Additional Info on Madeline Davis:

In March of 2004, I revisited Madeline as an interview subject. For the 2000 QMH show I was fairly new at doing radio and was not technically able to interview by telephone, so I interviewed her "by email," and just described her answers. I decided that her interview was just too important to not go back and, as they say, do it right. On March 19, 2004, we spoke for about 65 minutes and her answers were wonderful. She's a great story-teller and talker. From our talk I edited the material three ways, all of which you can hear now. As I frequently contribute to This Way Out, I submitted an 8-minute segment, which aired the week of 5/3/04, on their 150+ stations. And expanded version, 20 minutes, aired the next week on the Houston show I co-host, Queer Voices, and I'm also sharing with you a 39 minute version, with very little editing. It's worth hearing those extra comments.

Click to hear the segment for This Way Out (8 min)
Click to hear the Queer Voices segment (20 min)
Click to hear the mostly unedited version (39 min)

Also, a year or so ago I was able to obtain the original 45 rpm record of Madeline's "Stonewall Nation." This is slightly different than the version that appeared on her 1983 cassette, both musically and lyrically. So, I'm also posting both sides of the 45 so you can hear that historic record, the first "gay liberation" 45.

Click to hear "Stonewall Nation"
Click to hear "On the Steps of the Capitol, 1971"
and also, you can Click Here to compare the 1983 version of "Stonewall Nation"

I thank her again for giving such a terrific interview. Oh, and also a reminder that in the last few months I've added a page of magazine articles about her, most from the 70s, Click to go there.

June 2009: I love it when my site yields a very personal response from one of my visitors. It colors in the human aspect of our history and the role our music sometimes plays. Thanks to James for allowing me to share his comments.

JD

I am a native New Yorker. In 1969 I was 16y/o - worried about the Draft, worried about life after High School and aware of the fact that I was "different" from other people I knew.

I had a cream colored transistor radio that played both AM and FM which had been given to me by my parents as a birthday present. That radio went everywhere with me - I even did my homework while listening to the Top 40. I enjoyed the radio and the music - but the every half hour news segment would always bring me back to reality - more dead soldiers, more anti-war demonstrations, more people displaced...

It was, as I have said, 1969 - one day while listening to the news, I heard that "Homosexuals" had rioted the night before at The Stonewall in the Village - in my hometown, NYC. What that meant for me was that I was not alone - and at that point I began to feel optimistic in regards to the future.
By 1971 I was participating in demonstrations and marches as well as being involved in the establishment of a newly created college student club for Gay Rights!

I heard Madeline Davis sing "Stonewall Nation" at one of the early rallies. The song profoundly moved me - "we're gonna be ourselves and show it!". I bought a copy of the 45rpm at the Oscar Wilde Memorial Bookstore located on the same street as The Stonewall. I played that single over and over again. The collective vision of a Stonewall Nation was something I wanted to see happen in my life-time! Fast forward to 2009 - we are now celebrating the 40 years Anniversary of the Stonewall Riots - the riots that made way for a Gay revolution - "the Stonewall Nation is gonna have it's liberation - wait and see, wait and see!".

At some point in my life - I misplaced the 45 - despite the fact that the song is etched in my mind and spirit - I have for many years tried to find a copy - never successful - until now.
Believe me - I'm deeply moved to hear the song again.

Thank you so much for allowing me to hear it and re-experience my personal feelings & remembrances that are triggered by the gutsy spirit of this historic song - a testimonial of our historic struggle for our civil rights and for the birth of a collective Gay and Lesbian nation.

Sincerely;
James Hanlon

Photo by John Carocci. Front, l-r: Madeline Davis, Wendy Smiley, Penny Johnson. Back, l-r: Brenda Walsh, Marge Maloney, Robbie Butler, Deb Koehler, Jacqueline Walp, Camille Hopkins, and Julie Carter. Taken June 1 at the 2019 Dyke March, Buffalo, New York.

Photo from a recent (June 2019) feature article at QweenCity.com. They used a lot of my images
so thought using theirs was fair. Read the Article.

New York Times obituary for Madeline, with (yay) a mention of "Queer Music Heritage"
on 6/18/21. She passed on 4/28/21, age 80, a pioneer indeed.