In the 1990s, I networked with other collectors and got copies of most > > of Ray's recordings. While I was able to get some material direct to > > digital, a great deal came from second and third-hand cassette dubs. > > I uploaded the tracks to archive.org some time ago. > > > > Recently, there has cropped up the possibility of a film project based > > on my research on Ray. At the same time, I've been networking with > > collectors to get new direct-to-digital transfers of all of Ray's > > known work - about nine hours worth - and am in the process of working > > on audio restorations of the tracks. > > > > Originally, I was pulling together these new transfers to donate to an > > archives along with all of my original research material and > > memorabilia about Ray. Recently, with the possibility of film project > > that might come to fruition, I'm wondering if it's worth pursuing a > > commercial release of all or some of the material. > > > > The recordings range from the mid-1930s to 1965, and show Ray's > > routines and songs evolving over time. I know they would be of value > > to researchers on pre-Stonewall Gay performers and culture and to fans > > of this type of material, but I'm wondering if the interest might be a > > little broader than that because of the breadth and depth of the > > collection. > > > > I'm interested in getting some advice from list members that have done > > reissues, mainly about the logistics involved and possible forms a > > release might take, either from an existing reissue label interested > > in the material to a Kickstarter to a digital only release. > > > > Please contact me off-list if you could offer some opinions and advice > > on this and I can send you some background info and some questions I'm > > mulling over. > > > > Many thanks! > > > > Randy > > > > -- > > > > Randy A. Riddle > > Mebane, NC > > www.coolcatdaddy.com > > [log in to unmask] > > > -- Randy A. Riddle Mebane, NC www.coolcatdaddy.com [log in to unmask]