Almost 35 years after the B-52s formed, the seemingly ageless group is still kicking it. Openly gay Keith Strickland and his fellow B-52s colleagues Fred Schneider (also gay), Kate Pierson and Cindy Wilson will perform at Chastain Park next week alongside Blondie, combining classics hits such as “Love Shack” with newer material.
Although the band still tours regularly, they decided a few years back to do a new album.
“I think the idea was to come up with ideas to sing live,” says Strickland. “We needed new material and just decided to do it.”
The story of a young, African-American Christian woman who grapples with her identity and eventually falls in love with another woman is the basic premise for the movie “Genderblind,” showing at this year’s Black Gay Pride.
But what filmmaker, artist and dancer LaNita Joseph, 27, didn’t know when she made “Genderblind” is the somewhat large controversy that would surround her small-budget movie.
“It’s become so controversial. I didn’t realize it would be that way,” says Joseph, who wrote, produced and directed the film.