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Essays

Re-Litigating Spike x Buffy

This week, Sara Mae of The Noisy and music journalist Jonah Evans dissect Sara Mae's recent album, The Secret Ingredient is Even More Meat, and it's links to Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Here's Sara Mae's introduction to the conversation and track-by-track guide to the album.

I’m Sara Mae and I’m the front person of Philly band, The Noisy. I started watching Buffy for the first time when I was living alone in Baltimore in 2020. It was the only thing that gave me hope that year, engaging in this tradition of the people I loved who loved Buffy first. It was my way of sharing something with them even if we didn’t talk all the time. In that way it connected me with artists I admired who were also inspired by Buffy (and this list is still growing!). I watched Buffy be ridiculous and funny while staring down the barrel of true despair and never giving up, never ceasing her fight for the soul of Sunnydale.

I think there are also really meaningful implications about her staying rooted in Sunnydale, being accountable to a small town, and trying to save the world through saving her immediate, local community. I didn’t anticipate that on The Secret Ingredient is More Meat I would turn back again and again to the supernatural and the monstrous for its visual universe— vampires, half-human half-birds, witches, Catholic mythology, even a sort of cookie monster on the new Tony Soprano… I like the framework of a monster of the week which structures the show and obviously at the risk of being too cute, this album does examine a lot of my inner demons.

My poem about Buffy is actually the closer of my chapbook, published with YesYes this spring, Phantasmagossip. I thanked Sarah Michelle Gellar in the acknowledgements! Despite the BTS legacy of the show being one of Joss Whedon’s abuses, the women of the show and the stories they embodied were bigger than him. I still turn to Buffy when it’s fall or when I need to feel some hope about humanity. As I prepared to drop my deluxe album, The Secret Ingredient is Even More Meat to drop, I am going back nightly to cook pumpkin soup while Buffy is on, to plan album release things while Buffy is on, to fall asleep while Buffy is on. Its goofy horror and its heart are essential parts of the rhythm of my life.

Read the rest here!

Rainbow Rodeo Vol. 6

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This Is Happening Tomorrow!

This Week (And Last Week) on Rainbow Rodeo

INTERVIEW: The Bootstrap Boys Process Grief and Fight Fascists
The Bootstrap Boys stop by to speak with us about staying true to themselves, what they look for in country singers, and honoring the loss of founding guitarist Nick Alexander as they move towards the future.
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INTERVIEW: Josaleigh Pollett Invites Us to Love the Questions
INTERVIEW: Indie artist Josaleigh Pollett views life as a serious of opportunities rather than obstacles, inviting us to revel in the deep questions.
Rainbow RodeoRachel Cholst
INTERVIEW: Kennedy Shaw
Kennedy Shaw’s music is a perfectly balanced confection of earnestness and acidity. In our interview, Shaw reflects on small victories, her musical influences, and how rock’n’roll literally saved her life.
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INTERVIEW: Boy Golden Contemplates The Best of Our Possible Lives
In our interview, Boy Golden discusses his relationship with religion, relationships, and forming a tight collaboration with artist Cat Clyde -- all while digging deeper into his new album Best of Our Possible Lives.
Rainbow RodeoRachel Cholst
Rainbow Ruckus 2/25: Sweet Petunia, Jesse Blake Rundle, Rio Romeo, and More!
This week’s Rainbow Ruckus features toxic white boys, puke, cosmic country post-apocalyptic prophecies, religious trauma, and terminal lovesick blues. We like to keep it light!
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PREMIERE: Jessye DeSilva Exudes “Punk Rock Joy” and Announces New Album
PREMIERE: Jessye DeSilva’s joyfully defiant “Punk Rock Joy” is a preview of her upcoming -- and vital -- album Glitter Up the Dark.
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Rainbow Ruckus 3/3: Cat Clyde, Aaron Lee Tasjan, Andrew Mitch, and More!
This week’s Rainbow Ruckus features takedowns of the patriarchy, sexy protests against extractive capitalism, confronting mortality, and two devastating breakup songs. It’s country music, after all!
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Wren Carpenter - Charmed, I’m Sure
Bee Delores proclaims Wren Carpenter “a beautiful force of nature” on their EP of sparkling demos Charmed, I’m Sure.
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BERTHA -- Slayin’ In The Band Vol. 1
There’s being in a band playing covers, and there’s being in a cover band. Steve Roberts explains how BERTHA: The Grateful Drag lives up to the Dead’s brilliance and panache.
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Rainbow Roundup

Fundraisers

So many of the artists we feature here rely on shows like Mountain Stage and Tiny Desk to get the word out. If, like me, you live in a major city with a large donor base, your station is probably fine. So maybe adopt a station that's had more than 70% of its budget slashed? I'm choosing Allegheny Mountain Radio just because it fits the theme.

  • Kamara Thomas, who is a co-organizer of Southern Soul Songbook, needs support as she recovers from Stage 3 breast cancer
  • Color Me Country is seeking to raise $202,000 to support BIPOC artists with travel grants and more. Donate here.

Need a Protest Song Mixed?

Artist and Rainbow Rodeo contributor Arend Lee Jessurun has this offer for artists:

I'm looking to get back into the production/mixing/mastering game since a bit of a hiatus for health. I'm starting to better manage my energy with fibromyalgia, and I'm a bit antsy to do more of the work I love. And I'd especially love to work with other queers!
Also, if you've got protest music for these times, I'd love to produce, mix, and/or master it for cheap, even for free if I can swing it. If you're unfamiliar with my work and studio, check it out here.

Need a Free Guitarist For That Protest Song?

Events

I make this list by scrolling through Instagram and Threads (and occasionally Bluesky when you all post there.) Feel free to send me events by replying to this e-mail!

  • 3/6 (Brooklyn, NY) – Rainbow Rodeo Live! returns to Branded Saloon with Emily Frembgen, Christian Rutledge, jackfruit, and Robert Bock
  • 3/7 (Nashville, TN) – Nashville's Gay Ole Opry returns to The Basement with Lizzie No, Lonely Hunter, Lauren Horbal, and Again and Again
  • 3/15 (Austin, TX) – Outlaw PrideFest kicks off SWSW
  • 3/16 (Austin, TX) – Neon Rainbows has its own showcase at SXSW
  • 3/17 - 3/21 (NYC, Baltimore, Durham, Mars Hill University) – Allison de Groot & Tatiana Hargreaves will be recording love at these shows
  • 3/26 (Nashville, TN) – The Cowgays sing the national anthem at the Preds' Pride Night!
  • 3/26 (Kingston, NY) – The Unicorn hosts a queer honky tonk night with the Hudson Valley Flyers
  • 3/27 - 4/18 (Midwest, Northeast) – Olivia Ellen Lloyd is on tour!
  • 4/2 (Durham, NC) – Amelia Riggs, Dino, and Alli Blois play Rubies on Five Points
  • 4/23 - 4/26 (New Orleans, LA) – Loose Cattle, Ani DiFranco, Joy Clark, and a whole lot more play the first weekend of Jazz Fest. The Alabama Shakes and Lilli Lewis plays the second weekend – 4/30 - 5/3. Someone send me on assignment!!!
  • 6/5 - 6/7 (Olympia, WA) – Trans Trad Fest returns!

Artist Resources

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