The Pope is on the guest list
Jens Balzer:
Baby Dee, on the day of your Berlin gig in Berghain, there is another prominent visitor in town: the Pope! What do you think of him? Do you have any feelings - positive or negative - towards him and the Catholic (Christian) church in general?
Baby Dee:
To be honest I haven't paid too much attention to the Pope. Probably no more than he's paid attention to me. But I told my booking agent to make sure that we leave a complimentary ticket for him at the door. My only concern is that he might get confused and end up in the basement (editor: Berghains gay sex club Lab.oratory) by mistake. That could be bad!
Jens Balzer:
Are you a religious person? Are there any differences between religion and clergy (organized religion) for you?
Baby Dee:
I'm a buddhist.
If you've been to a show of mine you probably know that I sometimes poke fun at various religions but I like to think there's no malice there. After all, If there were no organized religion there'd be no Martin Luther King's, no Mother Theresa's, no Malcom X's, no Dalaii Lama's... no wonderful stories of Saints like my favorite Saint Blaize. Who went to hide in the forest and while he was there would heal the animals who would come to him if they got sick or hurt. But the animals were so innately gracious that they would quietly wait outside his cave because they didn't want to disturb him during his prayers. And that's how his tormentors found him. They just followed the animals waiting outside his cave. I think that's a sweet story.
If you really want to know how I feel about it you'll have to come to the show and hear me sing Fresh Out of Candles.
Jens Balzer:
In our last conversation, you told me that in the 80s - after you had made your living by harping in a bear's costume in New York and Paris - you worked in a New York church as choir director and organist. What kind of a church was that?
Baby Dee:
That was a wonderful place. And yes, it was a catholic church.
Jens Balzer:
What did you exactly do there? Did you play at the Sunday services? What kind of music did you study and play?
Baby Dee:
Yes, I played the organ and directed three choirs and taught music to the children in the elementary school that was attached to the church.
I had become obsessed with Gregorian music and renaissance music and becoming an organist of course I also became obsessed with Bach. Later there came the realities of having to connect with kids. Because children should have nothing but the best (as so should I) this compelled me to go to other places musically like gospel, of course, and also I got heavily involved in the music of Santeria, a hugely intricate and nuanced tradition of sacred drumming song and dance distilled from it's African roots into an absolute nectar of musical depth and beauty. The kids adored that stuff and so did I. (And don't tell the Pope but so did my boss, the pastor of that church)
Jens Balzer:
What kind of religious music do you like best and why? Is your own music influenced by religious music (or lyrics) in any way?
Baby Dee:
My favorite musical forms are the chorale prelude and the parody mass. Bach and Palestrina were the pretty much undisputed masters of those two very similar ways of presenting a song. I think anybody familiar with those arcane forms would probably recognize them in my work. I hope so anyway. Also it's true there are biblical references. What can I say? Nobody's perfect. Even the Pope quotes the Bible on occasion.
Jens Balzer:
What was it like to work in a church as a transsexual person? How did they treat you?
Baby Dee:
This is interesting. And perhaps my answer will surprise you. I really loved my boss up there in the south bronx. He was kind. He was smart. He had taste. He had tact. There were some things he was intolerant of but none of them had anything to do with sex or gender. He hated meanness in any form and he also hated shitty music. And his mandate to me was that he wanted me to do something really special for the kids up there and never ever ever let anyone play or sing or listen to ANY crap music in his church. For me, at that point in my life? -- the perfect job!
It was over the course of the ten years I worked there that I struggled to sort out the gender problem. I am always astonished at how little I understood about myself for the first 35 years of my life. When I finally came to terms with my impending girlhood (ouch! how scary is that for a 35 year old "male"?) the first person I discussed it with apart from my shrink was that wonderful man, a catholic priest.
He did everything he could to help. But there was no way I was going to try to "transition" on THAT job. Besides, ORGANISTS ARE SO UNFABULOUS! It was time for a change in more ways than one.
There are two kinds of transsexuals. I define them as "the fabulous" and "the unfabulous" I'll admit to a little bit of backsliding into frump and dowdiness but I still like to think of my self as one of the former. And though you couldn't possibly find a more humble and unlikely place of arising for a diva than mine was, a choir loft...
"Here I am." (and that's a quote from the bible)
Jens Balzer:
If I remember correctly, you told me last time, that you took the money you earned in the church to change your gender. Is that right? How did people react?
Baby Dee:
Well, I suppose it's true that yes, I financed my gender reassignment surgery with the money I made playing weddings and funerals. You don't want to know how many people have to die and get married for such a thing to become financially feasible. An astronomical amount of death and matrimony!
How did people react? Actually that's kind of interesting. Especially when I got home from the hospital and my message machine was full of calls from organists looking for somebody to sub for them. I called one back and said, "Maybe there's something you should know..." and explained the situation. His reply was "Well, they didn't cut off your fingers did they?" So I put on my Sunday best dress and took the subway up to Spanish Harlem and did the gig -- a Nicaraguan wedding. Neither the bride nor any of her bridesmaids could have been taller than four feet with their heels on. I'm over six feet with MY heels on. And I was understandably self-conscious about that until I realized that to a Nicaraguan girl ALL AMERICAN CHICKS LOOK LIKE MONSTERS! So I relaxed and had a ball.
Jens Balzer:
In Berlin there's a big protest wave against the Pope's visit, organized by gay/lesbian/queer/transsexual people. They don't want him to speak in front of the German parliament, because he is so hostile against everybody who's not heterosexual. Do you think they are right? Or to put it different: If you would be German chancellor, would you invite the Pope to your parliament?
Baby Dee:
If I were the German chancellor I'd invite the Pope home to meet my girlfriend. Hooray! Thanks for making me chancellor and introducing me to the Holy Father.
Jens Balzer:
You already played Berghain last year, so let me ask: Many people who visit the club for the first time describe it as a "cathedral" and the Berghain experience as a "religious" or "spiritual experience". Can you relate to that?
Baby Dee:
To be honest, the last time I played here I had pneumonia and was so sick I hardly remember anything. So I think of the Berghain as more of a hospital than a cathedral.
Jens Balzer:
Do you think visiting the Berghain would turn the Pope into a more spiritual person
Baby Dee:
I don't know about spiritual but I could see it having a powerful effect on his personality and character. It would be bound to increase his social skills in ways he'd never dreamed of. Also I think he'd be pleasantly surprised at the way the people who come to my shows love liturgical music. I almost always sing a couple of my favorite hymns.
The Song of Self Acceptance (I'm not the only crack whore in the den)
The Song of God's Great Plan (He's gonna fry your fat ass in hell)and everybody's favorite Catholic hymn
You Must Not Pee in the House of God (unless it's an emergency)
interview: Jenz Balzer for the Berliner Zeitung
The Pope is on the guest list
Jens Balzer interviews Baby Dee for the Berliner Zeitung,
September 21, 2011
original version in German:
Der Papst steht auf der Gästeliste (pdf)