Dan Fishback
Encyclopedia
Dan Fishback is a queer
-identified, Jewish-American performance artist, playwright and singer-songwriter, born in Washington, D.C.
He lives and works in New York City
, and is heavily associated with that city's anti-folk
movement (The Advocate, April 25, 2006).
, where Fishback was an Artist-in-Residence. The following summer, he began a fellowship at the MacDowell Colony
to develop two new plays, The Material World and The Mattachine Project.
In 2006, Performance Space 122
presented a mini-festival of his work in NO DIRECTION HOMO: The Many Identical Personae of Dan Fishback. Earlier pieces, including Please Let Me Love You and Boi with an i, have been performed at venues like Galapagos Art Space, Dixon Place, Brooklyn Arts Exchange and the Sidewalk Cafe.
Fishback's band, Cheese On Bread, has toured Europe and North America, and released its second album, The Search for Colonel Mustard, in 2007, in the United States and Japan.
He also recorded an audio performance-art piece called Faggotssaywhat? for the 2007 Antifolk compilation album Anticomp Folkilation
.
. His essay, Times Are Changing, Reb Tevye, was published in Mentsh: On Being Jewish and Queer (Alyson Books, 2004). He regularly visits colleges all over the country to speak on queer and Jewish issues. Fishback has shared stages with Ani Difranco
and Kimya Dawson
as part of the punk dance troupe Underthrust.
Queer
Queer is an umbrella term for sexual minorities that are not heterosexual, heteronormative, or gender-binary. In the context of Western identity politics the term also acts as a label setting queer-identifying people apart from discourse, ideologies, and lifestyles that typify mainstream LGBT ...
-identified, Jewish-American performance artist, playwright and singer-songwriter, born in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
He lives and works in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, and is heavily associated with that city's anti-folk
Anti-folk
Anti-folk is a music genre that takes the earnestness of politically charged 1960s folk music and subverts it. The defining characteristics of this anti-folk are difficult to identify, as they vary from one artist to the next...
movement (The Advocate, April 25, 2006).
Plays
Dan Fishback has been writing and performing in NYC since 2003. He is a recipient of the 2007-2009 Six Points Fellowship for Emerging Jewish Artists. The resulting play, You Will Experience Silence (Stephen Brackett, dir.) debuted to critical acclaim in April 2009 at Dixon PlaceDixon Place
Dixon Place is an Obie Award winning, Off-Off Broadway New York City theater devoted exclusively to presenting original pieces of theater, dance, performance art and literature that are works in progress.-History:...
, where Fishback was an Artist-in-Residence. The following summer, he began a fellowship at the MacDowell Colony
MacDowell Colony
The MacDowell Colony is an art colony in Peterborough, New Hampshire, U.S.A., founded in 1907 by Marian MacDowell, pianist and wife of composer Edward MacDowell. She established the institution and its endowment chiefly with donated funds...
to develop two new plays, The Material World and The Mattachine Project.
In 2006, Performance Space 122
Performance Space 122
Performance Space 122, generally known as P.S. 122, is a not-for-profit arts organization and one of the longest standing venues dedicated to contemporary performance art in New York City. Founded in 1979 in the abandoned Public School 122 building at 150 First Avenue at East 9th Street in the East...
presented a mini-festival of his work in NO DIRECTION HOMO: The Many Identical Personae of Dan Fishback. Earlier pieces, including Please Let Me Love You and Boi with an i, have been performed at venues like Galapagos Art Space, Dixon Place, Brooklyn Arts Exchange and the Sidewalk Cafe.
Cheese On Bread
Fishback also sings and writes songs in the anti-folk band Cheese On Bread, which has released two albums, Maybe Maybe Maybe Baby (Luv-a-Lot Records) in 2004 and The Search for Colonel Mustard in 2007. The band toured North America in 2005 and Europe in 2007.Fishback's band, Cheese On Bread, has toured Europe and North America, and released its second album, The Search for Colonel Mustard, in 2007, in the United States and Japan.
The Faggots
While his work with Cheese On Bread is characteristically child-like, Fishback also fronts a darker band, The Faggots, which boasts a harder rock sound. Unlike Cheese On Bread, which has garnered mostly positive publicity, The Faggots have prompted controversy in the press.Solo Recordings
By himself, Fishback has released one full-length solo album, Sweet Chastity (Luv-a-Lot Records), in 2005, followed by an EP of cover songs, Strange Little Faggots, in 2006, and Calendar Boys (Off-Stage Fright Productions, 2008). He will drop his new full length studio album, "Mammal," in 2010.He also recorded an audio performance-art piece called Faggotssaywhat? for the 2007 Antifolk compilation album Anticomp Folkilation
Anticomp Folkilation
Anticomp Folkilation is a 2-CD compilation album featuring a variety of artists from New York's antifolk scene.-CD 1:# Major Matt Mason USA-Tripping Yourself# Brook Pridemore-Sugar Coma # Soft Black-The Earth is Black...
.
Miscellaneous
In September, 2006, Fishback was the subject of a piece on the PBS newsmagazine program In The LifeIn The Life
In the Life is a gay and lesbian television newsmagazine that is broadcast on PBS. It is one of public television's premiere educational programs and is nearing its 15th season on national broadcast...
. His essay, Times Are Changing, Reb Tevye, was published in Mentsh: On Being Jewish and Queer (Alyson Books, 2004). He regularly visits colleges all over the country to speak on queer and Jewish issues. Fishback has shared stages with Ani Difranco
Ani DiFranco
Ani DiFranco is an American Grammy Award-winning singer, guitarist, poet, and songwriter. She has released more than 20 albums, and is widely considered a feminist icon.-Biography:...
and Kimya Dawson
Kimya Dawson
Kimya Dawson is an American singer-songwriter, best known as a solo performer and as one half of The Moldy Peaches. In Swahili, "Kimya" means "silence" or "silent".-Career:...
as part of the punk dance troupe Underthrust.