In many ways, Sylvester’s life and death personified the course of gay San Francisco. In the late 1960's, he was one of only a few black hippies. In the early 1970's, he was the most famous and talented member of the Cockettes. In the late 1970's, his rousing vocals provided the soundtrack and the anthems for Harvey Milk’s Castro Street. In the early 1980's, he kept the music playing for a gay community that refused to admit that disco had died. Finally, in the late 1980's, he was one of the most famous casualties of an epidemic that decimated the Castro. “San Francisco is where I can do what I’m here to do,” said Sylvester, and he did it in style, as an openly-gay, African-American drag queen.

Considering the place that Sylvester holds in both gay and music history, it is amazing that we had to wait 16 years after his death for a full-scale biography. The good news is that The Fabulous Sylvester: The Legend, the Music, the Seventies in San Francisco is well worth the wait. Author Joshua Gamson, who analyzed America’s TV talk show culture in Freaks Talk Back, outdid himself in this critical but affectionate look at the phenomenon that was Sylvester. From his exotic and erotic boyhood in 1960's Los Angeles as a Disquotay, to his 70's disco heyday, and down to his 80's demise, Sylvester lived his life to the fullest, and Gamson’s book captured almost every major moment of it. Though nothing can replace Sylvester’s music, The Fabulous Sylvester is the next best thing. Gamson interviewed almost every living person who had anything to do with the fabulous Sylvester, from the singer’s sisters and past lovers to members of the Disquotays, the Cockettes and Sylvester’s Hot Band and, of course, Martha Wash and (the since deceased) Izora Rhodes Armstead.

Sylvester was many things, but most of all he was fabulous. As Gamson explained, “most forms of excess are fabulous, at least when they are admired, and especially when they exceed or defy expectations....As a personal attribute, fabulousness involves extravagance (which others sometimes interpret as showiness), and extreme, committed self-possession (which others often mistake for haughtiness).” Sylvester learned the art of being fabulous from generations of black gay men and drag queens who came before him; and in turn he influenced future generations. RuPaul and Kevin Aviance are who they are today because Sylvester paved the way.

Brief Views: THIS GAY UTOPIA: AN EROTIC NOVEL by John Butler; STARbooks Press; 314 pages; $16.95. “Imagine a small town where an all-male university and a Naval station are the only major components of activity in the isolated community. A university where the school’s longtime-honored attitude toward homosexual activity is so tolerant it almost constitutes an endorsement of it, and where taking a shower in its vast dormitory is often as much a sexual adventure as it is a cleansing....All sailors are horny, and those at the Naval Station are no exception....The town is so conducive to providing pleasure to men and boys who are either gay, or who enjoy ‘playing with the other team,’ that it is properly considered a Utopia.” John Butler’s new novel tells the erotic tale of a town that is too good to be true, but which makes enjoyable reading from beginning to end.

“MY FAVORITE BOOK” is by Robin Bodiford, noted South Florida advocate, activist, and author: “Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver [Harper Collins] is a compelling epic read about the women and children of a misguided, maniacal missionary pledged to save the natives, replete with the geo-political climate of Africa and America of the 1950's, romance, and political intrigue. Kingsolver’s masterpiece uses the English language to paint the characters and their environs, their pain, their knowledge, their humor on the soul of the reader in indelible ink.” If you, My Friend, have a favorite book you wish to share with us, e-mail me the title, author and a sentence or two explaining why you like the book (along with your name of course) to jessemonteagudo@aol.com. Subject: "Book Nook Favorite Book."

Jesse Monteagudo is a freelance writer and gay book lover who lives in South Florida, not far from Jay Quinn. He has been to the Outer Banks (and enjoyed it). Write him a note at jessemonteagudo@aol.com.