Lesbian Snake Charmers

Lesbian Snake Charmers

In the summer of 1989, Shaunna came home and told me that she had started playing in a band with a woman named Jai Jai Noire, a politically inspired lesbian performer who played thrash punk ska ala the Clash type of stuff. Shaunna told me about a drummer that Jai Jai had found from southern California named Wanda Day. Shaunna went on and on about her and so I really wanted to hear this chick play. I (literally) crashed their next rehearsal and quickly was asked to join Jai Jai’s band. I recall being impressed with the fact that she named her band “Lesbian Snake Charmers” which I interpreted as a giant fuck you to the mainstream music business. It was still the homophobic 80’s.

Wanda was the hardest hitting drummer I had ever heard, a small, wirey explosion of a woman sporting a bright red mowhawk and a fiery confidence. Wanda, Shaunna, and I bonded quickly, and soon quit the band to start our own project.

This next video is a time capsule! CHEAP TV was a local show produced in San Francisco in the 1980s. This episode features:

Susie Bright 11:51
Lesbian Snake Charmers 14:08
Tom Ammiano 17:22
Rita Rockett 18:18