Doors 7:00p
Program 7:30p

UnionDocs
352 Onderdonk Ave
Ridgewood, NY

We’re delighted to invite you for the exclusive premiere of a brand-new audio documentary from Sounds Gay, a podcast that explores the intersection of queerness and music culture.

Gaylors is a three-year-long journey of interviews, DMs, and Tumblr diving that brought a journalist into the world of gaylors: a vibrant, chaotic, and devoted community of people who believe that Taylor Swift is queer.

Through a conversation, host Sarah Esocoff (Sounds Gay) and story editor Jazmine (JT) Green (CMD+JAZMINE) will unpack the making of this documentary and the challenges regarding ethics, privacy, and covering an ever-changing story that unfolds behind screens. They will be joined by the staff writer from Them,  James Factora, for this deep dive, and unraveling of fandom and fanaticism that can transpire online.

Sounds Gay is a mixtape of documentaries, hosts Sarah Esocoff and Jazmine (JT) Green take you to rap battles, mosh pits, and songwriting sessions. They explore non-binary identity through emo music and trans history through a lost VHS tape. Sounds Gay tells stories of queer people whose lives have been transformed by music.

Come through!

Bios

Sarah Esocoff is an artist and documentarian based in Brooklyn, NY. She is the creator and host of Sounds Gay, an IDA Documentary Award-nominated podcast about queer music culture. Formerly a Senior Podcast Producer at SiriusXM, she has produced and edited podcasts about the abuse crisis in the Catholic Church, tribal autonomy in Maine, and celebrities’ high school experiences, among other topics. In addition to her audio work, Sarah is an oil painter and the lead singer of the grunge band The Clots.

CMD+JAZMINE (Jazmine (JT) Green) is an audio documentarian by trade and artist by practice. She is the founder of Molten Heart, a duPont-Columbia award-winning creative and commercial studio focused on the texture of sound. Molten Heart’s collaborators include The Met, Stitcher Studios, and Audible.

Her practice explores the spiritual qualities of improvisation, the convergence of technology and the human body, and the intersection of gender and race through visual, performance, and sound art. She writes and produces electronic music as CMD+JAZMINE, performing at venues such as The Lot Radio, Bossa Nova Civic Club, and Iklectik in London. Her projects and performances have been exhibited at The University of Chicago and ICU VCA, received recognition such as the 2021 Third Coast Award for Best Documentary Short, and featured at festivals such as On Air, RESONATE, and Tribeca.

James Factora is an award-winning writer and reporter.

He was born in Los Angeles and raised in the suburbs, and currently resides in New York City. They’re a graduate of the Lawrence Herbert School of Communication at Hofstra University, and started freelancing while earning their degree in journalism and serving as the opinion editor for the award-winning Hofstra Chronicle.

He loves explaining policy in layman’s terms as much as he relishes going deep with an artist on their craft, and his portfolio runs the gamut accordingly. He has been the staff writer at Them since August 2022, where he covers queer and trans cultures and politics. Lately, they’ve been especially honing in on cultural coverage, helping curate Them’s monthly themed playlists and interviewing the most fascinating queer and trans cultural figures out there right now.

Their work has also appeared in other outlets such as Slate, Refinery29, Teen Vogue, VICE and more. He’s also a member of GALECA, the society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics.

They also have extensive digital communications and social media experience, having worked at Planned Parenthood of New York City (now Planned Parenthood of Greater New York), The LGBT Community Center in Manhattan, and Bold Type Books, a publishing partnership of Hachette Book Group and nonprofit newsroom Type Media Center.

He’s also an avid musician, as a former singer in Transcend, the first and only trans/gender expansive classical vocal ensemble in the world; as their rock band project, Lavender Menace; and as a passionate devotee of karaoke.