Memorial Roast for Rumi Missabu (James Bartlett)

This is a Community Memorial Roast Event

Memorial Roast Event + BLUE HOUR = Something Wonderful!

MARK YOUR CALENDARS June 8th, 2024 from 1pm-5pm

SHOW starts at 2pm

Please wear your best gender-bending drag and join us as we Celebrate and Roast the eccentric life of Rumi Missabu (James Bartlett) for an Afternoon of a Thousand Rumi's + a BLUE HOUR of Live Entertainment at The New Parkway Theater location is 474 24th Street, Oakland, CA 94612.

Bring Finger Food Potluck of Desserts to share. The Theater has a Coffee and Sandwich Shop for additional desires.

Rumi's biggest and best productions happened in the last half of his life. There will be video of these beautiful productions and all the people he invited in to play along. #CatchIt

Although this is a FREE Event I am only gathering donations to cover the deposit and rental of The New Parkway; anything made after the cost will be used to ship various Archives and Books of James Bartlett to his family in the North West.

"Missabu was among the last surviving members of the Cockettes, the glittering, counter-culture performance group that burst onto the stage at North Beach’s Palace Theatre on New Year’s Eve in 1969-70. From 1970-1972, the Cockettes changed the face of drag and theater with their irreverent takes on genres spanning musicals to monster movies. Described by Missabu as “gender anarchists,” the Cockettes’ drag (worn by men and women) included everything from glittered beards to nudity and helped make the Bay Area an epicenter for experimental, gender-blending performance."

-Tony Bravo, SF Chronicle Datebook