| Justin Vivian Bond | |
|---|---|
Bond in Shortbus |
|
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Justin Bond |
| Born | May 9, 1963 Hagerstown, Maryland |
| Genres | Alternative, cabaret |
| Occupations | Singer-songwriter, drag queen |
| Instruments | Vocals |
| Years active | 1989-present |
| Associated acts | Kiki and Herb |
| Website | http://www.justinbond.com |
Justin Vivian Bond (born May 9, 1963), formerly simply Justin Bond, is an American singer-songwriter, performance artist, occasional actor and Radical Faerie. Described as a "fixture of the New York avant-garde",[1] Bond arose to notability playing the role of Kiki DuRayne in the drag cabaret act Kiki and Herb from the early 1990s through to 2004. Born physically male, Bond is transgender and eschews gender-specific honorifics and pronouns, preferring "Mx." and "V" respectively.[2]
Born in Hagerstown, Maryland, Bond went on to study theater at Adelphi University before moving to San Francisco after graduating in 1985. It was here that v met Kenny Mellman, and they began a cabaret act together, which would eventually lead to them creating the characters of Kiki and Herb. Bond designed Kiki to be an elderly alcoholic woman who would perform covers of pre-existing songs in her own distinct style. Bond decided to bring an end to the Kiki character in 2004, subsequently embarking on a solo career, and starring in John Cameron Mitchell's film Shortbus (2006) as vself before releasing vs first EP, Pink Slip (2009), and then an album, Dendrophile (2011). That same year also saw the publication of a memoir, entitled Tango: My Childhood Backwards and in High Heels.
Bond self describes vs voice as being "kind of woody and full with a lot of vibration".[3] For vs musical work, Bond has received numerous accolades including the Obie Award (2001), Bessie Award (2004), and Ethyl Eichelberger Award (2007). Bond was also nominated for a Tony Award in 2007.
Contents |
Growing up in the remote suburbs of Hagerstown, Maryland, Bond's experiences with being queer began at an early age. In 1969, Bond began attending elementary school, where v first became aware that v was unlike the other little boys, preferring to play with the girls, causing some concern from his teachers, who deemed it to be abnormal behavior.[4] It was during the first grade that v began wearing his mother's lipstick, something which she put a stop to as soon as she found out.[5]
Bond has described feeling "invisible" in high school.[6] The local Church of the Brethren served as an early creative outlet, where Bond sang in the youth choir.[6] Bond was active in community theater, performing in Brigadoon, Kiss Me, Kate, and The Sound of Music with the Potomac Playmakers. Bond began voice lessons at age 13. Bond pursued a theater degree at Adelphi University, graduated in 1985, and later moved to New York City.[6]
"Kiki and Herb met in the Eerie Childrens Institute in Western Pennsylvania in 1934. By the time they were in their late teens they were playing professionally on the Burlesque Circuit where Kiki, who had just given birth to her first child - a bastard named Bradford - was billed as "The Completely Insane Miss Kiki DuRane". In 1957 Kiki and Herb released their first LP "The Hazy Days of Kiki" to universal indifference."
Bond is best known for the role of Kiki DuRane, one half of the lounge duo Kiki and Herb. The character of Kiki is a "boozy octogenarian"[3] and bitter chanteuse known for her raucous and edgy medleys of unusual song covers. Bond performed the role in drag, alongside Kiki's piano-playing sidekick Herb, played by Kenny Mellman.[8] The Kiki and Herb cabaret act came out of the queer activist and underground scenes in San Francisco, with initial performances in the 1990s at Eichelberger's. Bond moved to New York City in 1994 and the act developed, the duo went so far as to create a fictional biography.
