Performer Bambi Lake, a fixture of the San Francisco underground theatre scene for 50 years, has died of cancer at age 70. Watch “Sticks and Stones,” Silas Howard‘s documentary about the transgender performer’s life:
Bambi grew up in California and got involved in theater at a young age. After moving to San Francisco, she got involved with The Cockettes, eventually touring with them.
Via a lovely obituary by August Bernadicou:
In the 1980s, she began writing poetry and putting her words to music. Her best-known song, the autobiographical “The Golden Age of Hustlers,” is performed all over the world. In it, she laments, “It’s hard to find someone you can trust amidst the rhinestone and the rust.”
Despite being down and out, she sang sad songs on stages of all sizes all over San Francisco for more than 50 years and released her debut album, My Glamourous Life as a Broadway Hostess, in 2005. In a 2017 interview, she said her greatest talent was “making people cry.” Her voice was fierce and filled with enchanting melancholy.
Here is Justin Vivian Bond covering Bambi’s timeless classic “The Golden Age of Hustlers.”
Image: Vimeo / Silas Howard
