OUR INTERVIEW WITH A TRANSGENDER MUSICIAN VENTURES INTO LOCAL POLITICS

Ester Mars c. 2013

 A perverted mailout directed at our first openly-gay candidate for the City Commission, Roy de los Santos, with the fact that this is LGBTQ+ Pride Month as proclaimed by Joseph R. Biden, Jr. has added to the discussion in Brownsville of sexual orientation issues particularly in our local music scene.

Told that we actually had a local musician mocking and satirizing  transgenders with his lyrics, I decided to interview Chris Vicious of the Sex Objects, until someone suggested a more objective interviewee within the LGBTQ+ community, a musician pictured above, Esther Mars.

Mars' Facebook self-description reads "Non-Binary/Gender NonConforming, Queer, Trans, Plant-Based Musician" from McAllen.  Our interview follows:

Barton:  Hi. . .My name is Jim Barton, publisher of the Brownsville Observer.  I'm doing a story that may get into alternative music in Brownsville, specifically Chris Vicious AKA Sex Objects. . . I'm told you might have an opinion on this artist.  If not, OK. . . . ???

Mars:  What's this piece gonna be about?

Barton:  not totally decided. . . but, I'm curious about reaction to what Chris does.  I'm not promoting or condemning.

Mars:  He offends people and is a sorry excuse for a punk musician.  It's Pride Month.  He doesn't deserve any more light to be shed on his idea of art.  We were grieving over the Pulse massacre when he did his thing.

Barton:  Is it his musicianship or his point of view you find objectionable?

Mars:  Have you seen the YouTube video?  He tries too hard to be something he knows nothing about.  Musicianship?  He bad mouthed the sound guy that night at the bar.  He has no musicianship in my opinion and you can quote me on that.

Barton:  I understand.  . . So you don't see  humor or satire, irony in what he does?

Mars:  I hope his band mates realize that isn't what punk stands for.  

Back in the day they used to wrap gay men in rugs and light them on fire.  

Resembling a cigarette or "fag" there is no humor in the oppression of gay men and women.  

Barton:  I get it, wasn't exactly sure how he would be viewed.  

Chris Vicious

Mars:  The only thing he is doing is acting a fool.  He's trying to be part of a subculture the easiest way he knows how, and that's to exploit it.

Everyone is making fun of him.  No one likes him or his music.  He's a joke.

Barton:  OK. . . are you willing to describe your music, not stereotyping it, but just how it represents. Do you have anything coming up in Brownsville?

Mars:  My music come from an actual place of oppression.  Being a queer trans brown person from the border.  My music stems from years of dealing with anxiety, depression and trauma.  It's healing for me and gives me a chance to express myself while connecting with people that face similar struggles. 

Barton:  Yes, got it.

Mars:  Fantastico doesn't have any shows in Brownsville but we are playing GRASSFED Fest in July.  

Barton:  The polar opposite of Chris, maybe.  OK. .GRASSFED, will look that up.

Mars:  What Chris does I don't see as music or art, just attention seeking and in bad taste.

Barton:  Appreciate your clarity and thanks for the link to GRASSFED.

Mars:  I'm actually managing a second "daytime" stage for that show.  Fantastico, OK Robot and Ruben Farias will be playing.   OK Robot is indie rock.  Fantastico, which is my band, is indie, punk/rock and Ruben Farias is acoustic punk.

Barton:  Thanks for your input.  

Mars:  There's a political figure in Brownsville running for a spot and she sent out homophobic mailers that targeted the other candidate for office.

Barton:  Yes, I did that story.  The candidates are Roy de los Santos and Jessica Puente Bradshaw.  I've also done other stories, getting in trouble with the semantics, transgender/transvestite.  

Mars:  We don't say transvestite anymore.

Barton:  I tried to explain that while I can clearly see the alternative clothing I'm not qualified to make a decision on the psychology behind it.

Mars:  You don't have to be qualified to respect someone's decision to be who they were born to be.

And that's the fight right there.

Barton:  We have a new gay club in Brownsville, the Bar-B.  

Mars:  Oh, I've heard of it.

Barton:  Please let me know if you're coming to Brownsville.  I would like to check out your act.

Mars:  OK