Kiki and Herb became a successful stage act, leading one of Bond's interviewers, John Russell, to remark that Kiki had become "an icon to rival Hedwig."[3] One of those particularly influenced by Bond's act was Jake Shears, who would go on to found the band Scissor Sisters, largely inspired by the Kiki and Herb Christmas Show. Bond and Shears would become friends, with the Scissor Sisters being invited to support Kiki and Herb at The Knitting Factory club, and the latter later returned the favour when the band went on their first big tour after their eponymous debut album (2004) went platinum in the United Kingdom.[6]
The show, fronted by Bond, met with more critical acclaim with each successive appearance and developed a cult following. They performed extensively, namely in London's Soho Theatre and Queen Elizabeth Hall and New York's The Knitting Factory and Carnegie Hall, as well as a host of other venues worldwide. Their show Kiki & Herb: Alive on Broadway was nominated for a 2007 Tony for Special Theatrical Event.[9] After over a decade of performing as Kiki however, Bond decided to give up the stage act, later relating that "it comes to a point when you think, well is this what I want to do for the rest of my life?... I decided it was time for a career change."[3]
In addition to Kiki and Herb shows, Bond performed with backup band The Freudian Slippers until 2001. In 2004 Bond appeared in Imaginary Heroes alongside Sigourney Weaver, singing a song at a Christmas party.[10] Bond appeared as Kiki in Paul Festa's Apparition of the Eternal Church (2006).[11]
Performing with the House of Whimsy Players at The Kitchen in October 2006, Bond staged Re:Galli Blond (A Sissy Fix), "a self-penned musical spectacle of transgender oppression and uplift."[1]
Bond then starred in Shortbus (2006), a film directed by fellow Radical Faerie John Cameron Mitchell. In it, v played vself as the mistress of the eponymous Shortbus, an avant-garde nightclub, and appeared in the final scene singing the song "In the End", written by Scott Matthews. One journalist commented that this expressed "in just one scene that heightened sense of simultaneous hope and despair in post–9/11 downtown New York City."[6]
In June 2006 he also appeared in a one-off informal show at Bush Hall, London, entitled When David Met Justin and during which he chatted and shared music with English cabaret performer David Hoyle.[12] In December 2008 Bond appeared in the Tiger Lillies show Sinderella on London's South Bank, and is credited in the band's album of the same name.[13]
Moving on from vs role as Kiki, Bond began writing vs own lyrics, and although nervous about doing so, v was encouraged to do so by vs songwriting friends Our Lady J, Taylor Mac and Jake Shears.[3] The result came in July 2009, when Bond released a five track EP entitled Pink Slip, featuring four original songs ("The New Depression," "May Queen," "The Puppet Song," "Michael in Blue") and a cover of Radiohead's "Arpeggi/Weird Fishes". V related to one interviewer that v had chosen to release an EP rather than a full-length album because "I had this goal of getting something out and I wasn't really sure how. So I decided I was gonna put an EP out to demystify the process."[3] V went on to relate that Pink Slip was recorded at Le Poisson Rouge and that v hoped the income from it would help fund the recording of an album.[3]
In July 2009 Bond made an appearance on the Logo comedy series Jeffery & Cole Casserole, playing a Catholic nun who serves as the principal of the show's all-girl Catholic school.
In December 2010, Bond opened a new show at the Abrons Arts Center, New York City, entitled simply Justin Bond: Christmas Spells. Based upon a short story that had been written by Bond's friend, the novelist Kate Bornstein, Dixie Belle: The Further Adventures of Huckleberry Finn "imagines Huck Finn as a tranny hooker in a brothel in New Orleans after the Civil War. It's written as a letter Huck writes on Christmas Eve to Tom Sawyer to catch him up. So I start out as Huck, who's now Sassy Sarah working in Madame Violet's Parlor of Elysian Delights."[1] With Bond starring as Finn, v sung both Christmas carols and some of vs own songs, with the other characters being acted out by a drag troup called the Pixie Harlots.[1]
"As for Vivian, that's my self-given middle name. Justin is a very male-identified name, and I wanted something that would balance it. I had an uncle named Vivian Francis. He was a wonderful person, but he changed his name to Victor. He didn't like being Vivian. But it's fine with me."
Soon after, Bond decided to clarify v's identity as a transperson by undergoing hormone treatment in order to feminize vs appearance,[2] although v decided not to undergo gender reassignment surgery, telling one journalist that "I like my penis, and I am keeping it, but I am creating a transbody -- a physical record on my body and a medical record that I am a transgendered person."[6] Bond also adopted the middle name of 'Vivian', something which v had taken from vs uncle Vivian Francis and subsequently presented vself as "Justin Vivian Bond" rather than just "Justin Bond".[1][2]
In April 2011 Bond released vs first full-length solo album, Dendrophile, a collaboration with pianist/producer Thomas Bartlett from the band Doveman.[14] V had chosen the title from vs interest in dendrophilia, the sexual attraction to trees. Dendrophile contained a mix of original compositions and covers, with Bond telling one reporter that "I wanted it to be sort of like an early-'70s folk-pop variety album, because my favorite singers are people who aren't easy to pigeonhole, like Judy Collins, who introduced me to the music of Jacques Brel, Leonard Cohen, old British folk songs, contemporary pop songs and show tunes. She refused to be stuck in one genre."[15]
In v's memoir, Tango, Bond admitted to having been diagnosed with attention deficit disorder by a psychiatrist whilst an adult, and only then coming to understand much of v's childhood behavior.[16]
Journalist Mike Albo, writing for Out magazine, described Bond's shows as being "hilarious, heart-wrenching, vulnerable, sardonic, Wiccan, and world-weary all at the same time."[6]
Bond was namechecked in the 1999 Le Tigre song "Hot Topic" from the band's eponymous debut album.
| Title | Year | EP or album | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Do You Hear What We Hear? | 2000 | Album | Performed with Kenny Mellman as the Kiki and Herb drag duet. |
| Kiki and Herb Will Die for You: Live at Carnegie Hall | 2005 | Album | Performed with Kenny Mellman as the Kiki and Herb drag duet. |
| Pink Slip | 2009 | EP | |
| Dendrophile | 2011 | Album |
| Title | Year | Director | Character |
|---|---|---|---|
| Imaginary Heroes | 2004 | ||
| Shortbus | 2006 | John Cameron Mitchell | Performed as vself, running an avant-garde club named Shortbus in New York City. |
| Apparition of the Eternal Church | 2006 | Paul Festa |